March 15, 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

Of Teamwork, and Caring
The New York Times
Just as men can learn from "Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office," women can benefit from the clearly male-oriented book, "The Carolina Way: Leadership Lessons From a Life in Coaching," by Dean Smith and Gerald D. Bell with John Kilgo (Penguin).
Registration required.

Incredible, Edible, and Good for Your Brain?
WebMD
Can a nutrient found abundantly in eggs help pregnant women give birth to brainier babies?...Steven H. Zeisel, MD, who chairs the nutrition department at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has been studying choline in animals for more than a decade and is also four years into a study examining the effects of choline deficiency in humans.

State & Local Coverage

Autism clues tracked
The News & Observer
The federal government is pouring big dollars into ambitious studies about autism, and scientists are devising new tools to hunt down causes and care....Few places are involved as deeply as UNC-Chapel Hill, where autism studies of genes, brains and behavior will pull down more than $5 million in public and private funding this year.

Book examines evolution of genocide
The Herald-Sun
Christopher Browning's latest book began 20 years ago as part of a venture sponsored by Yad Vashem, a Holocaust museum and memorial, research center and archive....The history professor wasn't at UNC then, nor did he know about the abundance of new material he'd get to leaf through with the fall of communism.

University briefs: Political analyst to speak at UNC
The Herald Sun
Political analyst, author and commentator Kevin Phillips will discuss "The New Politics of Wealth and Democracy" in a free public lecture Thursday at UNC.

Footnotes
The News & Observer
Moeser's bonus to help campus
Chancellor James Moeser, the man at the helm of UNC-Chapel Hill, plans to put to use that $25,000 that he would have received as a bonus, after all. But it won't be for his personal gain. The money will go to a one-time start-up fund to help carry out some of the recommendations made by the Chancellor's Task Force for a Better Workplace. UNC System President Molly Broad said last summer that she planned to offer pay bonuses to chancellors in the 16-campus system to reward them for their work. Moeser said at the time that he would decline the offer, because many UNC-CH employees had received sparse or no pay raises in recent years. In February, though, an employee suggested that the money that would have gone to Moeser be used for some campus need instead. Moeser agreed. The $25,000 that Moeser will contribute toward implementing task force recommendations will come from campus funds, as would have been the case had he received a bonus. The task force -- made up of faculty, staff and students -- developed short-term, medium-term and long-range measures that aim to improve the work environment at UNC-CH. On the short-term list is establishing an ombudsman's office. Medium-term recommendations include increasing the financial assistance available to employees for community college and college classes. Long-term recommendations include expanding the employee tuition waiver program and increasing child-care subsidies.
(Note: Not available online.)

UNC Health Care helps smokers to quit
The Herald-Sun
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that tobacco remains the leading actual cause of death in the United States, with poor diet and physical inactivity rising to second place....To combat this problem, the University of North Carolina Health Care System has launched a new comprehensive smoking cessation program to help patients at UNC Hospitals and members of the public kick the habit.

Dorms stamping out smoking
The News & Observer
A friendly but competitive volleyball game is under way in a sand lot outside several UNC-Chapel Hill residence halls...."The feedback that we've received has been positive for the most part," said Christopher Payne, UNC-CH director of housing and residential education.

Lobbyist panel debates more legislator expense disclosure or ban
N.C. Associated Press
Is it better to require a lobbyist to write down every steak dinner bought for a legislator, or just ban the meals altogether?..."There's a pretty powerful sense in the room that the status quo is unacceptable (and) is inadequate in terms of the regulation of lobbying in North Carolina," said Gene Nichol, dean of the University of North Carolina law school and a council co-chairman.

Report calls officer's reprimand undeserved
The Charlotte Observer
An S.C. Army National Guard officer was given an undeserved and potentially career-wrecking reprimand because he reported improper political fund-raising on behalf of the guard's commanding general, an Army investigation has found....."It would be decisive in preventing promotion in almost all conceivable circumstances," said Richard Kohn, a professor of military history at UNC Chapel Hill.

FDA: Come clean on the calories
The Charlotte Observer
Get out those calculators and start counting, America....Suzanne Havala Hobbs, a registered dietitian and assistant professor at UNC Chapel Hill whose column, "On the Table," runs in the Observer, called the strategy "kind of a letdown."

Power brokers purr at ACC schmoozefest
The News & Observer
N.C. State Chancellor Marye Anne Fox had 2nd District Congressman Bob Etheridge at her side Friday so she could chat up the university's new projects and seek some help in Washington...."We occasionally talk politics," said UNC-CH Chancellor James Moeser, who spent all day Friday at the tournament sitting next to powerful state Sen. Tony Rand.

Local schools revise systems
The News & Observer
Students at UNC-Chapel Hill haven't used Social Security numbers for identification since 1997, when the school began issuing personal ID numbers....Officials made the switch to try to keep Social Security numbers from falling into the wrong hands, said Jim Clinton, the university's director of card operations.

Smiths take a stand with their strong but quiet activism
The Herald-Sun
When it comes to community outreach, Dean and Linnea Smith have different passions. But they are a team, working individually and as a couple to make a difference in Chapel Hill.

Issues and Trends

U.S. Senate Approves Budget Resolution After Deleting Controversial Proposal on Pell Grant Awards
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The U.S. Senate voted early Friday to remove a controversial provision from a budget plan for 2005 that would have changed the way the maximum Pell Grant is set each year.

UNC in good company as tuition vote nears
The Herald-Sun
After several years of sizable tuition increases, a state's higher education governing board faces the tug-of-war between raising rates again and facing the ire of irritated students and their parents....Even with tuition that has risen steadily over the last several years, UNC Chapel Hill is still mentioned among the best higher education values in the nation.

UNC tuition increase needed to make faculty pay competitive, ensure high-quality education (Commentary)
Asheville Citizen Times
On Friday, the University of North Carolina Board of Governors will consider proposals for 2004-05 tuition rates for the university's 16 campuses....Sue H. McClinton is chair of the UNC Asheville Board of Trustees. She lives in Asheville.

Disappointing economic picture (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
If, as President Bush suggests, America is enjoying an economic recovery, you couldn't tell it by taking Orange County's temperature....A much broader opportunity is UNC's Carolina North project, which has the potential to bring high-quality jobs and commercial tax base to the county.

Hiring development officer has downtown support
The Chapel Hill News
Killing the downtown district tax and hiring someone to focus on real estate development in the area are strong initial steps toward sparking renewal, some business owners say.

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.