Feb. 26, 2007

Carolina in the News

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

International Coverage

NUS teams up with American university for arts degree
Channel News Asia (Singapore)
The National University of Singapore (NUS) is teaming up with an American university to roll out a joint Bachelor of Arts degree programme. It will allow students to experience the academic strengths at both NUS and University of North Carolina.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb07/nuslaunch022307.html

Drug company-backed studies 'rosier'
Reuters
Breast cancer studies funded by drug companies are more likely to yield positive findings than those without pharmaceutical industry backing, according to research published on Monday. A team led by Dr Jeffrey Peppercorn of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine also found industry-backed studies tended to be designed differently than the others, but he said drug companies may simply be backing the least-risky alternatives.
Related links: http://www.news-medical.net/?id=22175
http://www.firstscience.com/home/news/cancer/drug-industry
-increasingly-influences-breast-cancer-research_13229.html

India ‘poised for breakthrough in nano technology’
Gulf Times (Qatar)
Indo-US collaboration in broadening the horizons of research in nano and quantum computing will open up new frontiers to speed up data transmission processes and unravel the mysteries of nature, said experts at a seminar here yesterday. ...Richard Superfine, director, Center for Computer Integrated Systems for Microscopy and Manipulation, University of North Carolina, said: “The advent of quantum and nano computing technologies has opened up a new dimension for the development of computers that will be more powerful and far more compact.
Related link: http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=1514.php

Airports here on a rapid growth curve’
The Financial Express (India)
John D. Kasarda is an advocate of the theory of ‘airport cities’. The theory, better known as Aerotropolis, has an airport as the central figure in the commercial development of an urban city with the population and business revolving around it—much similar to the ancient concept of planning cities around ports or crossroads. The distinguished professor of management and director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School says that cities built around international airports are better positioned for global trade and competitiveness.

Disease Engulfs China (Opinion column)
The Epoch Times
While China's economy has been rapidly expanding, the country's social welfare is declining fast. ...A joint effort between Professor Myron Cohen, director of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Center for Infectious Diseases, and the China National AIDS/STD Prevention and Control Center, the report explored the epidemic situation of sexually transmitted diseases among Chinese people from 1989 to 2005.

Universe bounces back from the brink
Nature (United Kingdom)
It has to be the closest ever shave. Two physicists have proposed that, a fraction of a second before a cataclysm that would destroy space-time itself, the Universe may escape by abruptly collapsing to a virtually empty state that 'resets' it for a fresh cycle of cosmic expansion. ...And as the Universe has already gone through an infinite number of cycles, the model predicts an already infinite number of parallel universes, Lauris Baum and Paul Frampton of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill report in Physical Review Letters.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan07/newmodel012907.html

National Coverage

$100-Million Donated for UNC Scholarships
The Chronicle of Higher Education
A $100-million donation to the John Motley Morehead Foundation will expand by 50 percent its Morehead Scholars Program for students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, foundation officials have announced.
Morehead Foundation release: http://www.moreheadfoundation.org/servlets/RouterServlet?
handler=News&start=0&act=publicview&id=326

Study: Breast cancer trials involving drugmakers show better results
USA Today
In recent years, at least, studies of breast cancer medicines that involve drug companies are more likely to show a benefit than other studies, a report suggests Monday. ..."I don't think we should just quickly assume this means drug companies are bad and they're hiding their (negative) results," says lead author Jeffrey Peppercorn, a cancer specialist at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.|
Related link: http://www.ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=15579

Industry-funded drug trials eyed in study
McClatchy Newspapers
Industry-funded clinical trials of breast cancer medicines report more favorable results than research conducted independently, a new study reports. Some 84 percent of company-supported drug studies published in 10 major medical journals in 2003 reported positive results about the breast cancer drugs they investigated, according to an analysis by Dr. Jeffrey Peppercorn, a cancer physician and researcher at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's School of Medicine, and colleagues at Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Gaining Knowledge By Myriad Means (Question-answer)
The Washington Post
For 25 years as a professor, researcher and author, Mel Levine has been studying how people learn. As director of the Clinical Center for the Study of Development and Learning at the University of North Carolina and a professor of pediatrics at the university's medical school, Levine co-founded All Kinds of Minds, a nonprofit organization that works with thousands of schools to help educators understand different learning patterns.

Mandates in Black
The Wall Street Journal
If the cost of health insurance is breaking your back, consider the case of North Carolina Democrat Jim Black. ...Mark Holmes of the Cecil Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina has found that in 2004, the latest year for which numbers are available, 18.1% of state residents under 65 were uninsured.

An Extraordinary Stumble At JetBlue
BusinessWeek
You've got to give the guy some credit. It's not every day that the CEO of a public company--especially a CEO who's just emerging from a crisis like the one JetBlue Airways CEO David Neeleman weathered recently--shows up on the Late Show With David Letterman. ...But interminable delays, cancellations, and service snafus, says UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School marketing professor Valarie Zeithaml, can be "more detrimental [to JetBlue] than to a larger airline. It runs totally counter to who they are coming out and saying they are and what they live."
Related link: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_10/b4024
001.htm?chan=innovation_branding_branding

Va. 1st state to express 'regret' over slavery
USA Today
"Sorry" may be too expensive a word. ...The Episcopal Church has apologized for ties to slavery. Colleges have disclosed their histories with slavery. They include Brown University, University of Alabama and the University of North Carolina.

In constitutional clash, Christian fraternity wins big
McClatchy Newspapers
On a recent Sunday night, the brothers of Beta Upsilon Chi were sizing up a new pledge class. It was the end of rush week, when University of Missouri students interested in Greek life shop for a fraternity or sorority. ...Similar Christian fraternity issues have recently challenged officials at other state schools, such as the University of North Carolina and the University of Georgia.

FCC’s Martin To Appoint Poarch Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau Chief\
Streaming Magazine (Fla.)
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has announced his intention to appoint Derek Poarch as the FCC’s Public Safety & Homeland Security bureau chief. Poarch, a North Carolina police chief, is presently the director of Public Safety and chief of Police at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In his new role, Poarch will oversee the bureau responsible for FCC activities pertaining to public safety, homeland security, emergency management and disaster preparedness.

Regional Coverage

Perry's power plays stymied
The Houston Chronicle
Gov. Rick Perry has time and again tried to increase his powers either through legislation or executive fiat. ... University of North Carolina political science Professor Thad Beyle ranks Texas as having among the 11 weakest governorships, largely because many of the state's powerful executive offices are elected and not appointed.

Disabling danger
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Antonio Hernandez doesn't remember much about the accident four years ago. ...Hispanics may be at greater risk because of the jobs they hold, said David Richardson, a professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Pace of immigration tests attitudes
The Tennessean (Nashville)
Beneath the anger and frustration that emerged from Nashville's recent debate on making English the city's official language lies a seismic shift in demographics that shows no signs of slowing. ..."For some people it's really just sort of visceral," said Ferrel Guillory, a University of North Carolina researcher of politics in the South. "You walk into your local Wal-Mart and half the people, it seems, don't look like you and aren't speaking your language. For a lot of people, they just wonder, what the hell is happening to my hometown?"

For black students, success comes with a price
Press & Sun Bulletin (Binghamton, N.Y.)
As a successful student at Binghamton High School, Tudi-Max Brown has to face two kinds of pressure. ...One of the skeptics is William Darity Jr., an economist at Duke University and the University of North Carolina. Along with Karolyn Tyson, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, Darity coordinated an 18-month study at 11 schools in North Carolina.

TMJD a multifaceted pain disorder
The Monitor (Rio Grande Valley, Texas)
After 12 years of mouth pain, Lore Hymel had enough. ...The label TMJD is used to describe a multitude of conditions, said William Maixner, director of the Center of Neurosensory Disorders at the University of North Carolina and TMJD researcher.

Top execs rake in the perks
Seattle Post-Intelligence
Starbucks Corp. recently canceled a leadership conference for its employees in Costa Rica to help pay for raises and cut costs. But when it came to the boss, Howard Schultz, no expense was spared. ...Chris Roush, a business journalism professor at the University of North Carolina, said giving perks to company executives is "just the nature of the game."

S.C. experts say message is deciding factor
Spartanburg Herald Journal (S.C.)
Price Atkinson never has trouble keeping tabs on his boss -- even in a swarming crowd. ...Charles Darwin's theory of evolution offers one possible explanation for why many people associate tallness with power, said Daniel Cable, a business professor at the University of North Carolina.

Higher education: for a better Florida (Opinion column)
St. Petersburg Times (Fla.)
The structure of Florida's higher education system dates back to 1956, the same year lawmakers said okay to establishing the University of South Florida as the state's fourth public university. ...He believes smaller classes and more varied course offerings will help boost UF into the elite top-10 list of public universities - a class that includes the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UC-Berkeley.

State and Local Coverage

Some remarkable acts of philanthropy (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
The extraordinary numbers go flying by -- a hundred million, 50 million, two billion, another 100 million. We're not talking abstract figures either -- we're talking dollars. These are the numbers that have come up over on the UNC campus over the last couple of weeks. They have come so quickly, in such a rush, that it's difficult to fully grasp them all.

Colleges breaking $1 billion barrier
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
When UNC-Chapel Hill leaders began to talk in the mid-1990s about a future fundraising campaign, they had so much respect for the B-word, they uttered it quietly. A "billion" dollars. It seemed audacious, almost arrogant. ..."There's just an enormous amount of wealth out there," said Paul Fulton, a UNC-CH trustee and co-chairman of the fund drive.
UNC News Releases: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb07/breaking2B022107.html
http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb07/gillingsgift022107.html

Poarch to head FCC's public safety bureau
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Chief Derek Poarch, director of the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of Public Safety, will retire at the end of March to head the Federal Communications Commission's new Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.

UNC rebukes Fortune b-school rankings
The Triangle Business Journal
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School is pushing for inclusion in Fortune magazine's 2007 list of the "50 Best B-Schools for Getting Hired." But for Kenan-Flagler, which consistently has been ranked as one of the nation's premier business schools, there's one problem: The list has already been published, and Kenan-Flagler isn't on it.
Related link: http://www.wral.com/business/story/1212806/

Some students find new high school enticing
The Chapel Hill News
The newest school in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district, Carrboro High School, will open its doors in August to 450 to 550 new students, with an eventual target size of 800 students. ..."I'm looking forward to building on those strengths at [Carrboro], while taking advantage of the school's smaller size and structures such as the ninth-grade academy designed to enhance student success," Gottschalk said. "I'm especially excited about the partnership CHS has formed with the UNC School of Journalism to develop the newspaper. Students in UNC's community journalism class will work with us to establish a voice for CHS students."

UNC company adds 2nd series
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
PlayMakers Repertory Company announced more than a new season last week. It also proclaimed a new future that envisions UNC's Center for Dramatic Art as a hopping cultural hub. Programming his first season for PlayMakers, producing artistic director Joseph Haj has added a second-stage series to the mainstage productions in the center's Paul Green Theatre.
Related link: http://www.chapelhillnews.com/106/story/5707.html
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb07/pmseason021607.html

This week, learn about the Hamiltons
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
We were scanning the list of Dove Award nominees last week, looking for names from around here -- Shirley Caesar? Luther or F.C. Barnes? -- and finally found a reward: George Hamilton IV and George Hamilton V. ...On Tuesday, Hamilton and Loudermilk will donate concert memorabilia, recordings and correspondence to the Southern Folklife Collection at UNC, then head to Hill Hall at 2 p.m. to talk, sing and otherwise entertain.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb07/hamloud021507.html

Lessons to be gained from poet-slave (Opinion-editorial column)
The Chapel Hill Herald
George Moses Horton, the noted local poet and slave, still has plenty to teach our community today. At Carolina, we were proud to honor his legacy during a dedication ceremony at the residence hall on south campus that now bears his name. On Feb. 12, about 100 students, faculty and staff gathered with some of Horton's descendants, historians and other scholars to celebrate his great achievements. ...James Moeser is chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb07/hortonhall020907.html

Author, veteran to give talks at UNC
The Chapel Hill Herald
"If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie," writes Vietnam veteran and National Book Award winner Tim O'Brien in "The Things They Carried," a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1990. ...As the 2007 Morgan Writer-in-Residence this week at UNC, O'Brien will offer a free public reading in Memorial Hall on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb07/morgan_obrien022007.html

Study Gathering Data on Hard Hits to Young Heads
WRAL-TV (CBS, Raleigh)
Researchers from UNC Chapel Hill are looking into the impacts that young athletes may suffer when the hits they take in high-impact sports are to the head, causing concussions. ...The hits that Universal and other players take are the reason Jason P. Mihalik and his colleagues from UNC Chapel Hill go to the games. Mihalik is a doctoral student at UNC’s School of Medicine and a teaching assistant in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science.

Moving for a cause
The Chapel Hill Herald
Standing around for 24 hours is harder than it sounds. Jonathan McSwain, a UNC sophomore from Southern Pines, explained this point Saturday during the 24-hour, ninth annual UNC Dance Marathon.

N.C. needs Hispanics, professor says
The Dispatch (Lexington)
North Carolina needs its growing Hispanic population not only to compete in the global labor market but also to replace aging baby boomers in the work force, a business professor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said Thursday night in Lexington. ...In a presentation at the Lexington Municipal Club during the Lexington Area Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting, James H. Johnson Jr. said the median age of Hispanics in the state is 25 while the median age for non-Hispanics is 35.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan06/economicimpact010306.htm

Older athletes may slow down a bit, but don't plan on stopping anytime soon
The Winston-Salem Journal
Eugene Huguelet admits to slowing down a bit at age 72. He doesn't run three marathons a year anymore. ..."It's definitely the Baby Boom generation coming through," said Bonita Marks, an exercise physiologist and associate professor of exercise and sport science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Young drivers on road less, in fewer accidents
The Greensboro News & Record
It's been 10 years since the state implemented a graduated licensing system for beginning drivers. So how well is it working? ...The study, done by researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill's Highway Safety Research Center, found that the number of 16-year-old drivers who had to be hospitalized dropped by 36.5 percent in the first four years after the changes took effect in 1997.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan07/margolisdriving012507.html

Sewers center of zoning fight
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
In a lawsuit, a Durham man is disputing a January decision by county commissioners that blocked a townhouse development off Farrington Road. Charles Daye, a law professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, claims in a lawsuit filed this month that the Durham Board of Commissioners did not act in the public interest in denying a zoning change that would have allowed 200 townhouses on about 40 acres near the Orange County line.

Issues and Trends

Research campus left out of governor's budget
Kannapolis Independent Tribune
Gov. Mike Easley released his proposed budget Thursday, touting increased spending on education and tax cuts for the poor. But appropriations for the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis were not included.

Dental school in Easley budget
The Greenville Daily Reflector
Gov. Mike Easley's budget, released Thursday, would let voters decide on funding for a dental school at East Carolina University. ...Missing from Easley's budget is $96 million for an expansion of the School of Dentistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "The Plan for Dentistry in North Carolina," drafted by UNC and ECU leaders, packages the two projects together. ECU and UNC have jointly lobbied the UNC system and the General Assembly to link the UNC expansion and the ECU program.

Developer: It's not easy being green
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
In August 2002, Tim Toben found himself three hours north of Reykjavik, fishing for atlantic salmon knee-deep in a glacial stream. ...There's an organic garden where customers pick up fresh produce, a wind-and-solar-energy system monitored by UNC-Chapel Hill interns and a small biodiesel production facility.

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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