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COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901
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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.