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April 18, 2006
Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:National Coverage
A Blended Approach
The Wall Street Journal
Business degrees come in more shapes and sizes all the time, and one of the newest concoctions is the "blended M.B.A." ...While the North Carolina school is certainly a respected institution, some marketers of online degrees clearly amount to little more than diploma mills.
Who Put The Y'all In 'Idol'?
The Washington Post
What is it with this Southern thing on "American Idol," anyway? ..."There's still an awful lot of old-school singers who got their starts in church, and many mainstream country musicians still do a gospel album," said John Reed Shelton, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of North Carolina and one of the region's most respected observers.
Gauging Effect of Rumsfeld Critique on Military
"Day to Day," National Public Radio
Richard Kohn, a professor of military history at the University of North Carolina, was featured on Monday's (April 17) edition of "Day to Day." At least six retired military generals have recently criticized Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his handling of the invasion and continued occupation of Iraq, calling for him to step down. How significant is this action within the larger context of retired and active generals?
Teens exposure to sexual content studied
Knight Ridder
Teenagers drawn to sexually charged music, magazines, movies and TV are about twice as likely to have intercourse by age 16 as those with less exposure. A major study at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, to be published this month in the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, tracked 1,017 North Carolina teens from Durham, Orange and Granville counties over two years, surveying them on their sexual behavior and media use.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/teenmedia033006.htmStudy says obese people less likely to gauge BMI
The Indianapolis Star
Obese people are less likely than those in other groups to place themselves in the correct body mass index category, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A survey of 104 men and women showed that obese people did reasonably well at gauging their own weight, but did less well than slimmer folks at knowing whether their body mass index, or BMI, classed them as normal weight, overweight or obese.
Foster child adoption push investigated
The Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.)
Kentucky's inspector general is investigating complaints that some state child protection officials are using foster children as "bartering items" in an adoption push that a recent report equated to the "black-market selling of children." ...The goal of the law should be to get children out of foster care, said Richard P. Barth, a child welfare researcher and professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, "not to keep kids from going home to their parents."
Are you a workaholic?
ABC News
Work hard and get ahead. That's what every American learns growing up, but for millions of them, it's getting harder to tell the difference between working hard and being a workaholic. ...Brian Robinson, a professor at the University of North Carolina, told "20/20" in 1999 that children of workaholics developed the same disorders as children of alcoholics, such as depression and anxiety, that crippled them later in life.
Regional Coverage
There's room on the road for everyone, except fools (Opinion-editorial column)
NewJersey.com
If my mailbox is any judge, this column has stumbled on the three annoyances that provoke even more driver fear and anger than other drivers -- namely, bicyclists, walkers and runners. ...John begged me to advise readers to walk and jog with traffic. No way! Research by the University of North Carolina in 1997 proved that was dead wrong. Of the 333 pedestrians struck in vehicle accidents studied by UNC, 257 were hit walking with traffic and 76 were hit going against traffic.
A PDA partnership
The Milford Daily News (Mass.)
Hand-held computers quickly became a mainstay in American businesses, and now the devices are finding a new home: in the hands of autistic students. ... "Hopefully there’s no limit on where this can go," said autism researcher Gary Mesibov of the University of North Carolina, the principal investigator of the League School project. "The idea is to have this become something like Microsoft or Google."
State & Local Coverage
UNC honors itself with Horton naming (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
Over the last decade or so, much posthumous honor has come the way of George Moses Horton, the illiterate Chatham County slave who became a renowned poet. He's had a street named after him, and a school named for him, too A memorial has been built in Horton's honor and he's been officially designated as Chatham County's "historic poet laureate." But no honor has been as significant as UNC's recent decision to rename a student dormitory for "the slave poet." The significance, of course, is not for Horton, but for the university itself.
Early school appeals to some
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The Orange County Schools board is considering an early education option that the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools shied away from earlier this month. Representatives from the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute of UNC-Chapel Hill went before the county's Board of Education on Monday night to present their idea for a new kind of school for pre-kindergartners to third graders.
Related Link: http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-725346.htmlFree classes for UNC. community college employees sought
The Chapel Hill Herald
Under a proposal that the General Assembly will review this session, UNC employees could take some courses tuition-free at the state's community colleges, and workers at the colleges would be able to take some free classes at UNC campuses.
Nursing prof wins grant
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC School of Nursing professor Cathie Fogel has received a $395,124 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to assess the needs of women re-entering the community after being incarcerated. Fogel, the principal investigator of the study "Incarcerated Women, Parenting and HIV Risk," will examine issues such as parenting, family re-unification and HIV risk-reduction.
UNC News Brief: http://www.unc.edu/news/briefs/2006/041306.htmFilmmaker at UNC on April 25
The Chapel Hill Herald
Canadian law professor Joel Bakan will discuss his award-winning book and documentary film "The Corporation" at UNC on April 25. Bakan's free public talk will be at 7 p.m. in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union auditorium. A free screening of the film will be held April 24 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/apr06/parrtalk041306.htm2 Pulitzer winners have local ties
The Greensboro News & Record
Two writers with Greensboro ties learned Monday they had won Pulitzer Prizes. ... (Jim) Yardley grew up in Greensboro. After leaving Page, he earned a history degree from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1986.
Bone loss drug also cuts breast cancer
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Finally there's good news for older women at increased risk of developing breast cancer. ...The Food and Drug Administration approved tamoxifen, a drug widely prescribed to treat breast cancer, as a prevention treatment in 1998. It was good at preventing cancer -- logging a 50 percent reduction in breast cancers for older women -- but its side effects scared women and doctors alike, said UNC oncologist Dr. Stephen Bernard.
Drinking to your health
The Charlotte Observer
American adults drink one fifth of their daily calories -- twice what the World Health Organization recommends. Barry Popkin, professor of nutrition at UNC Chapel Hill is spearheading a reform effort by health and obesity experts: Their "Healthy Beverage Guidelines," in March's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, say two servings of nonfat or 1 percent milk daily are OK, plus one glass of 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice or a sports drink. Sugary soda? One a day. Stick with water and calorie-free beverages, Popkin says, and you could lose a pound or more a week.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/healthybeverage030806.htmMedia Diet Matters (Editorial)
The Winston-Salem Journal
A study that ties teen sexual activity to a media diet heavy in sexual themes poses new challenges for parents. ...The study, conducted by Jane Brown, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the first to look at the cumulative effect that all media have on youngsters. Previous studies had linked early sexual activity to TV and movies.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/teenmedia033006.htmWhat's hip in surgery may be wrong for you (Opinion-editorial column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
There's great interest recently in hip resurfacing and in travel to India for this procedure. Some surgeons suggest that this is the preferred procedure for patients with arthritis of the hip joint, and there's criticism of the FDA for "delaying" approval of the hip-resurfacing device. ...Paul F. Lachiewicz, M.D., is professor of orthopedics at the UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.
Color scheme: City's new color palette plan
The Fayetteville Observer
Fayetteville business fronts can be both traditional and comical. ...The push for more appearance standards is a statewide trend, according to Richard Ducker, a professor of public law and government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
After parents' home, then what?
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Norman Camp IV is a man in a hurry. He walks into a meeting room at his workplace, Wake Enterprises, and wordlessly holds his mother's car keys up to her. ...It would include staff specifically trained to interact with people with autism. It would provide access to public transportation, workshops and a life skills and vocational program. It could also serve as a training ground for students and faculty, including those from UNC-Chapel Hill.
His festival will be one for the books
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Aaron Greenwald gets off the phone with a corporate sponsor. The conversation was strained.
...Half of the festival's $280,000 budget comes from Duke sources; more than one-third comes from foundations and corporations, while UNC, NCSU and N.C. Central University (which Greenwald brought into the festival for the first time) share the balance.
Public health forum planned
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health will hold a community forum Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at First Baptist Church in Morrisville. The school's field team has been working with Wake County Human Services on a community assessment program to help county leaders plan for expansion of its regional networks.
Issues & Trends
VCU to introduce Teague as AD
The Richmond Times-Dispatch
Virginia Commonwealth University reached into the Atlantic Coast Conference again for one of its most important hires in the athletic department. Norwood Teague, associate athletic director for marketing and promotions at the University of North Carolina, was named VCU's new athletic di rector Monday morning in a press conference at the Siegel Center.
Related Link: http://www.newsobserver.com/734/story/429747.htmlPreparing for the Future Faculty
Inside Higher Education
Any period of significant change creates both opportunities and problems — often flip sides of the same coin. ...Betsy E. Brown, associate vice president for academic affairs for the 16-campus North Carolina system, described the mammoth job officials there have undertaken during a 10-year campaign, begun in 2000, to hire about 1,000 professors a year, about two-thirds to replace retirees and the rest to meet enrollment growth.
It just adds up (Editorial)
The Charlotte Observer
North Carolina's elite high school for science and math has an excellent academic record. It immerses gifted students in those critical disciplines -- then sends, with the help of tuition grants, 75-80 percent of them into the state's public universities.
Two indicted in Duke lacrosse case
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A grand jury Monday indicted two Duke University lacrosse players in connection with a woman's allegations that three men raped her at a team party. ...To obtain a sealed indictment, a prosecutor simply needs to ask the Superior Court judge presiding over the case -- either in open court or in chambers, Woodall said. Seals are temporary, said Richard Myers II, an assistant law professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. Once those indicted have been arrested, the indictment is usually made public.
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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