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Oct. 5, 2007
Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
National Coverage
Largest study of U.S. children readies for launch
The Associated Press (National)
The largest study ever of the impact of environment and genes on the health of American children will be directed from 22 new centers across the United States, organizers said in a special news conference held Thursday. ... The effort - a collaboration by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency - plans to follow 100,000 children from before birth to the age of 21.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/oct07/cpcnationalchildrensstudy100407.html
Morse Code: Inside the college rankings
U.S. News & World Report
The hottest issue at National Association for College Admission Counseling's (NACAC) 2007 annual conference last week was the debate whether some aspects of the college admission process are unfair to many students. ... Another popular question was whether there would be a domino effect caused by Harvard, Princeton, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and the University of Virginia dropping their early admission plans.
Steps on the road to personalized medicine
Nature
The incorporation of information on genetic testing into the product label of the anticoagulant warfarin and the FDA marketing clearance for an associated test represent a significant advance for the field of pharmacogenetics. ... However, a recent study led by Howard McLeod, Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Pharmacy, USA, suggests that this advice overlooks the subtleties of the genetic effects on irinotecan toxicity.
Regional Coverage
Sex, drugs and reactions
The Associated Press (regional)
A prescription for something as common as an antibiotic may work differently, depending on whether you're a man or a woman. Your body's response to a drug is often specific to your gender. ... "Every drug, even the best drugs, can be bad for some people," said Dr. Paul Watkins, hepatologist, University of North Carolina.
Learning disorders expert speaks
The Tulsa World
Dr. Mel Levine, a national expert on neurological development and learning, said Thursday that learning disorders can have mental health implications on children for life. ... He is a pediatrics professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, N.C., and a co-founder and co-chairman of All Kinds of Minds, a nonprofit institute for the understanding of differences in learning.
State & Local Coverage
Academy honors Moeser and Levi
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser and new Duke University School of Law Dean David Levi will be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences here Saturday. ... Honored for their superior scholarship, artistic triumphs and exemplary service to society, the 227th class of AAAS fellows also includes former Vice President Al Gore, former Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and filmmaker Spike Lee.
UNC to participate in National Children's Study
WRAL-TV (CBS; Raleigh/Durham)
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been selected as a study center in the National Children's Study, according to a National Institutes of Health announcement Thursday. The study, which the NIH calls the largest of its kind ever conducted in the United States, will measure the effects of environmental, social, biological and behavioral factors on child health.
Related link: http://www.edendailynews.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=EDN%2FMG
Article%2FEDN_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173353001764&path=!news!localnews
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/oct07/cpcnationalchildrensstudy100407.html
Science bus gives students chance to use high-tech lab equipment
The Sun Journal (New Bern)
A science class at Havelock High School learned about the evolution of fish by doing experiments Thursday in a classroom on a bus. Students in Rob Thomas' marine biology class participated in a laboratory exercise inside "Destiny," a 40-foot bus owned by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
New UNC campus aims for research
The Chronicle (Duke University)
As Duke continues to make plans to renovate Central Campus, its rival university farther down highway 15-501 has a long-term construction project in the works as well, though it has a slightly different focus than the undergraduate experience. Over a span of 50 years, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill plans to create Carolina North, a new, sustainable mixed-use academic community focused mainly on providing space for small business start-ups and research facilities for UNC faculty, graduate students and post-doctoral students.
Related link: http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2007
/10/05/University/Forums.Feature.Some.Qualms-3014413.shtml
College test scores down again at NCSU, while UNC's continue rising
The Triangle Business Journal
On the other side of the Triangle in Chapel Hill, SAT scores continue to climb, although the University of North Carolina has not seen the same pace of enrollment growth as NCSU. The 2007 freshman class entering UNC registered an average SAT score of 1302, the best in the school's history.
Former butler gets $1.15 million in harassment suit
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A Wake County jury gave $1.15 million Thursday to a former employee of the Smithfield Chicken 'n Bar-B-Q restaurant chain who was fired after he said he turned away sexual advances from the company's president. ... Large awards in sexual harassment cases are unusual, and few cases even make it to trial, according to Ben Rosen, a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School.
UNC nonprofit aiding in Africa aims for $4M endowment
The Triangle Business Journal
But Rye Barcott, who founded CFK in 2001 while still a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student, says he wanted the organization to become self-sustaining without constant fundraising, so he set about to find a way to make it happen.
FTC chairwoman to give talk at UNC-CH
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras, who Washingtonian Magazine called one of the "100 Most Powerful Women in Washington," will speak Thursday at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Stamp honors black author
The Charlotte Observer
He taught school in Charlotte and Fayetteville, but Charles Chesnutt's legacy would come as a 19th- and 20th-century writer who constantly probed the color line. On Thursday, Chesnutt, with deep N.C. roots, became the 31st African American honored by the U.S. Postal Service for its Black Heritage stamp series. ... "Charles Chesnutt was the first black American writer to receive national critical acclaim," said Bill Andrews, a UNC Chapel Hill administrator and English professor who wrote a book about Chesnutt in 1980.
County residents compete in China
The Daily Reflector (Greenville)
... Fifteen students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are reporting from Shanghai and will upload content to www.sonc.net.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/oct07/olympics100307.html
Stiff immigration laws hurt Latino businesses
The Sanford Herald
... And if immigration laws were stiffened, it would likely impact more than just Latino entrepreneurs like Mejia and Perez. A study released in 2006 by researchers from the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School concluded that Latinos contribute $ 9.2 billion to the state's economy annually through their purchases, labor and
taxes.
Death penalty a decreasing rarity in N.C., Cabarrus County
The Independent Tribune (Concord and Kannapolis)
A jury that is scheduled to be selected Monday in the Lisa Louise Greene case will have the option to sentence her to life in prison or death by lethal injection if she is found guilty of first-degree murder. ... Isaac Unah, a UNC political science professor who has studied North Carolina death penalty cases, said juries have returned fewer death verdicts in recent years because of a national debate against the death penalty.
Issues & Trends
UNC system plans forum
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The UNC Tomorrow Commission wants to hear from you. The panel will hold a community forum at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the McKimmon Center at N.C. State University. The commission was established by UNC President Erskine Bowles and the UNC Board of Governors to come up with ideas for how the university system can serve future needs of North Carolina.
Expert slams Terrapins' grad rate
The Baltimore Sun
The Maryland men's basketball team's 0 percent graduation rate for players entering school from 1997 to 2000 is "an atrocity," a member of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics said yesterday. Commission member Hodding Carter III, a public policy professor at the University of North Carolina, said he was concerned not only about Maryland's graduation rate, but also about men's basketball programs around the country whose rates lag behind those of other sports.
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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