August 14, 2003

Current International Coverage

Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:

Citroen prototype on show
The New Zealand News
Almost 70 years after its creation, an original Citroen 2CV prototype is the main
attraction at the Design Museum in London, at an exhibition honouring Citroen's
former head of design, Italian Flaminio Bertoni. ... The American Automobile
Association and the University of North Carolina studied 70 drivers over a week
and found 97 per cent were reaching for something, 91 per cent were playing with
the radio, and 30 per cent talked on the phone while their cars were moving.

International News Note

Cam Patterson, professor of medicine and director of the Carolina
Cardiovascular Biology Center, was mentioned in today's Sydney Morning
Herald (Australia) for a new research he conducted that has identified two genes
that play key roles in regulating blood vessel development. This study was the
subject of a UNC news release.

Current National Coverage

Is Medical World Ready For a Return of SARS ?
The Wall Street Journal
The masks are off. Cities around the globe from Guangzhou to Toronto have just
about seen the last of an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome that
infected over 8,000 people world-wide, killing more than 800. ... Ralph Baric, a
professor at the University of North Carolina who for 20 years has studied the
coronavirus -- of which the SARS virus is one example -- suspects that viruses
can thrive with the lower temperatures, humidity and ultraviolet light of winter. It
is also when people tend to huddle inside, spreading germs.
(Note: School of Public Health communications coordinated Baric's interviews
with The Wall Street Journal and the Far Eastern Economic Review. The
Journal story has appeared in both publications.)

Campus cultural wars (Commentary)
The San Francisco Chronicle
As a freshman packing for college, you may wonder, with a mixture of excitement
and anxiety, what awaits you as you leave the family nest. You may not realize,
for example,that your first encounter with your new campus may place you smack
in the middle of the cultural wars that have plagued college and universities for
decades. ... This year, a small campus group at the University of North Carolina
has again protested this summer's "expected" (as opposed to required) reading --
Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" ...
(Note: News Services provided background to this writer and has also asked for
a correction on one inaccurate sentence in the piece about the minimum hourly rate
for UNC-Chapel Hill employees. The correct number is approximately $8.50 per
hour based on the minimum salary a full-time employee can currently earn: $17,692.)

Liquid assets
The Richmond Times-Dispatch
Imagine an old, rusty backyard faucet that releases, at best, a few drops of water per
minute. Now imagine the limitless volume of a deep, wide river. High school coaches
and trainers have moved from the former extreme to the latter - from stingy with liquid
refreshment to lavishly generous - over the past quarter-century. ... A recent
University of North Carolina study says 21 football players died in the United
States of heat-related illness between 1995 and 2001.
(Note: Other coverage includes The Hartford Courant (Conn.))

Regional Coverage

College education must remain affordable (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Greenville News (S.C.)
Our vision tends to be myopic, our outlook day to day. We deal with immediate issues
and developments. It is hard to take a long-term view. ... In-state tuition at USC is
$4,784 while tuition at Clemson is $5,624. The University of Georgia ($3,208),
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill ($3,826), North Carolina State ($2,814)
and the University of Florida ($2,780) all have lower tuition.

State and Local Coverage

UNC boasts another stellar freshman class
The Herald-Sun
Another year, another stellar, better-than-ever class of UNC freshmen. The 3,550 or
so newbies headed to town later this month tote the most impressive arsenal of
accomplishments to date

Technology Transfer Office 101: A brief lesson (Commentary)
The Triangle TechJournal
The Triangle TechJournal frequently runs stories about the latest hot technology from a
North Carolina university or the next great "start-up" company out of these institutions.
(Note: Marc Sedam is the Associate Director for Life Sciences in the Office of
Technology Development at UNC-Chapel Hill.)

Bad breaks (Editorial)
The News and Observer
Imagine what North Carolina might have done with $200 million to put back to work
thousands of employees cut loose from distressed industries. What the state actually
did between 1996 and 2001 was to let a few dozen companies keep that money in
return for creating jobs they would have created anyway, a UNC researcher has found.

Computer 'worm' takes bit of a bite at UNC
The Herald-Sun
The UNC computer network largely had recovered by Wednesday from the effects of
a harmful "worm," although computer users around campus still had trouble accessing
the network, and information technology employees worked to prepare for the influx
of laptop-bearing students over the next two weeks.
(Note: A related story was also appeared in The News and Observer.)

UNC Libraries doing its best (Letter to the Editor)
The Chapel Hill Herald
Regarding John Hood's recent commentary ["UNC shedding crocodile tears," Aug. 8]
about the impact of budget cuts at UNC Chapel Hill, I write to clarify the facts
concerning the University Libraries.
(Note: Larry Alford is the deputy university librarian.)

UNC shedding crocodile tears (Opinion-Editorial Column)
Chapel Hill Herald
Drastic budget cuts imperil the educational mission of the University of North
Carolina -- or so say its pitiful, pitiable denizens.
(Note: The Chapel Hill Herald requires free user registration to access archives.)

Debate arises about who sets school board agenda
The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board found itself debating who sets its agenda
this week, as member Larry Gauvreau lost another round in his attempt to get a report
on outside employment by the school district's senior staff. ... Fleming Bell, a
professor of public law and government at UNC Chapel Hill's School of
Government, said most public bodies would interpret the CMS bylaws to mean the
chairperson should schedule all items submitted by board members.

Eat, drink, be merry and live longer (Commentary)
The News and Observer
Here's some good news. A major new study has found a way that you can eat, drink
and be merry and live longer as a result.
(Note: Suzanne Havala Hobbs is an adjunct professor in the School of
Public Health.)

Issues and Trends Affecting Carolina

On UNC's agenda (Editorial)
The Charlotte Observer
UNC Board of Governors Chairman Brad Wilson has outlined an ambitious and
challenging agenda for the 16-campus public university system.

 

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