News Briefs

UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser has been selected by the NCAA as a member of the new task force that will explore the future of college sports.

The Presidential Task Force on the Future of Division I Intercollegiate Athletics is composed of presidents and chancellors from across the nation. It will address current challenges facing collegiate athletics.

The task force is divided into four subcommittees: implications of academic values and standards, fiscal responsibility, presidential leadership of internal and external constituencies, and student-athlete well-being. Moeser will sit on the fiscal responsibility subcommittee.

The presidential task force will meet for the first time June 10-11 in Tucson, Ariz.

Moeser, who became chancellor at Carolina in 2000, is a member of the NCAA’s CEO Group of Six, made up of leaders from each of the major athletic conferences and focused on issues relating to college athletics.

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Dr. Steven Rosefielde, an economics professor in UNC-Chapel Hill’s College of Arts and Sciences, has been accepted as an academic fellow by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) and is participating in an intensive 10-day program in Tel Aviv, Israel.

During the session, intelligence officials and diplomats from Israel, Jordan, India, Turkey and the United States are lecturing on how democratic states can combat the threat of terrorism. Participants also are visiting military bases and sites along borders of countries to learn the practical aspects of dealing with terrorists. The program began Sunday (May 29) and runs through June 8.

Rosefielde has been at UNC since 1970. He has conducted research on economic systems and global security for several years with the United States, Russian, Swedish and Japanese governments.

FDD is a non-profit, non-partisan organization in Washington, D.C., that educates Americans on the threat of terrorism.

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Dr. Robert Wirag, director of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Student Health Service, has been selected to receive the Edward Hitchcock Award from the American College Health Association (ACHA).

The award honors ACHA members who have made outstanding contributions to the health of college students. It will be presented Thursday (June 2) at the ACHA annual meeting in San Diego.

Wirag became director of Student Health Service in 1999 and served as ACHA president in 1990-91.

"It’s a very humbling experience," Wirag said. "It’s probably the greatest honor to be recognized by your peers for outstanding work. I never really saw myself as doing anything extra special, but obviously some people did."

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Two graduates of the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government’s municipal and county administration course have been recognized for their course efforts.

Donna L. Davis, Stanly County’s director of utilities, received the Edwin M. Gill Award. The award is given each year to the member of the county administration course who has the most distinguished record. Davis was one of 33 graduates of the course, which was first taught in 1964.

Jim Westmoreland, director of transportation for the city of Greensboro, was given the George C. Franklin Award during the municipal administration course graduation. The award is presented each year to the class member with the most distinguished record. Westmoreland was one of 65 public officials who completed the course this year.

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Tom Campanella, assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ department of city and regional planning, has been awarded the 2005 Spiro Kostof Award for his book, Republic of Shade.

Established in 1993, the award honors work that has made a significant contribution to the understanding of urbanism and its relationship with architecture and historical development. Campanella’s book will become of a part of the Society of Architectural Historians permanent collection. It will also be displayed in the Charnley-Persky House library in Chicago.

Campanella’s research has focused on the history and development of cultural landscapes with the urban-built environment. He has been involved in projects in China, Korea, Thailand and Hong Kong.

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Computer technology specialist Ray Idaszak has joined the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) as director of collaborative environments.

RENCI is a collaboration of UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University and NC State University that launched in 2004. The program was established to work with research institutes and government agencies in the development of technology for high-performance computing. This technology can then be used for research in the arts and sciences, engineering, humanities and commerce.

Idaszak joins the program after 11 years at Elumens, a company he co-founded. He remains a member of the company’s board of directors.

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News Services contact: Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093, lisa_katz@unc.edu