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March 17, 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
Drink recommendation says cut out calories
United Press International
A new panel at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill recommends cutting down on high calorie drinks for a healthier diet. The Beverage Guidance Panel has issued a set of recommendations after a report that most Americans drink 21 percent of their daily calorie intake. That's more than twice the amount the World Health Organization recommends. The panel's head, Dr. Barry M. Popkin, said there are choices people can make when looking for refreshment.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/healthybeverage030806.htmNational Coverage
Stanford U. Increases Aid to Cover Tuition for Low-Income Students
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Stanford University has joined a growing number of elite universities to offer free tuition to students from low-income families. ...Similar programs are already in place at Princeton and Harvard Universities. Stanford joins a number of large universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Virginia, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, that have increased financial-aid grants for lower-income students over the past several years.
Note: Subscription required.
In New Orleans, an industrious kind of spring break
The Christian Science Monitor
The first night Philip Jones and his compadres endured a backyard "hippie camp" with compost toilets and solar showers. In other words, a bucket and a bucket with a PVC pipe attached. The next night at Light City, off St. Claude here in New Orleans, the group from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, ate a chicken nugget (yes, singular) and, as Jones says, instant mashed potatoes that they poured straight out of the box. And nighttime? "I'm sleeping with 3,000 of my closest friends who I've never met before."
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/helpothers030806.htmSpring ache
The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
Thousands of college students who might have spent spring break sunning in Acapulco or on Florida beaches this year are pouring into New Orleans to sleep in dormitory tents or on classroom floors, eat off paper plates and spend a week of vacation hauling foul muck out of homes ruined by floodwaters. ... Their schools are public and private, from major institutions like the University of North Carolina to small-town schools like Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, which sent more than 50 students.
Genetics play part in anorexia
The Chicago Tribune
Researchers studying anorexia in twins conclude that more than half a person's risk for developing the sometimes-fatal eating disorder is determined by genes. The study by scientists at the University of North Carolina and Sweden's Karolinska Institute looked at a Swedish registry of 31,406 twins -- identical and fraternal -- born between 1935 and 1958. Identical twins are genetic clones, while fraternal twins are no more similar genetically than a brother and sister born in separate pregnancies
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/geneticsanorexia022806.htmAmbien Linked to 'Sleep Eating'
WebMD
New reports appear to confirm weird behavior in patients taking Ambien, the world's most popular sleeping pill. ...Maha Alattar, MD, a sleep disorder specialist at the epilepsy and sleep disorders center of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says Ambien actually helps people with sleep disorders. "I have put patients with sleepwalking and bizarre sleepwalking behaviors on Ambien, and it helped," Alattar tells WebMD. . "It suppressed the arousal mechanisms that let these patients wake up to do these odd things. But any sleep medication can create bizarre effects."
Sports fans: Watch at your own risk
MSNBC
Steelers season-ticket holder Tom Duffy didn't have many reasons to cheer during last October's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. ...But the bigger risk from screaming is people losing their voices, says Dr. Robert Buckmire, who is director of the University of North Carolina Voice Center in Chapel Hill.
Dr. Strangelove Moves Mountains
Science Magazine
Sometimes we look back at the idées fixes of earlier scientists and ask, "What were they thinking?" In Proving Grounds, Scott Kirsch explores a spectacular example: Project Plowshare, the obsessive quest by physicist Edward Teller and a group of true believers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to use nuclear weapons to excavate harbors, canals, and mines. ...(Scott) Kirsch, a young geography professor at the University of North Carolina, sees Plowshare as a utopian effort to exercise "human control over nuclear technology as over nature itself." It was intended "to provide a positive story of the bomb at the precise moment when fears of nuclear war, and of the increasingly tangible effects of radioactive fallout, had become palpable in calls for nuclear testing bans."
Regional Coverage
Grant would boost CU transfer enrollment
The Ithaca Journal (N.Y.)
A new grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation could help Cornell University add to the significant numbers of transfer students who already come to the Ithaca campus from two-year colleges. ...For this grant cycle, the Cooke Foundation is distributing $6.78 million among eight colleges and universities. Joining Cornell are: Amherst College, Bucknell University, Mount Holyoke College, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Southern California.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/jackkentcooke030606.htmU.Va. black graduation rate still No. 1
The Times-Dispatch (Richmond)
The University of Virginia has the highest graduation rate for black students among major public institutions, according to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. ...The University of California at Berkeley and the University of New Hampshire had the next-highest rates among flagship universities with a 70 percent graduation rate, followed by a 69 percent graduation rate for blacks at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and 67 percent at the University of Michigan. The University of the District of Columbia had the lowest rate at 7 percent.
Kennesaw State presents exhibition by African-American artist Juan Logan
The Weekly (Peachtree Corners, Ga.)
Forty years ago, Juan Logan was a student at Clark College, now Clark Atlanta University, when he sold his first painting for $25. His latest work is the $2.5 million North Carolina Freedom Monument Project in Raleigh. ...Logan currently serves as director of graduate studies in studio art at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but continues to create and exhibit his own work. In fact, in just the last five years, he’s been featured in more than 16 group and solo shows in 10 states, the District of Columbia and China.
State & Local Coverage
Psychiatrists few, far between in counties
The Winston-Salem Journal
Forsyth County was one of more than 40 counties that had a shortage of psychiatrists in 2004 and that could be particularly damaging for children who need those services, according to a statewide study. ...Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the N.C. Area Health Education Centers, released the study Tuesday.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/reportpsychiatrist031406.htm
UNC receives $150,000 from Progress Energy to create center focusing on sustainable energy, environment, economic development
The Asheville Citizen-Times
Progress Energy has invested $150,000 to create the Center for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economic Development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The center, housed in the Carolina Environmental Program (CEP), will use the funds to carry out the Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economic Development (SEEED) initiative. SEEED will focus on the ways society responds to growing needs for energy associated with economic development, while also improving the environment.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/progressenergy031606.htmStudy: Genes May Cause Risk for Anorexia
The Associated Press (N.C.)
Researchers studying anorexia in twins conclude that more than half a person's risk for developing the sometimes fatal eating disorder is determined by genes. Most experts already believe there is a strong genetic component to the disorder, which mostly affects girls and women. The new study "hammers home the fact that these are biologically based disorders," said Cynthia Bulik, lead author of the study who is a psychiatrist at the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/geneticsanorexia022806.htmSuspect silent as hearing is set
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Last week, the man accused of driving a rented sport utility vehicle onto a campus plaza to kill Americans told a judge he would represent himself with the help of Allah and disregarded a lawyer's advice to remain silent. On Thursday, after almost two weeks in Raleigh's Central Prison, Mohammed Taheri-azar, 22, was silent and let his court-appointed attorney do the talking during a hearing that lasted less than five minutes.
Related Link: http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-713700.html53 outstanding high school seniors are named Morehead Scholars
The Chatham Journal Weekly
Fifty-three young leaders from high schools nationwide and in Great Britain – including 29 from North Carolina – have been named Morehead Scholars at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Among the largest and most competitive scholarship programs in the United States, the Morehead pays all expenses for four years of undergraduate study, including costs of a laptop computer and four summer enrichment experiences.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/morehead031006.htmImmigrants a small portion of new students
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A report released Thursday shoots down claims that illegal Hispanic immigration is driving the record student growth in Wake County. ...Educating the children of illegal immigrants costs North Carolina an estimated $210 million yearly, according to researchers at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at UNC-Chapel Hill. In 1995, that figure was less than $10 million.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan06/economicimpact010306.htmBroadcaster, Que Pasa may team up
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
North Carolina's largest TV broadcaster and No. 1 producer of Spanish-language media are poised to team up after months of negotiations. ...A recent study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill estimated that the number of Hispanics in the state has jumped by a third since 2000, to 7 percent of the total population. Hispanics pump about $9 billion into the state's economy each year.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan06/economicimpact010306.htmThank you for smoking
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
It's tough being a smoker these days. You can't smoke in most airports, you can't smoke in libraries, and in some cases, you can't even smoke in bars. ...Dr. Adam Goldstein, director of the tobacco prevention and evaluation program at UNC Medical Center, says habitual hookah smokers have a higher risk of smoking-related problems than cigarette smokers. "Hookah use, which is typically smoked for about 45 minutes at a time, has about twice the amount of carbon monoxide, three times the amount of nicotine and several times more tar than a cigarette," Goldstein says. "Those are the factors that would make it addictive, cancer-causing and heart disease-causing."
Enforce the law (Editorial)
The Charlotte Observer
UNC Chapel Hill Professor Cathy Packer tells the story about one of her journalism students who asked what the penalty was for public officials who violate the state's laws requiring open meetings and open records. None, she answered. Then why, the student wanted to know, would public officials bother to comply with those laws?Pack your own nutritious snacks (Commentary)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
When we were young, Mom doled out the treats in measured amounts. Now food manufacturers are doing it for her. Kraft, Nabisco and other food companies are selling familiar products -- such as Cheez-It crackers and Sandies shortbread cookies -- wrapped in tidy and controlled 100 calorie packages.
A case for privacy (Letter to the editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Regarding this week's focus on open records in North Carolina: Expanding our state public records statute to cover closed meetings promotes democracy. However, lost in the debate over open government is a failure to protect the confidentiality of personal information collected for scientific research. ...Steve Wing, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, UNC-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill.Issues & Trends
Senate Approves $7-Billion Increase for Education and Biomedical Research
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to raise spending on education and biomedical research by $7-billion, including a $1-billion increase for the National Institutes of Health, while sparing several of the education programs President Bush has proposed eliminating.
Note: Subscription required.
Secrecy rife in picking N.C. university leaders
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
North Carolina's main institutions promoting knowledge -- its public universities -- usually pick their leaders in secret. Several campuses have publicized their finalists for chancellor and invited public comment, most recently at Appalachian State University in Boone. But the biggest four -- N.C. State University, UNC-Chapel Hill, East Carolina University and UNC-Charlotte -- have picked their chiefs in private. The leaders of their searches said they feared they wouldn't draw as many top applicants if the public knew who the job-seekers were.
$1.7 million sought for engineering center
The Hickory Daily Record
Officials from North Carolina’s public universities are trimming their wish list for state legislators, since the General Assembly’s budget session is a little more than a month away. The Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina has several big items on the list, including money for the new N.C. Center for Engineering Technologies in Hickory.
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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