Dec. 18, 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

Among China's Muslims, a long-standing tradition of women prayer leaders
The Associated Press (International)
At a tiny courtyard mosque tucked down a back alley in China's Muslim heartland, Wang Shouying leads other Muslim women in prayers and chants. ...Although it's not unusual in Islam for women to lead other women in prayer, China's female imams are part of a trend of greater leadership roles for Muslim women in many nations, said Omid Safi, professor of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

National Coverage

Edwards plots announcement of 2008 presidential campaign
Marketwatch
Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards plans to make another bid for the White House. ...He is now the director of University of North Carolina's Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity.
Related link: http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/16253602.htm

He's up to his Tar Heels in history
The Associated Press (National)
It starts with the Aberdeen & Rockfish Railroad Co., one of North Carolina's most successful short-line railroads. It ends with the fourth-largest philanthropic group in the state. ...There's not much of yesterday in the Encyclopedia of North Carolina, a 15-year project that has resulted in a comprehensive history of the Tar Heel State written in small essays on various topics. The $65 book is the third major historical reference book written or edited by the professor emeritus of history at the University of North Carolina.

Liquids go down easy but add up fast (Commentary)
The Chicago Tribune
The first line of defense in the battle of the bulge primarily has focused on what we eat--and on exercise, of course. ... Barry Popkin, a nutrition expert at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says, "One-third of those calories are from alcohol, and the rest comes from sugared beverages."
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/healthybeverage030806.htm

Sniffle-Busting Personalities: Positive mood guards against getting colds
Science Magazine
People with generally positive outlooks show greater resistance to developing colds than do individuals who rarely revel in upbeat feelings, a new investigation finds. ...However, psychologist Barbara L. Fredrickson of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill notes that the new data agree with her work showing that to a surprising degree, positive emotions can bolster the immune system to improve health.

Regional Coverage

A year later, air carrier slow to get off the ground
The Associated Press (Regional)
It promised speedy, efficient air travel for businesses in the Upper Midwest, using a fleet of small planes headquartered here. ...It's common for air services to receive some sort of subsidy, either through startup grants or by communities buying blocks of seats to help underwrite the companies, said John Kasarda, a business professor at the University of North Carolina who specializes in aviation issues.

City has great potential, says aerotropolis idea man
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.)
If you have a great idea, one of the best ways to create the buzz is to captivate a room full of people. ..."Today, the global environment is accessibility, accessibility, accessibility," said Kasarda, director of Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina, and -- based on The New York Times year in ideas list for 2006 -- one of the brilliant strategists in the era of the global economy.
Related link: http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/editorials/article/0,2845,MCA_25348_5217471,00.html

Life after football: No game, still pain
The Seattle Times
Curt Marsh wears his Super Bowl ring to an Everett restaurant. He carries mementos from life after football — his book, his scars, and a piece of paper with his surgical history, a full page, single-spaced. ...The levels of pain tolerance for retired NFL players "far exceed" the levels a normal man can live with, according to Kevin Guskiewicz, director of The Center for the Study of Retired Athletes at the University of North Carolina.

State and Local Coverage

Universities build bridges to China
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser just returned. ..."This might be the decade of China for American universities," said Moeser, who spoke last week at a joint health conference at Peking University, a campus he refers to as "the Harvard of China."
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/dec06/chinavisit120406.htm

Gift to fund music building, scholarships at UNC
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Tom Kenan wasn't just preaching to the choir Friday when he announced an $8 million gift to help build a new music building on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. ...The award will mean so much to music at UNC-CH that Chancellor James Moeser, a concert organist, used the word "transformative" four times during the surprise announcement ceremony in the university's aging music building, Hill Hall.
Related links: http://www.newsobserver.com/146/story/521820.html
http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2006/12/11/daily40.html
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/dec06/kenan121506.htm

$8M gift to help UNC music
The Chapel Hill Herald
There was a standing ovation at UNC's music department on Friday, but it didn't follow a virtuoso recital. ... The gift, the largest ever received by an academic department in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences, will be "truly transformative" for Carolina's music program, university chancellor James Moeser said to an overjoyed crowd of music students and professors at Hill Hall on Friday.
Note: No link available.

Prof to say 'try to see it my way'
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Hard work. It's the requisite theme of every college commencement speech. ...Chemistry professor and musician Holden Thorp, the speaker for UNC-Chapel Hill's winter graduation ceremony Sunday, hopes to mine a fresh angle for his hard-work pep talk.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/oct06/commencethorp100406.htm
UNC Speech Transcript: http://www.unc.edu/news/Speeches/thorpdeccommencement121706.htm

1,137 receive degrees at UNC mid-year commencement
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
The Dean E. Smith Center was filled with cheers, the occasional air horn and, of course, a sea of Carolina blue on Sunday afternoon. It wasn't for a basketball game, though, the celebration was UNC's mid-year commencement ceremony.

New buildings reflect UNC's changing mission, officials say
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
When describing their old campus, UNC alumni may mention the brick buildings and quaint stone walls that line McCorkle and Polk Place. ..."It does reflect a tangible, material statement about where the university is moving," UNC associate provost for international affairs Peter Coclanis said. "And it is into a different world, as it were."

Economics at issue in UNC plan
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Children who live in UNC-Chapel Hill's Student Family Housing off Mason Farm Road attend Glenwood Elementary School, but because they live on campus, their parents don't pay property taxes. The university has pledged not to re-create that situation at Carolina North, a world-class research campus proposed in northwest Chapel Hill.
Related links: http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-800208.cfm
http://rdu.news14.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=96534

Edwards expected to join race soon
The Charlotte Observer
Former Democratic U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina reportedly will announce this month what few doubted: that he's running for president in 2008. ...He runs the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina and has spoken about the issue across the country.

N.C. girds for new type of disaster - influenza pandemic
The Associated Press (N.C.)
With its history of hurricanes, North Carolina has plenty of experience coping with calamity. ..."The plans that are in place revolve around one of the key elements, this idea of social distancing," said Jim Porto, professor of health policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "If we don't take these sometimes very draconian measures, the consequences are sometimes very high."

Risky MS drug would aim at Crohn's
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Tysabri, a multiple sclerosis treatment that was only recently allowed back on the market, is now being pitched as a treatment for Crohn's disease, a chronic gastrointestinal disorder that is painful and debilitating. ...There's a need for new Crohn's treatments, said Dr. Kim Isaacs, a specialist in digestive diseases and a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Family seeks witnesses to odd accident
The Greensboro News & Record
Pauline Savage-Stancill knows it's a long shot, but she's hoping someone out there can help her niece by providing information about the freak accident that almost took the younger woman's life. ...But they are very rare, according to Eric Rodgman of the Highway Safety Research Center at UNC-Chapel Hill. "Extremely unusual," Rodgman said. "The truth is, I think that's the first time I've ever heard of anything like that, and I've been doing this for 33 years."

Black tenure a story of controversy and results
The Charlotte Observer
As speaker of the N.C. House, Jim Black championed education, brought millions of dollars to Mecklenburg County and unintentionally prompted sweeping ethics reforms. ..."He was not an ideologue, he was constantly looking for 61 votes to make something happen," says Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Southern Politics at UNC Chapel Hill.

Issues and Trends

Colleges Expand Early Admissions
The Wall Street Journal
When Harvard and Princeton universities announced in September that they were nixing early admissions beginning next year, both schools expressed hope that other institutions would follow their lead. They're still waiting.

Neighbors link ills to biosolids
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Nancy Holt grew alarmed four and a half years ago when her grandson and great nephew got staph infections after wading in the creeks behind her house. ...The Orange County Board of Commissioners will spend $10,000 for a study in collaboration with two environmental health specialists from the UNC School of Public Health who will test surface water and air quality before and after biosolid applications.

Town lags behind in special education (Opinion-editorial column)
The Chapel Hill News
I have been reading with interest the letters regarding the exceptional education program in Chapel Hill. ...What unsuspecting families don't realize is that the world-renowned reputation belongs to UNC, founder of the venerable TEACCH program (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication-Handicapped Children), not the school district.

Climate change and what residents can do about it (Opinion-editorial column)
The Chapel Hill News
Climate change is real and is happening now. ...The Town of Chapel Hill, UNC and private developers are proposing developments and buildings at a rapid pace, yet, with a few exceptions, buildings are not being built in an energy-conscious way, and buildings contribute significantly to most man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

UNC gender shift a fact of life
The Triangle Tribune
In a year when enrollment topped 200,000 for the first time ever, the University of North Carolina System seems locked in a gender ratio in which female students make up about 57 percent of the student population for the fourth year in a row.

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.

Please share any questions, comments or suggestions at news@unc.edu.