Feb. 22, 2006

Carolina in the News

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

National Coverage

Statins and Beta-Blockers May Reduce Severity of First Coronary Event
Reuters
In patients with atherosclerosis, therapy with statin drugs and beta-blockers makes it more likely that the initial presentation of coronary symptoms will be stable angina rather than acute MI, researchers in California report. They suggest that these drugs stabilize the underlying coronary plaque and reduce patient vulnerability to acute ischemic events. ...To explain the associations between drug therapy and clinical presentation, Dr. Sidney C. Smith Jr, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, notes in a related editorial that "in addition to reduction of LDL cholesterol levels, statins have been shown to improve endothelial function, increase nitric oxide availability, inhibit inflammation, and stabilize atherosclerotic plaques."

Ferguson resigns as Fed vice chairman
MarketWatch
Roger Ferguson, the No. 2 official at the Federal Reserve during the final eight years of Alan Greenspan's tenure, announced Wednesday that he has decided to resign from the board of the central bank, effective at the end of April. ...With Greenspan out of the country at the time of the attacks, Ferguson "called all the banks and made sure everything was flowing," said James Smith, director of the Center for Business Forecasting at the University of North Carolina.

U.S. Government Plans for 'The Long War'
"Morning Edition," National Public Radio
Richard Kohn, a military historian at the University of North Carolina, was featured on today's (Feb. 22) "Morning Edition" to discuss the war formerly known as the "War on Terror." Over the past several weeks, senior administration and Pentagon officials have adopted the phrase "the long war" to characterize the global war on terrorism. Some analysts say the adoption of the phrase is an attempt to prepare Americans for a costly, long-term campaign. Morning Edition airs Monday through Friday on more than 600 NPR stations across the United States, and around the globe on NPR's international services.

Regional Coverage

Cuisine, culture: A taste of Jewish life
The Clarion Ledger (Miss.)
Food is a staple of hospitality, a topic of conversation, an object of passion and, in Marcie Cohen Ferris' research, the road map for a journey through Southern Jewish culture and history. Ferris, author of Matzoh Ball Gumbo ($29.95, University of North Carolina Press), launches the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life's Southern States Literary Series with three presentations in Mississippi, the jumping off point for her study. ...Ferris is the associate director of the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies and assistant professor of American studies at the University of North Carolina. She's a board member of the Southern Jewish Historical Society and vice president of the Southern Foodways Alliance.

State & Local Coverage

Howard Hughes institute gives $800,000 to UNC
The Triangle Business Journal
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's school of medicine has landed an $800,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute aimed at introducing doctoral students to clinical medicine. The grant, which will paid over four years, will provide students with a broader knowledge of human disease and clinical perspective. Students completing medically relevant coursework and basic clinical training will earn a certificate in translational medicine. "The purpose of this grant is to train our Ph.D. students in the skills to bring research from bench to bedside, to work as partners with clinicians in translational research," said Dr. James Anderson, professor and chairman of cell and molecular physiology, in a written statement released Tuesday.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/hhmigrant022106.htm

Smith Center security helped
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC has received $50,000 from the Department of Homeland Security for surveillance cameras at the Dean E. Smith Center. The Smith Center, where the UNC men's basketball team plays its home games, has been identified as vulnerable to terrorist attacks since Sept. 11, 2001. Randy Young, spokesman for UNC's public safety department, said the money would not buy all of the surveillance equipment that the center needs, but that the university will try to secure more federal grants.

Faculty members for MBA courses in demand
The Winston-Salem Journal
Business schools are getting a lesson in supply and demand when it comes to teachers. The schools have been competing for students for years as the number of master-in-business-administration programs at universities has increased. Now the schools are also competing for a dwindling supply of doctoral business faculty members to teach those students. "The faculty shortage is profoundly affecting most MBA programs," said Doug Shackelford, the senior associate dean for academic affairs for the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Governments hit with energy costs
The Greensboro News & Record
Feeling the squeeze when your power bill arrives in the mail? You aren't alone. ..."Any kind of commodity where the price rises significantly can mess up budget projections," said David Lawrence, a professor of public law and government at UNC-Chapel Hill. Many cities will have to dip into fund balances or find ways to cut costs to stretch finances throughout the year, he said.

Don't just give up bad fat; replace it with better food (Commentary)
The Charlotte Observer
Don't take your dietary advice from newspaper headlines. That's the take-away lesson after the news media learned of results of the Women's Health Initiative study, which concluded a low-fat diet did not lower the risk of coronary artery disease or cancer. ...Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy at UNC.

Most likely none (Letter to the editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Once again you have distorted information about Thomas Jefferson and the question of slave children at Monticello. The Feb. 20 Associated Press article "Lives of leaders pique interest" gave the "answer" to one of the most-asked questions about presidents' lives, "How many children did Jefferson father with a slave?" The "answer": "at least four, according to many historians." ...Karyn Traut, Chapel Hill. (The writer is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Social Medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Medicine and was a consultant to the Jefferson-Hemings Scholars' Commission.)

Issues & Trends

Choosing a Program in Today's Booming Executive-M.B.A. Market
The Wall Street Journal
It takes a savvy consumer to navigate the fast-growing executive-M.B.A. market. Betting on continued enrollment growth, business schools are adding new degrees at a rapid-fire clip. The good news is that potential applicants enjoy more choice than ever. The bad news: Quality and price vary greatly. So it's critical that prospective students shop carefully for the executive program that best suits their needs and pocketbooks, especially if their company is paying little or none of the bill.

State surpluses a boon to education
Stateline.org
State leaders, flush with projected budget surpluses in most states this year, are considering their boldest education spending agendas since before the economic downturn of 2001, including the first hints of college tuition cuts. While President Bush's latest budget proposal would cut federal education funds 5.5 percent to help reduce the national deficit, state governors are outlining major plans for investing in higher education and raising salaries for public school teachers. With 36 states electing governors and 46 states electing legislators in November, education spending is shaping up as a popular political issue this year.

Groundbreaking to close road
The Charlotte Observer
North Main Street in Kannapolis, from Loop Road to First Street, will be closed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday to make way for the groundbreaking ceremony for the North Carolina Research Campus Core Lab. The lab is part of the $1 billion biotechnology research facility planned in downtown Kannapolis. ...The building also will house a Dole Research Lab and temporary homes for UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University until their buildings on the campus go up.

Science and Mathematics School may join UNC
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The 16-campus UNC system could soon become a 17-campus system if university leaders, legislators and N.C. School of Science and Mathematics trustees agree to a proposal to make the Durham school a constituent member of the state university.

I love the trees (Opinion-editorial column)
The Chapel Hill News
I 'm a tree hugger and proud of it. A few years ago on the Jewish New Year of the Trees (or Tu B'Shevat) that occurs in February, the leader of the ceremony enjoined us to "hug a tree." ...If UNC remains true to its newly adopted mission of sustainability, which is better for long-term sustainability -- cutting and shipping wood from remote forests of the Pacific Northwest or revitalizing local woodlands to provide long-term productive crops of high quality building materials and local jobs? There is so much under-utilized and poorly managed forested land around, that Carolina North could become a model project in yet another way. As the newly formed study committee for Carolina North thinks about bricks and mortar, maybe it can add timber to the equation? ...Blair Pollock, Orange county's recycling director.

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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