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Inside the March 2006 issue of FYI Carolina

UNC among partners joining to help deserving community college students
Carolina is among eight colleges and universities to join the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation in a $27 million partnership to help more community college students earn bachelor’s degrees from selective four-year universities and colleges. UNC will receive nearly $900,000 through the partnership, the largest ever created to give these students access to leading U.S. colleges and universities. Carolina’s participation will directly benefit students from area community colleges in Burlington, Durham and Raleigh.

School of Public Health first to launch center to promote healthier feeding for infants, young children
The School of Public Health has established a Center for Infant and Young Child Feeding and Care, the first center of its kind in a school of public health. The center will advance and support research and practices that enable mothers and families to succeed in healthier feeding of infants and young children and related maternal health and nutrition in North Carolina, in the United States and globally. An anonymous gift to the school that is part of the Carolina First Campaign made the new center possible.

National effort to promote higher education will premier during Tar Heel NCAA tourney broadcasts
Carolina is part of a partnership that has launched a national public outreach campaign designed to raise awareness about the role higher education plays in the country’s future. Solutions for Our Future aims to establish a dialogue with local communities and policy-makers about the broad societal benefits of higher education. The campaign includes national television public service announcements airing beginning Friday (March 16) on CBS and ESPN as part of coverage of the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball championships, both of which include the Tar Heels. The American Council on Education, along with nearly 400 colleges and universities and generous corporate sponsors, is leading the awareness campaign efforts.

New collection of photographs captures essence of life at Carolina
The history of the university is chronicled in a new book “Carolina: Photographs from the First State University,” which hits bookstores in early April. Published by the University of North Carolina Press in association with UNC Student Stores, the book features campus moments and scenes edited by Erica Eisdorfer, manager of the Bull’s Head Bookshop, and a foreword by Doris Betts, the legendary creative writing professor. In full color, 200 images are carefully arranged to follow a year in the life of the Carolina campus. Academics, athletics, student life, memorable moments, art, architecture, natural beauty — the book features all aspects of what it means to spend time in Chapel Hill.

Campus back to normal following Jeep attack in the Pit
The Carolina campus is quiet with Spring Break this week and returning to normal following a March 3 incident in which a suspect drove a rented Jeep into the Pit area shortly before noon. Police said the suspect, a December UNC graduate, acted alone. He remains in Central Prison on $5.5 million bond facing felony charges of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Authorities stress that their investigation indicates he acted alone.

The Power of Protein: Undergraduate’s research targets genetic diseases
Two genes fuse. A deadly disease is born. What happened? It’s a common question for scientists trying to understand genetic diseases. Ena, short for Enabled, is a protein that may play a role in the development of leukemia. Using fruit fly eggs, James Mahaffey, a senior biology student at Carolina and undergraduate researcher, studies the role Ena plays in embryo development. Since coming to Carolina, Mahaffey has worked three years in Professor Mark Peifer’s lab.

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