Ursula became fascinated by flying while she was living in the Bahamas. She earned her private pilot certificate in 1973 and has continued to fly ever since. After Ursula and her family moved to Miami, she became a commercial pilot and flew charters to the Bahamas and for a small corporation.
She joined the Ninety-Nines, the International Organization of Women Pilots, and met two WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots), Ruth Fleisher and Fran Sargent, who became her friends and mentors. In 1977 the 99s awarded Ursula the Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship, which provided the funds for her flight instructor certificate. She taught flying and ground school at Opa Locka Airport until Fran, a professor at Miami-Dade Community College, suggested that she teach there part time.
Ursula became a full-time aviation professor at Miami-Dade in 1980. In addition to teaching and coaching the flight team, she developed programs for the community. In 1984 she moved to Broward Community College in Hollywood, Florida as aviation department head. During her 16 years there she created the Aviation Institute with its own building that connected the college campus to North Perry Airport. The Institute has an aircraft mechanics school, a flight school and teaches aviation management, air traffic control and avionics.
A scholarship from the Florida Goldcoast 99s enabled Ursula to round-out her flying credentials with a multi-engine Airline Transport Pilot certificate. She is a single, multi and instrument flight instructor and holds commercial single-engine, instrument and glider ratings. A native of Ohio, Ursula has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio State University and a Masters from American University in Washington, D.C.
In 1989 Ursula was the first woman elected president of the Greater Miami Aviation Association, founded in 1927. The organization honored her with the Glenn Curtiss Award for contributions to aviation education in 2001. Retired as director of the Aviation Institute and with 7,000 flight hours, Ursula remains active in aviation organizations and enjoys flying, writing and travel.