By Hugh Reilly
She grew up on the south side of Chicago, in the shadow of old
Comiskey Park. Her heroes were people like "Mr. Cub" Ernie Banks and the Bears'
Gale Sayers. She had two driving ambitions: one was to be a schoolteacher; the
other was to be a photographer and journalist.
Dr. Gail Baker,
though, says her greatest influence was her schoolteacher mother, who had the
foresight to push Baker and her sisters to high goals. "She insisted that we be
good students," Baker recalls. "More importantly, she urged us to constantly
work on becoming better people."
Other family shaped her, too. From her father, Baker learned to
appreciate sports and strategy and how to lose gracefully. Her sister Linda
"taught me to appreciate all types of music, art, museums and literature.
"Because she liked these things and I wanted to emulate her, I
became interested in classical music, the Art Institute of Chicago, the museums
and even the Adler Planetarium. She opened my mind to unlimited possibilities."
Her combined love of journalism and fine arts should serve Baker
well in her new job. Effective July 1 she becomes the dean of UNO's 1-year-old
College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media.
"UNO is a very impressive and vibrant university that takes its
metropolitan mission very seriously," Baker says. "There is a palpable sense of
positive momentum on the campus."
Much like Baker's career.
Her love of journalism began while she was in high school.
"I was impressed by the journalists of the day who fearlessly
covered the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement and the political turmoil of
the times," she says.
Her first experience was as editor of her high school yearbook,
for which she combined her writing skills with a flair for design to produce a
yearbook unlike anything her school had seen before. "At that point," says Baker,
"I was hooked."
She worked as an intern for the Chicago Daily Defender in high
school, later joining the paper as a reporter after graduating from college.
She has a bachelor of science degree in journalism from
Northwestern University, a master in marketing communication from Roosevelt
University and a doctorate in journalism from the University of
Missouri-Columbia.
Baker was an editor, city editor and reporter for the Chicago
Daily Defender and has worked in public relations for IBM and International
Harvester.
She comes to UNO from the University of Florida, where she was an
associate professor and department chair of the College of Journalism and
Communications, director of University Communications and vice president of the
University of Florida's Office of Public Relations. Previously she was a
faculty member and program director at the University of Missouri Columbia,
School of Journalism.
Baker is looking forward to joining the UNO family. "I have found
Omaha to be extremely gracious and very cosmopolitan—with a lively and dynamic
arts and cultural community," she says.
"I learned that Nebraska tends to be a dichotomy. People here seem
to be very vocal and engaged about things that matter to them. Ironically,
people are quietly modest about the high quality of living they enjoy. When
people ask me about Nebraska, I tell them, 'It's not what you think.'"
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Calendar of
Events: March-May
Performance
start at 7:30 p.m. in the UNO Theatre, Weber Fine Arts Building, unless
otherwise noted. For ticket information, call the UNO Theatre Box Office,
554-2335.
October
5-7, 11-14
Man of La Mancha
Nov.
16-18, 29 - Dec. 2
The Hamlet Project
Feb.
22-24, 28 - March 3
The Colored Museum
March
29-31
Student Showcase, location TBA
April
12-14, 18-21
Our Country's Good
