Faculty news
Print faculty expands;
Photo fills two-year vacancy

By Lindsay Henderson
J-School Web Reporter

The University of Montana School of Journalism has signed on two new faculty members.

Sheri Venema, visiting assistant professor for the past three years, will fill a new tenure-track line in the J-school print department, and Teresa Tamura will be joining the school in the fall as an assistant professor in the photo department.

Tamura got her undergraduate degree at Idaho State University in 1982. She went on to obtain her master’s at the University of Washington in art, with an emphasis on photography. While earning her master’s, she also worked 32-hour weeks as a staff photographer at The Seattle Times.

That’s when she learned the most about photography, she said.

"Daily deadline pressure and interpreting assignments with fresh eyes were ongoing challenges in the newspaper world," Tamura said. "Translating my thoughts and ideas into photographs, then getting direct feedback during classroom critiques gave me new perspectives from the art world."

Keith Graham, professor in the photo department of the J-school, is looking forward to Tamura’s understanding of both worlds.

"She is very thoughtful," Graham said. "I think she’ll make students think about what they shoot and how they approach subjects."

Tamura is excited to make the move from Hailey, Idaho, to Missoula. "On a scale of 1 to 10 —10 being the happiest — I feel 10-plus," she said.

She is looking forward to the intellectual challenge of teaching at a university as well as skiing, hiking and biking. "The area offers the best of both worlds,"she said.

Tamura replaces photo professor Jackie Bell, who left in 2000 to join the faculty at the University of Missouri. The position has been filled for the past two years by visiting professors Laura Camden and Erin Painter.

On the print side, Sheri Venema has taught a cafeteria selection of UM journalism classes in the last three years – media law, beginning reporting, news editing, feature writing, multicultural reporting and others – and started the Grizzly Journalism Camp, a summer camp for high school journalism students.

She completed her undergraduate degree in English and education at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1969. She earned a master’s degree in journalism at the University of Minnesota in 1983.
Venema’s first reporting job was in Norwich, Conn., where she covered nuclear-powered submarines. Her most recent newspaper job — in the late 1990s — was covering was the poultry industry in Arkansas, which she says was her favorite beat ever.

"In addition to pure business reporting, it had labor and environmental issues," she said. "Plus, I learned more about technology — how a 6-week old chicken becomes a chicken McNugget — than I thought possible."

In between submarines and chickens, Venema was a reporter and bureau chief at the Hartford (Conn.) Courant for six years. She first came to Montana in 1992 and taught as an adjunct in the J-school for three years. She returned in the fall of 1999 as a visiting professor.

This time, she plans to stay.

"We had a strong group of candidates and Sheri was outstanding among that group," said Carol Van Valkenburg, chair of the J-school’s print department. "She has great professional credentials but also a great record of teaching and service at UM. The faculty saw her as someone who continues to make strong contributions to both the school and the university."