Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
Regional Coverage
Former FedEx HQ Recast as Aerotropolis
The Daily News (Memphis, Tenn.)
The building that served as FedEx Corp.’s initial corporate headquarters is at the center of a rebranding campaign designed to tap into the city’s growing aerotropolis concept. …The term was coined by University of North Carolina business professor John Kasarda, who has called Memphis the lone aerotropolis in the United States thanks to the airport’s $21.7 billion impact and its status as the world’s busiest for cargo.
How easily can Roethlisberger bounce back from a concussion?
The Post-Gazette (PIttsburgh, Pa.)
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was briefly hospitalized Sunday after sustaining a concussion, may be feeling fine when the Steelers play their first playoff game, but will he be thinking clearly? …Another explanation, said Kevin Guskiewicz, director of the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory at the University of North Carolina, may be related to why female athletes have more torn knee ligaments.
State and Local Coverage
Top 10 stories of 2008: Thorp takes UNC helm
The Chapel Hill Herald
At age 44 and only a few semesters removed from classroom instruction, UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp has been quick to demonstrate a deft rapport with his constituents. Thorp started off July 1, his first day in office, by attending a meet-and-greet with student leaders at the Campus Y. In the fall he went on a tour of the state, meeting with other university system chancellors and holding court with top high school students in an effort to promote UNC.
Related Link:
http://www.wchl1360.com/details.html?id=8975
UNC mentors Latino students
The Chapel Hill Herald
Linda Herrera's cell phone rang on a warm, Wednesday afternoon last spring. …"I said, 'No, there's no thinking about UNC,'" Herrera said. She began her freshman year at Carolina in August. …From her sophomore to senior years in high school, Herrera participated in the Scholar's Latino Initiative, a three-year mentoring program that pairs UNC sophomores with Latino high school sophomores.
N&O Names Desimone Tar Heel Of The Year
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
A career full of groundbreaking achievements and notable awards added another to the trophy case Sunday. Joe Desimone, a UNC Kenan Eminent Professor of Chemistry and N.C. State William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, was named the News and Observer’s Tar Heel of the Year.
UNC Professor Honored By Iranian Government
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
Professor Carl W. Ernst accepted the Farabi International Award recipient in Iran this weekend. Ernst is a scholar of the mystical branch of Islam known as Sufism and the author of a popular text used in Iranian Universities about a 12th century Sufi poet.
UNC Professor Calls for New Cabinet Position
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
In a recent New York Times Op-ed piece, Ferris, the senior associate director of the UNC Center for the Study of the American South, challenged President Elect Obama to create a cabinet-level position to oversee federally-funded arts and humanities programs. …Ferris believes a secretary of culture would provide more cohesive leadership and be able to lobby for greater funding. He argues creating the position is important during hard economic times and will help revitalize our national spirit.
Health sign for teens (Editorial)
The Salisbury Post
Healthy sign for teens A decline in teenage smoking is a positive sign for North Carolina and the health of young people who are forgoing tobacco use now and, more than likely, will continue to do so in the future. The gains cited recently by researchers at UNC Chapel Hill's medical school showed up among two critical age groups — middle school and high school students.
Related Link:
http://orange.mync.com/site/Orange/news/story/22945/quit-
smoking-for-all-the-right-reasons/
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/health-and-medicine/first-comprehensive
-report-on-states-multiple-tobacco-programs-shows-major-successes.html
Serious tick problems (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
We were pleased to see the Dec. 14 coverage of the excellent work Dr. Ed Breitschwerdt is doing on Bartonella, a potentially serious infection spread by certain biting insects. New research is showing that ticks also transmit this disease. All four of the human-biting ticks in North Carolina may transmit one or more diseases to humans. (Marcia E. Herman-Giddens, DrPH, adjunct professor, School of Public Health, UNC-Chapel Hill)
In N.C., death penalty gets rarer
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
North Carolina will finish this year with just one defendant sentenced to death, a record low since the penalty was reinstated 31 years ago. …A UNC study in 2001 found defendants were more likely to face the death penalty if the victim was white.
Issues and Trends
WVU, UNC lead off the field in improving rural health (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Charlotte Observer
On Saturday, West Virginia University and the University of North Carolina met in Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium for the 2008 Meineke Car Care Bowl. And while the Mountaineers and Tar Heels are well known for athletic accomplishments, off the field their faculty, students and staff are improving the lives of people in their home states. One of many areas of academic success that both universities share is research, service and health care that helps citizens who live in our states' rural areas. (C. Peter Magrath is interim president of West Virginia University; Holden Thorp is chancellor of UNC Chapel Hill.)
UNC's trying to con us (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chapel Hill Herald
I live off of Clover Garden Road within a mile of the proposed airport site in Bingham Township. I have read the letters of UNC Chancellor Thorp, and I have attended the citizens meetings in opposition to the airport.