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Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:

National Coverage

Gene Variations May Predict Severe Osteoarthritis
HealthDay News

Genetic factors that may predict severe osteoarthritis have been identified by U.S. scientists. …"The strong association shown in this study between progressive OA and the IL-1Ra gene variations, as well as the body of previous related published research, might suggest that this IL-1Ra genetic information could be tested as a tool to identify high-risk patients for participation in clinical trials for the development of a much-needed disease modifying OA drug," study leader Dr. Joanne Jordan, chief of the division of rheumatology, allergy and immunology at the Thurston Arthritis Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said in a university news release.

State and Local Coverage

Tutor too close to athletes
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

The former tutor linked to North Carolina's investigation of possible academic misconduct in the football program has declined to cooperate with the probe, athletic director Dick Baddour said Thursday. "We've reached out to her a number of times," Baddour said in a telephone interview. "We've indicated to her that we would like to talk to her about this investigation, and her preference is not to do that."
Related Link:
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/campusnotes/thorp-unc-tutor-got-too-close-to-football-players

Baddour: Sports agents everyone's problem
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

UNC Athletics Director Dick Baddour said Thursday that it's going to take a major effort to keep sports agents from making improper contact with collegiate football players. Baddour's comment came during an interview after he and UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp brought the UNC Board of Trustees up to speed on investigations into charges that UNC football players received improper benefits from sports agents and improper academic help from a tutor. "It's going to take a concentrated effort," Baddour said. "It's not something the school can do by itself. It's going to take the ACC, the NCAA, the coaches' associations, the NFL, secretary of state. It's going to take a significant effort by all of us to shut this down and have it done in the right way."

UNC board previews innovation road map
The Chapel Hill Herald

The UNC Chapel Hill has raised more than $11 million for a new $125 million fundraising campaign to support an ambitious plan to bring the power of innovation and entrepreneurship to bear on the world's biggest problems. "Innovate@Carolina: Important Ideas for a Better World" is a road map developed through nearly a year of deliberations by alumni and friends with extensive experience leading innovation in science, business, medicine, nonprofits and academia. Alumnus Lowry Caudill, co-founder of Magellan Laboratories Inc. and an adjunct faculty member, chaired the Innovation Circle, which also worked with a Faculty Innovation Working Group and Student Innovation Team.
Related Link:
http://www.dailytarheel.com/index.php/article/2010/09/a_call_to_innovation_uncs_new_
innovation_roadmap_is_a_hearty_document_with_a_hardy_vision

UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3930/68/

UNC raises $11M of $125M
The Triangle Business Journal

UNC-Chapel Hill has raised $11 million in a new $125 million fundraising campaign lasting through 2013 to spark entrepreneurship and innovation on the UNC campus. Chancellor Holden Thorp briefed the UNC Board of Trustees on the status of the new program, dubbed “Innovate @Carolina” at a board meeting Thursday.
Related Link:
http://localtechwire.com/business/local_tech_wire/news/blogpost/8338862/

Triangle hospitals raising pay
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

After freezing salaries during the recession, the Triangle's largest hospitals are reinstating pay raises to retain and attract employees. The extra pay will increase incomes for more than 30,000 local workers and provide some boost for the region's economy, giving families more money to spend as the holidays approach. …On Monday, the board of the UNC Health Care System approved bonuses and raises for its 8,000 workers in Chapel Hill. The amounts vary by position, but will total about $22.4 million. The raises will average about 3 percent. "I believe it is a priority to reward our employees for continually providing the best care and service to our patients," said Bill Roper, CEO of the UNC Health system. "We must remain competitive with the market."

Budget Cuts Pose Potential Problems For UNC Brass
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)

At the UNC Board of Trustees meeting Thursday, Chancellor Holden Thorp brought up the topic of difficult financial constraints in his opening remarks. While UNC-Chapel Hill will need to prepare five- and ten-percent reduction plans to satisfy the General Assembly’s request, other system schools have been asked to also propose a fifteen percent reduction plan. However, that doesn’t mean potential cuts at UNC would be easy to withstand.

The disclosure gap and the economic fall
The Chapel Hill Herald

Journalists have a right to information that will inform the public about how their government is operating, the editor-in-chief of the news service Bloomberg News told an audience of UNC journalists. Matthew Winkler spoke to students and faculty at the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication on Wednesday. His focus was how the government's lack of transparency contributed to the economic downturn.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3925/107/

Schools will work with AdvancED
The News & Observer (Raleigh)

Facing the possible loss of accreditation of Wake County high schools next week, school board members grudgingly agreed Thursday to turn over information for a sweeping review of the district's policies. …Though accreditation isn't a requirement for college admission, many North Carolina universities recommend that applicants come from accredited schools, said Stephen Farmer, director of undergraduate admissions at UNC-Chapel Hill. He said accreditation is an easy way for a university to know that a high school meets a series of standards.

Boosting college graduation rates
The Charlotte Observer

For decades, a spotlight has been shining on the low academic performance and failures of many students, most of them poor and disadvantaged, in K-12 public schools. But in the shadows, there has been another struggle: Many students who do graduate from high school and go to college leave without a degree. …Two N.C. schools came close to eliminating the gap for Hispanics. UNCC had a 4.2 percentage point difference in the rate between Hispanics and whites – and Hispanics had the higher grad rate. UNC Chapel Hill had a 2 point difference in grad rates.

Urban living and creative class
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

Is it the funky bistros, the locally owned businesses, the tolerance and diversity, the character, the authenticity and the historic buildings that draw the so-called creative class to cities? Some argue yes. But Tom Campanella told the annual conference of Preservation North Carolina, being held in downtown Durham through Saturday, that there is more to it. Those elements are in creative class cities, he said, but the cities first need things like a great airport, universities, cheap office space and solid economy. Campanella, associate professor in UNC Chapel Hill's Department of City and Regional Planning, was the keynote speaker Thursday morning at Duke Memorial United Methodist Church.

Chapel Hill going pink in support of cancer patients
The Chapel Hill Herald

Community partners have promised to help UNC Lineberger "turn the town pink" to benefit UNC's Comprehensive Cancer Support Program. More than 40 community partners have committed to turning the town pink — through store displays, special events and promotions. "Despite this month's pink theme, this effort helps patients and families facing all different types of cancer," said UNC Lineberger's Mary Seagroves.

Bladder cancer support offered
The Chapel Hill Herald

A new support group for bladder cancer patients has formed in the Triangle as an outgrowth of a conference last May on understanding the disease. The meeting, hosted by UNC with the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) and which attracted more than 170 participants, featured UNC Lineberger members Matthew Nielsen and Raj Pruthi, UNC Urologic Oncology faculty and BCAN National Scientific Advisory Board members. The two physicians led a panel of regional bladder cancer experts in a comprehensive program outlining the detection, treatment and survivorship issues important for bladder cancer patients.

Human truths, humor and romance in 'As You Like It'
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

The main stage season opener of PlayMakers Repertory Company calls for a cast of young actors, which gives the professional resident company at UNC Chapel Hill a chance to showcase its newest additions. William Shakespeare's romantic comedy "As You Like It" is a play that calls for four terrifically skilled young actors, of which PlayMakers has many, said artistic director Joe Haj, who is also directing this production. Some of the cast, like Kelsey Didion, who plays Phoebe, are master of fine arts acting candidates in the Professional Actor Training Program at UNC who are making their PlayMakers debut.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3838/66/

Pianist concert rescheduled
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

Carolina Performing Arts' presentation of pianist Leon Fleisher in Memorial Hall on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been rescheduled due to health concerns. The new date for the performance is March 3, 2011, at 7:30 p.m. Ticketholders will receive information about the performance change and are encouraged to contact the Memorial Hall Box Office if they have any questions or concerns.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/3914/66/

Banned books take the stage at library
The Herald-Sun (Durham)

…Tony Perucci, who teaches performance studies in the Department of Communication Studies at UNC Chapel Hill, works with Little Green Pig, and when O'Berski approached him about this year's edition of Banned Books Onstage, he immediately thought of Burroughs' novel "Naked Lunch," which he remembered reading and discussing when he was a student in college.

Issues and Trends

Local university spending growth flat for 2010
The Triangle Business Journal

The area’s colleges and universities spent just shy of 1 percent more to run their operations during the recently completed fiscal year, the smallest annual increase on record and less than the Consumer Price Index. The nearly flat spending growth by institutions of higher education largely was the result of a lack of revenue – the state has severely cut its appropriations, donations aren’t growing, and endowments are still working to recover from a disastrous fiscal year 2009. …Private institutions receive some funding through the Independent College Fund of N.C., but bigger chunks of their budgets are more dependent than UNC System schools on tuition, donations and endowment funding to support operations.

UNC student's killer apologizes, gets life sentence
The Associated Press

he man who admitted killing the student body president at the University of North Carolina apologized to her parents Thursday before being sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years. Demario Atwater, 24, pleaded guilty to charges including kidnapping and carjacking resulting in death in April to avoid a potential death sentence.
Related Links:
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/092410/new_711476468.shtml
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/09/24/699637/for-atwater-life-for-killing-carson.html
http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/9642694/article-Atwater-begins-serving-first-of-
life-terms-for-killing-Carson?instance=homethirdleft

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