Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
National Coverage
A Pandemic of Confusion About Flu's Death Rates
The Wall Street Journal
Though the swine flu captured the world's attention, its total confirmed death toll of fewer than 100 people so far provided a point of comparison that many health experts couldn't resist: Garden-variety seasonal flu kills that many people each day in the U.S. alone. …This estimate has its skeptics. It's based on lab testing of people who primarily are ill, and not a representative sample of the population, Jimmy Efird, a statistician with the University of North Carolina's Center for the Health of Vulnerable Populations, points out. And it makes use of the same death-certificate data whose flaws necessitated the research, potentially replicating the errors.
Regional Coverage
Conversations with Kathleen Dunn
"The Kathleen Dunn Show" Wisconsin Public Radio
Like most American newspapers, the New York Times continues to struggle financially. In recent weeks, company management has even threatened to close the Times-owned Boston Globe. After ten, Kathleen’s guest says the best way for the New York Times to survive is to become a non-profit organization. Guest: Penelope Muse Abernathy, Chair in Journalism and Digital Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Note: This interview was conducted from the Carolina News Studio.
State and Local Coverage
Duke, UNC name Robertson Scholars
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Thirty high school seniors — one with local connections — have accepted invitations to join the Robertson Scholars Program next fall, Duke University President Richard H. Brodhead and UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp have announced. The program awards leadership merit scholarships to UNC Chapel Hill and Duke.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2546/107/
Harnessing stormwater runoff (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chapel Hill Herald
Stormwater is what runs off our lawns, parking lots, roads, forests and roofs when it rains. It flows through pipes and channels into our streams, rivers and lakes. …Locally, the topics of stormwater and its management have been discussed in relation to the plans to build Carolina North. UNC is different from other local developers in that, like the Town of Chapel Hill, we also hold a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit that requires us to improve the quality of the water leaving our boundaries. (Sally Hoyt is the stormwater engineer for UNC Chapel Hill.)
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2525/107/
Reclaimed water use flows across state
News 14 Carolina
Cary was very ahead of the curve when it began piping reclaimed water to homes and businesses back in 2001. …One at UNC Chapel Hill opened about a month ago and serves not only the university but surrounding areas of Orange County.
Waste not: Students' trash to fund charities
The Chapel Hill News
…UNC's housing office is trying to do something productive with all the detritus left over when students blow town for the summer. So they set up donation stations in every residence hall complex and have encouraged students to drop off anything they don't want to take home with them. …The event is dubbed Tar Heel Treasure, and the proceeds go to two charitable organizations. The profits from the sale go to the Eve Marie Carson Scholarship Fund, named for the slain student body president.
Group offers Carolina North suggestions
The Chapel Hill Herald
Alternate modes of transportation, less reliance on automobiles and extensive input from residents should be hallmarks of Carolina North development, according to comments made by representatives of Neighborhoods for Responsible Growth during a Monday Town Council public hearing.
UNC too inefficient, consultant says
The Chapel Hill News
Here's how thick a consultant says the bureaucracy at UNC is: In at least one department, worker bees on the front lines are 10 levels down from Chancellor Holden Thorp. …Thorp said he's encouraged so far. Though UNC isn't obligated to adopt Bain's eventual recommendations, the report will provide quantitative information, a way for employees to hold Thorp accountable if the university's operations don't improve over time. "I didn't go through all of this just to have a great analysis of our problems," Thorp said.
Thorp discusses cuts to budget at UNC
The Chapel Hill News
Chancellor Holden Thorp fielded questions about budget issues, including one about whether the university may have to close any academic programs or departments. …Thorp did reiterate his pledge not to end current work contracts for tenured, tenure-track or fixed-term faculty.
Eshelman, others honored by UNC
The Star-News (Wilmington)
PPD Inc. CEO Fred Eshelman is among four recipients of distinguished service awards from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill General Alumni Association. Eshelman, a 1972 UNC graduate, has contributed about $33 million to the school, supporting cancer research, educational initiatives and research facilities, as well as fellowships, professorships, doctor of pharmacy scholarships and funds for new initiatives, the university said. Last year the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy was renamed in his honor.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2544/107/
Minorities and the Media
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM
The mainstream media used to portray minorities as stereotypes, but we’ve come a long way since “Amos & Andy.” Though the images have improved, minority access to the mainstream media is still problematic. Frank Stasio hosts a roundtable discussion about the difficulties of minority outreach in the mainstream media. Panelists include: Lucila Vargas, associate professor of Journalism and Mass Communications at UNC-Chapel Hill…
Note: "The State of Things" is the statewide public affairs program airing live at noon weekdays and rebroadcast at 9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays.
UNC study to develop business-recruitment strategy for Siler City
The Chatham Journal Weekly
Siler City officials are receiving strategic help from the Carolina Center for Competitive Economies to develop and implement a marketing initiative to recruit new companies and jobs thanks to a grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation aimed to help the city reverse its economic decline. …The center is part of the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, the economic-development arm of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Helping children of alcoholics
The Chapel Hill Herald
Children who grow up with a parent with a drinking problem have been shown to suffer from depression, anxiety, acting out, and academic and social difficulties. …Andrea Hussong, a clinical psychologist at UNC, hopes to change that. Along with her colleagues in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences' psychology department, Hussong is developing an early prevention program called Families First, designed for families of preschool-age children who are living with a parent with a drinking problem.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2540/107/
New Breast Cancer Study
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
A collaborative study between the UNC School of Medicine and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center has identified the genetic cause of the most common form of breast cancer. Yue Xiong, professor of biochemistry and biophysics, of the Lineberger Cancer Center details the findings.
UNC Medical School News Release:
http://www.med.unc.edu/www/news/unc-study-identifies-genetic-
cause-of-most-common-form-of-breast-cancer
Stave off the effects of aging with a better diet (Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Some people try to defy the years by going under the knife. Here's a better idea: Use your knife and fork. All of us experience age-related changes in the way we look and feel. Those changes happen at different rates for different people, however. (Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical assistant professor in the department of health policy and administration in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill.)
Storyteller gets started at young age (Column)
The Chapel Hill News
…What does it take to turn a child's interest in storytelling and writing into a full-blown career? Sometimes successful writers help us by sharing their memories of their pathways to writing success. For instance, UNC writing professor Marianne Gingher's "Adventures in Pen Land: One Writer's Journey from Inklings to Ink," was recently published by the University of Missouri Press.
Foy, not just Roy, along for hoopla
The Chapel Hill Herald
President Obama hosted the UNC men's basketball team at The White House on Monday, one of the spoils of a national championship season. But the student-athletes weren't the only ones basking in the glory. Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy, UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp, UNC Athletic Director Dick Baddour and others accepted an invitation to Washington, too.
UNC forum to address swine flu (Blog)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A science forum at UNC Chapel Hill Thursday will address issues related to the swine flu. The Current Science forum will be held at 7 p.m. at the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center. It will feature James Thomas, a UNC-CH epidemiologist with the university's Gillings School of Global Public Health.
UNC News Brief:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2543/107/
Moral extremes (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Most of your May 10 Sunday Forum letter-writers and the UNC law professor who wrote a Point of View are not only without doubt about what torture is and that it is a bad thing but also don't want to hear from anyone who disagrees. (Virgil Early, Smithfield)
Street closing near UNC (Blog)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A street near the UNC campus will soon close until fall. Beginning next Monday, May 18, Ransom Street from Cameron Avenue to McCauley Street will be closed to through traffic and is expected to reopen in November. The street will be closed as part of the construction of a new steam tunnel that will connect the cogeneration facility on Cameron Avenue to the main campus.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2547/68/
Issues and Trends
Perdue's proposals on probation get OK from Senate panel
The Associated Press
Some of Gov. Bev Perdue's recommendations to improve the oversight of North Carolina's probationers are working their way through the General Assembly. A Senate judiciary panel agreed Tuesday to support many of Perdue's suggestions made in response to problems with oversight in the state probation system. The problems surfaced after two men on probation were charged in the slaying of UNC-Chapel Hill student body president Eve Carson.
Cousins names UNC President Erskine Bowles lead director
The Triangle Business Journal
At its annual meeting on Tuesday, Cousins Properties Inc. named Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina System, as its new lead director. He succeeds Billy Payne, who had served a six-year term.
Fayetteville State U. to Suspend Nursing Program
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Fayetteville State University, in North Carolina, will suspend its undergraduate nursing program because of low test scores, infighting, and unfavorable public perceptions, The Fayetteville Observer reported today. The campus’s chancellor, James A. Anderson, said some faculty members and students had attempted to undermine the program.
Related Link:
http://www.fayobserver.com/article_archive?id=1253376&q=unc