March 28, 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

Preschool Teacher Education Studied
United Press International
A U.S. study suggests the educational level obtained by preschool teachers is unlikely, by itself, to improve classroom quality or learning. ...The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill-led analysis of seven major studies of early care and education suggests policies focused solely on teacher education are not likely to increase classroom quality or boost children's academic gains.

Personal view: Unpicking the paradoxes that deny progress (Opinion-editorial column)
The Financial Times
Business’s repeated failure to realize technology’s benefits is a true paradox. The major promise of new technology is more integration, better processes, and lower costs – yet in many instances, increased investment results in less capability, more process complexity, and higher total costs. In our work with private corporations, we at the Kenan-Flagler Business School have found process and technology paradoxes that explain the difficulty in achieving performance breakthrough. ...Dr A. H. Segars is a business professor at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

National Coverage

Call to Increase M.R.I. Use for Breast Exam
The New York Times
Two reports being published today call for greatly expanded use of M.R.I. scans in women who have breast cancer or are at high risk for it. ...The study findings will make it harder for insurance companies to refuse to pay for such scans of the second breast in women with breast cancer, said Dr. Etta D. Pisano, another author of the study and a professor of radiology at the University of North Carolina.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar07/pisano_nejm032607.html

MRIs urged for women with high breast cancer risk
The Washington Post
A major medical group is for the first time recommending that women at greatest risk of breast cancer undergo MRI exams every year to try to catch more tumors at their earliest, most treatable stages. ..."You can find a lot of cancer, but that's not the same thing as helping people live longer or better," said Russell Harris of the University of North Carolina.
Related link: http://www.emaxhealth.com/98/10561.html

Cancer Society Recommends Breast MRIs
The Associated Press (National)
Up to 1.4 million U.S. women -- those with an unusually high risk of developing breast cancer -- should get annual MRIs as well as mammograms, the American Cancer Society advises in new guidelines. ...But it does not suggest MRIs should replace mammograms, which spot calcium deposits better than MRIs do, said Dr. Etta Pisano of the University of North Carolina, one of the study's authors.

Regional Coverage

MRIs urged in breast cancer detection
The Chicago Tribune
Women who are at high risk for breast cancer should be screened with MRI in addition to mammograms, according to new guidelines from the American Cancer Society. ... "This study is pretty definitive evidence that the opposite breast needs to be evaluated with MRI," said study author Dr. Etta Pisano of the University of North Carolina.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar07/pisano_nejm032607.html

Memphis ready to put Prince Rupert to work
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.)
Dozens of importers and exporters are at The Peabody today, learning how to benefit from a new Canadian harbor that will shave days off trans-Pacific sail times and bring a windfall of trade to Memphis. ...Another is the aerotropolis, the brainchild of John Kasarda, director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina, who says that the international trade centers of the future will be cities with tremendous access to air cargo and air transportation.

State and Local Coverage

The economics of higher education
"Capital Close Up," State Government Radio
James Moeser, Chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will discuss the economic returns of academic investments. Moeser will also talk about ways to make higher education more affordable.
Note: This interview will air live from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. today, March 28.

Carolina North plans unveiled
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC unveiled three possible site plans for Carolina North on Tuesday, and each proposal keeps almost all development out of the Carrboro side of the 1,000-acre tract. Under all of the plans, the bulk of construction would be at the Horace Williams Airport site on the southeastern side of the plot, although one proposal extends development north toward Homestead Road.
Related link: http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-833631.cfm
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar07/cnorthmeeting031407.html

Public gets look at Carolina North designs
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill planners unveiled three potential site designs for Carolina North on Tuesday. ...Private partnerships would help the university turn its research into real-world products, the citizens were told by Bob Blouin, dean of the UNC School of Pharmacy.
Related link: http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/
news/2007/03/28/University/Unc-Unveils.Campus.Plans-2808777.shtml

UNC Has Big Plans With 'Carolina North'
WNCN-TV (NBC, Raleigh)
Over the last few years, Chapel Hill residents have heard rumblings about a University of North Carolina plan to develop a large piece of land north of the main campus.

MRIs detect more cancer
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Magnetic resonance imaging can detect tumors in breast cancer patients that mammography screenings missed, a new study finds. ..."You don't want to find out a year or two later that you have cancer in a second breast. You might as well go through treatment all at once," said Dr. Etta Pisano, a prominent UNC-Chapel Hill radiologist who helped design the study, detailed today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar07/pisano_nejm032607.html

A life taken too soon (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
UNC senior Jason Kendall Ray was well-known, but in an odd way: Most people knew him because he donned the costume of Rameses, the horned mascot of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Services Saturday for UNC's Jason Ray
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Funeral services for Jason Ray, the UNC-Chapel Hill student who performed as mascot Rameses, will be held Saturday in Concord, university officials said Tuesday.
Related links: http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-833635.cfm
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar07/rayservice032707.html

RENCI director to advise UNC's Moeser on strategy, innovation
Triangle Business Journal
The director of the Renaissance Computing Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been named senior advisor for strategy and innovation to UNC Chancellor James Moeser. In his new role, Daniel A. Reed will work with Moeser, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Bernadette Gray-Little and Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development Tony Waldrop to develop new multidisciplinary research initiatives at the university.
Related link: http://www.wral.com/business/local_tech_wire/news/story/1250493/
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar07/reed032707.html

Locally grown food offers good nutrition, better taste (Commentary)
The Charlotte Observer
Here's a new term to consider: localtarianism. It does organic one step better. A growing number of people aspire to a seasonal, locally grown diet. Some benefits are obvious: There's nothing like the taste of a homegrown tomato from a roadside stand in summer. ...Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy at UNC.

Many ways to back up data (Question-answer)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Q: I can't back up data on a CD. The first one I tried worked fine. All others stop partway through the "Writing Wizard" with a message that there was an error in the writing process. ...A: There are a lot of reasons why you might get this error message, and some might require some complex troubleshooting, said Priscilla Alden of UNC-Chapel Hill's Information Technology Services. Still, she has some suggestions.

Race didn't affect tests
The Winston-Salem Journal
The school-choice plan that Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools put in place more than 10 years ago created racially segregated schools but did not affect students' performance in school, according to a study from a doctoral student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Students are performing at the level you would expect them to perform, and it does not appear to be affected by school choice. That is the profound finding here," Dennis K. Orthner, a professor of public policy and social work at the university, told the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school board last night.

Piedmont Profile - (Not) Guilty: Lawyer in case that led to Alford plea says he worried about later questions
The Winston-Salem Journal
When Rep. Jim Black, the former speaker of the N.C. House of Representatives, pleaded guilty to bribery and obstruction of justice in February, local attorney Fred G. Crumpler Jr. said he had flashbacks of an uneasy time in his legal career. ..."We have lots of laws, but human interaction creates unique circumstances and the law has to adapt, said (Jim) Drennan, a court-system expert at the Institute of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Chatham to review corporal discipline
The Chapel Hill Herald
Kelly Fuller wants the Chatham County school board to follow the lead of 48 other North Carolina school districts and ban corporal punishment at county schools. ...Gary Shaffer, who teaches at the UNC School of Social Work, told the board Monday that a recent study conducted by his department found that roughly a third of the 67 North Carolina districts that allow corporal punishment have actually used it in the past decade.

Higher education leader to speak
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Cary Nelson, president of the American Association of University Professors, will speak on "The End of Education" at UNC-Chapel Hill on Friday.

Kidney Care, uh Kare, leaves runners with questions
The Chapel Hill News
Runners are an inquisitive lot. Before any road race, most competitors unleash a litany of questions at race directors and organizers. ...Race organizers from the UNC Kidney Foundation had some straight statistics, they recited as a mantra.

Issues and Trends

Charlotte's blind spot
The Charlotte Observer
When UNC system President Erskine Bowles had the ears of the city's movers and shakers Tuesday, his message to fellow Charlotteans was on target: Put your weight behind UNC Charlotte.

Commission says UNC-Rocky Mount a no-go
The Daily Herald (Roanoke Rapids)
A study commission has recommended that the University of North Carolina system avoid creating a new campus in Rocky Mount, partially blaming the poor state of academics in the region.

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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