Elected Board Members Bios and Statements

2009 Board Members:
Tom Fischer, Chair
Richard Gray, Vice Chair
Joann Brennan, Secretary
Nancy Stuart, Treasurer

Ruth Adams
Sama Alshaibi
Christina Anderson
Jeff Curto
Dornith Doherty
Cass Fey
Hannah Frieser
Michael Marshall
Arno Minkkinen
Betsy Schneider
Jim Stone
Nancy Stuart
William Tolan

All board members are elected for four-year terms. Nominations for board members are due by the end of April or early May to the national office. Elections take place in the fall. The election of board members is staggered, so each year some board members roll off the board while new members are elected.

Roll off schedule | Board Nominations info + bios | Recent Years of Board of Directors

BIOS AND STATEMENTS

RUTH ADAMS

Ruth Adams is an artist and educator, and has been an assistant professor of Photography and Digital Art at the University of Kentucky since the fall of 2000. She has been involved in SPE since 1998 and has been the treasurer for the Midwest Region for the last three years. Her work deals with issues of intimacy and privacy, approaching these issues through both self-portraiture and still life. She is best known for startling portraits of organics and loves combining new imaging technologies with the traditional sensibilities of a photographer. Ruth has exhibited nationally and internationally, won numerous awards and grants, and her photographs hang in numerous private and public collections such as Centro Cultural Pablo de la Torriente Brau, Ciudad de la Habana, Cuba, The Contemporary Art Museum of ZULIA, MACZUL, Maracaibo, Venezuela, the Robert A. Peck Arts Center, Riverton, Wyoming, the University of Kentucky, Truman State University, and the University of Miami. She holds an MFA in Photography and Digital Art from the University Of Miami, a BFA in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology, and a BS in Computer Science from Syracuse University. An experienced photographer, digital artist, and educator, Ruth has developed a reputation as a dynamic instructor and an innovative artist, and has enjoyed introducing students and patrons of the arts to the world of digital applications and traditional photographic possibilities.

I have been involved in SPE since my first year of graduate school. Initially, as a new photography student, taking advantage of the incredible learning experience of having my work reviewed by amazing photographers who could give me fresh vision on where my work was headed. Then later, by taking advantage of the wonderful opportunities to network, interview and job-hunt. Right from the start I found the organization and the conferences invaluable. Since graduating in 1999 I have continually increased my involvement in SPE. I have served in the Mentor program for graduating MFAs, have presented at the last two Midwest Regional conferences and been a portfolio reviewer for the last two National conferences. In addition, I have served as the Midwest Regional Treasurer for the last three years. Having degrees in Computer Science, Photojournalism and Fine Art Photography gives me multiple perspectives and this will help me bring to the board concerns from many of SPE’s diverse constituents. Also, being only 6 years out of graduate school allows me to be cognizant of both student and faculty issues and therefore will allow me to make sure we are addressing and servicing both groups. SPE is an invaluable, living organization that has grown and changed dramatically over its lifetime. I would like to be a part of the group that helps it to remain stable through the inevitable growing pains of this new digital age and helps plan for its diversification and exponential growth with the welcome addition of new media and video artists. It is my wish to take my involvement with SPE to another level through contributing my ideas and perspectives as a member of the national board.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2006)

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SAMA ALSHAIBI

Sama Alshaibi is assistant professor of photography at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Born in Basra, Iraq to an Iraqi father and Palestinian mother, and now a naturalized US citizen, Alshaibi’s recent works investigates “borderlands”, including her own hyphenated identity, as critical sites in both physical and psychological terms. A multi-media artist, Alshaibi’s works are widely exhibited internationally including South Africa, Palestine, Ireland, China, Jordan, Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia and the USA. Alshaibi received her MFA at University of Colorado (Boulder) in Photography, Video and Media Arts (2005).

As I face my yearly dues renewals for the various organizations I belong to, now more than ever I must take into account what the value of such a membership provides. What does SPE do for me? What does it do for the field, my students and for our collective future? I am running for this board to join an organization that already provides the much needed nucleus of photography education, with tremendous conferences held both regionally and nationally. What I hope to contribute is to increase the value of our membership throughout the year. My ideas include year-round member exhibitions juried by notable guest curators/artists, student scholarships to attend established artist-residency and workshop programs, and unique exchange and partner programs with other national and international organizations. I will work to increase our online presence that taps into the power and reach of the internet while having the ability to draw in new members, especially underrepresented groups and more students.

I am deeply committed to collective practice and exchange. In 2005 I, along with the other five members of the group, co-founded the 6+ women’s art collective. We are dedicated to exploring art as a cross-cultural vehicle, often inviting the participation of women artists from different parts of the world. I have also been teaching digital/traditional photography and video workshops in the Middle East, where instruction in these mediums is not as easy to come by as it is in the United States. I offer my mentorship and technology/art skills to young women and underrepresented students locally and abroad because I feel I have a responsibility that can best serve my field by ensuring that more are prepared to penetrate the ceiling of the art-related world. I would bring to SPE my own experiences working as an artist and educator in a transnational era, in which contemporary innovative ideas are paramount for organizations to stay viable and relevant.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2009)

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CHRISTINA Z. ANDERSON

Christina Z. Anderson is an Assistant Professor of Photography at Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana. She earned a BA in French at the University of Minnesota, and two degrees-painting and photography--at Montana State University. Her MFA is from Clemson University, South Carolina, where she studied under alternative process mentor, Sam Wang. She teaches experimental, alternative process, and documentary photography classes at MSU. She has written three books: Tutti Nudi: Reflections on the Reemergence of the Nude During the Italian Renaissance, The Experimental Photography Workbook, and Alternative Processes, Condensed. In the works is a book on the gum bichromate process. Christina's work, which has been in exhibitions nationally as well as Europe, China, and New Zealand, centers on themes of the social and/or spiritual landscape expressed in alternative and experimental methods of image making.

I came to photography by way of a painting degree in 1996 and was instantly hooked. This freshness of perspective toward the medium is an asset to my serving on the SPE board. I am enthusiastic about photography, both historical and contemporary, and about conveying that enthusiasm in an academic setting. I have organizational and discernment skills, or so I am told, that would serve SPE well as a board member. I don't have any particular agendas at this time, preferring to sit back and listen for a while in order to represent a larger constituency. SPE is an incredible networking organization. If I were to express one hope, it would be that SPE remains ecumenical in its approach, reaching out to photo educators in all walks. In that regard, I would love to see SPE conferences grow in pedagogical sharing so that attendees can bring back to their workplaces more practical methods of sharing the art. I would love to see more heated, informal, theoretical discussions carried out at the hotel wine bar! Forget the analog vs. digital debate-that is so "24 hours ago". I say that somewhat tongue-in-cheek as a professor who teaches historical processes with state of the art digital negative techniques. SPE has been and should continue to be a breeding ground for future trends, with a motto of "You heard it from us first". A bit of humor, of course, always helps.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2008)

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JOANN BRENNAN

Joann Brennan is Chair of the Visual Arts Department and Associate Professor of Photography at the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center. For the past fifteen years Joann’s photographic work has explored the complex relationship between wildlife and human concerns. In the spring of 2003 Brennan was named a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Before arriving in Denver Joann taught photography and digital imaging at The School of Art and Design/Alfred University in Alfred, New York and Princeton University in New Jersey. She is an active member of the Society for Photographic Education, serving on committees for the national board and participating in regional conferences. Joann was co-founder of Progetto Perugia, a studio art program in Perugia Italy. She received her BFA and MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, MA. Selected exhibitions and publications include, International Fototage, Contemporary American Photography, Mannheim/Ludwigshafen, Germany, Paradise Paved, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA, Princeton University Art Museum, Center for Photography at Woodstock New York, European Photography Magazine and Photo Review.

During the keynote address at the 2005 SPE conference in Portland Oregon, Barry Lopez asked us all to consider the meaning of citizenship, charity and devotion to ones work in our roles as artists, scholars educators and professionals in artistic fields. As I sat at the edge of my seat breathing in every word of that keynote address I was reminded again of what a terrific and vital organization SPE is. SPE has helped to define and expand the role of photography and media arts in contemporary culture while inspiring critical dialogue that has shaped artistic education both nationally and internationally. I first joined SPE over 15 years ago when I was in graduate school studying photography and since that time I have attended national and regional conferences across the country. I have served as the chair, secretary and treasurer of the northeast and southwest region. I have served as a committee member on the conference committee and portfolio review committee for the Las Vegas national conference. I have given panel presentations and imagemaker talks for many national and regional SPE conferences. In the fall of 2004 I co-chaired a very successful and exciting regional conference titled “The Educated Eye” for the southwest region. I am an enthusiastic supporter of the goals and mission of SPE and believe that as an organization SPE inspires citizenship, charity and devotion to one’s work. I would welcome an opportunity to be elected to the National Board and would work with great enthusiasm to ensure an exciting future for the organization and help to create fantastic opportunities and experiences for SPE members.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2006)

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JEFF CURTO

Jeff Curto is Coordinator and Professor of Photography at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, where he has taught since 1984. He earned a BFA from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1981 and an MFA from Bennington College in 1983. A collected and published fine art photographer, Curto’s history also includes commercial photography and jobs as a custom color and B&W printer. He also produces two popular photography podcasts, Camera Position and History of Photography.

Photography is changing before our eyes, and so are photographers, photo students and photo educators. I believe SPE must change as well.

The conferences, portfolio review sessions, networking and publications that SPE produces have helped many of us become better artists and educators. Yet SPE still has a “rep” with a lot of photo teachers as an organization that isn’t as much about education as it is about what they see as “art posturing.” In recent years, we seem to have done a better job of talking about teaching as much as we talk about art and I’d like to help continue that trend.

Let’s face it: no matter how noble the goal, most of the students we graduate will not find the full-time teaching position or the gallery representation they seek. There is a huge, gaping hole in the way in which SPE positions itself relative to what the majority of its members will do with their lives in photography. I’d like to see our organization take a leadership role in helping our members understand the pragmatic nuances of the business of the medium as both art and commerce so they have a better chance of having financially viable careers in photography.

Always a democratic medium, photography is now staggeringly popular. The thousands of photographers who buy a digital camera, put some pictures on Flickr and enter “picture of the day” contests have a notion of “learning photography” that is very different from ours. Most of them look at AFA, AAS, BFA, MFA and SPE as a mere collection of letters and yet, many of them are successful photographers without the backgrounds that most of us have had.

I would like to see SPE bring this enormous group of people in under the tent-flap to show them our “fine art photographer and education support network” and help them learn what we know about photographic art practice, education, connoisseurship, history, critical and cultural theory.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2009)

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DORNITH DOHERTY

Dornith Doherty is Professor of Photography at the University of North Texas. She is an active member of the Society for Photographic Education, serving on committees and participating in national and regional conferences. Her photographs exploring the complex relationship between the natural environment and human agency have been featured in over 65 national and international exhibitions and are included in the collections of institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Milwaukee Museum of Art; and the Museet Fotokunst, Denmark. A recipient of grants from the Fulbright Foundation, the Japan Foundation, the United States Department of the Interior, the Indiana Arts Commission, and the Society for Contemporary Photography, Doherty received a B.A. cum laude in Spanish and French language and literature at Rice University, and a M. F. A. in photography from Yale University. Her work is represented by Holly Johnson Gallery in Dallas, Texas, and McMurtrey Gallery in Houston, Texas.

I've been an active member of the Society for Photographic Education since 1996, and particularly value its role in fostering discussions about both theory and practice. For so many of us who photograph and teach, the society has been an excellent resource, and I believe its influence will only increase as our visual and technological culture continues to expand in new ways. In the last twelve years, I have served SPE in various capacities and would appreciate the opportunity to contribute further as a member of the National Board. I was on the Peer Review committee for the 2008 national conference and am currently serving on the Local Committee for the 2009 national conference. I’ve co-chaired or presented at three national conferences and five regional conferences as well as speaking in the Academic Practicum (dossier) workshop in 2005. I participated as a portfolio reviewer and mentor at the 2002 and 2003 national conferences; served on the Peer Review committee in 2001; and chaired the Silent Auction Committee in 1996. Those activities, as well as my involvement in the Dallas art community, have made me a strong believer in collaboration and in the importance of SPE. I have hands-on experience designing projects, developing programs in contemporary and traditional practice and theory, generating publicity and cultivating donors. If elected, I would like to devote my time and energy to fundraising as well as the expansion of SPE’s national and international reach through its conference activities and website.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2009)

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CASS FEY

Cass Fey has been curator of education at the Center for Creative Photography, located at the University of Arizona, for the past ten years. Her love of photography started in the darkroom as an undergraduate studio and art history major at the University of New Hampshire and, while in graduate school, she relished passing that enthusiasm on to middle and high school students. Today, as a museum educator, she uses the center’s galleries and print viewing area as classrooms to encourages, faculty, students and the general public to explore the infinitely enriching ways in which artists communicate their ideas through photography. This experience continues to broaden her understanding of the history, applications and possibilities of photography as a medium of creative expression.

She mentors students in the fields of photography, art history and museum education and recently facilitated a showing of advanced photography student work at the center. She has been an active member of SPE, serving on the Publications Committee from 1998-2002. She has presented talks and moderated panels at every national conference since 1999 and has offered additional sessions at Southwest regional conferences. At SPE 2002 - Las Vegas she moderated a panel discussion on the Garry Winogrand Game of Photography and at SPE 2003 - Austin she gave an overview of Lauren Greenfield’s Girl Culture, an exhibition and book project for which she created a comprehensive electronic faculty guide. This educational resource is part of her series of online faculty guides that invite educators across the curriculum to introduce their students to the work of Lisette Model, Aaron Siskind, Max Yavno, Ansel Adams, Hansel Mieth, Otto Hagel, Danny Lyon, Lynn Davis, Tseng Kwong Chi and Debby Fleming Caffery, among others. She served on the organization committee for the 1999 national conference in Tucson and also co-presented a session on Writing and Photography with her frequent collaborator, the head of the Honors College Composition Program at the University of Arizona. She is a member of the National Art Education Association, has presented several sessions at their national conferences and published the instructional resource, Examining the Art of Photography, in their professional journal in 2002. She is interested in serving on the SPE board because she greatly values the organization’s resources and network of talented individuals throughout the field and she would like to contribute her experience as a teacher, museum educator, program facilitator and student mentor. If elected, she would bring the unique perspective of using museums and original photographic works as educational tools to her active participation in the leadership of SPE.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2004)

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TOM FISCHER

Since earning his MFA at Stanford University in 1987, Tom Fischer has been a teacher and an artist. He is currently a professor of photography and department chair at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Tom has also served as dean of the school of media arts where he managed the academic operations of eight departments with more than 70 professors and 2200 students. His work is held in numerous public and private collections and has been shown in more than 60 exhibitions in galleries and museums in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Tom has received numerous honors for his work, but he is most proud of the collaborative educational, environmental, and community projects that he has organized in recent years. They include historic preservation and documentary projects in the U.S. and Europe, photo management for the Olympic Games, and photo documentation of environmental issues in the western states. His creative teaching and collaborative educational projects have resulted in three nominations for the CASE, US Professor of the Year. Tom has been a member of SPE since 1985.

The Society for Photographic Education is my favorite organization. It has provided my students and me with information, resources and inspiration. I now find myself in a position to contribute time and energy to the institution that I have enjoyed so much in the past 20 years. If given the privilege to serve on the board I can only promise a positive attitude and a willingness to work as many hours as it takes to achieve the goals of the membership. I do have significant skills in administration that will be valuable as the SPE enters what I see as a period of refinement and growth. I envision opportunities for enhanced intra- and interorganizational communication, expansion of the SPE’s advocacy for education and the arts, redefinition of the nature of student membership, and development of new programs. I commend the current leadership of the SPE for the positive direction of the organization. The society functions well as a gathering place for the exchange of ideas on the various significant topics of teaching, history, theory, and practice. We are on the right track and I would like to be elected to the board to put my creative organizational skills to good use.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2006)

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HANNAH FRIESER

Hannah Frieser is the director of Light Work, a non-profit organization in Syracuse, NY, dedicated to the support of emerging and underrepresented artists working in photography and related media. Hannah has worked with SPE for over twelve years. Having held many responsibilities within the organization, including onsite conference coordinator at SPE’s national conferences and membership registrar, she continues to bring her expertise to SPE's newsletters and website. She was recently chosen to co-chair an SPE national conference with Miriam Romais, executive director of En Foco. The conference, tentatively scheduled for 2010, will focus on diversity and multiculturalism. Hannah is a photographer and book artist, who draws her inspiration from her mixed cultural heritage of being German-Hispanic. Her work can be found on her website at www.hannahfrieser.com.

Statement
Stepping into SPE’s national office as an undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Arlington, I had no way of knowing that this was to be a life-altering moment; yet over a decade later I still feel as excited about SPE as I did on that first day. Volunteering in the office with then executive director Lee Hutchins opened my eyes to the importance of this organization that provides a network of colleagues, friends, expertise, and shared enthusiasm for photography. I went from volunteer to conference staff, to onsite coordinator at the national conferences, membership registrar, and news/web editor. Along the way I have made some of the best friends imaginable. Having just attended my thirteenth national conference (in a row), I am thrilled to see the momentum that is building up within the organization. Through the commitment and vision of the national office and the board of directors, SPE now enjoys financial stability and the capacity for healthy growth. Many important changes have already come to pass. The new corporate identity has put a fresh face on the organization, and soon these changes will be reflected in SPE’s website and publications, while exposure has already been completely redesigned. A national conference planner was hired, and many changes behind the scenes have had a considerable impact. This is a great time for SPE. 

What I bring to SPE is great enthusiasm, organizational skills, administrative experience, and familiarity with just about every aspect of SPE from the national office to the conferences, publications, and the website. As member of the board I will work to create a strategic plan, explore grant writing, expand the website’s functionality, and address our members’ changing needs. I will participate in shaping SPE, so that it can remain vital to the next generation of photographers, many of whom are working entirely within the digital realm. I will support SPE in its commitment to diversity and explore possibilities of collaborations with other organizations, and I will continue to support SPE as one of the most important organizations in art photography and education.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2007)

RICHARD GRAY

Richard Gray is Associate Professor of Photography in the Department of Art, Art History & Design and Director of the Center for Creative Computing at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana. Richard's artwork explores the relationship between photography, technology and human identity with an interest in the role science plays in redefining the contemporary self. He has taught photography and exhibited his photographs in the United States, Canada and Germany for twenty-five years. Richard's current project Human Factors was exhibited at the U. S. Government Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia, 2006; and Internationale Fototage Festival, Mannheim, Germany, 2005. Human Factors is included in the Midwest Photographers Project at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago. Richard has received regional fellowships from Arts Midwest/National Endowment for the Arts and the Indiana Arts Commission. He has served on the Board of Trustees for the South Bend Regional Museum of Art, South Bend, IN. Richard received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York.

For nearly four decades, SPE has been a premier organization dedicated to fostering the creative and intellectual development of photographers, artists and educators. Photographic practice has evolved dramatically during this time to encompass all visual arts, including many new interdisciplinary approaches, technologies and theoretical positions. SPE has responded with initiatives and programming that have addressed many of these concerns. As a national board member I am interested in seeing that SPE continue to be a vital forum for all the varied perspectives on photographic image-making that have made it so successful. Our organization should reflect the diverse community of professionals and students that it serves. I am also interested in working to expand SPE’s constituency to include other artists who work with photographs, enlarging the dialogue of how camera-based images can function within the larger context of the visual arts. Photographic education too has changed and it will be important for us to continue to debate the ways we come to educate our students in an ever-changing visual and technological culture. I have participated in SPE for about 20 years during which time I have been both a regional and national conference presenter, portfolio reviewer and peer reviewer for the 2002 Las Vegas conference. Over the years I have come to value greatly both the friends I have made at SPE and the creative individuals that have inspired me in this organization. I would very much enjoy serving the SPE membership and will work hard to contribute to our future. See you in Austin!
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2003)

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MICHAEL MARSHALL

Michael Marshall is an Associate Professor and Area Chair of Photography at the University of Georgia, in Athens. He has been an active member of SPE since 1997 serving as the vice-chair of the southeast region for the past three years, and chairing two regional SPE conferences (southwest in 1998, southeast in 2004). He received an SPE conference scholarship as a graduate student at Arizona State University and has given lectures on his work at three national SPE conferences since then. For the past ten years his work has explored the intersections of science and the left brained sensibility of intuition and emotion, a mirror of his undergraduate degrees in Physics and Studio Art. Over that time the work has evolved from delicate platinum prints to his current mixed media constructions of digital printing, encaustic and wood. This innovative work has been widely exhibited with five solo exhibitions in 2007 including Atlanta, Philadelphia and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Germany.

SPE inspires what I value in a community through citizenship and service, expression, inspiration, the resources of information and invaluable friendships. I am excited about the positive direction of SPE's recent growth, and even more inspired by its potential. Through my administrative experience I have developed skills in the complex processes of dialogue, planning and execution necessary to contribute to a large organization. The wide range of our constituency from darkroom to digital, students to professionals, and inspiration to practical matters of our working process, makes this an exciting and challenging environment that is continually evolving. The Internet remains a far under-utilized tool for this organization with the potential to make available the wealth of knowledge, history, resources and exchange that our membership encompasses. It is a challenging time of growth, integrating new media and new technology while seeking institutional support for the traditions of our craft. I would be honored to be on the SPE board, to use my experience to serve and support the advocacy of education and the arts, and the continued growth of this organization.

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ARNO MINKKINEN

Arno Rafael Minkkinen is a Finnish American photographer, essayist, educator and curator. His teaching career has been extensive and international in scope; currently he is Professor of Art at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and docent at the University of Art & Design Helsinki.

Along with worldwide exhibition and publication of his self-portrait work, his monographs include: Frostbite (1978), Waterline (Aperture, 1995, Rencontres d'Arles Book Prize), Body Land (Motta, 1997), and SAGA: The Journey of Arno Rafael Minkkinen: Thirty-Five Years of Photographs (Chronicle, 2005) with essays by Allan Lightman, A.D. Coleman, and Arthur C. Danto. The SAGA exhibition returns to America from a European and Canadian tour in 2009.

I have often felt that if I stopped photographing I would stop teaching. The opposite scenario-if I stopped teaching, creative output would diminish-also rings true. Perhaps you sense this connection too between our tandem roles as researchers and educators, that seeing and teaching feed upon each other, like two friends climbing a mountain, each one taking turns to pull the other one up. In the early seventies, I studied with Callahan and Siskind, as did many lucky students during those short years they collaborated at RISD. I always felt that the passion that each had for photography also applied (certainly Aaron, but Harry too) to their outlook on teaching. The way Harry put it was simple: teaching "nourished" his vision. His vision, in turn, nourished us.

Teaching art is making it. Being a member of SPE-as I have been more often than not-over the past 30 years has allowed me to dedicate my career to that inseparable need and desire to be both a maker of images and an image educator.

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BETSY SCHNEIDER

Betsy Schneider is Assistant Professor of Art at Arizona State University.  Her work is collected and exhibited nationally and internationally, and addresses issues of culture, childhood, time, taxonomies and the body. It utilizes a wide range of formats, from APS to large format, and takes a number of forms, from large inkjet prints to machine c-prints to video installation. An article on her work was featured in the Spring 2005 issue of exposure. She has presented and reviewed portfolios at regional SPE conferences and served as a mentor at two national conferences. She has lived in Prague, Copenhagen, London and Trondheim, Norway, is a member of the Association of Fine Art Photographers in Norway, is Chair of the Board at The International School of Arizona and teaches a winter break photography course in London. She attended the University of Michigan (BA), the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (BFA) and Mills College (MFA).

Statement
Never before has educating people to be visually literate, critical and creatively engaged with imagemaking been a more important career. This applies not only in the art and photography worlds, but also in the wider culture and society. At the same time, the demands now in both art and education are greater than ever; there are more of us and we face an increased market mentality towards everything from art spaces to university education. This has increased the sense of individualism, isolation and competition. The need for SPE's strong community and engaged non-commercial support of the creation of and exchange of ideas around photography has never been more vital.

I would very much welcome the opportunity to use my skills, energy and ideas to be a part of the board community working to help SPE continue to be a strong and relevant organization. As a board member I would work to help SPE increase its international membership and involvement with international concerns. I'd also like to see SPE take a more active role in helping emerging artists by offering alternatives to the expensive juried shows and portfolio reviews. I'd like to see SPE sponsoring or supporting publications of member work and reaching out to make the organization more accessible to adjuncts and others outside institutions. (Source: SPE Election Slate 2007)

NANCY STUART

Nancy Stuart is Executive Vice President and Provost at the Cleveland Institute of Art. She earned her PhD from SUNY Buffalo Graduate School of Education in 2005. Her dissertation entitled: The History of Photographic Education in Rochester, N.Y. 1960-1980 was based on oral histories collected from twenty-six photographers and teachers who worked or studied in the upstate area. An excerpt was published in the spring 2006 issue of exposure. She is one of six (volume) editors for the fourth edition of the Focal Press Encyclopedia of Photography due to be released in 2007.  Nancy first taught photography at Lansing Community College (1975-1984) then Rochester Institute of Technology (1984-2002), which included numerous administrative positions within the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences. Her latest photographic project DES Stories: Faces and Voices of People Exposed to Diethylstilbestrol was published by Visual Studies Workshop Press in 2001. She currently serves on the board of directors of The Friends of Photography at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Statement
SPE has been a part of my professional and creative life for my entire career. I have witnessed its growth and transformation as an organization while it has contributed to my own growth as an imagemaker, educator, and administrator. My SPE service involvement to date has been modest. I have co-chaired a regional conference in the past, served as a mentor at a national conference, and recently presented at a regional in Columbus. After years of teaching at the college level, my current work is primarily in college administration.  At this time I have extensive experience coupled with increased flexibility in my time commitments. I am hoping to contribute back to the organization that has meant so much to me. At my current school I am responsible for a $14 million dollar annual operating budget, 72 full-time professional staff and 45 full-time faculty members teaching in sixteen disciplines. I feel I can have a positive impact on the board through my skills in budgeting, strategic planning, fundraising and communication. 
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2007)

JIM STONE

Jim Stone is Associate Professor of Photography at the University of New Mexico and has been involved with SPE since 1975. His photographs have been exhibited and published internationally, and collected by the Museum of Modern Art, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among many others. He is author or co-author of four books, A User's Guide to the View Camera, Darkroom Dynamics, A Short Course in Photography (with Barbara London), and Photography , 8th Edition (London, Upton, Stone, Kobré, Brill), that are in wide and continued use for university-level courses. There have been three monographic books of his photographs, Stranger Than Fiction (Light Work, 1993), Historiostomy (Piltdown Press, 2001), and Why My Pictures are Good (Nazraeli Press, 2005).

Statement
Long ago I was offered a contract to write a photography textbook that, eventually, I actually completed. I sought advice about contracts from a friend with experience in publishing. He told me to look for what wasn't there. Although not easy to follow, it was very good advice.

What isn't there, in SPE, is enough information. Now that the conferences are dependably well-run, and exposure has turned into the journal we deserve, the organization's efforts should be directed toward mining the information potential of its membership. We, the instructors, and our students and potential students should be able to find, through our website, where one can study photography in Minnesota, who were Harry Callahan's or Nathan Lyons' graduate students in 1976, or whether last year's posted faculty position search at Arizona State University was filled.

We need a wiki—a website to which any member can easily contribute—to capture an anecdotal history of the organization and the field before any more of it is lost. The currently available lists of founders, conferences, and board officers is a good starting place. I would like to help move the organization in this direction by serving on its board.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2007)

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WILLIAM TOLAN

William Tolan’s work has been widely exhibited and is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Fogg Art Museum, the Milwaukee Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others. He received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Photography from New York University and his Masters of Fine Arts from Arizona State University; he currently teaches at Austin Community College and St. Edward's University and serves on the Board of Directors of the Texas Photographic Society. Tolan was the Assistant Director of The Light Factory in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a photo editor in New York City. He has taught extensively. A complete résumé can be viewed online at williamtolan.com. Tolan recently coordinated and moderated the panel discussion entitled “The New Workflow: Educational Institutions Transitioning to Digital” at SPE's National Conference in Portland, Oregon, and was a portfolio reviewer there as well.

We are currently going through tremendous changes in the making and teaching of photography. SPE can be an important resource for all of us as we make the transition from traditional to digital photography. I've been a member of SPE for over 15 years, and even before that an issue of exposure inspired and informed my becoming a teacher of photography: the 1980 Fall & Winter special double issue on education. I believe the national and regional conferences of SPE are vital to the organization’s mission and interaction with its constituents. But SPE has a broader reach, both nationally and internationally, through its publications and website. SPE’s website, especially, should serve as a larger resource in our efforts to be the best educators and students we can be in these changing times. If elected to serve on the Board, I will focus my main efforts on helping grow both exposure and spenational.org. My experiences with other non-profit organizations have made me acutely aware of the importance of development; therefore, I will also join in efforts to establish an SPE Foundation that would ensure good fiscal health through lean times and encourage growth. Through the years SPE has been an inspiration to me, a source of community. It would be an honor to be able to give back to an organization that has meant so much to me.
(Source: SPE Election Slate 2006)

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