Unflappable airline pilot Tammie Jo Shults delivered SMU's December 1 Tate Lecture

Tammie Jo Shults
Tammie Jo Shults

Lecture presented by new Tate sponsor Comerica Bank
 
Tammie Jo Shults, the unflappable Southwest Airlines pilot who in 2018 successfully landed a plummeting Boeing 737, gave the Dec. 1 Willis M. Tate Lecture, sponsored for the first time by Comerica Bank. Curtis C. Farmer, chair, president and CEO of Comerica Inc., is a new member of the Tate Series Board of Directors.

In its 39th year, the Tate Series brings illustrious leaders from numerous fields to share their unique perspectives and ideas with area residents and students. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, fall lectures have been presented virtually to subscribers and the SMU community. SMU is grateful to the sponsors who support the series, which benefits the President’s Scholars program, SMU’s most prestigious and competitive scholarship. The complete season of lectures is as follows:

Monday, September 21, Linda and Mitch Hart Lecture
Political analyst David Gergen with historians Michael Beschloss and Jon Meacham

Friday, October 9, Jones Day Lecture
David Axelrod, senior advisor to President Barack Obama, and Karl Rove, senior advisor to President George W. Bush

Tuesday, October 20
Spike Lee, award-winning writer, director, actor and producer who revolutionized the film industry. His lecture was paired with a fund-raising opportunity for the Black Alumni of SMU Scholarship Fund.

Tuesday, November 17
Arthur Brooks, classical French horn player, conservative policy theorist and professor of the practice of public leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School

Tuesday, December 1, Comerica Bank Lecture
Tammie Jo Shults, unflappable airline captain and author of Nerves of Steel: How I Followed My Dreams, Earned My Wings and Faced My Greatest Challenge

Tuesday, January 26, Tolleson Family Lecture
Kara Swisher, award-winning journalist who chronicles the impact of technology

Tuesday, March 2, Gaedeke Group Lecture
Bob Costas, legendary sportscaster

Tuesday, March 16, Gaedeke Group Lecture
Zanny Minton Beddoes, first female editor of The Economist

Tuesday, April 6, Oncor Lecture
Adm. William H. McRaven, former Navy SEAL who oversaw the 2011 Osama bin Laden raid, and former chancellor of the University of Texas System

Tuesday, May 4, 2021, Anita and Truman Arnold Lecture
Paul Nicklen, award-winning photographer and filmmaker for National Geographic and co-founder of SeaLegacy

Tate Sponsor Board of Directors members include Anita Arnold, the Anita and Truman Arnold Lecture; Curt Farmer, the Comerica Bank Lecture; Hilda Galvan, the Jones Day Lecture; Linda W. Hart and Milledge A. Hart, the Hart Lecture; Allen Nye, the Oncor Lecture; Sabine Stener, the Gaedeke Group Lectures, and Carter Tolleson, the Tolleson Family Lecture.