July 7, 2003

Carolina in the News

Current National Coverage

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

How stress weakens immunity
The Los Angeles Times
Researchers have identified a mechanism by which chronic stress weakens the
immune system, putting people at greater risk of disease and, possibly, premature 
aging. ... Kiecolt-Glaser and her husband, Ronald Glaser, a viral immunologist at 
Ohio State University, headed a research team from Ohio State and the 
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that monitored blood levels of IL-6 
in 119 elderly caregivers and 106 non-caregivers (their average age was 70), for
six years. 
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-stress7jul07,1,4867080.story
(Note: This study was the subject of a UNC news release. The
Los Angeles Times requires free registration to access articles.)

A Bear Market in B-School Applications
Business Week 
Recessions usually are good for business schools. ... Sherry Wallace, admissions 
director at University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School, says 
her institution will award one-third fewer fellowships this year than last.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_28/b3841053.htm

State and Local Coverage

$5M grant to UNC will establish clinical genetics center 
The Herald-Sun
UNC has received a $5 million gift from two of its alumni to establish a clinical 
genetics center at its medical school. The donation is the university's latest invest-
ment into genetics and genomics research, an area campus leaders have identified 
as a priority. 
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-368869.html
(Note: Other coverage includes an Associated Press report on the gift that has 
appeared in media outlets including The Charlotte Observer, 
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/6247681.htm. The News and 
Observer also reports on the gift in today's edition. For more information, visit this
UNC news release.) 

Universities work to hold on to funding 
News and Observer
The past five years have been kind to scientists at the Triangle's three largest 
research campuses. But leaner times are ahead. National Institutes of Health and 
National Science Foundation research funding sent to UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke 
University and N.C. State University grew by hundreds of millions of dollars since 
1998. ... UNC-Chapel Hill's medical school stands 14th, raking in $190.3 million 
in NIH grants last year. ... Prominent geneticist Terry Magnuson, director of the 
Carolina Center for Genome Sciences at UNC-CH, has pulled down $4.8 million 
alone in NIH funding since arriving on campus in 2001.
http://newsobserver.com/news/story/2670974p-2476612c.html
(Note: For more information about NIH funding, click here.)

Banking on DNA for better treatment (Opinion-Editorial Column)
News and Observer
It has been 50 years since James Watson and Francis Crick walked into the 
Eagle Pub in Cambridge, England, and announced that they had discovered "the 
secret of life." 
http://www.newsobserver.com/editorials/story/2672982p-2478521c.html
(Note: James P. Evans is director of cancer genetics services at UNC-
Chapel Hill.)

O'Connor reflects UNC arguments (Commentary)
Chapel Hill News
One of my favorite Inside-the-Beltway stories has to do with the time in the 
1980s when Washington Redskins running back John Riggins encountered Sandra 
Day O’Connor at a Washington banquet. ... That ruling, which applied to the 
University of Michigan Law School, affirms admissions practices at UNC and 
virtually every other public university in the country. UNC officials, especially in 
the law school, were positively giddy. “I think it was the single most progressive 
week in the court’s history since the Warren Court,” said constitutional law 
professor Jack Boger.
http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/opinion/story/2667141p-2473222c.html

Schools urged to improve civics instruction 
The Herald-Sun
Fewer than one in 10 North Carolina teens under 18 can name the state's U.S. 
senators, according to a new study, but a provision in the state's budget bill aims 
to change that. ... The recommendations grew out of a study by the University of 
North Carolina-based North Carolina Civic Education Consortium that surveyed 
800 students aged 13 to 17 on their civic knowledge and involvement. The study 
aimed to focus attention on teaching children about politics, said consortium 
director Debra Henzey.
http://www.herald-sun.com/durham/4-368881.html

A writer with a capital W
The Chapel Hill News
Six years ago, when Sarah Dessen made, in a single bound, the unlikely career 
jump from waiting tables to teaching creative writing at UNC, she had the 
discomfiting experience of suddenly finding herself a peer with the professors 
to whom she had been serving beer and burritos just the week before.
http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/our_town/story/2667116p-2473199c.html

For a moratorium (Editorial)
Charlotte Observer
A June 11 letter urging state political leaders to support a two-year moratorium 
on executions was signed by a surprisingly broad array of North Carolina leaders.
... Among the nearly 200 signers were familiar names of politicians, authors and
leaders from various businesses and professions, including: ... Dean Gene Nichol 
of UNC law school ... 
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/editorial/6242862.htm

UNC research points out diet gap 
The Herald-Sun
When it comes to nutrition, the gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots" in 
America has grown, not so much because of income disparities as educational 
differences, one study says. A UNC research study published today shows for 
the first time that except for people in extreme poverty, those with better edu-
cations are likely to eat better than their less-educated neighbors, even if they're 
earning the same income. But that difference wasn't significant as recently as the
mid-1960s, according to UNC nutrition professor Barry Popkin, lead author 
of the study. 
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-368874.html
(Note: For more information, visit this UNC news release.)

Issues and Trends Affecting Carolina

Senate considers plan to boost biotech 
The Herald-Sun
The state Senate has been researching an ambitious plan to build a $180 million 
cancer hospital and research center in Chapel Hill and a system of biotechnology 
training facilities across the state, including at N.C. Central University, to attract 
biotech companies to the state and Triangle. ... The plans would bring national 
attention to NCCU, give UNC Hospitals a better chance at attracting clinical
trials in the multibillion-dollar cancer research industry, and shore up and nurture 
the burgeoning biotechnology industry in the state, said Michaux, state Senate
President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, and other state leaders. 
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-368712.html

Numbers to be crunched (Editorial)
News and Observer
State Sen. Kay Hagan of Greensboro may have a good idea, but it's one that 
should have received -- and still needs -- more scrutiny from fellow legislators 
and the public. Hagan, who wields influence as a co-chair of the Senate 
Appropriations Committee, succeeded in moving through the General Assembly 
a measure that will give graduates of the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics 
in Durham free tuition to state universities. 
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/story/2670863p-2476577c.html

ACC tournament to see ticket squeeze
Charlotte Observer
One of the toughest tickets in sports, the ACC men's basketball tournament, will 
become 18.2 percent tougher. ... At North Carolina, Rams Club president John 
Montgomery said Tar Heels fans haven't mentioned the ticket issue much, but 
he expects that to change.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/sports/6232361.htm

'Football U' 
News and Observer
For many, the images still are as sharp and clear as a sunny Miami morning, even 
with the passing of almost 17 years. A plane landing in Phoenix. A football team 
strutting off in combat fatigues. Unbeaten, ranked No. 1 and cocky about it. 
Irreverent, thuggish in appearance. 
http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/story/2669113p-2474532c.html

Note: If you have any questions about Carolina in the News, 
please call Cathleen Keyser or Mike McFarland at News Services, 
(919) 962-2091 or news@unc.edu or mike_mcfarland@unc.edu