 |
January 24, 2005
Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:National Coverage
College Endowments Post Solid Gains in '04
The New York Times
Buoyed by a healthy stock market, university endowments posted robust earnings in 2004, but not enough to compensate fully for the losses of previous years and to enable the kind of spending that many institutions depend on to run their campuses, according to the most recent annual survey by the National Association of College and University Business Officers....In the midst of a $1.8 billion campaign, for example, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, received $190 million in grants and donations last year, the most in a single year, helping its endowment grow 20 percent.
Registration required.Mel Levine: Teaching All Kinds of Minds
"Morning Edition" National Public Radio
There are 3 million children receiving special services for learning disabilities in U.S. public schools.....Pediatrician Mel Levine has been challenging many assumptions about learning......He is the director of the University of North Carolina's Clinical Center for the Study of Development and learning, and a co-founder of All Kinds of Minds, an organization that analyzes learning differences.
Recruits swamp Navy, Air Force
USA Today
While the Army and the Marine Corps are straining to meet their yearly recruiting goals, the Air Force and the Navy are having banner years and may wind up turning away thousands of potential recruits...."I think the most obvious explanation is that that you're less likely to be killed or wounded in the Navy or Air Force," says Richard Kohn, a professor at the University of North Carolina who studies military culture.
Nurses Step to the Front
U.S. News and World Report
When white-haired Harry Curry shuffles into the Minnie Hamilton Health Care Center in rural Grantsville, W.Va., he says he'll see only "his doctor."..."When we are allowed to think outside the box, there is a lot we can do," says Jane Barlow, a University of North Carolina nurse who is developing a disability screening and intervention system for children in her home state.
One-Stop Shopping for Campus Housing
The Chronicle of Higher Education
In 1990 the University of Houston hired Century Campus Housing to develop, build, finance, and manage a 625-bed apartment complex in what amounted to an early example of outsourcing in on-campus housing....Allen & O'Hara Education Services, based in Memphis, Tenn., has developed about 37,000 beds at 48 campuses, including an unusually early project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that is now 40 years old.
Subscription required.Choosing Their Flock
The Chronicle of Higher Education
In the fall of 2003, two law students at Ohio State University's main campus complained to the administration that the campus chapter of the Christian Legal Society, a student group, was violating the institution's nondiscrimination rules....Three of the four institutions with lawsuits pending against them -- Arizona State University at Tempe, the University of California's Hastings College of Law, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are determined to fight the legal challenge, despite considerable costs.
Subscription required.As a move for safety, Vista may erase two crosswalks
The Union-Tribune (San Diego)
Crosswalks. The name practically implies safe passage, right?...Researchers from the University of North Carolina studied thousands of crosswalks in 30 U.S. cities around 2000 for the Federal Highway Administration and found a common theme: Intersections that handle fewer than 10,000 cars a day along two lanes or less do not need crosswalks.
Dialing up trouble behind the wheel
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Cell phones might not be the most dangerous distraction on the roads today, but there is evidence that drivers are less attentive when they use them, studies show....In May 2001, the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center reported on its study of crashes around the country between 1995 and 1999. The study focused on accidents in which drivers were distracted.
Heart Attack: Less Treatment May Be Better
Health Day News
Someone who has a heart attack or other life-threatening heart condition may be better off going to a general community hospital than to one with a sophisticated cardiology facility, a new, large study finds....The findings must be approached with caution because of the sprawling nature of the study, which included 106 hospitals and a wide variety of patients, said Dr. Sidney Smith, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina, and a spokesman for the American Heart Association.
Regional Coverage
Kohn: New term will establish foundation on conducting war on terror (Opinion-Editorial Column)
Athens Banner-Herald (Ga.)
George W. Bush has chosen to call himself a war president, but as he embarks upon a second term, he confronts a challenge no American war president has ever before encountered....[Richard] Kohn heads the Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
State & Local Coverage
UNC's aid program seals deal for low-income students
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
Tasrif Ahmed was determined to enroll at UNC-Chapel Hill, even if it meant delivering pizzas, waiting tables or doing whatever else was necessary to pay his way through...."I just got a letter over the summer saying I was in the Carolina Covenant and I wouldn't have to pay for anything for four years," Ahmed, a UNC freshman, recounted recently.
Related link: http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-568327.htmlStudents to make tuition suggestion
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC student leaders say they'll ask campus trustees this week to consider options other than the tuition hike plan recommended by the university's chancellor....UNC Chancellor James Moeser is recommending that trustees endorse a plan that would increase in-state tuition by $250 and out-of-state rates by $1,200.
Science Stories
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM
By the time scientific research makes its way into the mainstream media, it can look a lot different than it started out. According to Priscilla Wald, professor of English at Duke University, distorted depictions of research can create unfounded fear and anxiety. Host Rusty Jacobs talks with Wald about how science is depicted in movies, books, and the news. He also talks with Joe Palca, NPR science reporter; Myron Cohen, director of the Center for Infectious Disease at the University of North Carolina; and Maria Pramaggiore, director of film studies at North Carolina State University.
Note: This program will rebroadcast tonight at 9.Family: Spencer name OK on hall
The Chapel Hill Herald
The family of Cornelia Phillips Spencer has rescinded its request that the family name be removed from a UNC residence hall....Now, Moeser is making good on a December promise to create a campus committee that will work on a new award for women on campus, this time to be named for the Love family.
How do you honor a heroine with feet of clay? (Commentary)
The Charlotte Observer
One day late last fall, UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser concluded that those who created the Bell Award a decade ago had failed to read Cornelia Phillips Spencer's writings during Reconstruction.
UNC quiets uproar over Spencer, award
The Charlotte Observer
The controversy over Cornelia Phillips Spencer's 19th-century racist writings appears to be short-lived at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
UNC rethinks women's award
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
After being criticized for scrapping UNC-Chapel Hill's highest accolade for women, Chancellor James Moeser has tapped a committee to consider whether the university should reinstate such an exclusive award.
Examination of past eludes clear conclusion
The News & Record (Greensboro)
It's hard to say how Cornelia Phillips Spencer, "the woman who rang the bell" to signal UNC-Chapel Hill's reopening in 1875, would feel today about UNC Chancellor James Moeser.
Perplexed over painkillers
The Charlotte Observer
When safety concerns led to removal of the popular arthritis drug Vioxx from the market in October, many patients were left scrambling....It's important to remember that none of the studies that have called the COX-2 drugs into question was designed to find out if they caused heart problems, said Dennis Williams, associate professor at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Pharmacy.
Regulation issue hits medical spas
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The search for the Fountain of Youth used to be simpler....Dr. C. Scott Hultman, a plastic surgeon at the UNC School of Medicine, said even minor treatments have risks.
Deduct your sales taxes with catch
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Hey, big spenders, if you broke the bank last year shopping for cars, boats and other toys, you might get some good news come tax time....For the majority of middle-income residents, opting for the sales deduction probably doesn't make sense, said Doug Shackelford, an accounting professor and tax expert at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Orange set on equal schools funding
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Orange County commissioners agreed Saturday to set a goal to equalize funding between the county's two schools systems. However, the commissioners did not tackle a definition for "funding equity" during their daylong annual retreat....Madeleine Grumet, a UNC-Chapel Hill education professor, updated the board on the progress her group of graduate students and university staffers have made in comparing the resources of the two systems.
Honesty on insurance (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Regarding the impending retirement of State Health Plan chief Jack Walker (news story, Jan. 15), I am currently the chair of the faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill and have spent a good deal of time in the last 18 months trying to understand and recommend strategies that might be used to improve the health plan for all state employees.
Local Reaction
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
We asked local media and telecommunications industry experts to comment on Powell's tenure at the FCC....Joan Seifert Rose, general manager of WUNC-FM, would like a new FCC chairman who looks out for the little guy. "I hope there will be a place for the smaller broadcaster, the independent broadcaster, to get their voice heard," she said.
Jobless rate up as work force grows
Rocky Mount Telegram
North Carolina's unemployment rate increased to 5.2 percent in December from 5 percent in November, according to N.C. Employment Security Commission figures released Friday...."Looking at all of our surrounding states, you have a completely different pattern," said Dr. James Smith, an economist and professor of finance at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School. North Carolina's labor force growth is late-blooming compared to other states, Smith said.
For Iraqi expats, casting a vote is a dream come true
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
It took only five minutes for Iraqi native Maha Alattar to register to vote Friday, but it was a moment she thought would never come....Alattar, an assistant professor of neurology at the UNC School of Medicine, drove four hours to the polling station at a Maryland Ramada Inn, picking up her parents in Washington on the way.
Iraq native eager to cast ballot
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Dozens of political parties are jostling for a spot on Iraq's first national assembly. But the party that will get Maha Alattar's vote is one that has vowed to take a hard line against prominent members of the old regime that ruled her native Iraq for decades....At UNC-Chapel Hill, she teaches and conducts research on stroke and sleep disorders.
'There's still a lot of hope'
The Chapel Hill News
She remembers walks with her father along the Tigris River and leisurely Sunday lunches on her sun-drenched front porch, looking out on groves of palm trees and bright blue skies. But Maha Alattar also remembers seven cousins who were dragged to Abu Ghraib prison, held there for 10 years, then killed....That trip, at age 14, led to a new life for Alattar, now an associate professor of neurology at the UNC School of Medicine.
Choosing to hear
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
By the time Ruth B. Miller learned what a sigh sounded like, or how to whisper, she had raised two girls, earned a master's degree and celebrated her 38th wedding anniversary....At work at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, Miller was amazed to hear children's voices for the first time.
Construction uncovers old foundation
The Chapel Hill News
A section of original foundation of UNC's Memorial Hall was uncovered last week during renovation work on the university building. Archaeologists at UNC-Chapel Hill were notified Wednesday that construction workers had uncovered some of the brick base of the 1885 structure.
He blends buildings, nature (Tar Heel of the Week)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Raleigh architect Frank Harmon still draws inspiration from his boyhood hero, Frank Lloyd Wright. But he also takes cues from less celebrated designers, such as those who built North Carolina's simple farmhouses a century ago....The visitor education center at the N.C. Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill. The garden, part of UNC-Chapel Hill, has raised more than half of the $7.1 million cost of the project and is expected to break ground in 2006.
Issues & Trends
Paper chase (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
It's a relief that the sink-or-swim approach many universities once took to their undergraduate students has fallen out of favor. More administrators seem to appreciate students' need for support in meeting the requirements for graduation within four years. In fact, several North Carolina universities have garnered national recognition for their efforts.
N.C. colleges work to improve low retention numbers
The News & Record (Greensboro)
Graduation rates at North Carolina's public colleges and universities are below the national average -- and some private schools in the Triad rank even worse.
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/newsserv/clipsindex.htm.
Please share any questions, comments or suggestions at news@unc.edu.