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April 18, 2005
Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:National Coverage
America's Best Value Colleges
The Princeton Review
We chose the schools that appear on our Top Ten Best Value Colleges list based on institutional data and student opinion surveys collected from colleges and universities from the fall of 2003 through the summer of 2004. Broadly speaking, the factors we weighed covered undergraduate academics, costs and financial aid.
Note: UNC-Chapel Hill was selected as a "best value" among 81 schools chosen for "America's Best Value Colleges, 2006 Edition" by The Princeton Review/Random House for outstanding academics, low-to-moderate tuition and fees, and generous financial aid packages. Carolina has appeared in this publication two years in a row.Presidential Panel Recommends Steps to Promote Computational Science
The Chronicle of Higher Education
A federal advisory committee called on universities and federal agencies on Thursday to reorganize themselves to promote multidisciplinary research using computers....."We have to think more strategically," said Daniel A. Reed, the chairman of the subcommittee of the panel that wrote the draft. "We have to work in a more-coordinated way," said Mr. Reed, who also is the vice chancellor for information technology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Subscription required.Safer, but Not Safe
Los Angeles Times
Todd Hart never had any qualms about his son playing high school football. Not once did they talk about the possibility of a serious injury....An annual survey conducted by the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina has tracked spinal cord injuries in football from 1977 through 2003, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jul04/muel070104.htmlWho reads Bellow?
The Chicago Tribune
Saul Bellow, who died last week at the age of 89, is considered one of the greatest American writers....Erin G. Carlston, an English professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: The truth is I dislike Bellow so don't teach him myself.
College Target Mental Health
Boston Globe
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, trained students staff an all-night hot line that fellow students call to talk about everything from stress to suicidal depression.....Emory University, the University of North Carolina, and MIT ask students to fill out anonymous mental health questionnaires. A credited course at the University of Maryland helps freshmen deal with stress and time management. Now about two-thirds of the nation's schools offer such courses.
Experts Say Americans Are Overmedicating
The Associated Press (National)
About 130 million Americans swallow, inject, inhale, infuse, spray, and pat on prescribed medication every month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates. Americans buy much more medicine per person than any other country.....Exercise and better diet ward off heart disease and diabetes just as effectively as drugs do, studies show. However, says Fred Eckel, who teaches pharmacy practice at the University of North Carolina, ''There tends to be a reliance on drugs as the first option.''
Registration required.Florida cracks down on mislabeled seafood products
Knight Ridder News Service
When dining out, Bill Houghton only orders seafood if it comes from his Madeira Beach fish company.....Last July, graduate students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for example, discovered 77 percent of red snapper samples from stores in eight states were actually other species.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jul04/marko071404.htmlHigher Learning: College students are on a spiritual quest
Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City)
The majority of college freshmen are searching for spiritual or religious meaning in their lives, but most say their colleges and universities are ill-equipped to help them find it, according to a new survey.....The findings come on the heels of another major study, released last month, on the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. Conducted at the University of North Carolina, that survey found that more than 80 percent of U.S. teens believe in God, and two-thirds attend religious services at least once a month.
State & Local Coverage
Poverty and the Health Care System
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM
In America, your life expectancy is seven years shorter if you're born into a family living beneath the poverty line. And, if you're born into poverty and are uninsured, chances are you'll live an even shorter life. Host Melinda Penkava speaks with Dr. Nortin Hadler, professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Chris Conover, professor of public policy at Duke, about the epidemiology of poverty, health insurance and wellness.
Note: This program rebroadcasts tonight at 9.North Carolina Voices: Understanding Poverty - The Latina Paradox
Edwards says focus is UNC post; skeptics think he's campaigning for '08
WUNC-FM
Health experts call it the "Latino Paradox": according to some researchers, newly arrived, poor Latino immigrants are often healthier than their economic status would suggest. But that's changing. Researchers are now finding that Latinos who've been in the U.S. for a while lose their healthy edge. Does being poor in this country make immigrants sicker in some ways and healthier in others?
Note: Deborah Bender, director of health policy and administration's undergraduate program in the School of Public Health, was interviewed for this segment.
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
John Edwards is all eye contact and broad smiles as he moves through the crowd of UNC students, shaking hands, nodding knowingly, making small talk.
6 new elm trees grow near New East
The Chapel Hill Herald
A slice of small-town New England has taken root in Chapel Hill....It is a small addition, the six new elm trees planted near New East residence hall just off Cameron Avenue in the heart of the UNC campus...."It's not just nostalgia. This tree has been recognized as the perfect urban tree," said Thomas Campanella, an assistant professor of city and regional planning at UNC who has written extensively on the elm.
Compensation is closer in case
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
One high-profile showdown to recover shareholders' lost money moved closer to resolution last week.....Tom Hazen, an expert in corporate law at UNC-Chapel Hill's law school, said he believes the terms of the research analyst settlement are fair to small investors.
Trip reveals complexity of Arab Muslims
The Charlotte Observer
Eight N.C. journalists listened intently to our translation headsets, eager to hear what an official with the Jordanian Ministry of Religion would say about the role of women in Islam.....UNC-Chapel Hill's journalism school arranged an exchange between N.C. and Jordanian journalists to promote the budding independence of Jordanian news media.
'Crossfire' co-host to speak on campus
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Paul Begala, co-host of CNN's debate show "Crossfire" and former adviser to President Bill Clinton, will speak to a special meeting of the UNC-Chapel Hill Young Democrats.
Strive for zero waste when moving out
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC students are not the only local residents who bust a move in the spring.....On campus, the UNC Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling will begin Zero-Waste Move Out the week beginning Monday.
The people's poetry
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Junebugs were on Kathryn Stripling Byer's mind one morning last week. "I woke up thinking that I need to write a poem for a really dear friend of mine, June Smith, who is throwing a party for me," she said....Glenn Kern is from Mebane, where his parents still live and where he graduated from Eastern Alamance High School. He is a sophomore linguistics major at UNC-Chapel Hill, and next year he'll study at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He has an older brother and a twin brother, who also goes to UNC.
Potter honors traditions
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
When Senora Lynch started to create pottery 13 years ago, she wanted to honor and celebrate her Native American traditions while also making the work her own.....Last year her work entered even newer territory when UNC-Chapel Hill selected her to create a public art piece for the plaza between the original building and the expansion of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union.
No surprise there (Letter to the Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The Pope Center for Higher Education Policy hires a consultant affiliated with an organization whose stated mission is to combat feminism on campus.
Apple Chill attendees can take up unusual offer-- HIV testing
The Chapel Hill Herald
Just as at previous Apple Chills, festival-goers Sunday are likely to buy some pottery or jewelry, eat Polish sausages and enjoy a variety of entertainment....Charles van der Horst, an infectious-disease physician at UNC, is offering the free, rapid testing to the public with results in about 30 minutes.
Issues & Trends
Faculty Salaries Rose 2.8%, but Failed to Keep Pace With Inflation for the First Time in 8 Years
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Faculty salaries lagged behind inflation this year for the first time in eight years, according to a new report by the American Association of University Professors.
Subscription required.UNC's search (Editorial)
The Charlotte Observer
UNC Board of Governors Chairman Brad Wilson has the best interests of both the university system and the general public in mind with his proposed plan to search for UNC President Molly Broad's successor.
Who will lead UNC? (Editorial)
News & Record (Greensboro)
Could Greensboro native Erskine Bowles become the next president of the University of North Carolina system?
UNC search should be as open as possible (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
Without sounding too self-serving here, let's hear it for Bradley Wilson, chairman of the UNC Board of Governors, and his plan for how to pick the next head of the university system.
Practical, and right (Editorial)
The Charlotte Observer
A coalition of Republicans and Democrats is backing far-sighted legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants who graduate after four years in North Carolina high schools to pay in-state tuition at UNC campuses or N.C. community colleges. They first would have to qualify for admission and apply for legal resident status.
Tuition Intuition (Editorial)
The Fayetteville Observer
Arguments about legislation granting in-state college-tuition rates to the children of illegal immigrants are growing bitter and the misunderstandings are mind-boggling. The legislation is straightforward and based on common sense.
Public schools seek fines collected on UNC campuses
The Associated Press (N.C.)
A lawsuit before the state Supreme Court argues that parking and library fines collected by public universities should go to the state's public schools, not the universities.
Wave of N.C. public records bills seek more exceptions
The Associated Press (N.C.)
Newspapers and other media get antsy when any bill is filed at the General Assembly that attempts to change Chapter 132 of the North Carolina statutes....Backers of a separate measure that contains many changes sought by the UNC Board of Governors are worried about the potential unintended consequences of the current law upon patients, state employees and donors.
On Centennial Campus, future begins to bloom
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
From its earliest days, Centennial Campus was called the future of N.C. State University -- a "technopolis" where faculty would work shoulder-to-shoulder with private researchers and government agencies....A master plan has been completed for Carolina North, a research park planned north of the main UNC-Chapel Hill campus.
UNCC insurance mandate?
The Charlotte Observer
UNC Charlotte is considering a requirement that all its students have health insurance.....But a $50,000 coverage is not much in the world of health care, noted Bob Wirag, director of student health service at UNC-Chapel Hill.
UNCC awaits money owed
The Charlotte Observer
If retiring UNC Charlotte Chancellor Jim Woodward were a bartender, he'd be signaling for last call.....The schools student-teacher ratio of 19 to 1 is among the system's highest. By comparison, the ratio for the system's two flagship research centers, UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State, is 15 to 1.
Produced by News Services, Carolina in the News is an e-mail sampling of current news media coverage about Carolina people and programs, as well as issues and trends that affect the university. Stories usually will be online and available free for a limited time - often one to two weeks. Expiration dates before stories move to archives vary by media outlet. Some outlets require free user registration or a subscription.
Carolina in the News is also posted daily to the News Services Web page, http://www.unc.edu/news/clips/index.shtml.
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