December 10, 2003

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

National Coverage

Across the Globe, A Race to Prepare For SARS Round 2
The Wall Street Journal
When SARS swept out of southern China 10 months ago, it was an utter mystery. No one knew where it came from, how it spread or why it killed some and not others. The result: widespread fear. ... Hospitals affiliated with the University of North Carolina have stockpiled respiratory masks, added nine new isolation rooms and trained "sitters" to guard the rooms and remind medical personnel to put on their masks and gowns. ... "If it's not SARS, it will be monkeypox, hantavirus or plague," says David Weber, infection-control chief and professor of medicine, pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of North Carolina hospitals in Chapel Hill.
(Subscription required)

How to Give Your Child A Longer Life
The Wall Street Journal
Most parents would never dream of putting a child in a car without a seat belt. They would never allow a child to ride a bike without a helmet or cook on a stove unattended. ... Parents struggling with their own poor eating habits should consume less-healthful foods at the office, out of their kids' sight. And not buying junk food sets the example as well. "Someone is bringing the soft drinks and snacks into the home," says Barry M. Popkin, nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
(Subscription required)

Know Thyself
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Whether you're a midcareer academic grown tired of teaching or a disillusioned A.B.D. ready for something new, you have options. You just need to know where to look. Increasingly, graduate-career counselors are suggesting that the best place to start looking is within. ... Also, bear in mind that the tools are not aptitude assessments. They don't measure what the person would be good at, but rather self-reported interests and tendencies, said Marcia Harris, director of career services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
(Subscription required)

State and Local Coverage

UNC study shows teens visiting religious sites; most do homework
The Charlotte Observer
So maybe teens surfing the Net isn't as scary as we thought. The results of a survey of 2,600 U.S. teens released today indicate that far more teens visit religious Web sites than pornographic sites. Or at least say they do. According to the UNC Chapel Hill findings, 5 percent of teens said they use the Internet to access pornographic sites a few times each month or more -- compared to 17 percent who said they search for something spiritual.
This study was the subject of a UNC news release.

Caught in the middle
The Wilmington Star-News
It's the election after the election that could really change things here. ...If no consensus is reached, the board will continue as a four-person council, although it will have an obligation to periodically keep trying to fill the vacancy until successful, said Bob Joyce, with the Institute of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Triangle stays mostly unrattled
The Herald-Sun
Did you feel it? Weak tremors from Tuesday's magnitude 4.5 earthquake near Richmond, Va., could be felt as far south as Johnston County, but many folks around the Triangle reported feeling nary a shake or seismic shimmy. ... "This is definitely feelable," said Allen Glazner, a professor in UNC's department of geology. ... One of Glazner's colleagues, geology professor Jonathan Lees, said a student of his e-mailed him Tuesday afternoon to tell him about the quake.
(Note: Lees was also interviews by WNCN-TV (Raleigh, NBC) and WTVD-TV (Raleigh, ABC).)

Carolina North: A place in history
Chapel Hill News
As the crow flies, it's less than two miles from the steps of South Building to the center of UNC's planned Carolina North research campus - a mixed-use community the scale of which would rival the main campus at its completion.

A decade's worth of planning
Chapel Hill News
The central campus is bursting at the seams. The chancellor says UNC's plans for its big new development are at an early stage -- they're far from specific and subject to change -- and he invites honest reaction from the community

Horace Williams: The man and his land
Chapel Hill News
Most of the huge parcel of land on which UNC plans to build its Carolina North campus came to the university courtesy of a philosophy professor both beloved and reviled.

Merger meeting: More facts
The Herald-Sun
Orange County Commissioners Tuesday night asked county administrators for yet more information about the best ways for the county's two school systems to collaborate, the logistics of a countywide supplemental tax and the ways the school districts spend their money now. ... The memorandum made recommendations on areas for collaboration, and said Phil Boyle of the UNC School of Government would facilitate the study.

$2M grant will help preschool teachers
The Herald-Sun
A $2 million federal grant will help UNC's Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute educate teachers so they can better help preschoolers in poverty stricken areas of the state.

UNC considers smoking ban on campus
News 14 Carolina (Raleigh, Time Warner)
Smoking on campus is becoming a hot topic at UNC.Right now, students living on campus can smoke in certain areas but Carolina's Residence Hall Association has proposed a ban on smoking in all dorms, breezeways, and balconies and student reaction is mixed.

La Estrella de Belen (Village Voices)
The Chapel Hill News
There were no drum rolls. We didn't invite the press. Perhaps, because we weren't sure we could pull it off. So the first all-Spanish show at Morehead Planetarium was witnessed only by about 45 members and friends of Iglesia Unida, the church I pastor. Despite our trepidation, "La Estrella de Belen" was a smashing success.

Issues and Trends

HMOs offer polite no
The News & Observer
State workers, teachers and retirees now limited to a single choice of health plan want a return to the days when the state offered a broad range of options, but HMOs in North Carolina aren't eager for their business

UNC targets teacher scarcity
The News & Observer
North Carolina needs nearly 12,000 new teachers every year, and UNC leaders want their campuses to produce more of them. To do that, they're considering creating new targets for the 15 UNC system campuses that have education programs.

Note: If you have any questions about Carolina in the News, please call Russell Campbell at News Services, (919) 962-2091, russell_campbell@unc.edu, or Mike McFarland in University Communications, mike_mcfarland@unc.edu

Note: Web links on this page are time-sensitive, so stories might not be available after the day they first appeared.