Sept. 26, 2007
Carolina in the News
State of the University Speech
Chancellor James Moeser will relinquish his post next summer. The announcement was part of Moeser's annual "State of the University" address Wednesday afternoon. Moeser, who has served as chancellor since 2000, plans to spend a year on research leave and then return "With the most exalted title this University can confer on an individual – professor."
Here is a sampling of the coverage to date of Moeser's speech:
UNC-CH Chancellor Moeser to leave post
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
James Moeser, who led UNC-Chapel Hill to a $2.2 billion fund-raising campaign, established a nationally recognized financial aid program for low-income students and elicited jeers and cheers for his stand against a federal suit over the teaching of the Quran, will step down as chancellor.
Chancellor James Moeser announces resignation
WCHL-AM (Chapel Hill)
Chancellor James Moeser announced his resignation at his annual "State of the University" speech at 3:00 Wednesday afternoon. According to the University, 68-year-old Moeser will resign in June 2008. He said the announcement gives the UNC Board of Trustees time to begin a search, so a successor could begin in July of 2008. Moeser also stated that the decision did not signal his retirement, and said after a year's research leave, he would return with "the most exalted title this University can confer on an individual professor." Moeser is Carolina's longest-serving Chancellor since Christopher Fordham, who retired in 1988. The UNC Board of Governors elected Moeser in April of 2000.
Chancellor at UNC-Chapel Hill says he will retire
WRAL-TV (CBS/ Raleigh)
James Moeser said Wednesday he would step down as chancellor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill next June, saying the time was right after a series of successes at the state's flagship higher education campus.
UNC Chancellor to step down
News 14 Carolina (Raleigh/Durham)
"I am announcing today that I shall relinquish the position of chancellor of this great University at the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 2008," announced UNC Chancellor James Moeser during Wednesday's "State of the University" Address. "Let me hasten to add that this is not a retirement for me. After a year’s research leave, I shall return to the campus with the most exalted title this University can confer on an individual – professor. I make this announcement today to give the Board of Trustees time to begin a search for my successor, with the hope that this individual can assume his or her responsibilities on July 1, 2008."
Chancellor announces retirement
The Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill)
Chancellor James Moeser announced today that he will step down from his position effective June 30. Moeser, who has been chancellor for seven years, was clearly emotional as he made the announcement at his State of the University address.
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
National Coverage
One 'Kid Nation,' under fire
USA Today
Kid Nation, the TV reality show whose second episode airs Wednesday (CBS, 8 ET/PT), is igniting a firestorm of criticism from children's mental health and media experts, even as some parents of participants say the show made their kids better people. … While she deplored the show's intense rivalries, "there are some nice portraits of empathy and caring," says Jane Brown, an expert on media and adolescence at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Kids care for one boy with a muscle spasm, others comfort the weeping.
Americans flocking to fortified water
The Chicago Tribune
The beverage industry is touting a natural resource with potent healing powers, one that promises to boost the immune system, aid weight loss, ease sore muscles and even fight hangovers. It's called water. …"There’s not a single drink out there-from Enviga to SmartWater-that has any proof of impact," said nutrition professor Barry Popkin, who directs the Interdisciplinary Center for Obesity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Just because [a nutrient] is in the product doesn't necessarily mean it will impact you or get in your body. There are all sorts of false labels promising health benefits.
Regional Coverage
In shape and on task
The Baltimore Sun
In previous years, when you asked anyone around the City football team to pick out the team jokester, most pointed at James Carmon, as his easygoing manner and ability to deliver the quick needle helped keep things light in the huddle. … James F. Donohue, chief of the division of pulmonary medicine at the University of North Carolina and a leading expert on asthma and breathing ailments, said a diagnosis of asthma does not have to end an athlete's career.
Journalists show they're on top of climate change
The Daily Astorian (Astoria, OR)
As more than 80 national leaders met Monday at a United Nations summit to negotiate global action on climate change, about 70 journalists and scientists met in Narragansett, R.I. to participate in discussions on how journalists cover these climate challenges to the environment. …Philip Meyer, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications, said the true definition of scientific objectivity is to ask questions of the data so as not to be fooled by the answers. This was what all the winners this year were noted for, he added.
State & Local Coverage
UNC-Chapel Hill gift to expand honors program
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Officials at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say a $5 million donation from an anonymous benefactor will create five new professorships and increase the number of first-year students in honors program. The university said the donation announced Wednesday also qualifies for $2.5 million in matching state funds from the North Carolina Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep07/honorsgift092607.html
UNC receives $1M for Jewish studies assistant professorship
The Triangle Business Journal
A $1 million gift from a pair of Charlotte families will add an assistant professorship to a program for Jewish studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The university says it will use the funding to recruit a "rising faculty star" in modern Hebrew literature and Israeli culture. Recruiting for the person to fill the fellowship will begin this fall.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep07/honorsgift092607.html
Forums will focus on health care
The News-Record (Greensboro)
The League of Women Voters of the Piedmont Triad and a local foundation are teaming to offer public forums on health care for the 2008 election season. … The programs will begin during the 2008 primary election season. The first, on March 11, will be led by Dr. Jon Oberlander from the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine and will focus on how health care money is currently spent. The rest, for which dates are not firm, will cover special populations and their needs; recent changes in the U.S. health system; and things that determine health, particularly what people can do to be healthy.
Welcome Home: Housing in Brunswick County
WHQR-FM (Wilmington)
To fully understand the state of affordable housing in Brunswick County, researchers out of UNC-Chapel Hill sat down with the major stakeholders and asked these four questions: to what degree does the county lack affordable housing, how do you think it impacts Brunswick County; what are the major obstacles and finally what should be done.
UNC-CH exhibit set on Paul Robeson
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The life of singer, actor, lawyer, civil rights activist and athlete Paul Robeson will be remembered in an exhibit at UNC-Chapel Hill from Oct. 9 to Jan 25. UNC-CH's Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History will host "Body and Soul: Paul Robeson, Race and Representation," an exhibit of memorabilia that examines uses of Robeson's physical image throughout his lengthy career.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep07/robeson092507.html
Parents question release of kids' records
The Times-News (Burlington)
Last Friday, Burlington’s Recreation and Parks Department released the names, addresses, birth dates and telephone numbers of about 3,000 children who play on teams competing in recreation leagues to the publisher of a weekly newspaper. … Laws, the director of recreation and human service, says he doesn’t agree with the law and released the information only after consulting with city attorney Bob Ward and learning that the documents constitute a public record. Ward consulted with David Lawrence, a professor of public law and government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Issues & Trends
Murdock's vision will need public to succeed
The Independent Tribune (Concord & Kannapolis)
Until Monday, the full extent of the reach of research activities at the North Carolina Research Campus was limited to vague statements and knowing smiles from David Murdock. Now, Murdock and researchers from Duke University will embark on a mission to change how scientists study, and how physicians treat, human diseases – a mission that Murdock said will change health care as we know it. … Duke will also collaborate with UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State and other UNC-system universities on the campus.
Officials at N.C. colleges mull future of series after brawl
The Associated Press
The president of the university system that oversees both North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central says he is leaving the discipline up to the schools after their latest football meeting ended with a brawl that police broke up with pepper spray. Erskine Bowles, who leads the University of North Carolina system, spoke with the colleges' chancellors about the fight that took place Saturday night after N.C. Central's 27-22 win. "We are all in complete agreement that this sort of unsportsmanlike behavior was just plain wrong, and that it will not be condoned or tolerated within our university," Bowles said in a statement released by his office.