Meet The N&O’s new higher ed reporter, Jane Winik Sartwell
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- Jane Winik Sartwell is The N&O’s new Triangle higher ed reporter.
- She will cover campus issues across the Triangle, from UNC to community colleges.
- Sartwell invites tips and promises fair, accountable reporting.
Hello, North Carolina. I’m Jane Winik Sartwell, The News & Observer’s new higher education reporter. I’ll be informing you on what’s happening on campuses across the state.
This is a wild time for higher education. It’s a lot to keep up with. That’s why I’m here. I feel a deep sense of responsibility to produce fair, unbiased reporting on the issues affecting students, faculty, staff and leadership.
Where we live, it matters even more. The Triangle’s colleges and universities are integral to our area’s culture, economy and identity. That includes the big three — UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State University and Duke University — but also community colleges and smaller public and private colleges in our area.
In recent weeks, I’ve brought you stories on budget cuts, academic freedom, branding choices, Poe Hall contamination, undercover videos and UNC’s new syllabus policy. I also write a weekly higher education newsletter, Higher Stakes, which you can subscribe to here.
I’m from Baltimore originally. Both of my parents are college professors, so I grew up in part on college campuses. I attended Bard College in upstate New York, where I studied photography, working with large-format film cameras and spending hours upon hours in the darkroom.
Next, I headed to Columbia University, where I earned my master’s in journalism. I focused on New York City’s evolving approach to the opioid crisis, but also found time to take a sports reporting class. I profiled a fellow Columbia student who was an Olympic fencer and runway model, and got to attend New Jersey Devils hockey games. I’m a Canes fan, now, though.
After Columbia, I moved to Wilmington, NC, where I worked as a health and business reporter for Carolina Public Press. There, I produced an investigative series on dwindling health care services for pregnant women, which earned me an A-Mark Prize for Investigative Journalism. Previously, I worked at WETA, Washington’s local PBS station, and the Red Hook Daily Catch, a nonprofit news organization near Bard.
I moved to Raleigh in January, and I am so excited to be here at The N&O, surrounded by inspiring journalists. Getting to know this city has been a pleasure so far. I’ve also had the chance to explore the campuses I’ll be reporting on and meet with people on either side of the decisions and issues I’m writing about. I’m so curious about these institutions and the bright individuals that make them what they are, and I hope you are, too.
It’s my mission to make sure your education questions get answered. If you have a question, idea or tip, please feel free to email me at jane.sartwell@newsobserver.com.
That’s all for now. Thanks, as always, for subscribing and for your support.
