March 12, 2004

Carolina in the News

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

National Coverage

Looks Like School Spirit
The Washington Post
When the University of North Carolina basketball team takes on Duke, being at the Crystal City Sports Pub may be the next best thing to being in Chapel Hill....These kinds of scenes are repeated across the Washington area every March, as the NCAA men's basketball tournament brings out a passion that's seldom seen in other sports events.
Related link: http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/0304/12aids.html

HIV study is chilling to black college campuses
The Atlanta Journal Constitution
A study revealing an increasing number of HIV infections among black male college students in North Carolina has shocked researchers and educators concerned about the future of some of the "best and brightest" young African-Americans...."It was alarming," said Dr. Peter Leone, medical director of the HIV/STD Prevention and Care Branch of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, who led the study.
Note: Leone is an associate professor in the School of Medicine.

Analysis: Land near new highway in Boston being dedicated to physical activity
"Morning Edition," National Public Radio
Obesity soon will overtake tobacco as the major cause of preventable death in the United States....So Richard Killingsworth, then a health scientist at the CDC, was asked to convene a discussion on obesity. Killingsworth says the gathering was unique because architects, urban planners and transportation engineers were invited.
Note: Killingsworth is the director of the Active Living by Design program and associate research professor of health behavior and health education, both in the School of Public Health.

State and Local Note

Craig Marks, who directs the Community Preparedness and Disaster Management Program in the School of Public Health's department of health policy and administration, is serving as a military expert for WRAL-TV and UNC-TV, both of which tapped him recently for his insights on the current situation in Haiti.

State & Local Coverage

Yarbrough, UNC-CH law school professor
The News & Observer
Marilyn Virginia Yarbrough, a UNC-Chapel Hill law professor whom colleagues viewed as a trailblazer, died Wednesday at her home. She was 58.

Marilyn Yarbrough, law prof, ex-Tennessee dean, dies at 58
The Herald-Sun
Marilyn Yarbrough, a former law school dean who taught at Carolina since 1993, died Wednesday. She was 58....Mrs. Yarbrough died suddenly but of natural causes, a UNC law school official said Thursday. She had battled diabetes, although it wasn't clear whether that chronic illness contributed to her death.

Study abroad offices check in
The News & Observer
North Carolina universities spent Thursday tracking down students in and reassuring their parents after the morning bomb blasts in Madrid....About a half dozen UNC-Chapel Hill students who attend programs in Madrid were OK. The students from UNC-CH's "Year at Sevilla" program in southern Spain were not affected.

Honoring dead aids scholars
The News & Observer
The memorials to the dead of Sept. 11 have taken many forms -- granite blocks, 5-kilometer races, gardens....Scholarships in the names of those who died in the terrorist attacks have been established at Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State University and dozens of other institutions of higher learning.

UNC, firm in toxic waste tiff
The Chapel Hill Herald
A demolition firm hired last year to gut a UNC medical building is in possession of two containers of hazardous waste that university officials earlier this week had deemed missing...."The stuff was detected, isolated and contained," said Kevin MacNaughton, UNC's special assistant for capital projects.

'Future Frontiers: Mars' to explore hard work, talent behind rover landings
Kinston Free Press
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Morehead Planetarium and Science Center is showing "Future Frontiers: Mars," a 25-minute movie depicting the successful launch and landing of NASA's two Mars rovers.

Issues and Trends

What If the Yankees Were Run Like a Public University?
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Mark Twain would recognize the situation. Everyone talks about the governance and financing of higher education, although, as in the case of the weather, few feel that they can do anything about it. When considering efforts to improve such aspects of colleges and universities, however, Life on the Mississippi and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn come less to mind than Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. The saga of efforts to reform higher education often seems like a Russian novel: long, tedious, and everyone dies in the end....Mark Yudof is chancellor of the University of Texas System.
Subscription required.

Tickets growing tougher to get
The News & Observer
Tickets to the ACC men's basketball tournament are among the hottest in college basketball...."It's certainly one of the toughest tickets in the country," ACC commissioner John Swofford said.

Duke's vision for Central Campus (Editorial)
The Durham Herald Sun
Ask just about anybody in Durham where Duke University's Central Campus is, and you'll get a puzzled stare. West and East campuses, yes, but Central? If long-range planning at Duke holds up, that's going to change in a big way. Central Campus will take its rightful place with its older siblings.

Colleges: NCAA may implement new recruiting rules
The Durham Herald Sun
At a congressional hearing into allegations that athletic prospects partake in booze, drugs, prostitutes and sex parties, a representative from the NCAA said Thursday the organization may implement tough new recruiting standards.

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.