Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
National Coverage
Where the Jobs Are (and Aren't)
Inside Higher Ed
…James A. Stimson, a professor of political science and graduate placement director at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, reinforced those data with anecdotal evidence from his recent graduates. He said that his department's 2009 cohort started out with the year "looking like a disaster" and everyone ended up employed — just with many of the jobs coming through later in the cycle than would have been desirable. So far, he said, 2010 "looks like a normal year."
David Margolis' Fight to End AIDS
Businessweek
As life goals go, David M. Margolis' is modest enough: He just wants to cure AIDS. The University of North Carolina professor has been plotting the demise of the world's deadliest infectious disease for more than a decade. Now he's planning a fresh assault with an unlikely weapon: a rarely used Merck (MRK) cancer drug.
UNC's reputation takes a hit in NCAA probe
The Associated Press
The NCAA investigation hovering over North Carolina's football program has frustrated everyone at the university from administrators to alumni. …Chancellor Holden Thorp said he believes Davis is "just as embarrassed as I am, that he's just as sad about what has happened." He also said he received numerous e-mails — a handful of angry ones, but mostly supportive — from alumni who want the school to protect its academic reputation before anything else. "I think that's why this is such a big deal for us because that's been a huge part of our message and brand," Thorp said, "and it still is."
Related Link:
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2010/09/02/ncaa-probe-unc-puts-football
-season-jeopardy-jolts-schools-academic-reputation/
UNC Release:
http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/090310aaa.html
State and Local Coverage
Shakespeare's romantic comedy to open PlayMakers 35th season
The Chapel Hill Herald
PlayMakers Repertory Company opens its 35th anniversary main stage season Sept. 22-Oct. 10 with William Shakespeare's romantic comedy "As You Like It." PlayMakers, the professional theater company in residence at UNC, will portray some of the Bard's most beloved characters — including the sharp-witted heroine Rosalind, who escapes her uncle's court for the lush Forest of Arden.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3838/66/
Moskal to speak at Ackland
The Chapel Hill Herald
The Ackland Art Museum's "Lunch with One: One Expert, One Work of Art" series will continue from noon to 1 p.m. next Wednesday with a talk from Jeanne Moskal, professor of comparative literature at UNC, titled "Mildred Cable: 'Gossiping the Gospel' along the Silk Road, 1923-1936."
Event to mark close of exhibit
The Chapel Hill Herald
The FedEx Global Education Center at UNC will celebrate the close of its current exhibition "Esse Quam Videri: Muslim Self Portraits" along with that of Ramadan at 7 p.m. next Thursday. The free public event will include a discussion by artist Todd Drake and reception of halal food. "This exhibition has challenged viewers to connect with and learn from people of varying ethnic backgrounds and faiths," said Laura Griest, manager of global events and exhibitions. "The closing reception offers an incredible opportunity for us to do just that."
Exhibit on bombing opens Sept. 15
The Chapel Hill Herald
The FedEx Global Education Center at UNC will feature the work of artist and UNC professor elin o'Hara slavick Sept. 15 through Nov. 11. The exhibition, "Aftermath," will showcase selections from two bodies of her work: "Hiroshima: After Aftermath" and "Protesting Cartography: Places the U.S. Has Bombed." Both examine aerial bombardment through the use of maps, rubbings, photographs (black and white, color, and cyanotypes), drawings and paintings.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3849/66/
Stone Center to explore cultural identity through films, discussions
The Chapel Hill Herald
A critically acclaimed author and an exhibition of intimate photos from a rural North Carolina town steeped in Old South charm will highlight fall programs at the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History. The UNC center also will present films and discussions that explore its fall semester theme, “Is Cultural Identity (Really Only) Racial Politics?”
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3839/66/
Drop death sentences (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As a matter of basic fairness, Gov. Beverly Perdue should use her executive powers to immediately commute the sentences of all prisoners currently on North Carolina's death row to life in prison. It is obvious that it will take many years to clean up the mess that the SBI has created, and there should be no executions while prosecutorial misconduct remains a possibility. (Paul M. Brinich, Ph.D., Clinical professor, Depts. of Psychology and Psychiatry, UNC-Chapel Hill)
Quick and correct actions saved Chapel Hill man
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
In February, Mike Patil, 60, suffered sudden cardiac arrest while riding in a car with a friend in Chapel Hill. …“He was resuscitated and defibrillated multiple times at the fire station, multiple times in the emergency department, multiple times in the cardiac cath lab,” UNC cardiologist Dr. Jason Katz said. The key to Patil's survival and recovery was therapeutic hypothermia, Katz said.
Issues and Trends
State agencies told to trim budgets
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Universities, community colleges and state agencies got word Thursday that with a huge budget shortfall looming next year, it's time to cut – again. The state's top budget officer sent a memo to a wide swath of state officials Thursday ordering up plans for next year's budget, which is expected to have a $3.3 billion hole in it. The stark news: Agencies must write plans on how they would cut 5 percent, 10 percent and 15 percent on a permanent basis. Officials will be asked to find underperforming programs, unnecessary services and redundant employees.
New UNC system president plans 'inclusive' decision-making
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
Tom Ross has a big job leading Davidson College and its 1,800 students, but he's stepping into a more daunting role as head of the University of North Carolina system's 17 campuses and more than 200,000 students. Ross will begin at UNC on Jan. 1 at an annual salary of $525,000. He follows Erskine Bowles, who announced in February that he would retire at the end of 2010 after five years as UNC president.
UNC's new leader must offer to leave Blue Cross
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As a UNC system search committee zeroed in on Tom Ross as its top choice to run the state's public universities, one influential member was faced with a conflict. Brad Wilson is president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. He was also a member of the UNC search committee by virtue of his emeritus membership on the UNC Board of Governors, which he chaired several years ago.
UNC's hasty vote backlash (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
One must wonder what constitutes an emergency these days in government circles. The UNC Board of Governors declared, without expressing a reason, that it had to vote to elect Tom Ross as president of the UNC system on an emergency basis on Aug. 26. One has to wonder about the wisdom of such hastiness.
Alcohol use compromises educational mission (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chapel Hill Herald
Fed up with reckless student drinking, Wake Forest University recently adopted strict policies to combat dangerous, even life-threatening binge drinking and alcohol-fueled bad behaviors. The catalyst for its new policy was an off-campus "Pledge Night" party involving several hundred Greek members. The last straw — six partying students required emergency hospital transport for alcohol poisoning. …As classes begin, alcohol poisoning emergency treatment is already reported for some incoming UNC students.