Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
What to do when your career gets a boost
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
…In Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next (Viking Canada, 466 pages), University of North Carolina management professor John Kasarda and journalist Greg Lindsay urge businesses to get set for the next stage of globalization in which economies will be built around large airports that dwarf what we are used to in the West, with a planned city, shipping facility, and business hub linked to the airport.
The Qur'an as literary text
The Mail & Guardian (South Africa)
In the summer of 2002, responding to the 9/11 atrocity, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill made a selection of verses from the Qur'an a mandatory text for new students.
National Coverage
Combating Obesity in the Womb: U.K. Study Treats Pregnant Women With Diabetes Drug
"Good Morning America" ABC News
How far will we go to prevent childhood obesity? U.K. researchers are bringing the battle against obesity to babies still in the womb. …Natural fetal programming "is a complex process that's evolved over millions of years to help a fetus adapt to the world it will … encounter after birth," says Dr. Alison Stuebe, an assistant professor of maternal fetal medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill. "It is the way the mother 'tells' her baby what the world outside will be like."
Analysis: Thai rural majority can't be ignored
The Associated Press
…"The lesson is that the persons who believe they make the best decisions for Thailand – the unelected at the head of the military and in other institutions that have long had a hand in political decision-making – are not with most voting Thais," said Kevin Hewison, a Thai scholar at the University of North Carolina.
Regional Coverage
Stem Cell Injections into the Heart Could Stave Off Chest Pain
WTMA 1250 (Charleston, S.C.)
…If the positive results seen in this study hold up in the next phase of the study, which is set to begin enrollment in the fall, this type of cardiac stem cell injection could be added to the arsenal of weapons against angina. The upcoming phase three trial has already been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. …"The jury is still out for stem cell therapies to treat heart disease," says Dr. Cam Paterson, a cardiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
State and Local Coverage
Children's Hospital can cradle more babies
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The N.C. Children's Hospital now has more room to care for some of the state's sickest babies. The hospital opened a wing of its Newborn Critical Care Center on Thursday. The 10 new beds bring the number of beds in the center to 58, just over one-third of the Children's Hospital's total 150 beds. The Critical Care Center treats babies who are born prematurely, or born with complications such as a heart defect. The center admits 800 patients a year from throughout the state.
Related Link:
http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/14621898/article-Growing-and-thriving?
Experiments from UNC-CH and NCSU aboard final shuttle mission
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The official countdown clock at the Kennedy Space Center is ticking down to the end of an era. Weather permitting, today's liftoff of the space shuttle Atlantis, scheduled for 11:26 a.m., will be the last space shuttle launch in history. Two North Carolina research teams – from UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University – will be on hand to watch. Each has experiments aboard Atlantis.
Administrators embracing social media to reach out
The Triangle Business Journal
…UNC’s admissions office has maintained an active blog for seven years, says Ashley Memory, director of communications for the Office of Admissions. “It’s a place where students can ask questions about anything,” Memory says. The blog got 240,000 page views last month, she says. Memory said the admissions office is interested in using the power of social media to improve the recruitment process. Recent efforts include starting a Facebook page and designing an internship for students at UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, which will begin in January 2012.
UNC kicks off online-only MBA program
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
The first class to matriculate in the online-only MBA program at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill began classes this week. Nineteen students are part of the program, called MBA@UNC, which was developed in partnership between UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and 2tor Inc. Kenan-Flagler Dean James W. Dean Jr. said online class delivery is "radically different" and will help the school "define the direction of global business education.”
Small business tax break ends up for all
The Triangle Business Journal
…A study commissioned by lawmakers looked at the probable economic impact of a range of state tax cuts, including the tax break. Researchers from the UNC-Chapel Hill’s Center for Competitive Economies estimate that the hiring pop from the $50,000 deduction would be 3,945 jobs by 2013. General Assembly fiscal researcher Barry Boardman says the UNC estimate, which was based on no $825,000 income cap being in place, is the best available.
Capstrat grows through recession, aims at diversification
The Triangle Business Journal
…“Things have become decentralized,” says Heidi Hennink-Kaminski, assistant professor of advertising and social marketing in UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “Now, there are many opportunities for people to connec
t consumer to consumer,” she says. The same consumer-to-consumer trend holds true in health care marketing.
Residents at Hospitals Told: ‘Take a Break’
The Triangle Business Journal
To ensure physician residents get their rest, a group that accredits teaching hospitals has slapped strict guidelines on how many hours may be spent working in a hospital – a change that’s causing alarm at medical schools. …Representatives of both Duke and UNC hospitals agree with the intent of the new rules but are concerned that residents may not be as well trained as their predecessors.
Will outcry sway federal official?
The Huntersville Herald
…(Dr. John) Powderly, who is an adjunct clinical assistant professor of medicine at Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said he understands how the panel reached its decision. “The process is the best we have, but this was a good example of where the process was overly protective” of all breast cancer patients “by denying (Avastin) to any breast cancer patients.”
Commissioners need to get their rules in order (Column)
The Star News (Wilmington)
…The School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill publishes a booklet entitled “Suggested Rules of Procedure for the Board of County Commissioners.” Suggested Rule 33: Reference to Robert’s Rules of Order states, “To the extent not provided for in, and not conflicting with the spirit of, these rules, the chair shall refer to Robert’s Rules of Order to resolve procedural questions.”
Poetic Portraits of a Revolution: Tahrir Square
WUNC-FM (Chapel Hill)
The Arab Spring that erupted in North Africa has turned to summer. The revolution is still being sorted out in the streets of Cairo. In the days leading up the the Fourth of July here in the states, the poets we've been following Fridays on Morning Edition witnessed a demonstration turned riot in Tahrir Square. …This fall, the group is planning for a multi-media exhibit at the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill and is working on a film and performance piece that will likely tour college campuses.
Celebrate Thoreau's birthday at N.C. Botanical Garden
The Chapel Hill Herald
The North Carolina Botanical Garden will host a special lecture in celebration of the birthday of Henry David Thoreau, 19th-century naturalist and author, at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Writer William Stott presents "Thoreau's Berries: bogs, swamps, and the botanist of Concord." The lecture takes place in the Reeves Auditorium of the Botanical Garden's Education Center, located at the garden, 100 Old Mason Farm Road, off of Fordham Boulevard.
Audience divided over upcoming Cheney speech
The Chapel Hill Herald
Richard Sawyer simply could not contain his emotions upon hearing that former Vice President Dick Cheney would be speaking at UNC to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 Islamic terror attacks on the U.S.
Related Link:
http://www.news-record.com/blog/54431/entry/122172
Issues and Trends
Chapel Hill takes biggest hit when UNC System details budget cuts
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
The UNC Board of Governors on Thursday met to determine how the cuts to state funding will impact individual campuses in the UNC System. The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill will take the hardest hit, losing 17.9 percent, or more than $100 million, from a base budget of more than $525 million.
Related Links:
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=8238081
http://www.chapelboro.com/UNC-Chapel-Hill-To-Take-18-Percent-Budget-Cut/10301824
Steep UNC cuts pose challenge (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
The cacophony of howls and wails over state budget cuts to the UNC System could lead some to believe it is the end of higher education as we know it, the sinking of society into latter-day Dark Ages, of an irreversible plummet into academic misery and hardship. …UNC Chapel Hill alone is being socked more than $100 million from a base budget of more than $525 million, losing 18 percent of its funding.
UNC system will lose $414 million from state budget reductions
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill's funding from the state will be reduced by nearly 18 percent – or more than $100 million – making the historic flagship the hardest hit among the UNC system's 17 campuses. Reductions will be 15 percent, or $79 million, at N.C. State University, and 14 percent, or $13 million, at N.C. Central University. The UNC system as a whole will be cut $414 million in the fiscal year that started July 1.
Related Link:
http://www.digtriad.com/news/local/article/182113/57/UNC-Schools-
Hit-Hard-With-Cuts-UNC-Hit-Hardest
Cuts will prevent hires, aid at UNCC
The Charlotte Observer
UNC Charlotte will lose $33.5 million in state money this year, a cut that will cost the university hundreds of positions and millions of dollars in student financial aid. UNCC's 16.2 percent cut, approved Thursday by the UNC Board of Governors, is surpassed in the statewide system only by UNC Chapel Hill (17.9 percent) and Western Carolina (16.4 percent.) The rollbacks will affect the budget year that started July 1.
UNC expects to cut 9,000 courses
The Associated Press
The University of North Carolina system is sharing the pain of a $414 million budget cut lawmakers told them to divide, deciding Thursday that the state's flagship campus should take the biggest hit. University leaders warned three months ago that a budget cut of this magnitude would result in about 9,000 fewer course offerings and the los
s of 1,500 faculty jobs statewide.