Nebraska Today has partnered with the Chancellor’s Commission on the Status of Women to feature female office/service staff who go above and beyond in their work at Dear Old Nebraska U. This Women of Service series will run through the first week of April.
Every employee featured in this series was nominated by a member of the campus community.
Today, the series continues with Sabrina Ehmke Sergeant, a program coordinator and managing editor in the College of Law. A UNL alumna, she has been with the College of Law since 2022. Ehmke Sergeant sat down with commission members to discuss what drives her in her work and service to the campus community.
Tell us a little about yourself.
At the College of Law, I serve as the program coordinator for the Legal Analysis, Writing, and Research Program and as the managing editor for the Rural Reconciliation Project's online journal, Rural Review. I came to UNL more than 20 years ago as a graduate student in the English department and have been in Lincoln ever since. I'm from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, originally and first discovered Nebraska through Willa Cather's novels — she spent some time in Pittsburgh so is also considered a bit of a local writer there.
How long have you been at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln?
I started my graduate program in 2003 and graduated in 2011. I taught a couple of classes and worked at the Nebraska Press for a few years before leaving the university to take a job with the Nebraska Supreme Court. I returned to UNL in 2022.
What do you look forward to when you come to work?
I appreciate how both of my roles at the College of Law allow me to build on and further explore two significant areas of interest to me — pedagogy and writing/editing. I look forward to learning something new every day and am grateful that I get to work with people whose work inspires me. I also love the great friends I've made at the law college, and I enjoy our lunch breaks together.
What is your favorite memory at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln?
My favorite UNL memory must be meeting my husband! We both happened to enroll in a literature class in the fall of 2003, but we sat across the room from each other and didn't start talking until a mutual friend introduced us. I was brand new to Lincoln at that time and Eric was one of the first people I met. He was no doubt the reason Lincoln so quickly felt like my home.
What is your life like outside of work?
My husband and I live in downtown Lincoln with our very spoiled mini schnauzer, Juniper. who loves chasing squirrels on City Campus. So, I spend a good bit of time on campus even when I'm not at work. I'm a big reader and occasionally join too many book clubs, but I love talking to people about what they're reading and trading recommendations. I also got into the houseplant craze after the pandemic and spend a good bit of time trying to keep up with the 50-plus plants hogging the windows of our apartment.
What is something most people don't know about you?
I am a first generation American as my parents moved to the U.S. from Europe shortly before I was born. My family joke is that I got my Ph.D. in English because my parents are fluent, but imperfect English speakers and “someone” had to know how to speak the language correctly. I still visit my extended family in Belgium about once a year. I don't speak Flemish, and my German is seriously rusty, but I can still somewhat get by with the basics just from having grown up in a multilingual house.
