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April 9, 2007
Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
Thinking in pictures
The International News (Pakistan)
I saw him sitting at the curb. Silent and still. Despite the cold December, what he was wearing, or rather was wrapped up in, could hardly be described as clothes. ...Dr. Eric Schopler (1927-2006), a professor of psychiatry and psychology for more than 40 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in America, is credited as being a pioneer in the humane and effective treatment of autism.Abuse linked to chronic pelvic pain
Reuters
Women with chronic pelvic pain should be routinely evaluated for abuse and for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), conclude doctors from North Carolina. ...Nearly one third (31.3 per cent) of the women were given a diagnosis of PTSD, indicating that many patients in this population have more than one psychiatric disease that may potentially affect the patient's "perception of and ability to cope with chronic pain," write Dr Samantha Meltzer-Brody and colleagues from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Psychedelic herb flying high under the legal radar
The Canadian Press
A common garden herb that packs a powerful psychedelic punch has some federal health officials recommending strict controls. Dr. Bryan Roth, a professor of pharmacology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is very concerned about the availability of the herb.Rural hospitals unique, troubled
United Press International
Rural hospitals in the United States are seemingly struggling against the odds to provide the same level of care as their urban counterparts. ...In the dozens of counties nationwide where the only hospital closed during the 1990s, income per person fell by about $700 and did not rebound, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/apr06/ruralhospital040606.htmChrist-bashing
The Associated Press (International)
The Easter season has an odd, new tradition: The period of reflection on the Crucifixion and Resurrection has become a popular time for marketers to roll out works - from the scholarly to the sensational - that challenge Christianity's core beliefs. ..."Now all you have to do is click on the computer screen," said Jodi Magness, a specialist in early Judaism and archaeology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "That makes it easier for people to read up about things. The public is presented with information that they cannot really evaluate."National Coverage
Sampling, if Not Digesting, the Digital Library
The New York Times
Though I don’t read Finnish, Portuguese or Icelandic, it is of some comfort to know that hundreds of books in these languages are now stored on my computer. ...Admittedly, it is not that difficult to find all this free on the Internet. As the credits in Mr. Seltzer’s books affirm, almost all come from the Web’s premier text site, Project Gutenberg (ibiblio.org/gutenberg), a project that started in 1971 and trumps Mr. Seltzer’s “complete” collection with its 20,000 free books, including selections in Chinese, Dutch, Afrikaans, Czech, Sanskrit and Yiddish.Grad-School Rankings Glitches
The Wall Street Journal
Two recent rankings of graduate schools published by U.S. News and CNN Money required corrections, highlighting how faulty numbers can compromise any study. .... Within days, the list had been pulled and replaced by a correction blaming errors — including the omission of Boston University and replacement of the University of North Carolina with North Carolina State — on Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd., a London-based company that connects job candidates and employers and produces research about MBA programs.Harvard Deans Urge Professors to Work to Cut Textbook Costs
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The deans of Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and of its undergraduate college have asked professors to take steps to cut students’ textbook costs, by putting required reading online and by trying to assign the same books in successive years, to increase their resale value, according to today’s Boston Globe. The deans’ request, expressed in an e-mail message to the faculty last week, does not carry a mandate, like that of measures recently passed by the University of North Carolina regents.
Related link: http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/04/09/qtRegional Coverage
In light of text, a new focus on Judas
The Richmond Times-Dispatch (Va.)
Judas Iscariot, long depicted as the rotten apple in the Easter story, is now being hailed by some as a hero. ...But to Bart D. Ehrman, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Gospel of Judas is the most important discovery of a Christian text in the past 60 years.Many Christians say science won't sway beliefs on resurrection
The Wichita Eagle (Ks.)
Today, Easter Sunday, millions of Christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. ...His opponent, Bart Ehrman, James Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, claimed that there is not.An outbreak of senioritis
The Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Ind.)
There’s an illness running rampant in most high schools nationwide, and there seems to be no cure. ...The University of Washington and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill have each yanked acceptances from students based on poor grades and easier courses, said Michael Kirst, professor of education at Stanford University and author of “From High School to College: Improving Opportunities for Success in Postsecondary Education.”State and Local Coverage
Communities taking on carbon (Opinion-editorial column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The past several months have seen unprecedented movement toward local, state and national action on climate change. ...And on April 12, the launch of the new UNC Institute for the Environment on the Chapel Hill campus will coincide with the formal start of the Institute's Community Carbon Reduction program. Through the program, the town of Chapel Hill and the campus have joined forces to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent. ...Douglas Crawford-Brown is director of the UNC Institute for the Environment.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/apr07/institute040207.htmlUNC To Launch $11M Environmental Research Center
WRAL-TV (CBS, Raleigh)
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will launch the UNC Institute for the Environment on Thursday, April 12. ...“We intend for this institute to become the major resource to which the state will turn as it tries to solve problems associated with community design, energy and environment, health and environmental policy,” said Douglas Crawford-Brown, director of the Carolina Environmental Program.Tar Heel of the Week: Breast cancer expert aims to reduce threat
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Minutes before John and Elizabeth Edwards announced to the world that Mrs. Edwards' breast cancer had come back, the UNC Hospitals oncologist overseeing her care was pulling her soft, golden brown curls into a neat bun. Dr. Lisa Carey feels most "doctorly" with her hair pulled back.Survey searches for risky roadways
The Chapel Hill News
A team from the UNC Highway Safety Research Center will be surveying pedestrians and bicyclists in April and May at parks and greenways, shopping centers, on the UNC campus and in other public spaces.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar07/hwysafetystudy033007.htmlAccess to business
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The N.C. Department of Transportation wants to have minimum effect on the 9-to-5 grind when it repaves Interstate 40. ...On the western edge of the construction zone, UNC-Chapel Hill didn't see a need for contingency plans, said Mike McFarland, a university spokesman.UNC Forum links layoffs to money problems
The Chapel Hill Herald
At a UNC Employee Forum meeting last week, some staff members linked recent layoffs by the university's housing department to financial problems and expressed concern that more firings could be in the works.Students still doing Katrina work
The Chapel Hill Herald
It's been well over a year since Hurricane Katrina hit, but a UNC student group is trying to remind people that a lot of work still needs to be done to rebuild the Gulf Coast. A student organization called Extended Disaster Relief is hosting a series of events starting today for what they are calling "Remember the Gulf Coast Week."Professor elected council president
The Chapel Hill News
Gary Bowen, Kenan distinguished professor in the UNC School of Social Work, has been elected president of the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR). He will serve as president-elect until 2009. His term as president will begin in November 2009.
UNC Event brief: http://www.unc.edu/news/briefs/2007/040307.htmlProfessor appointed to psychiatry chair
The Chapel Hill News
Patrick Sullivan, a professor of psychiatry and genetics in the UNC School of Medicine, has been appointed as the first Ray M. Hayworth Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry. Sullivan studies the genetics of psychiatric disorders.
UNC Event brief: http://www.unc.edu/news/briefs/2007/040307.htmlNorthwestern Team Tops Field in Kenan-Flagler ‘Sustainable Venture’ Event
WRAL-TV (CBS, Raleigh)
A team of students from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwerstern University walked away with top honors at the Kenan-Flagler Business School Sustainable Venture Capital Investment Competition.
Related link: http://www.wral.com/business/local_tech_wire/venture/story/1265455/Critic's picks - Classical
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Tuesday and Wednesday night in UNC's Hill Hall, UNC Opera stages Menotti's witty one-act, "The Old Maid and the Thief," in which a handsome drifter ignites amorous intentions from both a young housemaid and her aging employer.'Save the South' exhibit coming
The Chapel Hill Herald
The southern United States has been the object for more than two centuries of Northerners wishing to aid, uplift and otherwise rescue their compatriots, according to the theme of an upcoming exhibit at UNC.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/apr07/northsouth040307.htmlNC black lawmakers look past slavery apology to other injustices
The Associated Press (N.C.)
As the General Assembly formally apologizes for North Carolina's history of slavery and legal discrimination, many say confessions alone won't go far enough to repair injustices that black citizens still can see. ...Tim McMillan, a professor of African and Afro-American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the apology movement looks like a larger trend to acknowledge slavery's prevalence throughout all of society.Report: Lead tests done in good faith
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Outside reviewers say that while Durham officials should have anticipated that some changes they made to the city's water-treatment process could trigger lead contamination, they conducted last year's disputed testing for the poisonous element in good faith. ...Water Resources Research Institute Director David Moreau -- a UNC Chapel Hill professor who's also chairman of the N.C. Environmental Management Commission -- told Durham's City Council Thursday that there'd been "massive confusion" and the city "has plenty of grounds for appealing."
Related link: http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/561711.htmlEnergy-savers for 40 days
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
For most Christians, giving up something for Lent means abstaining from temptations: chocolate, soft drinks or TV. ..."The very act of participating in this made me feel good about my church, said (Raleigh) Mann, a retired UNC- Chapel Hill journalism professor.Help the symphony solve a few riddles
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Everyone has those boxes of old photos stashed in the attic. When you get around to looking at them, half the time you have no idea who's in them nor where they were taken. That's what the folks over at the N.C. Symphony found when they started digging through the state and UNC-Chapel Hill archives for photos to help mark the orchestra's 75th anniversary.The thrill of the hunt
The Chapel Hill Herald
Bill Burk can't eat morels, but he still loves to hunt them. ...Burk, the librarian at the UNC biology library, has been leading groups into the woods for 27 years to look for mushrooms. Someone in his group has always found a morel, but on Saturday, he wasn't so sure it would be a successful hunt.Issues and Trends
Zeisel will direct Kannapolis institute
The Associated Press (N.C.)
A director has been selected to run the UNC Nutritional Research Institute at the new N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis. Dr. Steven Zeisel is a scientist and Kenan Distinguished University Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.More than one way (Editorial)
The Charlotte Observer
You have to credit leaders in Rocky Mount, a city of 55,000 located on Interstate 95. While other areas in that distressed region are courting mega-dumps or clamoring for a state prison in the name of economic development, Rocky Mount wants a state university. ...Elected and business leaders have asked the University of North Carolina system to convert private Wesleyan College to the 17th state campus, a move estimated to cost $207 million.
Related link: http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/04/08/growth.htmlOpponents set to fight tuition law again
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
For the third time, opponents are lining up against a law that grants free tuition at UNC system campuses for graduates of the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, the prestigious state boarding school in Durham.
Related link: http://dwb.newsobserver.com/news/ncwire_news/story/3024546p-9443921c.htmlEx-publisher and SAS founder's wife among those elected to UNC board
The Associated Press (N.C.)
The former publisher of The News & Observer of Raleigh and the wife of SAS Institute founder Jim Goodnight were among eight people the state Senate elected Thursday to the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.
Related link: http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/562195.htmlCollege-loan scandal prompts need to search for alternatives
San Francisco Chronicle
Should families who need to borrow money for college rely on their school's preferred list of lenders? ...The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tells students on a form that if they choose a lender other than the school's sole preferred lender for Stafford loans, "there will be a six-week delay in the processing of your loan application" because it must be processed manually.
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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