March 1, 2004

Carolina in the News

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

International Coverage

Older Women's Sexual Health Needs Often Neglected
Reuters (International wire service)
Women over age 65 have as many sexual concerns as younger women, and they're just as interested in discussing these issues with their physicians, according to a new study....Because of widespread stereotypes about aging and sexuality, doctors may tend to neglect discussions of sexual issues with their older patients, Dr. Margaret R. H. Nusbaum and associates at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill note in a report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

N.Carolina Banks on Incentives to Rebuild
Reuters (International wire service)
North Carolina, responding to tens of thousands of layoffs in traditional low-skill industries, is spending millions on grants and tax incentives to lure new business to the state, but some economists and analysts question the strategy....``Both politically and strategically, there is really no alternative to doing what the state is trying to do,'' said Michael Luger, director of the University of North Carolina's Office of Economic Development.

National Coverage

Harvard financial aid plan targets low-income students
National Associated Press
Harvard University is guaranteeing that households earning less than $40,000 annually won't have to pay for their children's education at the school, which plans to reach out more to students from low and moderate-income families....The University of North Carolina undertook a similar initiative last year.

Harvard to boost aid to needy students
USA Today
In a bid to attract students from low- and moderate-income families, Harvard no longer will ask parents who earn less than $40,000 a year to contribute to the cost of their child's education....In October, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill said it would cover the costs of an education for students from low-income families.

Winning the war on stroke
USA Today
Stroke: It's the third leading cause of death in the United States, with 700,000 new or recurrent attacks occurring annually.....And another study, conducted last year at the University of North Carolina, found people can be taught quickly to recognize the signs of stroke.

The making of Jayson Blair
The Baltimore Sun
When the cab hurtling through midtown Manhattan stops, a young man in a gray suit unfolds himself and steps to the curb. The camera pulls back to reveal a gleaming legend above an entrance: The New York Times...."If something comes up, we owe it to [students] to read them the riot act," says Richard Cole, journalism dean for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

For Edwards, Senate is a steppingstone
The Baltimore Sun
Sen. John Edwards likes to tell audiences on the presidential campaign trail, "I have been preparing for this fight my entire life."..."The word that leaps into my mind immediately is luck," says Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program in Southern Politics, Media and Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Cecil G. Sheps, 90, Professor and a Director of Two Hospitals
The New York Times
Dr. Cecil G. Sheps, former director of the Beth Israel hospitals in New York and Boston and founder of a health policy research center, died on Feb. 8 at his home in Chapel Hill, N.C. He was 90.

Always a coach
Fort Worth Star Telegram
A very famous coach supposedly said: "Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing."...That coach was not Dean Smith, the former coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team and one of the most successful coaches in the history of college basketball.

Regional Coverage

As Va. credit rating nears, some doubt talk of doom
Virginian Pilot
One day soon, a handful of Wall Street analysts will meet to decide whether Virginia is still worthy of the unblemished triple-A credit rating the state has proudly borne for 66 years...."You're probably better off to bite the bullet and lose your rating," said James Smith, a professor of finance at The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

State & Local Coverage

A chancellor's passing (Editorial)
The Durham Herald-Sun
Nelson Ferebee Taylor, who died last week at 83, came out of Oxford, N.C., and went, in the course of a long and distinguished career to Oxford, England, as a Rhodes Scholar. Mr. Taylor was so bright and self-disciplined that he picked up degrees and academic honors with a seeming insouciance. That ability and his work in the corporate world eventually led him to the chancellor's office at UNC Chapel Hill.

'Eyes right!' at Carolina (Editorial)
The Durham Herald-Sun
UNC Chapel Hill students have many books to read during their college days. Some students will actually read them. But none is likely to get as much public scrutiny or set off as much controversy as their first college assignment, the book selected for the freshman summer reading program.

UNC still tilts left, rightists more vocal
The News & Observer
The list of 500 possible books for this summer's freshman reading program at UNC-Chapel Hill included, of all things, "The Communist Manifesto."...Student activists are working to expose examples of professors, students and a campus atmosphere that they say is intolerant of conservative thought.

UNC says state funds are just 25% of budget
Triangle Business Journal
In its ongoing battle with state legislators over funding, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has fired the latest volley.
UNC release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb04/budgetsurvey022604.html

Promise for downtown (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
Even if the mayor's Downtown Steering Committee lures no new businesses downtown, it already has made great strides toward improving the climate for downtown revitalization.
Related link: http://www.chapelhillnews.com/front/story/1029807p-7059398c.html

Buffering creeks by Carolina North
The Herald-Sun
UNC may try to permanently protect the creek corridors on the Carolina North property, Vice Chancellor Tony Waldrop said Sunday....The university's governing boards and state officials still would have to approve that step, he said. And planners still need to assess exactly how much land would be involved.

Carolina North can be a boon (Letter to the Editor)
The Chapel Hill Herald
The university is doing the right thing to make plans for a research park at Carolina North here in Chapel Hill, where executives and researchers want to live.

Mae was the Janet of 1937 (Question and Answer)
The News & Observer
Historian John Kasson teaches courses in popular arts and American culture at UNC-Chapel Hill.

A generation from slavery
The Charlotte Observer
One day about 1940, African American preacher John Wesley Roberts of Shelby filled his fountain pen and started looking back over his life....UNC Chapel Hill English professor William Andrews, editor of the recently published "North Carolina Slave Narratives," said North Carolina has produced more outstanding African American writers than any other state.

Brother, sister cheer together again at North Carolina
The Fayetteville Observer
Tom and Christine Ciszek are siblings who have grown closer as students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They enjoy hanging out together and especially being teammates on the Tar Heels' cheerleading squad.

How low can we go?
The News & Observer
A skimpily clad woman lies in a clear box with raw chicken legs covering her flesh and squirming rats tearing at the meat...."Why I think there was such a flap about Janet Jackson was that there was a moment when the entire world got to see what teenagers see every day [on cable]," said Jane Brown, a journalism professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has studied the effect of MTV on children.

Issues and Trends

Is Biotechnology Losing Its Nerve?
The New York Times
As a founder of four biotechnology companies, Dennis A. Carson can practically write an encyclopedia entry on risk. After all, his first start-up, a gene therapy and vaccine company called Vical, still does not have a product on the market after 16 years and more than $100 million spent.

UNC system remains education value (Editorial)
The Henderson Daily Dispatch
Controversy has swirled around proposed tuition increases for the University of North Carolina system....A proposal approved by university trustees earlier this month would raise tuition by $300 next year for in-state students, and a hefty $1,500 for out-of-state students. About 60 percent of the hike would go directly toward salaries of teaching assistants, faculty and staff.

Note: If you have any questions about Carolina in the News, please call Russell Campbell at News Services, (919) 962-2091, russell_campbell@unc.edu, or Mike McFarland in University Communications, mike_mcfarland@unc.edu

Note: Web links on this page are time-sensitive, so stories might not be available after the day they first appeared.