December 18, 2002

Carolina in the News

Current National Coverage

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

Future's best bet: Technology, again
The Chicago Tribune
Inside Biogen Inc.'s sprawling biotech manufacturing complex, no noisy cutting 
or grinding tools pierce the air, only the hum of air conditioning. ... North 
Carolina is one of the nation's leaders in developing a biotechnology industry, 
thanks to the presence of three major research institutions in the Raleigh-
Durham area: Duke University, North Carolina State University and the 
University of North Carolina. ...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-0212180372dec18,0,3469452.story?coll=chi-news-hed
(Note: The Chicago Tribune requires free registration to access articles.)

Solving Hazy Mysteries
Science News
The picturesque hazes of Tennessee's Smoky Mountains appear when volatile 
organic chemicals released by trees react with other gases in the atmosphere. 
And every time a raindrop falls into the ocean, microscopic droplets of salt 
water splatter upward into the atmosphere. ... Now, scientists at the University 
of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill suggest why conditions in some areas
generate much higher aerosol concentrations than are found elsewhere. ... 
Scientists noticed that on days when the atmosphere there contained particularly 
high concentrations of organic chemicals and sulfur dioxide, the air over oil 
refineries was especially thick with haze, says Myoseon Jang, an 
environmental scientist at UNC. ....
http://www.sciencenews.org/20021207/bob8.asp
(Note: Science News requires a subscription to access articles.)

Miscellanea Medica
Journal of American Medical Association
... The Institute of Medicine has elected the following physicians to membership
... Luis A. Diaz, MD, C.E. Wheeler Jr Distinguished Professor and chair, 
department of dermatology, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, 
Chapel Hill .... 
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/current/ffull/jmn1218-4.html
(Note: To view this brief, go to the above url and scroll down the web page. 
To view a UNC news release, click here.)

Violence in shellfish industry leads to call for stiff penalties
The Press of Atlantic City (N.J.)
The state government is working with the University of North Carolina to 
cultivate a half-million sterile oysters at various sites over the next two years ... 
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/atlantic/121802ECODIGEST_D18.html

UC San Diego Business School Will Get Technical
The Los Angeles Times
The tech sector is in a terrible slump. After a string of headline-grabbing
scandals, the world of high finance has been reduced to fodder for late-night 
TV comedy monologues. ... "We want young people with a scientific and 
engineering bent," says Robert Sullivan, who will become dean of the Graduate 
Management School at UC San Diego. ... Sullivan, who has headed business 
schools at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Carnegie Mellon 
University in Pittsburgh, is just starting to hire his faculty at UC San Diego. ...
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-flan18dec18.story
(Note: The Los Angeles Times requires free registration to access articles.)

Most US hospitals avoid reuse of single-use devices
The Lancet Infectious Diseases
About 25% of hospitals in the USA reprocess single-use devices (SUDs), 
according to the results of a telephone survey by the US Food and Drug 
Administration (FDA). ... “Roughly 75% choose the third option, which is 
they are avoiding the reuse of single-use devices—that is surprising to me”, 
William A Rutala (Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina, 
Chapel Hill, NC, USA) told TLID ...
http://infection.thelancet.com/journal/vol2/iss12/full/laid.2.12.newsdesk.23230.1

Current Regional Coverage

GOP faces serious setback in push for minority support
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The controversy stirred by Trent Lott's praise for Strom Thurmond and his 
segregationist past could threaten President Bush and the Republican Party, 
political analysts said Tuesday. ... "What Lott said unmasked for a modern 
audience what had been obscured about the way the Republican Party grew in 
the South,'' Ferrel Guillory said. Guillory is director of the Program on 
Southern Politics, Media and Public Life at the University of North Carolina 
at Chapel Hill. ... 
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/wednesday/news_e300e19774b161ad0074.html

Asian oysters could replace natives
Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel
With disease sucking the life from North Carolina's ailing oyster industry, 
officials are trying to determine whether Asian oysters would be tasty saviors 
or an alien menace that would choke coastal waters like kudzu. The state 
Division of Marine Fisheries is working with a researcher at the University of 
North Carolina who plans to cultivate a half-million sterile oysters at various 
sites over the next two years. ...
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/national/article/0,1406,KNS_350_1615669,00.html

State and Local Coverage

Magazine ranks JCSU in top 50 for blacks
Charlotte Observer
For the third consecutive time, Black Enterprise magazine has named Johnson 
C. Smith University in Charlotte one of the 50 best colleges in the country for 
African American students. ... Other Carolinas schools that made the top 50 
are ... UNC Chapel Hill, No. 15 ... 
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/4763247.htm
(Note: Black Enterprise magazine's January issue is not online. Carolina 
remains the top-ranked major public university on the magazine's list; the last 
survey was conducted in 2001. Among other N.C. campuses, Duke ranks 
12th, NC A&T is 19th, Wake Forest is 31st and J.C. Smith is 36th. The 
ranking is based on results of a survey targeting 1,855 African American 
professionals in higher education. Questions focused on which schools were 
a good social and educational environment for African-American students.) 

Vote on Lott will test Dole's politics, analysts say
Winston-Salem Journal
Elizabeth Dole has held two Cabinet positions and served six presidents in a 
political career that's spanned almost 40 years, but early next month she will 
have a new political experience ... Helms endorsed Dole during the Senate 
campaign, and at one point she suggested that there were no significant 
differences between her positions and Helms', said Ferrel Guillory, the 
director of the Southern politics and the media program at the University of 
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ... 
http://www.journalnow.com/wsj/MGBFH7SQU9D.html

Embattled chancellor stood firm on freedom (Letter to the Editor)
Chapel Hill News
While at the Middle East Studies Association meeting recently, colleagues 
from around the country told me of their appreciation (sometimes envy) that
the UNC chancellor has been a consistent supporter of academic integrity, 
freedom of speech and the rights of students and faculty to dissent. ...
http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/opinion/story/1976104p-1926304c.html
(Note: The Chapel Hill News publishes all letters to the editor on the same 
web page. To view this letter, go to the above url and scroll down the page.)

Hard to imagine life before e-mail (Question and Answer)
News and Observer
A recent survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project in Washington 
found e-mail is an integral part of the job for more than 60 percent of U.S. 
workers, who spend an average of half an hour per day on the task. Heidi M. 
Schultz is a business professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel 
Hill who studies communications in the workplace and in 2000 published "The 
Elements of Electronic Communication" ...
http://newsobserver.com/business/story/2029541p-1960025c.html

Roses and Raspberries
Chapel Hill News
... Raspberries to UNC for introducing advertising into unsullied reaches of the 
Dean Dome. ... 
http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/opinion/story/2028232p-1959221c.html
(Note: To view this brief, go to the above url and scroll down the web page.)

Officials want to double terms
Charlotte Observer
Several Charlotte City Council members are pushing to double the length of 
their terms to four years, even though Mecklenburg County voters have twice 
rejected similar proposals. ... About 63 percent of the state's 541 municipalities -- 
including Mooresville, Statesville, Concord, Kannapolis and Hickory -- have 
four-year council terms, up from 50 percent in 1991, according to a 2002 
study by UNC Chapel Hill's Institute of Government ... 
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/4763246.htm

School board questioned
The Morganton News Herald
Residents in the community are asking the Burke County Board of Education 
if they even considered the petition of more than 400 signatures in support of 
naming the new middle school Walter R. Johnson. ... Experts agree. Bob 
Joyce, an assistant director at the Institute of Government for The 
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said even though the documents 
were public record, the school board chairman had no legal obligation to 
share the information, unless someone asked for it. ...
http://www.morganton.com/news/MGBZBNA5U9D.html

Issues and Trends Affecting Carolina

Bataille cites UI’s larger purpose
Iowa City Press-Citizen
Gretchen M. Bataille has a vision for the University of Iowa. "What we do is 
bigger than any of us," the UI presidential candidate said Tuesday, the third time 
in a week that someone vying for the school's top post visited campus. Bataille, 
senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of North Carolina, 
said as the economy and society continues to change, leaders need to maintain 
perspective on a larger purpose. ... 
http://www.press-citizen.com/news/121802bataille.htm

UNC system ranked 33rd in spending
Winston-Salem Journal
Despite the state's budget crisis, the North Carolina public higher-education 
system is doing better than at least 17 other state systems, a study by an Illinois 
education group shows. ... 
http://www.journalnow.com/wsj/news/MGB2L7IRU9D.html

Auditor reports overruns 
News and Observer
North Carolina could save $400 million during the next few years if the State 
Construction Office had more resources and more authority to oversee $4.6 
billion in building projects, State Auditor Ralph Campbell Jr. said Tuesday. 
Campbell released an audit that found that the state legislature's decisions to 
hand over more control of building to universities, community colleges, hospitals 
and prisons are leading to cost overruns and construction delays. In February, 
for example, only nine of 370 UNC-managed projects covered by $2.5 
billion in bonds were on or ahead of schedule. ... 
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/nc/story/2029547p-1959945c.html

New questions about waste at Horace Williams (Editorial)
Chapel Hill News
New findings about waste buried at UNC's Horace Williams property raise new 
questions about hazardous materials at the site and the university's intentions to 
clean it up. ... 
http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/opinion/story/2028237p-1959222c.html

Note: If you have any questions about Carolina in the News, 
please call Cathleen Keyser or Mike McFarland at News Services, 
(919) 962-2091 or news@unc.edu or mike_mcfarland@unc.edu