Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
Regional Coverage
Experts tackle black infant mortality
South Florida Times (Miami)
African-American infants are more than twice as likely as white infants to die before their first birthday, and the racial gap has gotten wider over time. …“This isn’t new,” Dr. Diane Rowley, MD MPH, a professor of maternal and child health at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, and the keynote speaker at the Fort Lauderdale event, said of the infant mortality gap.
Musicians, athletes tackle temperatures with special care
The Vicksburg Post (Miss.)
The phrase "it's hot enough to fry an egg out here" has taken on a life of its own in the past week as Mississippi temperatures soared into the upper 90s leaving behind a trail of record highs, including Monday's reading of 98 degrees. …As of 2006, Fred Mueller, a professor of exercise and sports science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who compiles statistics, said 31 male athletes had died from heat stroke since 1995 during football practice sessions across the United States.
State and Local Coverage
Gift, grant close out UNC honors program; University will be
able to double the number of invitees
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
Even before the UNC Board of Trustees received a presentation Thursday on the tendencies and perceptions of high-achieving applicants for admission, Chancellor Holden Thorp had some good news for future Tar Heel students. Thorp announced that a $2 million gift from Hyde Family Foundations of Memphis, Tenn., and a $1 million matching grant from the Distinguished Professors Endowment Fund will allow the university to realize former Chancellor James Moeser's goal of doubling the number of students invited to the College of Arts and Sciences Honors Program.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/honors-program-
reaches-goal-of-doubling-with-capstone-gift-from-hyde-family-foundations.html
Dean named to lead UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
James Dean Jr., a professor of organizational behavior and strategy and senior associate dean of academic affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School, will become the school's next dean effective Aug. 1. The UNC Board of Trustees on Thursday approved the appointment of Dean, a member of the Kenan-Flagler faculty since 1997.
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1153465.html
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/business/dean-appointed-dean-of-uncs-kenan-
flagler-business-school.html
Grow with quality, UNC told
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Growing enrollment at UNC-Chapel Hill could turn off top applicants if the university adds too many students or lowers the bar to get them, a consultant told trustees Thursday. …"It's going to be incumbent on all of us to work very hard to recruit the very highest-performing North Carolina undergraduates to our campus," Chancellor Holden Thorp said.
University of North Carolina-CH tops $300 million
WWAY-TV (ABC/Wilmington)
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's annual fundraising efforts have topped $300 million for the first time. The News & Observer of Raleigh reports the school raised $300.3 million in the 2008 fiscal year. It's the fifth straight record-setting year for the fundraising effort. The school raised nearly $251 million last year.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/unc-breaks-300-
million-in-gifts-for-first-time-in-a-fiscal-year.html
Trustees Turn Down Carolina North Building
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
On Wednesday night, a plan for a new building on future Carolina North campus didn’t meet the expectations of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees. Roger Perry, a member of the board, said there were some reservations about the building.
UNC to expand Kenan stadium
News 14 Carolina (Raleigh/Greensboro/Charlotte)
The UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees approved a $22 million plan Wednesday to expand Kenan Football Stadium. The project will begin at the end of the upcoming football season and will add two floors and a number of suites to the stadium, according to Associate Athletic Director Steve Kirschner.
At last, a site for new homeless shelter (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chapel Hill Herald
I thought it very strange that when news broke about the gift of land for moving the homeless shelter from downtown to a new site off Homestead Road there was virtually no cheering. …We owe a debt of gratitude to Chancellor James Moeser, Roger Perry, chairman of the UNC Board of Trustees, and Mayor Kevin Foy for arranging this agreement.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/town-university-
announce-partnership-to-bring-new-homeless-shelter-to-chapel-hill.html
They're still supremely 'persons' (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Xenophobia (the Greek name given to fear, mistrust and hatred of foreigners and things foreign) hovers over our nation, breeding mean-spirited laws targeting illegal Mexican immigrants. In North Carolina, both the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor and the incumbent attorney general seek to bar illegal aliens from our community colleges. Unfortunately, such "nativism" is not new in our history. (Daniel H. Pollitt is Kenan professor emeritus in the UNC-CH School of Law.)
'Music Man' coming to town
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
Los Angeles-based director Tom Quaintance is already a smash hit with local talent in this year's Summer Youth Conservatory, an intensive five weeks of professional training that culminates in this weekend's performance of Meredith Willson's "The Music Man." …Bennett, as the lisping little brother of Marian the Librarian, is one of 40 youth, ages 9-18, taking part in the collaborative venture started last year by PlayMakers Repertory Company's Joe Haj and The ArtsCenter's Jon Wilner.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/arts/local-youth-to-perform-the-
music-man-july-24-27.html
Anti-alcohol group forms in Asheboro
The High Point Enterprise
Dr. John Rogers, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Asheboro, is not convinced bringing alcohol sales to Asheboro will bring the economic benefits those on the opposite side of argument believe will come. …According to the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, the destructive and irresponsible use of alcohol and other drugs cost North Carolina more than $6.8 billion annually.
HIV strikes fast, study finds
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
HIV infects and attacks the body within days — much faster than previously thought — drastically narrowing the window of time when intervention is possible, Duke University researchers have found. …"We're just going to have to be much more aggressive in identifying the infection early on," said Dr. Peter Leone, the state's HIV/AIDS health director and an associate professor in the UNC-Chapel Hill schools of medicine and public health.
Chapel Hill talk about race draws crowd
The Chapel Hill Herald
A community discussion on race in Chapel Hill drew a near-capacity audience to Town Hall on Thursday night, as well as no shortage of observations and opinions. …"We all have prejudices, every one of us," moderator Jan Boxill, director of the UNC Parr Center for Ethics, told the audience at one point. "The difference is how we respond to them."
Issues and Trends
Legislation clears the way for new airport
The Carrboro Citizen
The General Assembly has cleared the way for UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care to jointly create an airport authority, which will be charged with locating, building and operating a new airport to replace the field at Horace Williams.