2021 Nancy P. and Thaddeus E. Paup Lecture

Nerves of Steel: Leadership Under Pressure

The Jane Nelson Institute for Women's Leadership proudly sponsored the 2021 Paup Lecture, “Nerves of Steel: Leadership Under Pressure," as part of the Nancy P. and Thaddeus E. Paup Lecture Series, on Oct. 6, 2021, via livestream.

This online event featured guest speaker Tammie Jo Shults, hero captain of the Southwest Flight 1380 emergency landing and author of Nerves of Steel: How I Followed My Dreams, Earned My Wings, and Faced My Greatest Challenge.

This lecture was free and open to the public.

Please consider making a gift to benefit the Jane Nelson Institute for Women’s Leadership.

About the Speaker

Tammie Jo Shults

Hero Captain of Southwest Flight 1380 Emergency Landing and Author, Nerves of Steel: How I Followed My Dreams, Earned My Wings, and Faced My Greatest Challenge

Tammie Jo Shults is an acclaimed airline captain and former United States Navy aviator. Her early interest in flying led to Tammie Jo to become one of the first female F/A-18 Hornet pilots in the Navy, after overcoming several obstacles due to her gender.

After concluding her Navy career, she became a pilot for Southwest Airlines. Tammie Jo's incredible history and talent received wide acclaim on April 17, 2018, after she successfully landed a Southwest Boeing 737 after an engine exploded at high altitude, plunging the airliner more than 18,000 feet in the first five minutes alone, causing multiple system failures and a rapid depressurization. The successful landing in Philadelphia saved 148 lives including passengers and crew.

Tammie Jo and her husband Dean live in Texas, and both Tammie Jo and Dean enjoy piloting planes for Southwest Airlines. They have two children and are committed to leading a faithful life. In Tammie Jo's spare time, she teaches Sunday school at her church and volunteers at a school focusing on at-risk youth. In addition, as of spring 2020, Tammie will be serving on the Women in Aviation Advisory Board to the FAA.

Katherine Sharp Landdeck

TWU Associate Professor and Author, The Women With Silver Wings

Katherine Sharp Landdeck is an associate professor of history at Texas Woman’s University, the home of the WASP archives. A Guggenheim Fellow at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where she was a Normandy Scholar and earned her Ph.D. in American History, Landdeck has received numerous awards for her work on the WASP and has appeared as an expert on NPR’s Morning Edition, PBS, and the History channel. Her work has been published in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Time, as well as in numerous academic and aviation publications. Landdeck is a licensed pilot who flies whenever she can.

The History of Women in Aviation at TWU

Interested in learning more about the history of Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) and Women in Aviation? Visit the TWU Woman's Collection, where we collect and preserve the stories of women in aviation organizations as well as individual female aviators. We tell not only the story of the WASP, but how their legacy lives on today through current organizations and pilots.

Explore the WASP Official Archives

Learn more about Women in Aviation

Page last updated 11:31 AM, October 17, 2023