i Daily ,
Robin Trimarchi/DN
Dan Howard, a UNL art professor, says his work as a professional artist has improved his teaching.
A palette and a vision
Professor balances teaching with career as professional artist
By Wendy Navratil
Senior Reporter
Dan Howard has the power and
imagination to transform a canvas
stretched taut before him into the
courier of his vision of the world.
But the trick is finding the time to do it
— and time, he said, is the one element of
his work in shortest
supply.
“I never run out of
visual creative ideas.
The frustration is not
having sufficient time
to develop them,” he
said.
Howard, a professional artist and a
University of Nebraska-Lincoln art
professor, said his challenges, insights and
opportunities have changed radically since
he was in college.
“After my first six paintings, I thought
I had the world by the tail,” Howard said.
“It was because my experience was so
limited that I believed I had accomplished
all there was to be done.
“They say ignorance is bliss.”
Now he views some of his earlier
paintings with distaste. But that’s a
natural part of any growth process, he
said.
“If (a painting) seems increasingly irk
some, it usually gets destroyed — if it’s
still in my possession,” Howard said.
“That’s one negative element of having
your work out”
And, since the Vorpal Gallery in Soho
in New York Cily became his exclusive
represen lalive two years ago, many more
of his paintings arc finding their way onto
strangers’ walls.
“I had my first solo exhibition in New
York last February,” Howard said. “Mi
raculously, the weather blossomed forth.
We had a tremendous turnout. I saw this
as a very tangible, positive omen.”
Establishing himself in what he called
the art capital of the world, however, docs
not represent the culmination of his
efforts, he said.
“It certainly is the reaching of a goal I
had set for myself,” he said. “It’s very
satisfying to have your work seen by a
larger, more creatively discerning public.
See HOWARD on 6
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Recruitment of minorities
must improve, official says
By Kara Morrison
Staff Reporter
The University of Ncbraska-Uncoln will
have to raise its grades to achieve mi
nority recruitment proportional to the
projected growth in the high school minority
graduation rate, a UNL official said.
Jimmi Smith, director of Multi-Cultural
Affairs, said that if UNL was graded on its
minority recruitment efforts, it would be get
ting “less than a C*—a grade that can only be
improved if recruitment priorities change.
But these priorities may be affected by a
recent Western Interstate Commission for Higher
Education report released in September.
The report states that by 1995, minority high
school graduate populations will increase from
22 percent in 1986 to 28 percent in 1995.
Some stales will have high school minority
populations of more than 50 percent. Nebraska’s
high school minority population is projected to
be 6.5 percent of the high school population by
1995.
Because of ethnicity shifts and UNL’s al
ready proportionately low minority represen
tation, Lisa Schmidt, director of High School
and College Relations at UNL, said “now more
than ever, we need to address racial diversity.
“We need to be sensitive to demographic
shifts and provide an atmosphere for those
students,” she said. “We need to build commu
nities — to come down to being sensitive to
cultural differences and make them feci com
fortable and show them that they can succeed
here.”
Smith said UNL must ensure that current
minority students at the university get the same
opportunities and leadership positions as the
majority.
Also, if these minorities are more visible on
UNL’s campus, he said, other minority stu
dents will be attracted to the university.
Recruiting minorities is difficult because
competition among other major universities is
strong, Schmidt said.
Minorities often are drawn to other univer
sities simply because UNL does not have the
minority numbers that other colleges do to
establish significant community populations
among minority students, Schmidt said.
Another obstacle cited in the commission’s
report is the possible need for more financial
support for minority students.
So far, one step UNL has taken to aid
minority recruitment is providing literature
See ETHNICITYon6
Official: Cuts
must comply
with council
procedures
Programs’ deletion
subject to group’s review
By Jeremy Fitzpatrick
Senior Reporter
A University of Nebraska-Lincoln offi
cial confirmed Wednesday that the UNL
budget-cutting process must comply with
NU’s Executive Graduate Council procedures.
Bill Splinter, interim vice chancellor for
research and dean of graduate studies, said that
UNL administrators will have to consult with
the EGC if they decide to make cuts in graduate
programs. BUDGET
Everyone should be
alerted to the fact that at
such a point that a graduate
program is triggered for
elimination or consolida- _
tion, (the EGC review) must be triggered,” he
said.
Cuts of 2 percent this year and 1 percent
next year in the UNL budget were ordered by
the Legislature last spring.
A plan to meet the cuts presented by UNL
vice chancellors to the Budget Reduction Review
Committee SepU St included proposals to elimi
nate graduate programs.
But a letter sent by NU general counsel
Richard Wood to the Academic Planning
Committee Oct. 7 stated that procedures for
deletion or consolidation of graduate programs
must comply with rules established by the
EGC.
_See GRADUATE on 6 .
Columbus: dis- *
coverer or de- Jjr
stroyer? Page 3.
Speech depart- JP'
ment elimination dr tRf'
questioned. Page 6. r
Road tripping. INDEX
Page 7. Wire 2
Opinion 4
Positive recruit- Diversions 7
ing pulls l-back to Sports 15
Nebraska. Page 13. Classifieds 18
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