Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
U.S. preschools not reaching potential
United Press International
U.S. preschool varies widely from state to state and within states and, as a result, narrows the achievement gap much less than it could, researchers say. Robert C. Pianta of the University of Virginia, W. Steven Barnett of Rutgers University in New Jersey, Margaret Burchinal of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Kathy R. Thornburg of the University of Missouri reviewed publicly funded preschool, which include child-care centers, Head Start and state-funded pre-kindergarten.
National Coverage
Equipment Standards Group Considers Changes to Helmet Testing
The New York Times
…Fred Mueller, who logs catastrophic sports injuries at the University of North Carolina, said that football has had three crisis phases: the early part of the 20th century, resulting in the formation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association; the 1960s, when more than 100 football-related deaths led to the formation of Nocsae; and now, given the prevalence and concern about concussions and their long-term effects.
Public Higher Ed: From Jefferson to the Cold War
The Wall Street Journal
1795: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which formally opened in January 1795 with a single professor, Rev. David Ker, was the country's first public university to admit students. One of the duties of the school's early professors was to perform morning and evening prayers and examine students on the "principles of morality and religion." By the end of June, 41 students had enrolled.
Warrior Nation (Book Review)
The Chronicle of Higher Education
…Forty percent of enlisted men and women are now Southerners, and the officer corps speaks with an even stronger Southern accent. As a consequence, like the South generally, the military has moved rightward into the Republican Party. "Reversing a century and a half of practice," laments the University of North Carolina military historian Richard H. Kohn, based on surveys he helped to conduct, "the American officer corps has become partisan in political affiliation, and overwhelmingly Republican."
Regional Coverage
Concussion repercussions in the NFL
The Philadephia Inquirer (Pennsylvania)
…Kevin Guskiewicz is director of the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes at the University of North Carolina. For the last two years, he has been studying retired NFL players, and while his research is continuing, Guskiewicz said he has found that players who sustained at least three concussions during a career have a 25 percent increased risk of depression and cognitive impairment. "We need to do something that helps them at age 25 or 30 to realize these late-life consequences," said Guskiewicz, a native of Latrobe, Pa., who also is on the NFL's head, neck, and spine committee. "They need to think about providing for their family, themselves, and society, and not just providing entertainment. It is a challenge."
State and Local Coverage
NCCU, UNC win $12M for research
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
N.C. Central University and Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at UNC Chapel Hill have won a grant that will help them dramatically expand their health and medical research collaborations. The universities announced Friday that they were recipients of a five-year, $12 million grant from the National Cancer Institute. Funding from the award, which the universities had been jointly pursuing for about six years, will flow to research, hiring new professors, preventive education measures and encouraging more undergraduates at both schools to work on the causes and prevention of minority health disparities.
Related Links:
http://localtechwire.com/business/local_tech_wire/news/blogpost/8496912/
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/campusnotes/nccuunc-ch-effort-snares-12m-in-cancer-funding
http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/10/23/756275/unc-ch-nccu-win-cancer-grant.html
FTCC to help military students, vets get UNC degrees
The Fayetteville Observer
Students who are active-duty military personnel and veterans at Fayetteville Technical Community College now have a shot at guaranteed admission to UNC-Chapel Hill. A new partnership will target talented students with military backgrounds and help them complete their associate degrees. …"We just have a growing realization that there are so many service men and women either coming back to our state or sacrificing so much on behalf of all of us," said Stephen Farmer, director of admissions at UNC.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4013/75/
GOP hopes national wave extends to NC Legislature
The Associated Press
…Democrats have "got a record to run on. Democratic legislators have been producing results for their home districts as well as the state," said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. But "many things are working to the advantage of the Republicans right now."
UNC cuts greenhouse gas emissions
The Chapel Hill News
For the first year since a 2007 pledge to achieve climate neutrality by mid-century, UNC has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions in 2009 were 20 percent lower than the previous year, reflecting the compounding effects of internal efficiency programs and external market influences.
What do genes say about how tall you will be?
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Dr. Karen Mohlke is associate professor of genetics and a member of the Carolina Center for Genome Sciences at the UNC School of Medicine. She explains how the genetics of common traits such as height and eye color is much more complicated than the pea-plant genetics we might remember from our old textbooks. Questions and answers have been edited.
County board struggles to keep up with schools' financial needs
The Star News (Wilmington)
…It’s the policy of North Carolina that the costs to operate schools will be shouldered by the state while the counties will pay for building new schools and maintaining the old ones, according to state law. But this policy is only an aspiration, said Kara Millonzi, a professor of public law and government at the University of North Carolina’s School of Government.
A women's team tip for male athletes (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As a male, former athlete, I have watched an explosion of misdeeds by some college male athletes with dismay. We know that the majority of male college athletes are good students, role models and law-abiding. Yet it is shocking to see high-profile college male athletes with dismissals from school or sports teams for substance abuse, cheating or assault and robbery, occurring across the country. (Adam O. Goldstein, M.D., is a professor at the UNC School of Medicine.)
A post-recession recipe to salvage a middle class (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Charlotte Observer
Although the National Bureau of Economic Research recently pronounced that the recent Recession ended in June 2009, many hard-pressed Americans would disagree. Many of these same Americans would disagree with public officials such as former Fed Chair Paul Volcker, who claimed late in 2008 that this recession came about because too many Americans were living beyond their means. (Peter A. Coclanis is Albert R. Newsome distinguished professor of history and director of the Global Research Institute at UNC Chapel Hill.)
Art show to go in museum space
The Chapel Hill News
The Chapel Hill Museum may be gone, but local history will still be a main feature at 523 E. Franklin St., at least for the next several months. The town has agreed to let the UNC Art Department use the space to host a free public art show. The exhibit, "Local Histories: The Ground We Walk On," will open in January and feature mixed media projects from North Carolina and all over the world.
Asheville Healthy Kids conference fights childhood obesity
The Citizen-Times (Asheville)
…Quiet gasps filled the room at the WNC Healthy Kids Conference Friday as a presenter illustrated climbing childhood obesity rates in North Carolina with a color-coded map. …Alice Ammerman, director of UNC Chapel Hill Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and the afternoon's keynote speaker, drew on the wisdom of a favorite children's book character as a take-home message for participants.
Good works as good business
The Chapel Hill Herald
Exploring how a safe drinking water program for children is good business will be the subject of a talk on Tuesday at Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC. Greg Allgood, director of Procter & Gamble Co.'s Children's Safe Drinking Water Program, and Lisa Jones Christensen, assistant professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at Kenan-Flagler, will discuss "To Be For-Profit or Not to Be For-Profit: A False Choice: How the Children's Safe Drinking Water Program Builds Shareholder Value for P&G."
Faucon to discuss his photography
The Chapel Hill Herald
French photographer Bernard Faucon will discuss his photography in a free public lecture, "The Most Beautiful Day of My Youth," at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 15 at UNC Chapel Hill. He will speak in the University Room of Hyde Hall, home of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, at 176 E. Franklin St.
Humanities today focus of talk
The Chapel Hill Herald
The role of the humanities in a postmodern world will be the focus of a free Nov. 14 talk at UNC Chapel Hill. Joseph M. Flora, professor emeritus in the department of English and comparative literature, will speak at 4 p.m. in the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building at 325 Pittsboro St. His talk, "Teacher! Teacher! Professing the Humanities in a Postmodern World," will be the 2010 E. Maynard Adams Lecture in the Humanities and Human Values in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Agents identified in UNC probe
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Three people associated with agents or financial advisers provided benefits, including hotel rooms, meals and access to a pool party, to UNC football players who broke NCAA rules, new records show. …Still, the records and interviews shed more light on the crisis that has surrounded UNC's football program since the summer, when concerns about agents providing benefits to players – which is forbidden – brought NCAA investigators to Chapel Hill.
Related Links:
http://www.news-record.com/blog/56184/entry/101661
http://www.latimes.com/sports/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-fbc-ncarolina-ncaa,0,6976036.story