Aug. 21, 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

Can taxation curb obesity?
New Scientist (United Kingdom)
Food and drinks high in sugar should be taxed just like cigarettes, say economists who believe it is the only way to combat the global crisis in obesity. "When two-thirds of the population of countries like Australia or the US are obese or overweight, you can't handle the problem with simple solutions like education," Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, told a meeting of agricultural economists on Queensland's Gold Coast this week.

Darwinian gluttons (Editorial)
The London Free Press (Ontario, Canada)
It's a bizarre world: Even as starvation claims 25,000 people a day around the globe, according to UN statistics, it turns out that worldwide, more people are overweight than undernourished. About 800,000 people around the world lack enough food, but a little over a billion are now overweight or obese, professor Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina told the International Association of Agricultural Economists meeting near Brisbane, Australia, last week.

Plutons, planets and dwarves
Nature (United Kingdom)
On 16 August the International Astronomical Union (IAU) floated a proposal for a definition of the word 'planet', in part to end the confusion about whether Pluto is a planet or not. ... But a pluton in geology is a large bubble of molten rock that solidifies underground, points out Allen Glazner, a geologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has devoted a decade of study to the stuff.

The gospel of Judas: Heresy or revelation? (Opinion-editorial column)
The Jakarta Post (Indonesia)
Some time ago I heard from a church member that among his colleagues in the office, there are rumors about a shocking new gospel, the Gospel of Judas, which is recently available for the general public. ... As Bart D. Enrman (an expert of the history of early Christianity of the University of North Carolina) states, the key phrase in the entire Gospel of Judas is Jesus' saying to Judas: "But you will exceed all of them (the other disciples ), for you will sacrifice the man that clothes me".

National Coverage

Colleges aim to avoid 'Freshman 15' weight gain
The Associated Press (National)
Sunny Dawson ran two miles every other day when she started her freshman year at the University of Southern California. ... "The patterns and the habits that students get into in the first two to three months of school is what tends to carry them through the rest of their time on campus," said Jen Ketterly, nutrition and fitness coordinator for campus health services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

College-Town Real Estate: The Next Big Niche?
The New York Times
From now through Labor Day, thousands of college students will be settling into off-campus apartments across the country as they haul in their PC’s and stereos, their boxes of DVD’s, clothing and sports paraphernalia, for the fall semester. ... “Our first project was in 1964 in Chapel Hill, N.C.,” the home of the University of North Carolina, “and we are still there,” said Paul O. Bower, the chief executive. “We’ve served the children of the original tenants, and soon the grandchildren.”

State & Local Coverage

Duke, UNC stay atop college pack (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
They may not be quite as closely watched as the national polls ranking football and basketball teams, but the annual rankings of colleges and universities are nonetheless anticipated with some eagerness. ... In a list where the top spots typically are held by richly endowed private universities, it's worth noting that UNC was the fifth-ranked public university, trailing only the University of California ? Berkeley, the University of Virginia, University of Michigan and the University of California ? Los Angeles. Only days before, Newsweek magazine had tapped UNC as one of 25 "new Ivies," schools that had achieved the stature of the traditional Ivy-League schools of the Northeast.
Related link: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/opinion/15322764.htm

U.S. News & World Report ranks 22 N.C. schools among nation's best
The Triangle Business Journal
North Carolina colleges and universities made a strong showing in the 2007 U.S. News & World Report's "Best Colleges" rankings, with 22 different Tar Heel institutions claiming distinctions on four separate lists. ... " The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill claimed the 27th spot, followed by Wake Forest University at No. 30 and North Carolina State University at No. 81.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/aug06/usnews081706.htm

N.C. language student taking skills to Syria
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Katelyn Love has always had a knack for languages. ... Bob Miles, UNC's associate dean for study abroad and international exchanges, said the university wanted to work with Love to help her achieve her academic goals, calling her "one of our really exceptional students."
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may06/nsep053106.htm

World travels, Web media, take place of final exam
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
Many college courses end with a paper or an exam, but one multimedia class at UNC's School of Journalism and Mass Communication ends with a Web-based documentary. Rich Beckman teaches the course, which has taken students from South Africa to the southern tip of Chile.

It's a moving experience
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
They're back. They've got their cell phones attached to their ears as they stride across campus. ... Now that she has her freshman year under her belt, sophomore Biqi Shi knows what she needs and what she doesn't need in her dorm room.
Related link: http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-762566.html
UNC fact sheet: http://www.unc.edu/news/factsheets/b2s_fall2006.htm

As Students Move In, Community Bonding Promoted At UNC
WRAL-TV (CBS, Raleigh)
Police want to make sure students returning to the University of North Carolina will be good neighbors as they arrive on campus for the fall semester. Officers kicked off the Good Neighbor Initiative on Saturday. Joined by volunteers, police ventured off campus to encourage students to meet their Chapel Hill neighbors so everyone can get along a little better during the school year.
UNC fact sheet: http://www.unc.edu/news/factsheets/b2s_fall2006.htm

The doctor, an HIV researcher, was motivated by social work
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
At the age of 16, most kids are whiling their summers away traveling, mowing lawns or splashing in the pool. Andy Kaplan decided to go to Haiti. ... "We should all wear little bracelets that say WWAKD -- what would Andy Kaplan do?" said David Wohl, an associate professor at UNC in the Division of Infectious Diseases.

West House effort was just one battle (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
West House met its end Wednesday afternoon, falling into rubble under the crunch and rumble of heavy machinery. It fell to make way for part of UNC's planned Arts Common, a major project that will include new facilities for the visual and performing arts.

Hispanics in push to permanence
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
In the Triangle and statewide, growth in the Hispanic population continues to outpace all other ethnic groups, the latest census estimate shows. ... And with North Carolina's strong economy and low cost of living, the growth is not likely to slow, said Jim Johnson, a professor and demographer at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Hispanics flock here for one reason: jobs
The Wilmington Star News
When Jesus Ricardo Solano lived in Raleigh, he couldn’t find steady construction work because production slowed in winter. ... But a UNC-Chapel Hill study estimates that about 45 percent of the state’s 600,913 Hispanics are undocumented.

Innocence Commission: N.C. creates first in nation to backstop courts
The Winston-Salem Journal
The state's new Innocence Inquiry Commission made national headlines this month because of the promise it holds to provide justice for people who may be wrongly imprisoned ... Students and law professors at Duke Law School and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law already investigate cases of wrongful conviction through those schools' innocence projects, which represent inmates trying to prove their innocence.

Beating the heat from batteries
The Charlotte Observer
You've likely noticed how warm your notebook computer, cell phone, portable DVD player or MP3 player get. ... Your thighs, being the largest muscles in the body, have a large blood supply that can pick up heat from the computer and make you hot, according to UNC-Chapel Hill's ergonomics department.

Stalemate on referendum could cost schools
The Charlotte Observer
Bickering among Union County commissioners may thwart plans for a November bond referendum and delay school construction in a district growing faster than any other in the state. ... David Lawrence, a professor at UNC Chapel Hill's Institute of Government, said counties resolve that question individually.

It's time to do more than talk the talk (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
As in many areas of endeavor, it's not enough to talk the talk. You've got to walk the walk, too. ... The institute has been a major player in the university's outreach to the state's public schools. It has been a hub for groups that promote high-tech science education at UNC and statewide.

Creditors, wife pursue assets of missing lawyer
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
When John McCormick disappeared along with more than $1 million of his clients' money over a month ago, he left behind a family, a law practice and a small real estate empire. ... "So many times bankruptcy is reported as ... a way of walking away from their debts," said Melissa Jacobi, a law professor and bankruptcy expert at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Issues & Trends

Universities Branch Out
Newsweek
As never before in their long history, universities have become instruments of national competition as well as instruments of peace. They are the locus of the scientific discoveries that move economies forward, and the primary means of educating the talent required to obtain and maintain competitive advantage.

Going home to college (Editorial)
The Charlotte Observer
North Carolinians invest generously in public higher education. ... Yes, according to a recent study by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. The facts in that report strongly suggest that by one important measure -- putting college within financial and geographic reach of citizens -- our state's higher education strategy works.

Sweet 17? (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
If there ever was doubt that a state university campus is highly beneficial to a community, Rocky Mount's request for a branch of the UNC system dispels it. Forward-looking leaders of the city have been lobbying the General Assembly to turn private N.C. Wesleyan College into the 17th campus in North Carolina's system of publicly funded universities.

Slow Down (Editorial)
The Winston-Salem Journal
Erskine Bowles, the University of North Carolina system president, is absolutely correct to take a wait-and-see approach to the addition of a 17th campus to the university system. Eastern North Carolina political and business leaders want to convert North Carolina Wesleyan College into a member of the university system. Already, these advocates have taken to calling it UNC Rocky Mount.
Related links: http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/
20060821/COLUMNIST20/60821009&SearchID=73254446635266
http://www.newsobserver.com/681/story/476680.html

UNC lab to innovate new human nutrition methods
The Kannapolis Independent Tribune
The theme for the North Carolina Research Campus is overall health and wellness. ... Managed by the UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health, the institute is collaborating with N.C. State’s Institute for Advance Fruit and Vegetable Science, as well as N.C. Agriculture and Technical University, N.C. Central University and UNC-Greensboro, to study how humans process foods and look for genetic factors that affect the metabolism.'

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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