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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 1995)
IHp ✓ COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 Shutterbug Travis Heying/DN Joel Sartore, a 1985 UNL journalism graduate is now a contract photographer for National Geographic Magazine. Photographer’s job worth a thousand words 1 Copyright National Geographic Society Sartore’s first cover picture in National Geographic. By Paula Lavigne Senior Reporter - Though National Geographic will put Joel Sartore Js photographs on its covers, he will not hang them on his own walls. “That is my goal,” Sartore said. “Even then I probably wouldn’t — that would be kind of pretentious.” When not on assignment as a contract pho tographer for National Geographic, Sartore resides in Lincoln. He returned last week to speak to journalism classes at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His visit coincides with an exhibit of his work at Haydon Art Gallery in Lincoln. The exhibit, which is the first to be co-sponsored by National Geographic, runs through Feb. 25. Sartore, a 1985 graduate of the UNL College of Journalism, will speak at 11:30 a.m. today at a brown-bag lunch at the gallery. The exhibit features Sartore’s photos of Nebraska, Kansas, Florida, Massachusetts and other states. Sartore’s National Geographic and freelance work has taken him to every state except Hawaii. It also has taken him to Europe. He receives his assignments at the National Geographic Magazine headquarters in Wash ington, D.C., during short — sometimes less than a minute -— assignment sessions. That leaves Sartore free to interpret his subjects. Where a freelance photographer works by the job and a staff photographer is a full-time employee, he said, a contract photographer works by the year. “If you’re freelance, you’re dating them. If you’re contract, you’re living with them. If you’re staff, you’re married to them,” he said. Sartore’s job often leads to adventure. An alligator tried to bite him in the bayous of Louisiana. A snarling dog tried to do the same in Idaho. He photographed a man lassoing a cat in Post, Texas, and two men wrestling a huge catfish in Silverdale, Kan. His assignments included America’s Third Coast, Eagles on the Rise, Hurricane Andrew Aftermath, Federal Lands of the West, North ern California, Connecticut, Boston and Dead or Alive — The Endangered Species Act. Sartore’s work keeps him away from his son and wife for weeks at a time, but he accepts the responsibility. > “If you want to work 9 to 5, you should work See SARTORE on 8 Professors say it’s time to reconsider gradingscale By Matthew Waite Senior Reporter A member of a group of professors trying to change the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s grading system said Thursday the university needed to “get with it.” Christina Brantner, a professor of modem languages, said when grading changes were considered by the Academic Senate last Febru ary, some faculty members didn’t think enough time had been given to the idea. The proposed grading change, which will not be voted on until the March Academic Senate meeting, would add three more grading differentiations to the scale, bringing the num ber of differentiations from nine to 12. It also would eliminate the grade of A plus. The senate will get information on the new proposal next Tuesday, Feb. 14. Under the proposal, base-level GPA points for grades of A, B, C, D and IF would remain the same—4.0 for an A, 3.0 for a B, and so on. But the proposal woufriadd grade&oLA»mimis- B minus, C minus and D minus. Under the current system, a plus adds .5 points to the base level. But under the new plan, a plus would add only .33 points to the base level —a B plus, for example, would be worth 3.33 points. Getting a minus would subtract .33 points — for example, 3.67 for an A minus. Last February, the Academic Senate voted 25-22 to reject a similar proposal, which in cluded a grade of A plus and eliminated a grade of D minus. The senate also tabled a 40-point grading proposal. Now, a year since the initial proposal was considered, the six faculty members who are forwarding the proposal think enough time has passed to consider it again, Brantner said. Other faculty members forwarding the change are Rebecca Bemthal, a professor of libraries; Denis Erickson, a professor of veteri nary and biomedical sciences; and Dennis Muchisky, George Wolf and James Ford, all professors of English. Ford proposed the new system last year. Brantner said many faculty members were surprised that the proposal did not pass before the senate last year. During the debate over the proposed changes last year, a great deal of ill will occurred among student leaders and faculty. But this year, Brantner said, she hopes that won’t happen again. “But you never know with the Academic Senate,” she said. If Andrew Loudon, president of the Asso ciation of Students of the University of Ne braska, has anything to say about it, the rancor will be back. See GRADES on 3 Study: Female faculty barely breaking ground at UNL By John Fulwider Staff Reporter The University of Nebraska-Lin coln ranks ninth among 11 peer insti tutions in the percentage of women faculty, according to a study released this week. “The Changing Face of Higher Education: A Status Report on Women Faculty Representation” is the first study of its kind to be written jointly by the Chancellor’s Commissions on the Status of Women of all four NU campuses. The University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Nebraska at Kearney and the University of Ne braska Medical Center worked with UNL to complete the study. Ann Mari May, vice chairwoman of the UNL commission, said the results were shocking. “I don’t think anyone realized we were as far behind as we are,” she said. The study covers a 10-year period from 1984-94. In 1984, UNL ranked seventh among its peers in the total percentage of women faculty, but fell to ninth in 1994. Purdue University and the University of Illinois rank below UNL. Women comprise 17.7 percent of UNL faculty, the study found; the average among its peer institutions is 21.2 percent. UNL would need to add 49 more female faculty members to meet the average. To lead its peers, the university would peed 210 more. UNL has only 28 female full pro fessors, the lowest number among its peers. There are 408 male full profes sors at UNL. Of the total 1,096 pro fessors at UNL, 194 are women. The report recommended that UNL be average among its peers by the year 2000. “We’re going to have to work very hard to be average,” May said. May said that to solve the problem, UNL would have to increase the num ber of women hired. “Women comprise 38 percent of all Ph.D.’s offered nationwide,” she said. “So if we want to recruit top women scholars, we must pay atten tion to gender equity.” Mary Beck, associate professor of animal science, said she was discour aged by the poor progress UNL had made in promoting women faculty and staff. “It’s a dismal picture,” she said. “It just was really discouraging to see that women at this university are not coming up through the ranks at the same rate men are.” But May said UNL had made some advances in hiring women. “I think they’ve been very success ful in hiring senior women adminis trators,” she said. “And now it would be appropriate for us to shift our focus and start focusing on women profes sors.” The commissions will present their report to the NU Board of Regents Feb. 18. May said each NU campus usually separately presented its an nual report to the regents, but that the importance of gender equity called for a joint report.