Feb. 27, 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

Personal Finance: Owning a home is good for you—and society
U.S. News & World Report
Owning a home is the classic American dream, and the economic benefits of homeownership are immense. Instead of paying rent to the man, you are buying something of your own that, like fine wine, may appreciate in value over the years. But there's more to owning a home than just your personal profit. ...here is some evidence that homeowners report higher self-esteem and happiness than renters and even better physical health. "Homeowners tend to stay put longer, so they create more friendships and associations in the local neighborhood," says William Rohe, professor of city and regional planning at the University of North Carolina. "People have more extensive social support systems, and that has a potential positive impact on health."

A Southern duel over peach pride
The Christian Science Monitor
You won't catch Jimmy Martin biting into a peach from the Peach State. The Alabama state representative says he's got nothing against Georgia, per se. But the fruit from the trees in his native Chilton County, he says, have brighter "cheeks" and a juicier tang. That's why he proposed that the peach become the state fruit of Alabama - a motion that easily passed the Alabama House of Representatives last week. ..."The peach, for Georgia, is the kind of evocative symbol that you want to associate with your state," says Fitz Brundage, a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "A Georgia peach refers to both the fruit and Georgia women who are supposed to be sweet and beautiful and speak with a syrupy drawl. Alabama you still think of as the cradle of the Confederacy, and there's no single commodity that … symbolizes the state."

Undercover Among the Cages
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Kate Turlington's co-workers in the animal laboratory grew suspicious when they noticed that she never ate meat at lunch. Other clues popped up during the six months that she worked as a technician on the University of North Carolina's campus here, caring for laboratory mice and rats. ...The university continued to make improvements during and after PETA's two investigations, says Robert P. Lowman, associate vice chancellor for research, but not all of them were completed by the second NIH investigation. The university retrained 1,500 people who worked with or cared for research animals, a process that took about a year. It replaced its senior veterinarian with Dr. Bradfield in 2004 and hired more vets and technicians.

Facts About Fat
Shape Magazine
...Hip and thigh fat may not lead to heart disease and diabetes, but for many women, that's small comfort. They're nevertheless desperate to lose their saddlebags, and this obsession itself may have damaging physical and psychological consequences. "Body dissatisfaction can trigger unhealthy eating behavior and can also affect your self-esteem," says Cynthia Bulik, Ph.D., director of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Eating Disorders Program and co-author of Runaway Eating: The 8-Point Plan to Conquer Adult Food and Weight Obsessions (Rodale, 2005).

Regional Coverage

$36 million sought to keep babies healthy
The News Journal (Del.)
Alvin Snyder wants money to keep Delaware's babies from dying. ..."Prevention and wellness aren't sexy, but they work," said Merry-K. Moos, a family nurse practitioner and University of North Carolina health professor who spoke at a recent conference in Delaware.

More older moms are losing babies
The News Journal (Del.)
Teenagers, poor women and those who don't get medical care traditionally are cited for the state's high rate of infant deaths. ...Many women are not aware of that, said Merry-K. Moos, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina and a nurse practitioner. "If I have a female patient who is 34, I will ask her what her reproductive plans are and when she plans on having children, if she does," Moos said. "I feel I must tell her about the risks of delaying childbirth."

Diet in your everyday life
The Oregonian
If you serve it, they will eat. If you serve more, they will eat that, too. The expanding size of portions is a culprit behind Americans' expanding waistlines, recent studies have found. Portion sizes have bulged in the past two decades in restaurants, fast-food outlets and grocery stores. ...Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that calories from soft drinks in the United States increased 135 percent between 1977 and 2001 -- with average portions jumping from 13.6 ounces to 21 ounces. Calories from more nutritious milk declined 38 percent.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sept04/popkin091604.html

Edwards wants more help for poor
Iowa City Press-Citizen
Poverty is the same in Eastern Iowa as it is anywhere in the country, former U.S. senator and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said Saturday. Edwards, now the director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, discussed poverty with those struggling with it at the Pheasant Ridge Neighborhood Center of Johnson County. He also attended a fundraiser for the Johnson County Democratic Party at Vito's Restaurant, which also featured 2nd District congressional candidate David Loebsack.

Controversy greets Geneva school plans
The Beacon News (Aurora, Ill.)
School Board members and the public here got their first look this week at an aggressive School District master plan with $126 million worth of projects, including three new elementary school buildings, a high school addition and a potential parking deck next to the high school. ...The method used to measure how quickly Geneva's schools will be overcrowded. The reason the two schools were included in the first referendum before 2008 was because school administration estimates show the first child over capacity will be in August 2008. But those projections, based on information gathered by John Kasada, a University of North Carolina specialist in economic development, urban development and demographics commissioned by the district, were the most aggressive school administrators could use.

Needs for new library stack up
The Rock Hill Herald (S.C.)
It's 5 p.m. on a weekday afternoon, and inside York County's main library branch in downtown Rock Hill, people are waiting. ..."Libraries are becoming community centers, as well as places to study and places with meeting rooms," says Jeff Pomerantz, a library science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "The function of libraries is changing, and why people go to libraries is changing."

State & Local Coverage

UNC officials tour ECSU's pharmacy school
The Daily Advance (Elizabeth City)
Elizabeth City State University's new high-tech pharmacy school received a visit from key state officials Friday. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser and Robert Blouin, dean of the UNC-Chapel Hill pharmacy program, were in town to tour ECSU's $2.5 million temporary pharmacy school. ... Moeser said university officials are more concerned with why more males weren't studying to become pharmacists. "The problem is the absence of males and not the presence of females," Moeser said.
UNC Media Advisory: http://www.unc.edu/news/media/2006/ecsuconnects022206.htm

Opportunities to celebrate, engage abound (Opinion-editorial column)
The Chapel Hill Herald
The volume and variety of activities on the Carolina campus never fails to impress me. On one recent evening, for example, a visiting opera company took the stage at Memorial Hall as the baseball team hosted Seton Hall at Boshamer Stadium and a local theatre troupe performed at Hanes Hall. In the coming week, public events include talks by author Joan Didion, New York Times columnist Frank Rich and noted children's author Avi. Such events are the lifeblood of a great university and one of the advantages of living in a college town. ...James Moeser is the chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

UNC aims to improve rate of graduation
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC may raise its grade-point average requirements, push back the last date by which students can drop courses and add more full-time advisers as part of its effort to get more students to graduate in four years. ..."Our graduation rates are very good, but we can be better," UNC Chancellor James Moeser said in an interview last month. "You should never be satisfied."
Related Link: http://www.newsobserver.com/158/story/412226.html

UNC journalism dean named
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Dr. Jean Folkerts, a professor of honors and of media and public affairs at George Washington University, has been named dean of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The appointment, effective July 1, remains subject to final approval by the board of trustees.
Related Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/triangle/content/story.html?story_id=1233528
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/journalismdean022406.htm

Look Who's Coming (Question-answer)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
On the day before New Year's Eve, 2003, Joan Didion was mixing a salad when her husband, author John Gregory Dunne, slumped at the dinner table and died. The couple had just come home from the hospital, where their only daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne Michael, was in a coma. ...On a recent afternoon, Didion spoke by phone from her New York apartment. She will be in Chapel Hill this week for a public reading as UNC-Chapel Hill's 2006 Morgan Writer-in-Residence.
Related Link: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/entertainment/performing_arts/13965095.htm
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan06/didion011706.htm

Novelist Joan Didion to speak at UNC
The Chapel Hill Herald
Over the last few months, acclaimed essayist and novelist Joan Didion has been described by reviewers as "fragile" and "frail." She has kept a rigorous schedule of public appearances to promote her 2005 National Book Award-winning "The Year of Magical Thinking," the memoir chronicling the year following her husband John Gregory Dunne's sudden death. But in a recent telephone interview, Didion's voice was vigorous and forthright as she described her current project, possibilities for the future and her imminent visit to UNC.
Related Link: http://www.chapelhillnews.com/front/story/2902068p-9356144c.html

UNC hosts 24-hour dance marathon
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
It was 11:30 Saturday morning, and Justin Savesky had hit a wall, as he termed it. Savesky -- along with more than 850 other UNC students -- had been on his feet since 7 the night before for the university's 24-hour dance marathon, a fundraiser for the North Carolina Children's Hospital. And Savesky, a junior at UNC, was feeling the pain in his legs and the tiredness in his eyes. ...The university's dance marathon is now in its eighth year and, in the past seven years, has raised a combined $800,000 for the North Carolina Children's Hospital, which is on the UNC campus but helps patients from all over the state. Organizers are confident that they will add a lot to that amount this year, as they had a record number of participants.

Warning: Our air could harm you
The Charlotte Observer
Breathing in a traffic-heavy city like Charlotte may raise your chances of getting sick, new federal data shows. ...Doug Crawford-Brown, director of UNC-Chapel Hill's Carolina Environmental Program who worked with EPA on the project, cautioned against seeking fine detail in the estimates. It's not intended to compare an area smaller than a county or two, he said. "What you can do is get a rough idea as to what the risk would be to a representative person in North Carolina, and what (pollution) sources are dominant," he said.

Edwards blends poverty, politics
The Charlotte Observer
John Edwards fired up the crowd at a raucous rally for union workers at a San Francisco hotel this month. He followed with a blitz of similar appearances in Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston. It was all part of a campaign to raise wages and benefits for hotel workers. But it was also part of a personal campaign that's kept the former N.C. senator in the spotlight since his failed bid for president and later vice president in 2004. A year ago this month, Edwards became director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at UNC Chapel Hill. He's used that role to talk about poverty in scores of speeches and forums across the country.

Schools bear burden of immigration
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Each word is a separate effort for the students furnishing a dollhouse at Four Oaks Elementary School. "The ... chair ... goes ... here," whispers one girl, the last word a throaty breath followed by a drawn-out "eeear." ...Educating the children of illegal immigrants cost North Carolina an estimated $210 million yearly, according to figures from a study on the economic impact of the state's Hispanic population by researchers at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at UNC-Chapel Hill. Ten years before, that figure was less than $10 million.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan06/economicimpact010306.htm

Jobs lure illegal immigrants to state
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Four hundred thousand strong and they keep coming, drawn by the jobs that North Carolina employers eagerly offer illegal immigrants. ...Last month, researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill published a study on the economic impact of North Carolina's Hispanic influx. Among their findings: *Hispanics, legal and illegal, cost state taxpayers $817 million in 2004, with education and health care being the biggest expenses. Meanwhile, Hispanics generated $756 million in tax revenue. According to the report, that averages out to a cost to the state budget of $102 per Hispanic resident. * More broadly, Hispanic residents contributed about $9 billion to the state economy through purchases and taxes. Their spending has led to creation of 89,600 jobs.
Related Link: http://www.newsobserver.com/1154/story/411709.html

N.C. outfit pierces China's firewalls
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Bill Xia wants to lead a life guided by simple principles. Truthfulness. Compassion. Tolerance. ...Arvind Malhotra, a global entrepreneurship professor at Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC-Chapel Hill, said he thinks Google made the right business decision. "We hold values here," he said, "but it is just too big of a market, too good of a market to not compromise and bend a little bit."

Serious questions over political cartoons (Opinion-editorial column)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
A recent editorial cartoon portrayed a mother and child standing in what clearly was meant to be the wasteland of a post-apocalyptic world. I don't recall the exact words ascribed to the child, but they were along the lines of "tell me again how a cartoon started World War III?" ...Close to home, The Daily Tar Heel at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill didn't print the original, offending cartoons, but did publish its own cartoon that poked fun at the dispute.

To work or not to work: The college angle (Opinion-editorial column)
The Chapel Hill News
Does work experience during your high school years have benefits for college or career? What I learned researching my previous column about the various factors that go into high schoolers' decisions to work prompted me to investigate further by talking with recent high school graduates and university officials. Rebecca Egbert, assistant director of admissions at UNC explained that the admissions staff "looks beyond the numbers and tries to get to know the student." Admissions officers take into consideration everything listed on the application. The entrance application does include a question about work experience; in addition, some students choose to incorporate this experience into their personal essays, although it is not required.

Pedestrian had alcohol in blood
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A Chapel Hill man whose death became a rallying point for improving bicycle and pedestrian safety had a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 percent when he was struck by a car and killed, according to the state medical examiner's office. David Galinsky, 71, an emeritus psychology professor, died instantly Jan. 25 as he crossed Fordham Boulevard at Manning Drive. His blood-alcohol level was over the 0.08 legal limit to drive a car, and a police investigation found he was crossing against the traffic light. He also was wearing a dark sweater in an intersection lit only by traffic signals.

Funeral set Wednesday for UNC student
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A funeral will be held in Greensboro Wednesday for a UNC-Chapel Hill student who died after falling several stories out a dormitory window last week, according to The Associated Press.
Related Links: http://www.newsobserver.com/161/story/411959.html
http://dwb.newsobserver.com/news/ncwire_news/story/2902707p-9356586c.html
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/stacyhallfall022406.htm

Robber takes purses of 2 UNC students
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Two UNC-Chapel Hill students were robbed at gunpoint about 12:30 a.m. Friday near downtown. According to Chapel Hill police, the students were walking near Church and Lindsay streets when a man with a gun demanded one woman's purse.

Issues & Trends

College Classifications Get an Overhaul
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching capped a multiple-year effort to overhaul the labels affixed to America's colleges and universities by releasing a new version of its basic classifications this week. The extensively revised framework features changes that include subcategories for two-year colleges, a first in the classification's history; three subcategories of doctorate-granting institutions, up from two; and the discontinuation of the term "liberal arts" to describe mostly undergraduate colleges.

Government & Politics In Brief
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Teacher shortage: Erskine B. Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina system, has asked the deans of the system's education schools to evaluate their programs and cut those that aren't effective. Mr. Bowles said that doing so would help the schools free up more resources for programs that could help the state increase its limited pool of teachers. Mr. Bowles said he believes the shortage is a crisis that the university must help solve. He said he would also fight for more state funds to bolster the system's education schools to better support their programs that are working.

Bowles needs to make his words, actions stick (Editorial)
The Charlotte Observer
If you've ever done a serious closet-cleaning, you know about the one-year rule: If you haven't worn it in a year, out it goes. That's what UNC system President Erskine Bowles has asked North Carolina's education deans to do: sort through their closets, and have a throwing-out. Specifically, Bowles wants the state's 15 education deans to identify the teacher training programs that work and eliminate the ones that don't. The goal? Matching the number of teachers with our state's demand and improving quality. He has said public schools will be the top priority of the state's universities. His words and actions suggest he intends to make that stick. Good.

The physics of pay (Letter to the editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
In reporting on the shortage of science teachers on Feb. 20 you noted that "In the past four years, [UNC system President Erskine] Bowles said, the UNC system has turned out only three physics teachers." "'Some of that is because of the profession's low pay and working conditions,' Bowles said. 'And some of it is because, you know, we haven't really done our job....We can do better.'"

School link adds up (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The public's institutions generally fare best when they have clear lines of accountability. Problems can be addressed quickly and cleanly, and oversight bodies can offer broad expertise and advice. Former Governor Hunt created the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics in Durham a quarter century ago with a board of trustees but only tenuous higher authority. In most cases involving schools with a statewide application pool, trustees govern under the authority of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. That's the arrangement with North Carolina's other specialized residential high school, the N.C. School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.

'A new era' begins
The Independent Tribune (Concord)
Two Canada geese flew over the heads of people gathered in what once was Town Lake to watch the official groundbreaking for the Core Laboratory Building in the North Carolina Research Campus. ...President of the University of North Carolina system Erskine Bowles said no one in the state knows better than the people of Kannapolis that the nation is shifting toward a global economy. “I’m convinced ... the development of the research campus makes just plain, good common sense for the taxpayers of North Carolina. ... It’s a great, great day for the City of Kannapolis, and a fabulous day for North Carolina,” Bowles said.

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.