When Major General (Ret.) Erika Steuterman returned to Purdue University this fall as part of University Residences' Executive in Residence program, she brought with her more than three decades of service in the U.S. Air Force — and a lifetime of lessons in leadership, adaptability and purpose.
A Lafayette native, Steuterman’s Purdue story began with family roots and practicality. I only applied to three schools — Purdue, IU and DePauw — and my parents said, "That’s great; you can go to any one you want, but we’re only going to pay for Purdue,’" she says. After all, both her parents were Boilermakers — her father a World War II veteran who attended on the GI Bill, and her mother a pre-med student "who came here to escape the farm.”
It turned out to be a pivotal decision. "Coming to Purdue was the best decision I ever made," Steuterman says. "It was a great value then and it’s still one of the best values in higher education today."
When Steuterman arrived on campus in the early 1970s, women in the military were still a rarity. "I realized during my senior year of high school that a woman with a college degree usually became a teacher, a nurse or a secretary," she says. "All very respectable careers — but I didn’t want to do any of them."
Instead, she looked for a field that promised fairness and opportunity. "I wanted a career where I knew I’d get equal pay for equal work and equal opportunity for advancement," she says. "The military offered that. A second lieutenant is a second lieutenant — it doesn’t matter your gender or background."
Steuterman joined Purdue’s Air Force ROTC program during its first year integrating men and women together. "It was still brand new across the country," she says. "And I found my niche. At 18 or 19 years old, I found what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. That was pure luck."
“I wanted a career where I knew I’d get equal pay for equal work and equal opportunity for advancement. The military offered that. A second lieutenant is a second lieutenant — it doesn’t matter your gender or background.”
Steuterman’s study abroad experience in France during her junior year profoundly shaped her worldview. "That year overseas changed me," she says. "It made me flexible and gave me perspective. I even went to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It taught me how lucky we are in the United States and how much you learn about yourself when you step into another culture."
After earning her bachelor’s degree in language from Purdue’s College of Liberal Arts in 1976, Steuterman continued at Purdue’s business school, completing her MBA in only 18 months. "Uncle Sam wasn’t going to wait forever," she says. "The decision to pursue business wasn’t a grand plan — it was pragmatic. I figured an MBA would always be a useful degree, whether I had a four-year or a 34-year career."
Purdue’s MBA program also gave her the practical skills she’d rely on throughout her career. "It taught me how to analyze, how to write clearly and how to work with people very different from myself," she says. "In the real world, if you can’t communicate your ideas clearly — either in writing or in person — you won’t go far. Those soft skills are just as critical as technical knowledge.”
Commissioned in 1977, Steuterman began a 34-year Air Force career as an intelligence officer, serving with the Air Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and U.S. European Command. In 2003, she deployed to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, supporting operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. "We conducted air operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa," she says. "It was a three-pronged war that most people didn’t even realize we were fighting."
After six years on active duty, Steuterman transitioned to the Air Force Reserve — specifically, the Individual Mobilization Augmentee (IMA) program, which allowed her to serve while balancing family responsibilities, including caring for two daughters with disabilities. "That program gave me the best of both worlds," she says. "I could serve but also be a mom and handle the medical care my daughters needed."
Her flexibility and leadership propelled her quickly through the ranks. “I was six years ahead of my peers by the time I made full colonel,” she says. “But the real lesson was to take care of your people. You might not be the smartest person in the room, and that’s okay. What matters is building and leading a strong team.”
When Steuterman and her late husband, Ron Steuterman, also a Purdue graduate, returned to West Lafayette from Houston in the late 1990s, she joined the business school’s Executive Education Programs as director of the Executive MBA program. "I loved it," she says. "We had weekend programs and international programs, and I worked with incredible staff. The military taught me organization, delegation and how to ‘manage up’ — skills that transferred perfectly."
Even while juggling active-duty assignments — including serving as chancellor of the National Security Space Institute at U.S. Space Command — Steuterman remained connected to education and service. "A good leader can leave for a deployment and know the work will go on," she says.
Steuterman continues to serve even now — this time closer to home. She’s sat on boards for the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, United Way, Wabash Center and the YWCA Foundation. Currently, she serves on the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Merit Board, the Friendship House Board, and the board for BATS Inc., a defense company based in Indianapolis.
When Sheriff Bob Goldsmith asked her to join the Merit Board, she was the first woman appointed in its 50-year history. "He told me, 'I just want a good person in the role,'" she says. "As soon as I walked into the sheriff’s department, I felt at home. It’s a paramilitary organization, and that’s familiar territory.”
As Purdue’s Executive in Residence, Steuterman shares her experiences with students, emphasizing focus and self-belief. "Your most important job is the one you have right now," she says. "For students, that’s earning your degree and doing your best work. Don’t look too far ahead — just give your all to what’s in front of you.”
She also urges students to invest in experiences rather than possessions. "Travel, explore and see how other people live," she says. "That’s how you grow, and it’s how you learn to appreciate what you have.”
Above all, she reminds students to trust themselves. "By the time you graduate from Purdue, you will be ready,” she says. "Have faith in yourself — you’re going to be okay. In fact, you’re going to be better than okay.”
Today, Steuterman still leads with the same purpose that brought her to Purdue half a century ago: a belief in service, discipline and lifelong learning. "It all started here,” she says. "Purdue gave me the foundation for everything that followed.”
