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Sept. 12, 2006Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
Politics of Inclusion Coverage
Grappling With the Access Problem
Inside Higher Ed
The country is not doing a good job educating students from low-income families now, and with the number of low-income Americans poised to grow, that problem is poised to become much more dire. Solutions to that situation are hard to come by, which may explain why a virtual who’s who of the country’s leading experts on financial aid and college admissions are gathered on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this week to discuss issues of access to college and explore one particular possible answer that is capturing the imagination of some academic leaders.
Related Link: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/09/12/discounting
UNC Media Advisory: http://www.unc.edu/news/media/2006/moncalladv090806.htmNeedy Students' Access to Top Colleges Depends on the Pipeline, Not Just the Aid Budget
The Chronicle of Higher Education
“The Politics of Inclusion: Higher Education at a Crossroads,” a conference being held this week at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is meant, in part, to be an opportunity for elite colleges, public and private, to compare notes on recently instituted financial-aid programs on their campuses to attract and enroll low-income students.
College costs prompt warning
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
At the "The Politics of Inclusion: Higher Education at a Crossroads" conference, experts are examining why minority and low-income students are less likely to go to college than others. They also are seeking ways to reverse that trend. Solutions panelists suggested included improving K-12 education; giving admissions preference to impoverished students and increasing financial-aid programs like the Carolina Covenant, through which low-income students can graduate from UNC debt-free.
Inclusion conference kicks off
The Daily Tar Heel
When Chancellor James Moeser enrolled at the University of Texas-Austin, his family was hard-pressed to pay the $25 tuition bill and additional fees...Meeting the needs of students who cannot afford the education they deserve should be a top priority for all universities, Moeser said Monday during a keynote address. The address was part of a four-day conference hosted by UNC named "The Politics of Inclusion: Higher Education at a Crossroads."
UNC Media Advisory: http://www.unc.edu/news/media/2006/moncalladv090806.htm
Panel debates education costs
The Daily Tar Heel
State and national politicians gathered Monday at the Carolina Inn to discuss the socio-economic implications of college accessibility as part of a four-day higher education conference. The conference follows the release of state education report cards in which North Carolina earned an F for affordability from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
Academic leaders examine race trends
The Daily Tar Heel
In a ballroom filled with more than 150 leaders from universities across the country, diversity was an appropriate theme for the first panel discussion of a four-day conference. Four panelists addressed those assembled Monday morning in the Carolina Inn about patterns of diversity within U.S. colleges. The panelists sought to answer the questions asked by moderator Henry Frierson, a UNC professor of educational psychology: "Who are the 18-year-olds of the next decade?" he asked. "Will they be college-ready? And will college be ready for them?"Politics of Inclusion Web site: http://www.unc.edu/inclusion/
International Coverage
Exercisers may help breast-cancer survival
United Press International
Women who reported the highest levels of physical activity a year before they were diagnosed with breast cancer may have higher survival, finds a U.S. study. Page E. Abrahamson, now at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, led researchers while at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to investigate the relationship between pre-diagnosis physical activity and survival in 1,264 women with breast cancer.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep06/exercise090806.htm
National Coverage
Glad You Asked: Why the places of childhood seem so small when we return
McClatchy Newspapers
What made the flagpole shrink? Several things, says memory expert Steven Reznick of the UNC Chapel Hill Psychology Department. One key is context: I hadn't seen many flagpoles back when I was 6. So this one seemed big. And my awed early impression of that flagpole was "etched into my memory like a scene illuminated with a flashbulb," Reznick says. Over time, I played the memory over again and again because of its emotional significance. This caused the flagpole to sort of grow, symbolically.
The broccoli pushers
The Associated Press (National)
About 38 percent of New Jersey's sixth-graders are obese or overweight, according to a study of almost 2,500 student records from 40 randomly selected public schools. The government estimates about 34 percent of children nationwide are overweight. But it's not clear that education in the teen years is effective, experts say. "It's not too late to make an impact," said Barry Popkin, director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Whether it's better to do earlier or later, we can't answer."
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan06/stevenspopkin013106.htm
Exercise Improves Breast Cancer Survival
Ivanhoe Newswire
Doctors say it's important to be able to understand why some cancer patients do better than others. Researchers have looked at a variety of factors in the past, and now a new study reveals exercise before diagnosis could be important. Study authors report obese and overweight women who exercised the year before they were diagnosed with breast cancer have a higher survival rate. Researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill conducted a study to look at the relationship between pre-diagnosis physical activity and survival in 1,264 women with breast cancer.
Note: Ivanhoe has a syndicated television series and its reports are broadcast in 250 markets reaching 80 million U.S. households.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep06/exercise090806.htmFDA Reviewing Informed Consent Rules
The Scientist
Critics of the PolyHeme trial welcomed the FDA's new guidance and the planned hearing. "Basically, the FDA is on the right track," said Nancy M. King, professor of social medicine at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, who has worked with her colleagues to draw attention to the alleged flaws in the PolyHeme trial. The new guidance seems to offer "a remarkable degree of thoroughness in what counts as good community consultation and what doesn't," she noted.Regional Coverage
Edwards rails against poverty
San Jose Mercury News (Calif.)
Edwards spoke at length about poverty during the 2004 race, decrying what he called the ``two Americas'' -- one comfortable and well-off, the other struggling to get by. In the two years since he and Sen. John Kerry lost their bid for the White House, Edwards has made reducing poverty the focus of his professional and political life. He launched a center on poverty at the University of North Carolina and is speaking to audiences across the country about the issue.Fat Clock reminds Americans that it's time to control obesity
The Sacramento Bee (Calif.)
The news that the world is populated by 1 billion overweight people — more fat folks than the 850 million undernourished people — certainly is food for thought. "Obesity is the norm globally, and undernutrition, while still important in a few countries and in targeted populations in many others, is no longer the dominant disease," professor Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina told a conference in Australia recently.
The communities of 9/11- Muslims
Yakima Herald-Republic (Wash.)
When a Yakima Herald-Republic reporter approached a group of local Muslims to ask them how the community has changed since Sept. 11, 2001, their actions said it all...Omid Safi, an Islamic studies professor at the University of North Carolina, said Muslims realize religion is no longer a nonpolitical issue. "Our very existence in this county is a political statement," he said. "So people in some ways are going on five constant years of educating others, explaining, formulating identities."
State and Local Coverage
Guard support wins young hearts
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The program comes as the nation is relying more on its citizen soldiers. Nearly a fifth of the troops serving in Iraq and almost a quarter in Afghanistan are with the National Guard or Reserves...Congress is poised to pledge $5 million -- in a bill expected to pass this month -- to the Citizen-Soldier Support Program, a year-old project run out of UNC-Chapel Hill and aided by other universities in the UNC system.UNC, Orange honor fallen on 9/11
The Chapel Hill Herald
With speeches and flags, the lighting of candles and moments of silence, residents and officials in Orange County quietly remembered the events of 9/11 Monday. ...On the university campus, by the steps of Wilson Library, Chris Arndt, a Carolina student who is the battalion commander of the UNC Army ROTC, recalled how five years ago, "in a matter of hours, our entire way of thinking was redefined."
UNC to establish research center
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC will create one of the only centers on the East Coast to focus solely on American Indian issues and research. The Center for American Indian Research and Community Engagement will be a leader in native scholarship and service, said Bernadette Gray-Little, the university's executive vice chancellor and provost.
Note: This article is not available online. For a copy, email Kym Register at kym@dev.unc.edu
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep06/aicenter090706.html
UNC to open cultural center
The Daily Tar Heel
The University is set to house a new American Indian Center, the first of its kind in the South. The center, unveiled Thursday night, will serve as a hub for UNC's American Indian student population as well as a home for American Indian research and issues. "There are three primary goals (for the center)," said Sandra Hoeflich, the chairwoman of the committee for the center.
UNC should make a commitment (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
What will Chapel Hill look like in 50 or 75 years? Will it still be the kind of community it is now, a place that blends a vibrant educational, economic and cultural life with the day-to-day amenities we all now generally take for granted? The question arises because of recent discussions at the Carolina North Leadership Advisory Committee. That’s the group, formed at the behes of UNC Chancellor James Moeser, that is supposed to develop broad, guiding principals for the university’s proposed research campus on the Horace Williams Tract.
Parents seek autism options
The Asheville Citizen-Times
Steven R. Love, with the Asheville TEACCH Center, said not enough research has been completed to confirm whether alternative medicine works for children with autism. Love is the clinical director at one location of the Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children division of the Department of Psychiatry at UNC Chapel Hill.
Low vision? You can get upper hand
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
For people with low vision, the road to usable sight can start with the correct diagnosis, the right equipment and hard work..."It's as if you have a small hole in the middle of your vision," said Dr. Henry Greene, an optometrist and clinical professor in the department of ophthalmology at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
Former fire chief's death ruled suicide
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
At the time of his death, Morrisville police were seeking Murray for once again contacting his former girlfriend. According to police reports, Murray called the woman during the afternoon of June 23. A little more than 24 hours later he was found dead in a hotel room at the LaQuinta Inn in Cary. Timothy Ives, an assistant professor of pharmacology at UNC, said Monday an overdose of the antihistamine can cause heart problems, such as a slowing of the heartbeat or some other such abnormality.
Issues and Trends
Program fights traffic by loaning bikes
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
On Monday, 30 used mountain bikes were reborn as community-owned loaners. They're the "Blue Urban Bikes" fleet, tuned up and painted an unmistakable Carolina blue. The project is expected to grow by 20 bikes each year. More hubs -- one in Carrboro and one on East Franklin Street -- are already in the works, said Alison Carpenter with SURGE. Though negotiations haven't started, Carpenter also said SURGE and the ReCYCLEry will push for a location on UNC-Chapel Hill's campus.Chancellor candidate pool cut to five at N.C. A&T
The Associated Press (N.C.)
The search committee plans to send a list of finalists to the university trustees for their meeting September 20th. The trustees will send a list of three candidates to Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina system. Bowles will then recommend a finalist for approval by the U-N-C Board of Governors.
Working for education, for free now (Question-answer)
The Charlotte Observer
Bill Friday is hailed as one of America's major forces in higher education. The Dallas, N.C., native led the UNC system for 30 years, turning a three-campus entity into a 16-campus Goliath. Staff writer Jennifer Rothacker spoke with Friday, who is 86 and living in Chapel Hill with wife Ida.
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.
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