March 2, 2007

Carolina in the News

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

International Coverage

Jewish organizations want to bring Israel studies to US campuses
The Jerusalem Post
A coalition of 31 American Jewish organizations has launched a new three-year initiative to bring Israel studies to American college campuses. ...The prototype was created at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where students developed the Bina Initiative, a ten-week Israel studies program for small groups of faculty and staff, "which has been shared in other parts of the country," Firestone said.

National Coverage

Updates on Billion-Dollar Campaigns at 26 Universities
The Chonicle of Higher Education
The 26 American universities that are seeking to raise at least $1-billion collected a total of $503.4-million in gifts and pledges during the last month for which they had data available. ...The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced in February that it had reached its goal of $2-billion. The campaign will continue through June, as scheduled.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb07/breaking2B022107.html

New Card Puts Bank in Immigration Debate
The Associated Press (National)
When news broke that Bank of America Corp. was testing a new credit card available to customers who might be illegal immigrants, the reaction was predictably harsh. ..."It's a no-brainer. It's a very large market," said Jim Johnson, director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Hugging The Tree-Huggers
BusinessWeek
When William K. Reilly was plotting the private equity takeover of Texas utility TXU Corp. (TXU ), he foresaw one potential dealbreaker. It wasn't the money. ...Anthropologist and law professor John M. Conley at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill believes that environmentalists' shift from accuser to partner might co-opt and defang the activists.

Drug research results questioned
McClatchy Newspapers
Industry-funded clinical trials of breast cancer medicines report more favorable results than research conducted independently, a new study reports. Some 84 percent of company-supported drug studies published in 10 major medical journals in 2003 reported positive results about the breast cancer drugs they investigated, according to an analysis by Dr. Jeffrey Peppercorn, a cancer physician and researcher at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill's School of Medicine, and colleagues at Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Related link: http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/16818724.htm
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb07/trials022107.html

Cheerleading changed by injury
The Associated Press (National)
Kristi Yamaoka still winces when she thinks about the cheerleading misstep that made her a media darling, and a villain, in one jarring instant. ...In fact, cheerleaders account for more than half of the catastrophic injuries (head, neck and spinal cord damage) to female athletes, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina.
Related link: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/16818753.htm

Some Brains May Be Predisposed to Substance Abuse
HealthDay News
Do the brain changes noted in drug addicts help cause their addiction, or are they the result of drug abuse? ..."We know that in humans, impulsive, disinhibited traits in young adolescence are also predictive of the likelihood of getting in trouble with drugs and alcohol," said Dr. James Garbutt, a professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

How to Choose Antipsychotic Medication
PsychCentral.com
Over the past several years a bevy on new antipsychotic pharmaceutical options has come on the market for treatment of schizophrenia. ...T. Scott Stroup, M.D., MPH, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues compared the effectiveness of the medications by determining how long patients stayed on their assigned medication.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar07/stroup022807.html

Regional Coverage

Taken with faith
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As the public ponders claims made by "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," several archaeologists pose another question: Haven't we been here before? ...Jodi Magness, a University of North Carolina professor of Judaism who has participated in 20 excavations in Israel and Greece, says people fall for these "discoveries" because of their attachment to the world of the Bible.

Dads get a day to help out schools
The Chicago Tribune
Donald Carson is no stranger at Ashburn Community Elementary School on the South Side, but often he's the only dad who shows up to help out with the children and chaperon field trips, he said. ... A study by professor William Darity Jr., who teaches at Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, found that a school's culture, more than race and class, could help explain why some black students are stigmatized for achieving.

State and Local Coverage

UNC department gets $1 million
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The BB&T Charitable Foundation has given $1 million to the UNC-Chapel Hill philosophy department for the second time in four years. "At BB&T, we believe that ideas have a profound impact on human action," said John Allison IV, chairman and chief executive officer of BB&T. "An individual's philosophy ultimately determines how he lives his life.
Related links: http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle
/WSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149193474384
http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/
news/2007/03/02/University/Campus.Briefs-2754406.shtml
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar07/bb&t030107.html

First School at long last finds a home
The Chapel Hill Herald
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education agreed Thursday night to put an innovative preschool-to-elementary school facility at Carrboro Elementary. The so-called First School, which is designed to ease the transition between preschool and kindergarten, will be jointly run with UNC's Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute.
Related link: http://www.wchl1360.com/details.html?id=3059

Professor to direct scholars program
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A UNC-Chapel Hill professor has been named national program director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program. Dr. Desmond K. Runyan, professor of pediatrics, succeeds Dr. Iris F. Litt, who has directed the Clinical Scholars Program since 2003.

Campus Y comes home
WCHL-AM (Chapel Hill)
UNC’s Campus Y is finally back in its original building, which has received a major facelift. Director Virginia Carson says the 100-year-old building was badly in need of a renovation.

Critic's picks - Classical
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...New music is on tap for two concerts jointly sponsored by the Duke and UNC music departments, both presented in UNC's Hill Hall. Sunday brings the Brentano String Quartet playing pieces by Bela Bartok, Steve Mackey, Nick Horne and Mario Davidovsky. Tuesday's performances include soprano Terry Rhodes, alto saxophonist Frank Gratowski, the UNC Wind and Percussion Ensembles, the UNC Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Singers, and the N.C. Jazz Repertory Orchestra.

Milestones festival strives to reflect spirit of the age
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Every couple of years, fans of both the UNC and Duke music departments have an opportunity to listen to Milestones, a festival of new music organized by both schools. ...The second longest title, "All These Are Scenes of Life In and Around the Rectangle with an Opportunity for Mischief," is a work by UNC associate professor of music Allen Anderson.

UNC and town officials urging bonfire safety
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
If UNC beats archrival Duke in men's basketball Sunday, town and university officials want fans to celebrate -- but safely. ...Realizing that the Carolina men's basketball team's high ranking this year could translate into more excuses for fans to celebrate, the UNC Faculty Council passed a resolution last month that town and university officials look into promoting bonfire safety.

'Bobcat' is still a skunk (Opinion column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Man, you've got to be jiving. Me, compliment Bob Johnson, founder of BET? ...Smith, one of a couple hundred people at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School last week to hear Johnson, threw up his hands and walked away, but the analogy is not farfetched. Some people -- OK, maybe just me -- compare the insidious effects of Johnson's "Booties Every Time" (as cartoonist Aaron McGruder so aptly dubbed it) network to electronic crack.

Issues and Trends

Big money comes knocking
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A promising Morrisville company with technology that would improve delivery of solar power and cancer drugs has attracted $16 million in funding led by a blue-chip venture capital firm. ...At the core of its technology is Fluorocur, a nonstick material developed by researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State that can be made into molds for manufacturing microscopic particles or molecular-level patterns on large surfaces.

House panel votes to ban smoking in state offices
The Associated Press (N.C.)
Smoking would be banned in all state government offices - from large agency buildings in Raleigh to a rented shop in the local strip mall where drivers licenses are issued - under a bill approved by a House committee yesterday. ... It would also include buildings in the University of North Carolina system, sponsor Rep. Jennifer Weiss said.

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.

Carolina in the News is also posted daily to the News Services Web page, http://www.unc.edu/news/clips/index.shtml.

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