October 4, 2004

Carolina in the News

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

National Coverage

The Echo Boomers
CBS News"60 Minutes"
If you've ever wondered why corporate America, Hollywood, Madison Avenue and the media all seem obsessed with the youth culture, the answer is simple. The largest generation of young people since the l960s is beginning to come of age. It's called "echo boomers" because they're the genetic offspring and demographic echo of their parents, the baby boomers...Dr. Mel Levine, a
professor at the University of North Carolina, is one of the best-known pediatricians in the country. He says it's had as much to do with shaping this generation as technology.

Scientists pursue West Nile vaccine
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Researchers are making headway developing West Nile virus treatments and vaccines, but questions remain as to whether these remedies to the emerging and somewhat capricious malady will be effective enough to make it to market while demand exists...People tend to become more upset and fearful when a condition is new and somewhat mysterious, said Noel Brewer, an assistant professor of public health at the University of North Carolina. He also suspects some were put off by the Lyme disease vaccine's numerous caveats.

Cheney, Edwards Debate Stakes Rise After New Polls
Bloomberg News Service
Tomorrow's debate between U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator John Edwards may have gained in significance after polls showed a surge in support for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry following last week's match-up against President George W. Bush... ``The VP debate can reinforce or muddle the bump Kerry has coming out of last week's debate,'' said Terry
Sullivan, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He is past president of the Presidency Research Group, an association of professional scholars.

Knott withdraws from attorney general debate
Associated Press
A debate between candidates for state attorney general was canceled Monday when Republican challenger Joe Knott backed out...The debate had been scheduled to take place at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's law school, with law students questioning Knott and incumbent Democrat Roy Cooper. Gene R. Nichol, dean of the law school, said the Knott campaign called him Sunday night to say they were pulling out.

State & Local Coverage

Carolina Competes (Editorial)
The News & Record (Greensboro)
In its quest to become the nation's top public university, UNC-Chapel Hill faces stiff competition... UNC-CH is in good shape to compete -- and win -- in all of these areas.
(Note: This editorial follows a visit Thursday(9/30) with the editorial board of the News & Record during his Carolina Connects trip to Greensboro and Kernersville)

Heightened access (Editorial)
The Daily Tar Heel
Carolina took the initiative last year to help high-ability, low-income students through the Carolina Covenant. Chancellor Moeser's decision to expand the program is a welcome development.

Aid's nice; low tuition's better (Editorial)
The Wilmington Star-News
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is enlarging its admirable scholarship program for low-income students. Called "Carolina Covenant," it offers a combination of grants and work that allows students to graduate from Chapel Hill without borrowing money.

Granting some glory (Editorial)
The News & Observer
The National Institutes of Health offers grants in many research areas, but the organization is very discriminating and obviously, funds are limited. So it's all the more a point of pride that of 21 new grants to fund medical research centers, three went to UNC-Chapel Hill -- the only institution to
receive multiple grants.

Perfect stories
The Chapel Hill News
When Marianne Gingher gave the students in her Honors English class the assignment of reading 15 of the short stories in Ellen Gilchrist's "Collected Stories," she heard the requisite groans. She's sure she'll hear something very different when they finish...Gilchrist, an acclaimed novelist, poet and master of the short story, will be in town this week to receive the fifth annual Thomas Wolfe Prize from UNC.

The State of Things: Ellen Gilchrist
WUNC-FM
Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley wrote, "To say that Ellen Gilchrist can write is to say that Placido Domingo can sing."...Ellen Gilchrist is the recipient of this year's Thomas Wolfe Prize, awarded by the English department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Program leader leaving in style
The News & Observer
Anything with Shakespeare, London, Paris or Florence in the title tends to draw a crowd. The quest for the historical Jesus packs a house. Whether the topics are the ancient world or modern thought, classic literature or such popular fiction as Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," the word is that lectures and seminars put on by the Program in the Humanities and Human Values at UNC-Chapel Hill are invigorating for all involved...

Sunday Buzz: True blue
The Herald-Sun
For the fourth year in a row, UNC was the top performer when it came to collegiate licensing royalties in fiscal 2003-04.
UNC News Release:
http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sept04/liscense092204.html

UNC discusses how to judge school's past
The Herald-Sun
In re-examining UNC's history, the question that may never be answered to
everyone's satisfaction is how to judge the lives of people who may have
made significant contributions to the growth of the university, but who
would now be considered racist... That was the subject of an all-day event
Saturday called "Remembering Reconstruction at Carolina: A Community
Conversation," held at Gerrard Hall on the UNC campus.

Dr. James F. Govan--Obituary
The News & Observer
Dr. James F. Govan died Saturday October 2, 2004 at age 78...Dr. Govan enjoyed a long and distinguished career in academic libraries. At UNC, he elevated the Academic Affairs Library to one of the finest research libraries in the nation...he oversaw the construction of the Walter R. Davis
Library, doubled the size of UNC's research collection, and transitioned UNC's libraries in the new technological age.

'She's so real'; Elizabeth Edwards on the campaign trail
The News & Observer
In any presidential election, the candidate for vice president has an effect
of maybe 1 percent on who will occupy the White House, say people who
analyze such things....Elizabeth [Edwards] stayed in North Carolina, enrolled at UNC
and got a degree in English.

Tech major loses its luster
The News & Observer
Offshoring, always an option for companies, could become a necessity. IBM,
Dell and other high-tech corporations have come under fire in recent years
for shifting jobs overseas...Enrollment at UNC-Chapel Hill has risen since
it started an undergraduate computer science major in 2001, though it, too,
has logged noticeable declines of late.

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.