Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
Crisis Gives Obama a Chance to Make Long-Term Electoral Gains
Bloomberg News
The $2 trillion of federal spending President Barack Obama proposed to stimulate the economy, stabilize housing markets, curb financial excesses and remake the health care system packs a political punch too. …Obama’s programs have a potential similar to Roosevelt’s New Deal to deliver for Democrats, said William Leuchtenburg, a history professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and author of “Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal.”
National Coverage
Making Kids Crazy About Food (Blog)
The New York Times
…That was one of the many thoughts I took away from Abby Ellin’s thought-provoking article today about parents who go overboard on healthy food. …We’re seeing a lot of anxiety in these kids,” said Cynthia Bulik, the director of the eating disorders program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “They go to birthday parties, and if it’s not a granola cake they feel like they can’t eat it. The culture has led both them and their parents to take the public health messages to an extreme.”
Endangered Site: Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem
The Smithsonian Magazine
Feuding monks at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem don't just cast the first stone—they stockpile rocks in anticipation of future altercations. …"It is in the direst need of the greatest care," says Jaroslav Folda, a University of North Carolina professor emeritus of art history who studies the Crusader paintings on the basilica's red limestone columns. "This church is one of the holiest sites in Christianity. It is the victim here."
Regional Coverage
Drexel-led study funded by Autism Speaks
The Philadelphia Business Journal (Pennsylvania)
Autism science and advocacy nonprofit Autism Speaks said Thursday it will use a $5 million gift from an anonymous donor to link and expand two separate autism studies led by investigators at Drexel University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. …The Infant Brain Imaging Study network, or IBIS, is led by Dr. Joseph Piven, a professor at the University of North Carolina’s School of Medicine.
Sheriff welcomes national assessment of 287(g) program
The Nashville City Paper (Tennessee)
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said Thursday that it is appropriate for the new federal Homeland Security secretary to review all immigration policies, including the controversial 287(g) program that has found itself back in the news recently. …One study done by the University of North Carolina School of Law called 287(g) “too problematic, costly and difficult to implement.” The study said 287(g) leads to racial profiling by enforcement officers.
State and Local Coverage
Thorp addresses Friends of Downtown's concerns
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp has a lot on his plate. During a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with the Friends of the Downtown on Thursday, Thorp held court on the complexities of university budgeting in a time of crisis, the relationship between campus and downtown business, fundraising, the role of athletics in higher education and, of course, parking.
Related Link:
http://www.wchl1360.com/details.html?id=9572
Low-wealth areas and annexation (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Much of the talk about North Carolina's annexation laws lately has come from individuals and organizations seeking to avoid annexation. Absent has been the perspective of low-wealth and minority communities that want annexation and access to basic municipal services but are denied that opportunity by current laws. (Mark Dorosin is senior attorney at the Center for Civil Rights at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law.)
Autism Speaks funds millions to UNC autism studies
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
One out of every 150 children – mostly boys – will be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Not much is known about who is at risk. However, University of North Carolina researchers have just received a large grant to help find answers. Autism Speaks is the world's largest autism science and advocacy organization. It has committed $5 million to investigate genetic and environmental risk factors for autism. The money will go to studies at UNC and Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Theater magazine taps PlayMakers' Haj
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
American Theatre magazine has named Joseph Haj, producing artistic director of PlayMakers Repertory Company, one of 25 theater artists who will have a significant impact on the American theater scene over the next quarter-century. PlayMakers is the professional theater company in residence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In the magazine's April 2009 issue, its 25th-anniversary edition, Haj will be among a group of contributors to the article "An Eye on the Future: What Will the Next 25 Years Bring to American Theatre?"
Related Links:
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/campusnotes/uncs-playmakers-
rep-director-honored
http://www.wchl1360.com/details.html?id=9573
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/arts/magazine-names-playmakers-
haj-among-top-25-theater-artists.html
Professors rewarded for mentoring work
The Daily Tar Heel
The Carolina Women’s Leadership Council awarded two UNC professors with $5,000 stipends for exceptional mentoring efforts at the council’s annual meeting Thursday at the Carolina Inn. One award honors faculty-to-student mentoring, and the other honors faculty-to-faculty mentoring. The awards are picked annually from a pool of nominated faculty members. Cynthia Bulik, a professor of eating disorders in the department of psychiatry at the School of Medicine, received the faculty-to-faculty award, and Kathleen Rounds, a professor in the School of Social Work, received the faculty-to-student award.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/two-faculty-members
-garner-mentoring-awards-from-womens-leadership-council.html
University chooses first Eve Carson Scholar
The Carrboro Citizen
Despite her busy schedule of endless campus meetings, late nights studying and early mornings of trail restoration, Elinor Benami has a calm and patient disposition and makes those around her feel like there’s nowhere else in the world she’d rather be. …The Eve Marie Carson Scholarship Executive Committee, composed entirely of students, designed the scholarship program in honor of slain student body president Eve Carson to reward ambitious students who have shown strong involvement in a leadership role at Carolina.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/students/first-eve-marie-carson-scholarship
-awarded-to-uncs-benami.html
Chancellor Announces Real Estate Development Post
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
Chancellor Holden Thorp announced the creation of a new position Thursday, executive director for real estate development, and introduced the man who has filled it. Gordon Merklein assumed the position. UNC is working to acquire University Square this summer, but isn’t committed on what it’ll do with the 12-acre downtown complex, which includes Granville Towers. Merkelin says he wants to receive public feedback and plans could contain any combination of additional parking, housing and enhanced retail space.
Center on muscular dystrophy ready
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
The inauguration of the Senator Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center at UNC will take place Monday at the ITS Building on Manning Drive. Guest speakers will include UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp and U.S. Rep. David Price, D-Chapel Hill. …The UNC center's major theme will be to develop novel, gene-based therapies for muscle disorders in the laboratory and then advance those therapies into the clinical setting.
UNC News Brief:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/health-and-medicine/unc-wellstone-muscular
-dystrophy-center-inauguration.html
'Lastmaker' at Swain Hall
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The Chicago-based performance group Goat Island will present "The Lastmaker," a meditation on endings, today and Saturday at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The shows will be at 8 p.m. both days in Studio 6 of Swain Hall, located on Cameron Avenue.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/arts/short-high-energy-
acts-tell-tale-of-goodbyes.html
Latino Initiative dinner tonight
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
Scholars' Latino Initiative, a three-year mentoring program for high-potential Latino high school students, will hold a benefit dinner at 6 p.m. tonight in the atrium of the FedEx Global Education Center on the UNC campus. The event will feature UNC "celebrity waiters" to serve guests, including Chancellor Emeritus James Moeser, current Student Body President J.J. Raynor, Student Body President-elect Jasmin Jones, members of the national-championship women's soccer team, Clef Hangers, Rhodes Scholars, and favorite professors.
If the Earth's climate changes, it will hardly be the first time (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Climate change is irreversible! We can't stop it during this century no matter what we do. …If climate change is inevitable, can we do anything about it? Possibly. Obviously we can't affect the sun, but cutting emission of carbon dioxide might mitigate the change and prevent a catastrophe in the next 1,000 years. (John J.W. Rogers is a retired W.R. Kenan Professor of Geological Sciences at UNC Chapel Hill.)
Morehead Planetarium will hold family night
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Morehead Planetarium and Science Center in Chapel Hill will celebrate the International Year of Astronomy with a family night on Saturday where kids can build their own galaxy, talk with astronomers and watch a special planetarium show. The event is one of about four family science events that Morehead holds each year. “We want to support families doing science together,” said Shelley Rogers, an exhibit developer at Morehead.
Eight named to comedy team
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
In the search for the Country's Funniest College Student, RooftopComedy's 2nd Annual National College Comedy Competition named eight students to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Comedy Team. The students competed during a stand-up contest held at DSI Comedy Theater in Carrboro Feb. 19.
Electric work to close road lanes
The Chapel Hill Herald
Portions of some lanes of McCauley, Pittsboro and South Columbia streets will be closed at times in March as Duke Energy installs large electrical cables in the new duct banks that are in or along these streets. This cable is to provide additional electric service connections between Duke Energy substations on the UNC campus.
UNC News Brief:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/lane-closures-to-occur
-during-installation-of-electric-cable-in-duct-bank-in-march.html
Issues and Trends
Hard times muddy college choices
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Record numbers of admissions applications and pools of unusually strong candidates might sound like a dream for admissions directors at the 16 schools in the state university system. …At UNC-Chapel Hill, admissions officials use statistical modeling that usually helps them predict with accuracy of about 0.5 percent. This year, though, they will lean a bit more on guessing, said Stephen M. Farmer, who oversees undergraduate admissions.
Duke law applications soar to new record
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
…At UNC Chapel Hill, law school applications are down about 10 percent from this time last year, said Michael States, assistant dean of admissions, but the deadline was changed this year from Feb. 15 to March 1, which may account for part of the drop-off. …In this economy, States said, potential students are seeing that even law firms have aren't hiring and may be hesitant to take on a big student debt.
Panel backs crime policy for UNC
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
The UNC study commission charged with reviewing student codes of conduct as they relate to hate crimes voted unanimously Thursday in favor of recommending that the state higher education system adopt a policy to address certain criminal acts.
Related Link:
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4624299/
No salary cuts for top employees
WTVD-TV (ABC/Raleigh)
The exchange between a reporter and Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun about his $1.6 million salary and whether he would give any back in these tough economic times has reverberated all the way to North Carolina. With state leaders looking at possible furloughs or layoffs for state workers, some are looking at the large salaries of some leading state employees and wondering if they should share the pain.