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March 2, 2006
Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:International Coverage
Growing up afraid
The Ottawa Sun (Ontario, Canada)
Although thousands of miles separate us from the avian flu, news of a possible global pandemic is winging its way into children's psyches. ..."It's a very stressful time for kids to grow up." They feel threatened, vulnerable and more fearful of the future than ever before because of overexposure to pessimistic messages and images, says Mel Levine, pediatrics professor at the University of North Carolina Medical School and co-founder of All Kinds of Minds (Allkindsofminds.org).National Coverage
Ethicists Blast Study Testing Fake Blood
The Associated Press (National)
Imagine being in a car crash, lying unconscious and bleeding in an ambulance. With no blood on board, paramedics give you an experimental substitute, but even at the hospital, you get fake blood for several hours before doctors try the real thing. ...The current study should never have begun, said Nancy M.P. King, a University of North Carolina ethicist who co-authored articles for an ethics journal. She and colleagues wrote that real blood shouldn’t be withheld from people who need it without their consent.
Rebels With a Cross
The New York Times
By phone from Nashville Bryan Norman was talking about rebellion, God and the mullet haircut. Mr. Norman, 26, is the editor of a gothic scripted, visually hyperactive book called "The New Rebellion Handbook," and he took a particular line on the romance of the rebel. ...But the popular images of rebellion do not reflect the ways most young people think about their faith, said Christian Smith, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an author of "Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers" (Oxford University Press), an analysis of interviews and survey data on adolescents.
New Members of Bush's Advisory Council on Science and Technology Include Few From Academe
The Chronicle of Higher Education
President Bush has appointed 14 new members to his Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, the White House announced on Tuesday, and, as in the past, the appointees from industry far outnumber those from academe. ...Daniel A. Reed, director, Renaissance Computing Institute.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/renaissance030206.htmSanjay Gupta: Grassroots effort important to combat fat (Opinion-editorial column)
CNN.com
One of the most difficult things I face as a journalist is the feeling of helplessness when I see a tragedy unfolding that I can do nothing about. I felt it as I covered the hurricanes in New Orleans, the tsunami in south Asia and most recently the earthquake in Pakistan. As reporters, we dive into stories to report tragedies, but not to act -- that is not typically our role. But I'm beginning something that will be different -- my tour called Fit Nation. I am going to travel to college campuses all over the country to advocate about another equally important tragedy -- the problems surrounding obesity and our sedentary lifestyle. We start at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and other stops in the future include the University of North Carolina, University of Michigan and University of Texas.
College Officials Look to 1918 in Efforts to Plan for Possible Avian-Flu Pandemic on Their Campuses
The Chronicle of Higher Education
In 1918, when a horrific strain of influenza swept the globe, American society -- and colleges -- looked much different than they do today. ...The president of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill died of the flu in October 1918. The university appointed the dean of the college of liberal arts to serve as acting president, but he died of the flu in January 1919. Peter A. Reinhardt, who is director of environment, health, and safety at Chapel Hill, discovered that in 1918 the university asked students not to attend gatherings. "We saw some social-distancing measures," he says, a prime strategy even today to slow the spread of flu.
The X-Philes
Slate Magazine
Marx and Engels once remarked that "philosophy stands in the same relation to the study of the actual world as masturbation to sexual love." ...Experimentalist Joshua Knobe of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asked college students: If a businessman interested only in profits knowingly harms the environment, should we say he did so intentionally? The students answered yes. Yet if the same businessman knowingly helped the environment, they said no. Apparently, intentionality depends not just on an actor's state of mind, but also on the outcome he or she produces.
My Two Lives
Newsweek
I have lived in the United States for almost 37 years and anticipate growing old in this country. Therefore, with the exception of my first two years in London, "Indian-American" has been a constant way to describe me. Less constant is my relationship to the term. When I was growing up in Rhode Island in the 1970s I felt neither Indian nor American.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan06/summerreadchoice012606.htmRegional Coverage
Food Fight: Scientists target obesity causes
The Oklahoma Daily (Norman)
Low-fat, low-cal, low-carb. Atkins, South Beach, The Zone. Food fads may be distracting attention from something more insidiously piling on pounds: beverages. ...“We've done it with cigarettes,” said one scientist advocating this, Barry Popkin at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sept04/popkin091604.htmlNew owners to shake up area hospitals
The Myrtle Beach Sun News
Denise Mihal spent much of her first day on her new job among the troops she and their mutual employer expect to be the first line of attack in the third life of Brunswick Community Hospital. ...Area residents can expect to see more and more health care advertising as the five hospitals jockey for the public's attention, said Oscar Aylor, clinical assistant professor of health policy and administration at the University of North Carolina's School of Public Health.
State & Local Coverage
Study: U.S. needs Latinos
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Nearly 1 in 4 United States residents will be Hispanic by 2030 if current demographic trends hold. That makes the nation dependent on the group to fill jobs that retiring baby boomers will leave, according to a study released Wednesday by a National Academy of Sciences research group. ..."How do you replace 82 million with 67 million?" asked Jim Johnson, a demographer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "The only way we will be able to compete in the marketplace is to embrace immigrants. It's in our self-interest to educate these newcomers."
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan06/economicimpact010306.htm'Latino Initiative' aims to integrate immigrants
Wilson Daily Times
The Center for International Understanding in Raleigh wants to bring its Latino Initiative to Wilson County as soon as next year. ...The Center for International Understanding is a public service program of the University of North Carolina. The center offers a variety of global education, training and short-term immersion programs. The center is funded through the state, program fees and grants and donations. It operates on an annual budget of approximately $1.1 million.
Philanthropy
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Alexa Corp., a Cary company that specializes in mortgage, financial services, insurance and real estate, is donating blankets and winter clothing to the Raleigh Rescue Mission. Lenovo is funding 90 ThinkPad notebook computers for students participating in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Carolina Covenant, which enables students from low-income families to graduate debt-free. The computers are given to Covenant Scholars as part of the Carolina Computing Initiative. The North Carolina Glaxo-SmithKline Foundation awarded $1.65 million to UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University for a collaborative partnership that will address four pressing local and global health-care concerns: quality of care and patient safety, health disparities, global health with an emphasis on HIV/AIDs, and mental health care.
Note: No link available.
UNC News Releases: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/lenovo021606.htm
http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/gskbluegrant020706.htmBenefits are pricey at UNC-CH
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill employees with family benefits pay twice as much as employees pay at peer universities, according to a study presented to the university's employee forum Wednesday. Although UNC-CH ranks at or near the top for employees who insure only themselves, it falls to last among 13 institutions for employees who choose a family benefits package, reported Laurie Charest, associate vice chancellor for human resources.
UNC employees pay more for benefits than peers
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC employees pay more out-of-pocket for their benefits and get smaller contributions from their employer than do workers at any of Carolina's "peer" institutions, a university official said Wednesday. ...UNC has the best deal among its peers for monthly employee contribution to an employee-only health plan. UNC workers contribute no money to that plan, but the peer average monthly contribution is about $28, Charest said.
Citizens push for new airport
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
If UNC closes the Horace Williams Airport, a new facility could someday open elsewhere in Orange County. UNC Chancellor James Moeser said in a recent discussion with The Chapel Hill Herald that there was a "citizen-led effort" to find a site west of Chapel Hill and Carrboro for an airport to handle the smaller, general-aviation planes the Horace Williams Airport serves. Moeser said that local businessman Jim Heavner and local attorney Bob Epting were heading that effort, and that "hopefully" a new site would be found within the county. "We'll lend whatever support we can," Moeser said.
Vigil set for student who fell from dorm
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A vigil will be held at UNC-Chapel Hill tonight for Keith Shawn Smith, the sophomore resident adviser who died Friday in a fall from a third-floor window of Stacy Residence Hall. Students plan to have the vigil at 7 p.m. at The Pit, outside the Frank Porter Graham Student Union on South Road.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/stacyhallfall022406.htmSonja van der Horst, 82
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Sonja van der Horst, a Holocaust survivor whose reparation payments from Germany led to a donation for Jewish studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, died early Wednesday in Chapel Hill. Van der Horst, 82, had been diagnosed with a brain tumor in October. In her final days, she and her family gave $650,000 to UNC to establish a $1 million professorship in Jewish history and culture. Her story of how she survived the Holocaust was featured last month in The News & Observer.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/vanderhorst020806.htmIssues & Trends
Chapel Hill gives developers the jitters
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Roger Perry says the mere words "Chapel Hill" are enough to turn off most developers. "You mention a piece of property here, and most people will just walk away," said Perry, a developer who nonetheless has made a good living atop Chapel Hill soil with such large projects as the Meadowmont community.
ACC women drawing fans
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Recently, scalpers outside Duke University's Cameron Indoor Stadium got into a shoving match. They were trying to sell tickets to the see the Blue Devils take on the Tennessee Lady Vols. ...The local fans also are hoping that those who come to see winners will keep coming. Colby Wright, a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill, was encouraged to see Carmichael full for the first advanced sellout in the Tar Heels' history. Wright, who wears pompons flapping from his head like elephant ears, said he attends both men's and women's games, but makes an extra effort to get to see the women.
Related Link: http://www.herald-sun.com/sports/18-707782.htmlNCAA reforms will cost ECU 2 scholarships
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
East Carolina is among the first schools in the country to be penalized under the NCAA's academic-reform system. ...No ACC school was docked scholarships in any sport after the release of the second round of Division I Academic Progress Rate, which measures academic retention, eligibility and graduation of athletes.
Related Link: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/13995862.htm
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.
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