Dec. 11, 2007

Carolina in the News

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

National Coverage

UNC professor among Nobel winners honored at ceremony Sweden
The Associated Press
Five Americans, including the University of North Carolina's Oliver Smithies, and five Europeans were honored with the Nobel Prizes on Monday for their groundbreaking achievements in science and literature. Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf presented the awards amid trumpet fanfares and speeches by members of the Nobel committees in medicine, physics, chemistry, economics and literature at Stockholm's Concert Hall.
To view yesterday's award ceremony go to:
http://nobelprize.org/award_ceremonies/ceremony_sthlm/video/2007/index.html
Related Links:
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7689607
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695235011,00.html
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/health_science/story/820671.html
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/
WSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173353814895
http://wunc.org/programs/news/archive/SDD121107SMITHIES.mp3/view

Harvard’s Aid Bonanza
Inside Higher Ed
Harvard University on Monday unveiled a new approach to financial aid and a new definition of “middle income." The result will be substantially more generous aid packages for Harvard students with families that have incomes up to $180,000, who will be assured that family contributions to students’ costs will not exceed 10 percent of family income in a given year. ...James C. Moeser, chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has pushed for expanded aid for low-income students there.

Key to active kids: Keep playtime simple
USA Today
Fancy playground equipment is fine for improving coordination and sharpening minds, but if you really want preschoolers to play hard, give them a ball, jump-rope or hula hoop, a study concludes. "We were surprised but encouraged to find that inexpensive equipment could add to kids' opportunities to be outside," says senior author Dianne Ward of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's School of Public Health.

Regional Coverage

Stereo mammography makes false positives less likely
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ten days ago, Joanne Hudson was having lunch when she received a call millions of American women can relate to. ...Anxiety isn't the only consequence of false positive readings in mammography, said Dr. Noel T. Brewer of the University of North Carolina, who has studied the consequences of false positives in mammography.

Holiday drinks pack high-calorie punch
The Orlando Sentinel
Think twice before you pick up that cup of eggnog. ...But Americans already have problems with beverages, based on a study by University of North Carolina researchers.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/nov07/popkinbev111907.html

Findings on plant-derived cancer medicines
The Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
The next cancer-fighting therapeutic could be growing in your garden, according to research presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Sixth Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, that took place last week in Philadelphia. ...NanoMed Pharmaceuticals is partnering with OSU investigators Mallery, Stoner and Dr. Peter E. Larsen and Russell J. Mumper, of the University of North Carolina, in product development.

Pollution Is Drying Up The Rain
The Coastal Post (Bolinas, Calif.)
Is the Atlanta drought the result of jet pollution? Environmentalists might look at the ground and sky above the Atlanta airport, a huge east coast transfer hub, to find the source. ...University of North Carolina professor John Kasarda, who helped design airports in Detroit, Bangkok, Brazil and the Philippines, says a new approach to airport design could reduce emissions.

State & Local Coverage

Duke, UNC make college affordable (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
For many, the image of the Duke University student body is of well-off young men and women from affluent families. ...Duke's financial-aid aggressiveness parallels that of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where since 2004 the Carolina Covenant has assured that students from low- and moderate-income families can graduate debt-free.

North Carolina must provide incentives for dentists to serve rural patients
The Fayetteville Observer
North Carolina is playing catch-up, trying to train enough dentists to end a statewide shortage. The legislature has allowed the UNC School of Dentistry in Chapel Hill to increase the number of students enrolled.

N.C. Railroad ponders a commuter line
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The tracks already run through Hillsborough. People just want the train to stop. ..."This is the first time ... we've gotten real interest and response [from railroad officials]," said Thomas Campanella, a professor of urban planning at UNC-Chapel Hill and a member of the Hillsborough Planning Board.

Troopers try to curb teenage accidents
News 14 Carolina
Automobile accidents are the leading cause of death for young people in North Carolina. Now the North Carolina Highway Patrol is heading back to school to help educated teenagers on the dangers of driving. ...In 1997, the state instituted a graduated driver's licensing initiative. According to the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, the program has helped reduce teen accidents.

Issues & Trends

Harvard to Aid Students High in Middle Class
The New York Times
Harvard University announced on Monday that it would significantly increase the financial aid it offered to middle-class and upper-middle-class students, seeking to allay concerns that elite colleges are becoming too expensive for even relatively well-off families.

`Transforming lives'
The Charlotte Observer
Charlotte native Scott Ralls, the unanimous choice to be the seventh president of North Carolina's statewide community college system, doesn't really have a hometown, he says. He has lived all over North Carolina and understands its breadth, its complexity and its people.

How to concoct a controversy: Add illegal immigrants (Commentary)
The Times-News (Burlington)
Amidst the sturm und drang of the latest illegal immigration controversy are several big questions of law, sovereignty, assimilation, human rights and education. ...The bright spot in this noncontroversy has been the response from the community colleges and university system. Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina system, sounded just as surprised as Alamance Community College President Martin Nadelman to learn there was a problem.

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.