Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
Regent Park: Revitalization or gentrification?
The Toronto Star (Canada)
…Heather Smith, a professor of urban studies at the University of North Carolina, authored a 2005 study on the differences between the daily experiences of immigrants who lived in a downtown area such as Regent Park and those living in the inner suburbs like the Jane-Finch-Jane-Sheppard area. Smith found while downtown immigrants feel well-serviced, those living in “concentrated poverty in peripheral suburbs” expressed frustration that transit systems, settlement services and job opportunities were lacking in their neighbourhoods, and isolation was “a real concern.”
National Coverage
College Rankings: Recruiters' Top 25 Picks
The Wall Street Journal
U.S. companies largely favor graduates of big state universities over Ivy League and other elite liberal-arts schools when hiring to fill entry-level jobs, a Wall Street Journal study found. (Carolina was tied for 25th on this list.)
NFL is taking the long-term impact of concussions seriously
The Los Angeles Times
Kyle Turley was 6 feet 5, 309 pounds, with hydrant-thick arms covered in tattoos. He was among the meanest, toughest offensive linemen in the NFL. And he was out cold. …In 2007, a study conducted by the University of North Carolina's Center for the Study of Retired Athletes surveyed 595 former NFL players who had sustained three or more concussions. Of those players, 20.2% said they had been found to have depression — about three times the rate of concussion-free players.
Testing, the Chinese Way
The New York Times
…Some education experts hail the change as a step forward from the ideological dark ages. “Research has long shown that more frequent testing is beneficial to kids, but educators have resisted this finding,” said Gregory J. Cizek, a professor of educational measurement and evaluation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Of course, the tests have to be age-appropriate, Professor Cizek notes, and the Race to the Top program includes funds for research to develop new exams. Filling in three pages of multiple-choice bubbles may not be appropriate for young children.
Commencement/Move-In Day (Blog)
The Wall Street Journal
…But commencements are also about new beginnings, and with a new school year under way, it’s time to introduce our incoming seniors, the Hire Education Class of 2011: …Emily Noonan, of Bloomingdale, Ill., is a senior at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business, pursuing a degree in business administration and a second major in Asian studies. (Hire Education is a blog for, about and by people getting ready for the transition from college to the working world.)
Social support network may add to longevity
The Los Angeles Times
The best medicine for a longer, healthier life may be the support of family and friends: That's the conclusion of an exhaustive July report looking at studies over three decades on social relationships and mortality. …The analysis, by researchers at Brigham Young University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, compiled data from 148 studies. More than 300,000 people were in the data pool, followed for an average of 7.5 years.
Icon of a Fair, a Borough, the World (Column)
The Wall Street Journal
With the restarting of the Unisphere's fountain last month after a $2 million renovation, U.S. Open ticket-holders and other visitors to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park can for the first time in years see this enduring symbol of the 1964-65 New York World's Fair as it was meant to be seen. Robert Moses intended that fair to be the capstone of his life spent modernizing America's greatest city. (Thomas J. Campanella is associate professor of urban planning and design at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.)
Chapel Hill Considers Railings After Bunk Tragedy
Inside Higher Ed
Officials at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are discussing whether they should add railings for all bunk beds, following the August death of a woman who was visiting her daughter, The Raleigh News & Observer reported. The university has provided the railings on request, and has seen a spike since the woman's death.
Related Link:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/campus-overload/2010/09/mother_killed_in_fall_from_unc.html
Regional Coverage
Crime-prevention tips for businesses
The Pantagraph (Bloomington, Ill.)
From simple prevention to high-tech security, experts say there's plenty owners can do to protect their businesses, customers and employees: …Better cash-handling procedures — such as a $200 drop-safe in the counter area — plus brighter interior and exterior lighting are simple but proven prevention methods, said Carri Casteel from the University of North Carolina Injury Prevention and Research Center, who has studied retail crime.
Wekiva football player death: Orange coaches look for answers
The Orlando Sentinel (Florida)
High school football coaches say banning water breaks — a la Vince Lombardi and Bear Bryant — hasn't been part of their game for years, punted out of the sport's psyche by research and realization that replacing water loss is critical. … "Of major concern are the 31 heat-stroke deaths in high school football from 1995 through 2009," Frederick Mueller, a professor of exercise and sports science at the University of North Carolina, said Friday. Mueller directs the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, which documented 14 deaths associated with high school football in 2008 and 2009.
State and Local Coverage
Carolinas schools in Top 25 for job recruits
The Charlotte Observer
North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are in the top 25 of at least one poll this autumn. The Wall Street Journal has the two schools among the national leaders in a survey of corporate recruiters, as the best places to find job candidates. N.C. State ranked 19th and UNC 25th in the poll, published Monday by the Wall Street Journal.
McGill innovator to speak at University Day Oct. 12
The Chapel Hill Herald
Proclaiming a theme of innovation and entrepreneurship, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will celebrate its history as the nation's first public university during University Day on Oct. 12. The featured speaker, Heather Munroe-Blum, is a highly regarded innovator in higher education, a Carolina alumna and the principal and vice chancellor of McGill University in Montreal. Other University Day convocation highlights will include the presentation of Distinguished Alumna and Alumnus Awards, a practice begun by the faculty in 1971 to recognize Tar Heels who have made outstanding contributions to humanity.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3878/68/
Festival brings science – and myths – to N.C.
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The first N.C. Science Festival began this past weekend and will run for the next two weeks throughout the state. More than 400 events are part of this first festival, which is planned as a celebration of science in our everyday lives. We talked with Julie Rhodes, coordinator of the festival, about the 16-day event. …One of the signature events is on Sunday, when we have Adam [Savage] and Jamie [Hyneman] of "MythBusters" coming to UNC. Another signature event is on Sept.25, which is the UNC Science Expo Day. That's sponsored by Morehead Planetarium and UNC and will be held on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. It's expo style, running from 11 [a.m.] to 4 [p.m.] that day, and things are happening all over campus.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3763/1/
Art glass, ceramics at Ackland
The Chapel Hill Herald
The Ackland Art Museum will host an opening reception this afternoon for the new exhibition "Flowers from Earth and Sand: Art Glass and Ceramics, 1880-1950." The museum, part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will open from 1 to 5 p.m., with the reception from 2 to 4 p.m. The show's curator, Timothy Riggs, will speak at 2:30 p.m. during the free public event; light refreshments will be served. The museum is on South Columbia Street near Franklin Street.
Related Link:
http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story_news_durham/9494992/article-Tiffany–others-featured-
at-Ackland-Art-Museum-exhibit-opening-today?instance=main_article
UNC Release:
http://www.ackland.org/art/exhibitions/2010/Flowers_from_Earth/
Outlook for arts is a bit brighter
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As the 2010-11 performing arts season begins, artists otherwise obsessed with reaching creative nirvana are keeping an eye on the down-to-earth but crucial issue of ticket sales. Now is the season of season subscriptions, a vital source of revenue for performing arts organizations – dance, music and theater. Given that the recession hit some arts groups hard, sales are especially critical this year. "We're keenly aware that we're not in the business of making money, we're in the business of making art," said Joseph Haj, producing artistic director at PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill. "But if we don't take care of the finances appropriately, that means the art is smaller and smaller and less and less significant."
A splendid blend of arts
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
…Scenes like those are increasingly common in the Triangle these days: not only cross-pollination of musical styles and artistic media, but with all the traditional walls knocked down: Cross-venue as well as cross-genre. Despite the economy, there's a swirling of new arts activity lately, a stirring in the air that tells us something vital is taking shape. Sure, some of the bigger institutions have had to scale back programming but, underfoot, local groups have responded with a street-level nimbleness. …The Mozart concert in December will feature collaboration with PlayMakers Repertory Company for a semistaged production of the play "Amadeus."
2010 elections: All eyes on November for tea party players
The Fayetteville Observer
North Carolina voters won't see "tea party" anywhere on their election ballots this November. But the movement promises to be a wild card in fiercely competitive races this year, one that could tip the balance of power in Raleigh and Washington. …Ferrel Guillory, a political observer and a lecturer in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the tea party coalition is limited in North Carolina.
Review shows problems, possible solutions in Pender Health Department
WWAY (ABC/Wilmington)
An outside investigation confirms some employee complaints at the Pender County Health Department. The University of North Carolina's School of Public Health is shedding some light into what exactly the department needs to do to solve management problems. Controversy over the county's health director Dr. Jack Griffith and internal affairs led to an independent assessment by UNC's Gillings School of Global Public Health. One of the biggest problems found was distrust among employees.
UNC, Duke health systems project revenue to grow at least 30%
The Triangle Business Journal
The Triangle’s hospitals are expecting their net patient revenues to climb by 30 percent, to a cumulative total of more than $5.5 billion, over the next four fiscal years. …Such additions are a major driver in projected revenue growth, says George Pink, a health finance professor in UNC-Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. “Each hospital in the Triangle has expansion plans, and presumably revenue and cash flow,” he says.
Study on preventing weight gain seeks participants
The Chapel Hill Herald
The average American gains 30 pounds between the ages of 18 and 35. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are saying it is not necessary to settle for average. And that is why they are encouraging people to sign up for SNAP. Researchers are studying novel approaches to preventing this weight gain, and are seeking volunteers to enroll in a cutting edge research study that applies proven strategies to target weight gain prevention in young adults.
Charlotte reshaped in the image of banks (Book Review)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Historians have long debated whether individuals or broad social forces are the prime movers in history. Although scholars often lean one way or another, most would say there is no definitive answer to this question. Generally speaking, it is the complex and often unpredictable interaction of individual will and social context that makes things move. (Peter A. Coclanis is Albert R. Newsome distinguished professor of history and director of the Global Research Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill.)
Summer of hate (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chapel Hill News
It has been a long, hot summer sweltering with the heat of anger, fear and hate. There is no mistaking that the summer of 2010 has been the summer fearing the immigrant, whether illegal or legal. Politicians have not been idle during the summer months, whipping up fear and trepidation against the very fuel that renews the country time and time again every few decades or generations. (Paul Cuadros is an assistant professor at the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication.)
Kristof to give free public talk
The Chapel Hill News
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof will deliver the Frank Porter Graham Lecture Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial Hall on the UNC campus. His talk, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide," will be at 7:30 p.m.
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3832/73/
'Adopt-a-Flag' raises money for scholarship fund
The Chapel Hill Herald
The 2nd Annual "Adopt-a-Flag" program benefitting the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund raised $221 for college-aged children of soldiers killed in action. The UNC College Republicans sponsored the program, through which a donation of $1 allowed people to adopt a flag, and place a prayer, memory, or name on a slip of paper, which was then tied to the flag at the annual 9/11 Memorial.
Troubles on the Hill, again (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Charlotte Observer
Former UNC Chapel Hill football coach Dick Crum is sometimes credited with the wry observation that Tar Heel partisans want their favorite university to be regarded as Harvard during the week and as Ohio State on Saturday afternoons. Fair enough. Excellence in all things is a worthy pursuit – as long as all those things are pursued the right way. So it's especially dismaying to students, alumni, fans, taxpayers and even those who can't quite bring themselves to pull for the Blue and White to learn a little more each day about two appalling investigations going on at Chapel Hill.
What's the real problem at UNC? (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
At this writing, the details of the two-pronged investigation involving the UNC football team are still murky. But if football players are being suspended for accepting too much help from a tutor in writing term papers, one can't help wondering, "Is that all? There must be something more." OK, the team is also being investigated for possible impermissible benefits provided to players by sports agents.
Thorp Stands Behind Davis
North Carolina News Network
UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp continued to support embattled head football coach Butch Davis. The football program is embroiled in an NCAA investigation into alleged improper contacts between players and sports agent contacts and a university probe into suspected academic infractions that may go back years. The News and Observer reports Thorp said before he addressed a faculty council meeting, at this point, the plan is for Davis to continue to be coach next year. The chancellor apologized to the faculty for the embarrassment the football investigations have caused the university.
Related Links:
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/accnow/uncs-thorp-plan-right-now-is-for-davis-to-remain-coach
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/09/11/674980/davis-gets-modest-support.html
N.C. State trails ACC schools in spending per sport
The Triangle Business Journal
Not long after she became North Carolina State University’s athletics director, Debbie Yow asked her staff to run a comparison showing how the Wolfpack’s per sport spending stacks up against that of its Atlantic Coast Conference competitors. …Locally, Duke University clocked in at fifth, with $2.7 million per sport, while UNC-Chapel Hill was sixth with $2.6 million per sport. Duke has 26 sports; UNC has 28.
Issues and Trends
For UNC: Another year, another budget cut (Blog)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC system officials this fall are starting their annual budget planning exercise under familiar guidelines – cuts, cuts and more cuts. As the system begins pondering how much money to request from the legislature for next year, it has already heard from Gov. Beverly Perdue, who has told leaders to prepare budget-cut scenarios of five percent and 10 percent. That means the university should plan out a new budget for next year that would spend 95 percent and 90 percent of its current spending plan.
Related Link:
http://www.wral.com/news/education/story/8274336/
UNC System, UNC Hospitals face $20M in rate-swap losses
The Triangle Business Journal
Three big state government units, enamored with the prospect of cutting borrowing costs through the use of interest rate swaps between 2003 and 2006, are staring at losses of as much as $25 million on the sophisticated, but risky, financial transactions. The University of North Carolina System and UNC Hospitals as of June 30, 2009, were facing paper losses totaling $10.08 million and $9.22 million, respectively. Separately, the N.C. Housing Finance Agency, as of the same date, was staring at a loss of $5.7 million, according to state documents.