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April 17, 2006
Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:International Coverage
Bush battles to save Rumsfeld
Financial Times (United Kingdom)
President George W. Bush yesterday issued a vigorous defence of Donald Rumsfeld, his embattled defence secretary. ...Richard Kohn, a military historian at the University of North Carolina, said that the criticisms were the most significant attack on a defence secretary by retired officers since the Vietnam war.
Related Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1753854,00.html?gusrc=rssParadise lost, and regained
The Vancouver Sun (Canada)
It's not only science that can lead one down the primrose path. Sure, battles between science and religion have been front and centre of late, and, while a commitment to scientific method doesn't necessarily preclude belief in God, there is precious little empirical evidence for the existential claims of theology. ...But (Bart) Ehrman, now chairman of the religious studies department at the University of North Carolina, soon found it more and more difficult to believe. And his faith was ultimately lost, not from reading the words of science, but from reading the Word of God -- the Bible, the very document that gave him his faith in the first place.
Coal-diesel 'breakthrough' in US
The Times (London)
A new technique for converting coal into diesel has been developed in the US, creating the potential for cleaner and more efficient fossil fuels (Mark Henderson writes). Scientists at Rutgers University in New Jersey and the University of North Carolina said that the two-step chemical process, to produce liquid fuels that are suitable for use in motor vehicles, could be used to reduce the US reliance on foreign oil.
Related Link: http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2006/04/13/coal-diesel-20060413.html
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/apr06/brookhart041106.htmNational Coverage
Civilians Reign Over U.S. Military by Tradition and Design
The New York Times
This week, as the chorus of retired generals demanding Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation grew larger and louder, Gen. Peter Pace stood beside the embattled defense secretary and did what some experts say is his military duty. ...Richard Kohn, a historian at the University of North Carolina who has studied the civilian control issue for 40 years, said he largely agrees with the generals' view of the war and is no admirer of Rumsfeld.
Growing ranks of ex-generals bash Rumsfeld
Tribune Newspapers
A recent surge in public criticism of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld by retired military leaders is the culmination of months of intense but largely private debate among active-duty officers about how best to voice dissent over Bush administration policies, according to officers involved in the discussions. ... "There was a deep bitterness over Vietnam and the way the [service] chiefs had been co-opted," said Richard Kohn, a military historian at the University of North Carolina who oversaw McMaster's work on the book.
Related Link: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=nation_world&id=4084765The Bible As Literature
CBS Sunday Morning
It is, from a marketing standpoint, a publishing miracle. ...Bart Ehrman sees it all the time. He's a University of North Carolina professor and Biblical scholar, who says by the time many students get to his course they're behind already.
Related Link: http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060416/
COLUMNISTS0402/604160401/1106/NEWSChristian mavericks find affirmation in ancient heresies
The Christian Science Monitor
When the Rev. John Buehrens gives his Easter sermon this Sunday, he'll borrow a page from an unlikely source: the Gospel of Judas. ..."The Christianity of the ancient world was even more diverse than it is today," says Bart Ehrman, a religious studies professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a former fundamentalist Christian turned self-described "happy agnostic" - someone who claims it cannot be known if God exists.
Related Links: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/13/AR2006041301725.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/15/AR2006041500969.htmlChapter and verse
The Boston Globe
Imagine your surgeon assuring you, just before your heart bypass, that she had just learned some cutting-edge techniques in a book called ''Frankenstein" and was good to go in the operating room. You would nod politely, then lunge for the phone and switch HMOs. ...In ''Misquoting Jesus," the University of North Carolina's Bart D. Ehrman tackles the New Testament, pondering a question that toppled this onetime fundamentalist from his high chair of religious certainty onto the hard floor of agnosticism: How can the Bible be the literal and inerrant word of God when we don't have his original words?
Related Link: http://www.news-reporter.com/news/2006/0413/Opinion/024.htmlSacred scrutiny
The Dallas Morning News
Christians will fill churches today to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, as reported in the New Testament. But outside church walls, sacred Christian texts are under assault from scholars and in popular culture. ..."Most of the differences don't matter, but some of the differences are huge," said Bart Ehrman, chairman of the department of religious studies at the University of North Carolina and the author of Misquoting Jesus, a book that suggests sections of the New Testament were changed over the early centuries of Christianity.One Borrowed Share, but One Very Real Vote
The New York Times
Some investors seem to be taking advantage of a loophole in financial regulations to cast shareholder votes that are far out of proportion to the number of shares they actually own, a new academic study suggests. The study, entitled "Vote Trading and Information Aggregation," has been circulating in academic circles for several months. Its authors are the finance professors Susan E. K. Christoffersen of McGill University in Montreal, Christopher C. Geczy and David K. Musto of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Adam V. Reed of the University of North Carolina.
FDA approves Insulin device for diabetics
The Wall Street Journal
The Food and Drug Administration approved a combination insulin pump and glucose monitor system, offering a way for some Type 1 diabetes patients to avoid dangerous episodes of hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, and reduce their risk of a host of complications and death. ...John B. Buse, director of diabetes care at the University of North Carolina and vice president of the American Diabetes Association, says 24-hour-a-day blood-sugar monitoring represents a huge advance. "Personally, I have had two patients who I'm convinced died from hypoglycemia," says Dr. Buse.
Americans thirst for bottled water
USA Today
Our love affair with bottled water is no fling: It's a growing, long-term relationship. ...First, the most popular brands don't contain fluoride, which is important for dental health. Most fluoridated tap water — despite reports of a few local systems with too much natural fluoride — provides a safe and effective amount, says Jack Stamm, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry and a spokesman for the American Dental Association.
Note: News Services has asked the newspaper to correctly note the source was John Stamm, former dentistry school dean.Physical activity could keep teens out of trouble
The Miami Herald
If you've got teens at home, now may be a good time to encourage them to get moving. And, while you're at it, go ahead and join them. ...''We already know that it's important for kids to be physically active in order to protect against being overweight and developing future cardiovascular disease,'' said Penny Gordon-Larsen, Ph.D., study co-author and assistant professor of nutrition at the Schools of Public Health and Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/adolescentped033006.htmOn Immigration, Americans Show Range of Views
"All Things Considered," National Public Radio
James Johnson, UNC-Chapel Hill's Kenan- Flagler Business School professor, was featured on Friday's (April 14) edition of "All Things Considered." How are U.S. citizens reacting to the sudden rise in immigrants' numbers and aspirations? Some are enraged about broken borders and the rule of law. But many simply accept the phenomenon -- and quite a few are positive about it.
Aerotropolis: Airport city is difficult to get off the ground
The Detroit Free Press
Will an aerotropolis fly? ..."There needs to be a branding of the area, which will require gateway entrances and basically the type of architecture and landscape design that will let people know they're going into the aerotropolis and not just any other area," said John Kasarda, director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina and the nation's leading authority on the aerotropolis.
New Way to Make 'Green Diesel' From Coal
FoxNews.com
Scientists have improved the technique for transforming coal into "green diesel," potentially making the process economically feasible to bring the fuel to a pump near you. ..."Many people in the energy sector think that when oil starts to run out, coal will be a source of transportation fuel for some time before we perfect the science behind solar and hydrogen-based energy," said Maurice Brookhart, a chemist at the University of North Carolina.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/apr06/brookhart041106.htmGifts and Bequests
The Chronicle of Higher Education
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. To help renovate Memorial Hall, the university's main performing-arts auditorium: $1-million from George G. Beasley and Donald W. Curtis.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/beasleycurtis032206.htmState & Local Coverage
UNC lands grant aimed at prescription safety
The Triangle Business Journal
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of 22 research institutions nationwide to receive a piece of a $9 million pie aimed at educating doctors and health-care providers about pharmaceutical marketing. UNC will receive a $386,120 grant to develop materials to educate pediatricians about safety concerns with the off-label use of pediatric drugs.
Related Link: http://www.thepilot.com/news/041606healthcare.htmlSocial Marketing
"The State of Things," WUNC-FM
Jane Brown, professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Rob Foss, senior research scientist and director of the Center for the Study of Young Drivers at UNC’s Highway Safety Research Center, were featured on today's (April 17) edition of "The State of Things." Four students from Raleigh’s Wakefield High School are killed in a car crash. A new study finds a link between exposure to sex-filled media and early intercourse. It’s sobering headlines like these that leave some parents wondering what they can do to shepherd their kids safely through the middle and high school years.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/teenmedia033006.htmThe distance on DWIs (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
North Carolina's well-conceived laws on drunken driving do an effective job of prosecuting violators. But the state doesn't do as well in preventing impaired drivers from slipping behind the wheel, too often with fatal results. ...Legislators need to advance their good work by improving laws that are meant to dissuade drinkers from taking the wheel. New, smarter educational campaigns could drive down DWI rates, says Rob Foss, a professor at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center.On illegal immigration, 'Statistics are a real problem'
The Winston-Salem Journal
...At the hearing, Foxx compared illegal immigration to an "invasion," one with "major negative impact on education, health care, Social Security, taxes, employment, wages, the environment, crime and countless other areas of American life."Those comments did not surprise Jim Johnson, the director of the Kenan Institute's Urban Investment Strategies Center - part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Those kinds of comments don't make any sense. It's all hyperbole," he said in a telephone interview Friday.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan06/economicimpact010306.htmWriters share Latinos' stories (Question-answer)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill anthropologist Hannah Gill and artist Todd Drake collaborated on a recently published book, "Going to Carolina del Norte: Narrating Mexican Migrant Experiences," which presents the stories of immigrants living in Orange County and their families in Celaya, Mexico, from where most of them came to North Carolina.
Connecting the dots, doctor sees pattern of death, illness
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Not everyone cheered when Dr. Richard Weisler arrived in Salisbury last month. Despite a recent national magazine spread celebrating his quest to find the root of cancer cases in his hometown, some of his toughest critics were residents of his old neighborhood. .... In addition to treating patients, Weisler conducts studies with psychiatric drugs, brain imaging and genetics at his North Raleigh practice. He's on the adjunct faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University; some Duke students now assist his Salisbury work.
Older drivers not ready to park it
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
In an incident Feb. 21, Margaret Riley, 80, went straight when she should have turned left and wound up driving more than 10 miles the wrong way on Interstates 40/85. ..."When you talk safety, people are always really interested in young drivers and driver's education and alcohol use and seat belts," said Jane Stutts, an associate director at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center.Pit Panic: UNC attack brings terrorism home (Commentary)
The Winston-Salem Journal
Of all the advice that mothers give to daughters going off to college, "don't take drinks from strangers," and "never walk alone at night" probably have the most merit. Although I follow the first, I often ignore the second because, until recently, I've never felt unsafe on my college campus. College, especially somewhere as beautiful as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, feels like a wonderful safe haven that you never want to leave. That feeling was deflated with a swift punch to the gut on March 3.
Note: Anna Egleston is a sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Man of a Thousand Faces
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Sword in hand, Ray Dooley approaches his foe with the cool confidence of a tiger. ...It's what fans have come to expect in Dooley's 17-year reign as the King of Characterizations for the professional teaching theater in UNC-Chapel Hill's Department of Dramatic Art.
A critique of U.S. media from foreign journalists (Opinion-editorial column)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
We were privileged on Monday to host four visiting international journalists at The Herald-Sun. The four were among 14 journalists from the Near East and northern Africa spending several days at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as part of the Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists.
News shows give viewers more choice
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The Triangle's TV newscasts are making news of their own. WRAL-TV said Wednesday it is revving up to provide live news around-the-clock on its digital news channel -- Channel 256 for Time Warner Cable subscribers. The 24-hour newscast also will be available on its Web site, WRAL.com. ..."Competitive pressures are creating many of the changes," said C.A. Tuggle, a journalism professor at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Accused teacher aide booked
The Asheville Citizen-Times
A teacher’s assistant, fired after accusations she had sex with an 18-year-old North Buncombe High School senior, turned herself in to authorities Friday afternoon. ...A UNC-Chapel Hill professor who studies ethical issues in education said the boundaries are clear. “It has nothing to do with age and everything to do with position,” Gerald Unks said. “Teachers don’t take advantage of students.”
Search goes on: Not for a coach, for a law dean
The Triangle Business Journal
The committee searching for a new dean to head the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's law school has identified four new candidates that it will bring in to interview for the position. They are Jack Boger, a professor at the UNC School of Law; Rex Perschbacher, dean of the University of California at Davis School of Law; Kenneth Randall, dean of the University of Alabama School of Law; and Maureen O'Rourke, the interim dean of the Boston University School of Law.
UNC artists’ show is ‘extraordinary’
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC studio art professor Jim Hirschfield calls the MFA show one of the most interesting exhibits of the year. "You have students working on very interesting ideas that are pushing the boundaries of contemporary thinking," Hirschfield said. And, he noted, this year's show at the Ackland, opening tonight for Art After Dark, features "four very different artists, each doing fascinating work. You'll see everything from miniscule hotdogs to large format photographs."
Note: No link available. For a copy, email Michelle at mgreene@dev.unc.edu.Sessions seek to cut Pittsboro St. hassles
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The town, university and area neighborhoods will be meeting to develop a plan to reduce speeding and cut-through traffic problems while Pittsboro Street between McCauley Street and Cameron Avenue remains closed through May. ...The street was closed Feb. 15 because of the structural failure of a UNC-Chapel Hill steam tunnel under Pittsboro Street near McCauley Street. The university requested that the street be closed to traffic because of safety concerns until permanent tunnel repairs are completed.
Issues & Trends
College rejections rise as more apply to schools
The Knight Ridder
High school seniors seeking admission into some of the Carolinas' best-known colleges are facing their toughest test yet. Deluged by a record number of applications from high school seniors, the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, N.C. State University, Duke and others say they are rejecting more potential freshmen than any other year in memory.
Bowles sends right message at inaugural (Opinion-editorial column)
The Charlotte Observer
Erskine Bowles didn't want to do it. He thought a formal inaugural with all its pomp and circumstance was excessive. He wanted to skip it altogether and send a message that the 16-campus university system would operate as efficiently as it could.
Related Links: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/14339883.htm
http://www.herald-sun.com/opinion/hsedits/56-724117.html
http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/chhedits/57-724936.htmlIs UNC in name boon or burden?
The Charlotte Observer
UNC Charlotte junior Kile Blair said he's heard talk about changing the school's name since he was a freshman. ...And, he says, the university wouldn't be the first to shy away from the UNC label. Blair said he learned this week that N.C. State University students fought against calls in the 1960s to name that school University of North Carolina at Raleigh partly because they didn't want to be considered a branch of the flagship school.VCU likely to hire Teague
The Richmond Times-Dispatch
Virginia Commonwealth University is ready to announce its new athletic director, and all signs indicate that it's going to be Norwood Teague. Teague, 40, the associate AD for marketing and promotions at the University of North Carolina, apparently edged out Paul Griffin, 59, senior associate AD at Georgia Tech, sources said.
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.
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