SPECIAL ALUMNI INTERVIEW: “What we choose in life is always second to Who” Tammie Jo (Bonnell ’83) Shults Southwest Airlines Pilot PRESIDENT'SFROM THE PRESIDENTPERSPECTIVE TABLETABLE OFOF CONTENTS Whatever is Praiseworthy 04 World Recognizes Greatness MidAmerica Nazarene University was established by faith and for This MNU alum is the hero pilot who over 50 years its story of achievement and accomplishment has credits God as her strength. provided evidence of God accomplishing His purposes through the hearts and hands of His people. The excellence that we celebrate 08 What’s a Christian Education throughout the university these days is an indication of the prolonged Worth? commitment, persistence and support of those who believe in the The CCCU puts numbers to the question. mission and purposes of the university. Philippians 4:8 records the Apostle Paul’s admonition, “If anything is praiseworthy – think about 10 Heritage Choir Receives High such things and the God of Peace will be with you.” We celebrate these Honor accomplishments as tangible evidence of God’s provision for the Performs at statewide conference. university through those who are faithful and respond fully to His call on their lives. 04 10 16 Lifetime Achievement Award This issue of ACCENT features many reasons for us to celebrate. The Recognized for their support, Dr. Larry accomplishments of our faculty, staff and students began as “seeds and Donna McIntire are honored at gala. of excellence” planted by those whose vision reached beyond the possible and extended to the “impossible places” where our God does 18 Homecoming 2018 Schedule His best work. The financial support from our alumni and friends Save the Date: Oct. 12-14 continues to be the “seeds of faith” planted as investments in the future and the new possibilities God seeks to provide for generations 20 President’s Honors Photo yet to come. The harvest will be seen in lives transformed through our Gallery ministry of excellence and faith put to work. Seven-Year Total Nearly $4 Million. A.W. Tozer provided this challenge, “Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will.” MidAmerica Nazarene University seeks 22 Faithful Giving to be a place where hearts can soar, where visions and dreams for Couple Gives to Spread God’s Word. the future are nurtured. We celebrate the dreamers among us who stretch to reach beyond the horizon and in doing so, inspire us all to 16 22 Season Recap 24 discover the empowering presence and provision of Jesus Christ who Catch up with Pioneer spring sports. is worthy of our praise. Accent is published by MidAmerica Nazarene University and mailed free to alumni, friends and supporters of MNU. It is produced for University Advancement by the MNU Marketing and Communications Office. Postage is paid at Olathe, Kansas, and additional mailing offices. Dr. David J. Spittal News or comments: [email protected] President Volume 41, Number 1 On The Cover MANAGING EDITOR ART AND DESIGN PHOTOGRAPHERS » Sign up for Accent’s MNU Alumnus Lt. Commander Tammie Jo Carol (Knight '81, MA '08) Best Daniel Hawkins ('06, MSM '16) Daniel Hawkins ('06, MSM '16) digital edition at: (Bonnell '83) Shults, one of the first women to fly Matt Smith ('18) Dan Videtich mnu.edu/accent-notify Navy tactical aircraft, poses in front of an F/A-18A CONTRIBUTOR Mac Wyatt ('18) Lindsay Willmer with Tactical Electronics Warfare Squadron (VAQ) 34 Chad Jenkins Jim Smith in 1992. After leaving active duty, Shults served in the Navy Reserve and is now a Southwest Airlines pilot. (U.S. Navy photo by PH2 Thomas P. Milne/RELEASED) 2 ACCENT MAGAZINE - SUMMER 2018 ACCENT MAGAZINE - SUMMER 2018 3 you’ll have to figure out how to fix them,” she says. “If you left the gate open and 200 head of cattle get out and wander a mile down the road, then you go get the horse saddled and you go get them back in the pen. So, when you are given a lot of responsibility and then left alone with it, I think that is a building block.” Faith At Nazarene church camp when she was 13, Tammie Jo says she began to understand her faith. “I had tried to be good and could never quite do it,” she says. “So, I’d make a deal with God and then I’d blow it Photo credit: Kevin Garber. and then make another deal and blow it. At 13, I finally Captains Tammie Jo and Dean Shults, both Southwest Air figured it out. God didn’t call me to be good. He called pilots, visited MNU in March 2017, when Tammie Jo spoke to me to believe.” alumni and students about women in the workforce. She says she was always in trouble more than her The Shults’ live in Burnie, Texas with their children siblings. Sydney, 20, and Marshall, 18. “I was constantly in Huckleberry Finn trouble,” she Official White House photo by Shealah Craighead laughs. “When I finally got the message that I wasn’t called to be good, it changed my life. I had such a President Donald J. Trump and the crew members and passengers of “He has such a calm demeanor and spending every Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 | May 1, 2018 different perspective.” spring afternoon throwing discus or javelin or shot put—it This eternal perspective is another of her building was such an oasis in the world of college pressure and blocks. studies.” With hard work and perseverance, Tammie Jo excelled. College Days The only female thrower on the team, she achieved the Nerves of Steel Were Forged in Fire honor of NCCAA 1st Team All-American in javelin. She By Carol (Knight ’81, MAOA ’08) Best After high school, Tammie Jo, who had dreamed of flying and Ammons’ are still close today, visiting one another’s with the Air Force, chose to attend MidAmerica to study families as often as possible. It’s ironic to Tammie Jo (Bonnell ’83) Shults world, but in showing me that he can use a pre-med. that the world has called her the pilot with kid the doctor has declared too high strung Working two jobs most of the time, she still got involved nerves of steel, after successfully landing to handle life.” “I found out the Air Force wouldn’t let women fly, so I in all sorts of activities at MNU. Tammie Jo was also Southwest 1380 with one engine. While thought, ‘I’m going to need a job,’” she says. a cheerleader, on the volleyball team, in student she knows she can focus and perform her government, a resident assistant and a Homecoming duties now, she remembers a time when Building Blocks Deciding she wanted to be a veterinarian, she did some queen candidate. her nerves were practically debilitating. As research. a young girl, Tammie Jo dealt with anxiety Tammie Jo credits her parents, God and over the pressures of elementary school. A life experience with the ability to do her “I found out MNU had never had a graduate who did not Military Training doctor told her parents she was simply “too job during that emergency landing when pass the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) on high strung.” He recommended medication. the plane’s left engine blew, throwing the first attempt,” she says. “Even though it was a small Two years after graduating from MNU, Tammie Jo was Her parents decided to take another shrapnel into the fuselage, resulting in one school, it was exceptional.” commissioned as a Navy officer, but the achievement did approach. passenger’s death and injury to others. not come easy. While the Navy allowed her to take the So, she and her older brother Dwight, headed to Kansas. aviation exam, it took another two years to find a recruiter “They made sure there were pressure relief Raised on a cattle ranch near Tularosa, When they drove onto the campus, it was their first who would process her application. She met a lot of valves built in if it looked like I was getting New Mexico, she and her three siblings led time to see it. Though they had one another to lean on, resistance from those who thought women didn’t belong anxious about something,” she recalls. a simple life of school, church and chores. Tammie Jo felt quite homesick as she navigated the there, but she never gave up. “I look at that now and here I am getting Her upbringing has a lot to do with who she transition from home to college. A roommate convinced praised for nerves of steel and calmness. is today. her to go out for track & field in her second semester Rising to the rank of lieutenant commander, she became and that changed everything. an instructor pilot for both the EA-6B Prowler and F/A- Isn’t God interesting how he does that? You “When you are given a lot of responsibility know David would never have been famous 18 Hornet. In fact, she was the first female pilot of the at a young age, along with the authority “Coach Curt Ammons is probably the only reason I if Goliath hadn’t been a giant. So, I see F/A-18 Hornet. She served at Tactical Electronic Warfare to make it work, things will go wrong and stayed in school,” she says of the now retired coach. God’s hand, not just in what’s obvious to the Squadron 34 in Point Mugu, California, as an instructor 4 ACCENT MAGAZINE - SUMMER 2018 ACCENT MAGAZINE - SUMMER 2018 5 and also completed tours at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California.