October 21, 2004

Carolina in the News

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

International Coverage

Web sites make candidates just another commodity
Reuters News Services
As if the U.S. presidential contest wasn't enough like a horse race, Web users all over the world can now bet on the outcome through online futures exchanges that treat politics like corn, cocoa or other commodities....In an era before reliable polling techniques were developed, betting markets accurately predicted the outcome of every election between 1868 and 1940 except for the close contest of 1916, according to research by University of North Carolina professors Paul Rode and Koleman Strumpf.

State & Local Coverage

New UNC center lets teachers broadcast their classes anywhere
The Chapel Hill Herald
In what is perhaps a sign of things to come, a press conference Wednesday unveiling UNC's new Carolina Center for Educational Excellence was simulcast over the Internet....The UNC School of Education, in partnership with the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, officially opened the center Wednesday afternoon with a celebration that drew R.D. and Euzelle Smith, for whom the school is named; Chancellor James Moeser; state school board Chairman Howard Lee; and Neil Pedersen, superintendent of the city schools.
Note: WUNC-FM aired a story this morning about this event.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/oct04/excellence102004.html

UNC center to target schools in rural areas
The Chapel Hill Herald
A $10 million from the U.S. Department Education will enable UNC to help improve teaching, learning and student achievement in rural schools nationwide.

Looking abroad in a 2nd term (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer
Some say John Kerry's Iraq policy offers little that is different, and that Kerry is trying to exploit voters' dissatisfaction but has no alternative to President Bush's plans for Iraq....Timothy J. McKeown is a professor in the department of political science at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Barbara Matilsky: Faith in fives
The Independent Weekly
Using art as a tool for education, the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill breaks new ground with its exhibit Five Artists * Five Faiths: Spirituality in Contemporary Art. The exhibit incorporates the Ackland's existing collection of religious art and artifacts, and combines it with the work of artists from five major world religions.

Bar hearing provokes more anger
The News & Observer
What do you get when 150 lawyers get together to argue about misbehaving prosecutors, an unjust verdict and the way they keep each other in line?..."A whitewash of a whitewash," fumed Rich Rosen, a law professor at UNC-Chapel Hill.

That uneasy silence
The News & Observer
It lasts only a few seconds, but the signs are unmistakable. Eyes avert. Mouths settle into tense lines. Conversation skips a beat....Uneasiness over learning someone is gay can arise from homophobia or from simple inexperience in dealing with gay people, according to Pamela Johnston Conover, a UNC-Chapel Hill political science professor who teaches the politics of sexuality.

Issues & Trends

New ranking system based on choice
The Associated Press (National)
Critics of college rankings say universities aren't like their sports teams. You cannot settle who is best with head-to-head competition on the playing field. But in a new paper, a group of economists and statisticians begs to differ. They lay out a system that ranks colleges on how they perform in one kind of head-to-head competition they contend says a lot about a school and can be measured: the battle for students who are admitted to several colleges.

Winmore developers sell to two local men
The Chapel Hill Herald
After working nearly four years to get Winmore approved, the development's partners have sold the project to another pair of local developers.

N&O names reader advocate
The News & Observer
Ever have a question about why The News & Observer ran a particular story or photo on the front page? How the newspaper covered an issue? Why it takes certain editorial positions?...Publisher Orage Quarles III announced Wednesday the creation of the new position, whose purpose will be to represent reader interests. Ted Vaden, publisher of The Chapel Hill News for the past 11 years and a former N&O editor, will move to the new post in mid-November.

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/newsserv/clipsindex.htm.

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