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Fall semester classes begin on Tuesday, Aug. 24 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Below are some activities and developments tied to the beginning of the school year that may help provide ideas for stories and visuals.

Back-to-school fact sheet

Fall semester classes begin on Tuesday, Aug. 24 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Below are some activities and developments tied to the beginning of the school year that may help provide ideas for stories and visuals.

Moving on in

Students, siblings and parents toting pillows, clothes, tennis rackets, refrigerators and more will descend on Carolina residence halls from Aug. 18- 22. Counting first-year and transfer students, somewhere around 4,500 will be arriving on campus for the first time.

Most first-year students move in on Aug. 20 and 21. Returning students may arrive anytime after 9 a.m. on Aug. 18. 

Chancellor Holden Thorp and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Winston Crisp will welcome students beginning at about 10 a.m. Aug. 21 at Morrison Residence Hall off Manning Drive.

Week of Welcome

Surrounding the start of classes will be Carolina’s traditional Week of Welcome, or WOW, Aug. 18-28.  Cookouts, downtown discounts, shows at the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, library tours, bagels, movies and more – nearly 100 special events – will be available to students.

Information tents on campus services and organizations will be in the Pit (off South Road) and the Student Activities and Services Building’s outdoor plaza (off Manning Drive near Ridge Road).

A WOW mainstay, Fallfest, will kick off the academic year on Aug. 22. Part of South Road will be closed to traffic from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. for the 14th annual party, which will feature free food, performances by student groups and bands, games and more. Last year, the crowd was estimated at 22,000. This year, about 220 student organizations and recreation leagues will have information tables where students can find kindred spirits and get involved at Carolina. For a Week of Welcome schedule, go to http://nscpp.unc.edu/sites/nscpp.unc.edu/files/2010WOWbook.in_.web_.pdf. For more on Fallfest, visit http://fallfest.unc.edu/.

WOW is presented by the Office of New Student and Carolina Parent Programs and the New Student Programming Board. For more information, contact Josh Hewitt at (919) 962-8304 or jhewitt@email.unc.edu.

Happy Birthday, School of Education

2010 marks the 125th birthday of the School of Education, which will celebrate with events on Sept. 25. All are free to the public, but reservations are required; call (919) 843-6979.

Events will start with an alumni awards ceremony at 10:30 a.m. “Discussing Desegregation in North Carolina” will be the first of four panels of experts starting at 2 p.m. Other topics will include “Leading the Way for Children with Special Needs” and “Creating Dynamic Leaders in Education.”

Phil Schlechty, director of the Schlechty Center in Louisville, Ky., and a former faculty member and associate dean in the school, will give the keynote address at 4:30 p.m. His center provides training, discussions and advice on transforming classrooms, schools and school districts from places focused on compliance into those focused on engagement. A reception will follow the talk.

For a schedule and details, visit http://soe.unc.edu/125years/. For more information, contact Laurie Norman at (919) 843-6979 or laurie_norman@unc.edu.

Good Neighbor Initiative

Now in its seventh year, the year-round Good Neighbor Initiative encourages students who live off campus to meet their neighbors and work with them to build community and keep neighborhoods clean and safe.

This year’s initiative will begin when community volunteers, students and Chapel Hill police officers walk door to door in many of the neighborhoods surrounding downtown Chapel Hill on Aug. 23. The group will start at 4:30 p.m. from the Hargraves Center and move out into the Northside, Pine Knolls and Cameron-McCauley neighborhoods.

The visits to homes of student and year-round residents will include a welcome message and information about community services, local ordinances and alcohol laws, and good neighbor practices. In addition, residents will be invited to the Good Neighbor Block Party and Neighborhood Night Out event at the Hargraves Center on Sept. 23. The volunteers will include representatives of UNC and Empowerment Inc., a local group that promotes affordable housing.

A light-hearted video highlighting the initiative was produced by a Carolina journalism class led by adjunct professor Bruce Curran and professor Richard Simpson, who also play leading roles.
 
Initiative sponsors are the Town of Chapel Hill, the Chapel Hill Police Department, Empowerment Inc., the Downtown Partnership, several downtown businesses and UNC’s Dean of Students Office and Office of University Relations.

Media note: For more information, call Susan Houston at (919) 962-8415.

Bachelor’s and master’s in five

This fall the computer science department begins a new program allowing students to earn both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in just five years. Previously, that would have taken six to seven years. One student will begin the program this year, and others may apply this fall to start graduate studies next year.

Requirements for both degrees are the same, but the program expedites admission into the master’s program. The program requires a 3.2 grade-point average in computer science and 3.0 overall, and students must have taken certain courses in the discipline.

“This is a great program for well prepared UNC students to spend an extra year to get an advanced degree and be in the position to make a 50 percent higher annual salary for the rest of their lives,” said Ming Lin, Parker Distinguished Professor of computer science and an architect of the program. “They will be better trained for their profession.”

For more information, contact Lin at lin@cs.unc.edu.

Additional background: http://gazette.unc.edu/file.2.html

Going green

Lessons about sustainability at Carolina began with orientation sessions throughout the summer and will continue at a Carolina Green Student Social. Held in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union’s art gallery from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 26, the social will offer information about the many courses, internships and student organizations that concern sustainability. Speakers will address such topics as energy conservation.

Students also will learn about the minimum requirements for a campus event to be classified as sustainable: composting and recycling; compostable dishes and cutlery if recyclable types aren’t available; minimal wrapped packaging; serving reasonable portions to avoid waste; and other standards concerning transportation, communication and location.

Soon after the start of classes, residential green games will begin. Through resident assistants, whole resident halls or parts of them may participate. During the academic year, competing units complete such tasks as posting a bulletin board about sustainability, holding an event surrounding the topic or participating in related service projects. All must be documented in a binder turned in near the end of the year. The winner gets a prize – such as a pizza party – and possession of the Green Games Green Goblet for the next academic year.

For more information, contact Brian Cain at brian.cain@fac.unc.edu or (919) 843-5295.

Living in SYNC?

UNC has added a new living-learning community for this year: SYNC – Sophomore Year Navigating Carolina. Located in Hardin Hall, the community will offer students sessions with University career counselors; service-learning and leadership development activities; and encouragement to take advantage of academic support services such as the Writing Center and Learning Center workshops.

Participants will create a visual and verbal journal documenting their school year. The community is a project of the Office of Undergraduate Education, the Career Center, Housing and Residential Education and Carolina Leadership Development.

Carolina now has 11 themed living-learning communities.

For more information, visit http://housing.unc.edu/residence-life/living-learning-communities/sync-sophomore-year-navigating-carolina.html or contact Rick Bradley at (919) 962-5240 or rick_bradley@unc.edu.

Note: News Services will release a related fact sheet next week.

Contact: News Services staff, (919) 962-2091

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