Nov. 22, 2006

Carolina in the News

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

National Coverage

For school buses, how safe is safe enough?
The Christian Science Monitor
The tragic school-bus accident in Alabama this week is bringing to the fore an ongoing and passionate debate about whether the nation's school buses should be required to have seat belts. ..."There are not that many fatalities on school buses, thankfully," says Bill Hall, manager of the occupant protection program at the University of North Carolina's Highway Safety Research Center in Chapel Hill.

Regional Coverage

Economic Inequality Focus Of Democratic Agenda (Opinion-editorial column)
The Hartford Courant
The Democrats now have the opportunity the Republicans spurned, which is to build a broad coalition in the center and become once again the nation's governing party. ...Former Sen. John Edwards, another leading Democratic contender for 2008, has put his stamp on this same issue through his new Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina.

Document recounts Washington's close call
The Tribune-Review (Pittsburgh)
While Fort Ligonier is most often associated with the Oct. 12, 1758, battle that was a prelude to the French decision to abandon Fort Duquesne, another little-known encounter with the French a few miles west of Fort Ligonier one month later held the potential to change the course of American history. ..."He seemed to have had a charmed life when it came to the battlefield," says Don Higginbotham, a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and contributor to "George Washington Remembers."

State and Local Coverage

Roses & raspberries (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
Roses to the university, which was recognized recently by the Sierra Club for recent projects that use green building methods to deal with stormwater runoff. The Sierra Club said UNC-Chapel Hill is building approximately 6 million square feet of new buildings that will not add to runoff.

Spend Wednesday with Morrie
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
See the moving story of a sports reporter reunited with his former college professor in PlayMakers Repertory Company's production of "Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie" tonight at the Center for Dramatic Art at UNC-Chapel Hill.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/nov06/morrie110606.htm

PlayMakers presents 'Tuesdays with Morrie'
The Chapel Hill News
Flipping through the channels one night after a long day of work, sportswriter Mitch Albom happened across Ted Koppel’s “Nightline.” ...The production will reunite Darling, a UNC adjunct professor of dramatic art, with Los Angeles actor Greg Mullavey, whom she directed in the 1970s TV show “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.”

Start holiday meal with dessert and you might eat less (Commentary)
The Charlotte Observer
It's that time of year again -- the season when many of us stuff ourselves with big holiday meals. As a result, we often push away from the table uncomfortably full and overloaded on artery-clogging bad fats. ...Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy at UNC.

Lumberton resident receives UNC School of Law award
The Robesonian
Candice Wooten of Lumberton is the 2006 recipient of the the University of North Carolina School of Law's Outstanding Recent Graduate Award.

Notable
The Chapel Hill News
UNC School of Public Health professor Thomas Ricketts has been named editor of the North Carolina Medical Journal. Ricketts had been associate editor for the past four years.

Jack Griffith, Kenan distinguished professor of microbiology and immunology at the UNC School of Medicine, has received the Great Gold Medal of Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Chapel Hill novelists Randall Kenan and Shannon Ravenel have been elected members of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Kenan is an associate professor of English at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Carl Bose, professor and chief of UNC’s division of neonatal-perinatal medicine, has been named chair-elect of the executive committee of the section on perinatal pediatrics of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
UNC News Briefs: http://www.unc.edu/news/briefs/2006/111406.htm

Issues and Trends

Principal turnover hits record
The Charlotte Observer
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Peter Gorman has a leadership problem. ...They either aren't choosing to take the job or aren't staying with it very long, according to a study by the University of North Carolina system's Principals' Executive Program.

Rocky Mount plies UNC
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
It was part political rally, part pep rally. Whatever it was, Rocky Mount sent a loud, enthusiastic message Monday to the folks at the UNC System: We want to join the club.

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.

Please share any questions, comments or suggestions at news@unc.edu.