June 29, 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

Movin’ On Up
Inside Higher Ed
The message was simple: The campus culture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill limits access to community college students. The messenger might have taken some by surprise: It was Steve Farmer, UNC’s own assistant provost and director of undergraduate admissions. Farmer addressed a group gathered Wednesday for the opener of a two-day meeting entitled “A Fresh Look at Equity at Selective Colleges and Universities: Expanding Access for Low-Income Community College Transfers.”
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/jackkentcooke030606.htm

Edwards: Getting Ready to Run?
Newsweek
In the Senate, Democrats were bogged down debating troop withdrawals from Iraq. But across town last week, an ex-senator was talking about a different war: the war on poverty. John Edwards, the former veep candidate, has followed the issue at his think tank at the University of North Carolina. The result: a proposal to eliminate poverty in 30 years by raising the minimum wage, creating 1 million extra housing vouchers and reviving rural life with better community colleges and small-business centers. "I have the freedom to focus on something that I care about deeply," he told NEWSWEEK, "and work on it in great depth, which is very difficult to do if I were still in Washington."

Regional Coverage

'Chaos' stymies Katrina response
The Clarion Ledger (Jackson, Miss.)
Confronted with the nation's deadliest hurricane, Mississippi's public health system unraveled as communication systems went down, plans fell apart and time and material were wasted, emergency responders and others on the Gulf Coast said. ... The state Health Department has commissioned the North Carolina Institute for Public Health to produce a report on its response to Hurricane Katrina. The Health Department is approaching Katrina as a learning opportunity, said Mary Davis, evaluation services director for the institute.

'One of the Biggest Turnarounds in Medical History'
The New York Sun
Mount Sinai Hospital, the venerable Upper East Side institution, which just three years ago was mired in a financial and quality crisis so deep that it could barely meet payroll and had its live-liver transplant program suspended by the state, has quietly dug itself out of the hole. ... Physicians from the National Institutes of Health, Harvard, New York University, and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill are expressing their own confidence by coming to work at Mount Sinai, according to officials there.

New owners take over parcels of Tarboro history
The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)
Old things are new again in Tarboro. Well, not yet, but two grand old houses have been bought recently and the new owners are eager to get started with renovations. ... Percival also designed Calvary Episcopal Church, New East and New West dormitories at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and Montford Hall in Raleigh.

Medical Breakthrough: Acne Arsenal: What Works
WQAD-TV (Moline, Ill.)
What can you do to prevent teen acne? Which creams are the best? How about a light that stops zits? ... "Isotretinoin, which of all the medications, is the most powerful medicine," says Dr. Dean Morrell, a pediatric dermatologist at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

State & Local Coverage

Forum set on math skills
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Want to help President Bush revamp American math instruction? Come to the Carolina Inn on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus today. A group of the nation's foremost math education experts will hear you out.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/media/2006/06282006%20NMP%20Chapel%20Hill%20Advisory.pdf

Panel calculating how U.S. schools should teach math
The Chapel Hill Herald
For millions of students, the summer is time spent gloriously without math. But for a couple dozen or so professors, researchers and experts, Wednesday and today have been -- and will be -- filled with nothing but. ... Chairman Larry Faulkner said UNC was chosen to host the meeting because it is highly regarded academically. "There is method in what we are doing with our sites," said Faulkner, president of the Houston Endowment and president emeritus of the University of Texas at Austin.

Defining Crimes
"The State of Things," WUNC-FM
Joseph E. Kennedy, associate professor at the School of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was featured on today's (June 29) edition of "The State of Things." It's been a decade since the designation "hate crime" was established in this country. Has that restructuring of legal language shifted social perceptions of those crimes and their victims? What about in cases of terrorism or gang related crimes?

What makes a healthy place
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Healthy eating. In many communities, the main option for a quick dinner after a long day at work is McDonald's or Burger King. ... Thus, Chapel Hill scores big with UNC Hospitals and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (as well as the educationally focused University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools), while Durham has Duke University and Medical Center and drug-maker GlaxoSmithKline, in addition to the Durham Public Schools and IBM (onsite fitness facility).

Salad days are here, and consider the choices (Commentary)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Your salad days are here again, and there are so many more choices. Arugula, mizuna, radicchio and red romaine. There's spinach, frisee, Belgian endive and red oak leaf lettuce. Mesclun? Also called spring mix or field greens, it's a blend of several varieties of baby greens. ... Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a licensed, registered dietitian and author. She holds a doctorate in health policy and administration from UNC-Chapel Hill, where she is a clinical assistant professor in the School of Public Health.

Protecting the flag's spirit (Opinion-editorial column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As we celebrate our magnificent freedoms on Independence Day, we should take a moment to reflect on our flag, and how we can best honor it. ... Arnold H. Loewy is the George Killam professor of criminal law at the Texas Tech School of Law. He is the Graham Kenan professor of law, emeritus, at the UNC School of Law.

Global warming, an inconvenient truth we must all face (Letter to the editor)
The Asheville Citizen-Times
When it comes to scary movies, Stephen King couldn’t come up with a more frightening plot. A little carbon dioxide here, a little global warming there and both Manhattan and San Francisco are permanently under water. ... Barbara K. Rimer, Rimer, DrPH, is dean of the UNC School of Public Health.

Edwards briefs a swarm of supporters
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards held a national meeting with political supporters last week as he continues to edge closer to a 2008 presidential bid. ... The event included briefings on Edwards activities, including his anti-poverty center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his campaign for raising the minimum wage and his work on the Council of Foreign Relations.

Many libraries to go wireless
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Shelley Garrigan was happy to find a power outlet. ... Shannon Schelin, a public technology professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, said that wireless service is becoming an amenity that people expect in public places.

Senior advocate chosen for state leadership program
The Charlotte Observer
A Lake Norman senior has been awarded one of five spots in a statewide senior leadership program. Davidson resident Barbara Bryan was selected to participate in the Senior Leadership Enhancement Initiative, an annual program sponsored by the UNC Institute on Aging. Bryan handles communications for the Estate & Elder Law Firm of Vandiver & Bryan in Cornelius.

Issues & Trends

Foundation To Give $35 Million To Encourage Entrepreneurs
The Associated Press (N.C.)
For the second time in three years, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is offering selected U.S. colleges and universities, including the University of North Carolina system, millions of dollars to encourage entrepreneurial education. ... The schools invited to apply for the new grants round are: Arizona State University System; Brown University; Carnegie Mellon University; Georgetown University; New York University; the schools in northeast Ohio (Baldwin-Wallace College; College of Wooster; John Carroll University; Denison University; Hiram College; Kenyon College; Lake Erie College; Oberlin College, and Walsh University); Purdue University; Syracuse University; University of North Carolina system; University of Wisconsin-Madison; and University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

UNC System among recipients of $35M donation for entrepreneurship education
The Triangle Business Journal
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation will give $35 million in grants to colleges and universities throughout the country - including the University of North Carolina System -- for the second Kauffman Campuses Initiative to teach entrepreneurship.

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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