Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
National Coverage
How Obama Can Learn From Failure (Op-Ed)
The New York Times
PRESIDENT OBAMA has often invited, even encouraged, comparison to predecessors like Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan who left lasting legacies. He has carefully studied what made those great presidents great. But he can also learn from presidents known primarily for their failures.
(Michael J. Gerhardt, a professor of constitutional law and director of the Center for Law and Government at the University of North Carolina, is the author of “The Forgotten Presidents: Their Untold Constitutional Legacy.”)
Universities Team Up to Assess Health Impacts of Gas Drilling
The New York Times
A coalition of academic researchers in the United States is preparing to shine a rigorous scientific light on the polarized and often emotional debate over whether using hydraulic fracturing to drill for natural gas is hazardous to human health. … The university’s Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology has organized a working group with researchers at other top universities including Columbia, Johns Hopkins and the University of North Carolina to investigate and analyze reports of nausea, headaches, breathing difficulties and other ills from people who live near natural gas drilling sites, compressor stations or wastewater pits.
Scholarship Providers Lead Way in Measuring Character, 'Moxie'
The Chronicle of Higher Education
…Mr. Lovelace is executive director of the Morehead-Cain Foundation, which provides full-ride scholarships to students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A decade ago, he and his colleagues took a close look at their program. What they saw concerned them. Although recipients of the scholarship were earning good grades, many of them weren't highly engaged on the campus.
Some Ph.D.'s Choose to Work Off the Grid
The Chronicle of Higher Education
… Robert M. Price is one independent scholar who isn't worried about offending anyone. He holds two doctorates, one in theology and one in New Testament studies, both from Drew University. Last year he used his podcast, the Bible Geek Show, to take shots at a book by Bart D. Ehrman, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The book, Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth (HarperCollins, 2012), includes a critique of arguments by independent scholars like Mr. Price who say that Jesus is a myth.
Duke University Philosophy Professor Walter Sinnott-Armstrong Has 180,000 Students In MOOC
Huffington Post
If college professors think a lecture hall full of 300 students is a big class, that would seem like private tutoring compared to the enrollment of a single philosophy Coursera class taught by a Duke University professor. "Think Again: How to Reason and Argue,” a massive open online course co-taught by Duke professor Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and University of North Carolina professor Ram Neta, has 180,000 students registered to take it, the Charlotte News & Observer reports.
State and Local Coverage
In a Duke logic class, with 180,000 friends
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Duke University philosophy professor Walter Sinnott-Armstrong has unusual interactions with his students these days. … They are among the 180,000 students who registered for a class called “Think Again: How to Reason and Argue,” co-taught by Sinnott-Armstrong and Ram Neta, a philosophy professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. … All for free, for anyone who wants to jump in to the wild new frontier of global distance education. “Think Again” is what’s known as a MOOC, or a massive open online course, an experiment that became a runaway phenomenon in 2012, when top universities rushed to join forces with startup companies promising a higher education revolution.
The Mexico you might not know (Point-of-View)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Quick. What comes to mind when someone mentions Mexico? Dollars to donuts (pesos a buñuelos?), the most common answers would include some combination of illegal immigration, political corruption, crime, drug cartels and poverty. (Peter A. Coclanis is Albert R. Newsome Distinguished Professor of History and Director of the Global Research Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill.)
Glow Mice
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM
…Sharpless joins host Frank Stasio to discuss new breakthroughs in cancer and aging research. Ned Sharpless is a professor of medicine and genetics at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the deputy cancer center director at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Chapel Hill considers revising water protection rules
The Chapel Hill News
Residents can learn more and have a say Tuesday in how Chapel Hill protects its waterways and limits erosion and property damage from floods. … Michele Drostin, with the UNC Institute for the Environment, will lead a panel of experts in the community discussion.
UNC Chapel Hill researchers study effects of bottled water on metabolism
Salisbury Post
…Van Horn, of Mint Hill, is a participant in a metabolism study being conducted at the UNC-Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute, at the North Carolina Research Campus. Dr. Andrew Swick, associate professor and director of Obesity and Eating Disorders Research at the University of North Carolina Research Institute, is heading the study. Stephen Orena, a lab manager and a research associate in the Swick lab, runs the study.
'Silent Sam' statue topic of UNC-CH lecture
The Associated Press
Anyone who's ever wondered about the real story behind the "Silent Sam" Statue at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill can get answers to their questions at a free public lecture on campus. The lecture will be held Tuesday at the Wilson Special Collections Library, which also has a small exhibit about the statue. UNC history professor Fitz Brundage and others will discuss Silent Sam, which depicts a Confederate soldier facing north while grasping his rifle firmly in both hands. He lacks a cartridge box for ammunition, perhaps leading to his nickname.
Federal complaint claims UNC-CH violated assault victims' rights
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Students and a former UNC-Chapel Hill administrator have filed a federal complaint that claims the university violated the rights of sexual-assault victims and broke the law. Three current students, one former student and a former assistant dean of students signed the complaint, which alleges a hostile university culture that violated sexual-assault victims’ rights to an education. The students say they are sexual-assault victims and that the university mishandled their cases by not believing or supporting them or by accusing them of being at fault in their attacks.
Related Link: http://www.wral.com/federal-complaint-accuses-unc-of-indifference-toward-sexual-assault/12006671/
NCAA chief: We’re still talking with UNC
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
NCAA President Mark Emmert said at the association’s annual conference Thursday that NCAA interest in long-standing academic fraud at UNC-Chapel Hill that included heavy involvement of athletes hinges on whether the scheme particularly benefited them.
Fake ID use goes bad
The Heard-Sun (Durham)
A UNC student pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice Thursday in Orange County District Court for using the identification of a Greensboro attorney when confronted by police after she was caught with cup of beer.
FRANKly speaking (Letter to the Editor)
The Chapel hill News
…FRANK has teamed up with the UNC ARTery to host weekly musical salons that will feature an array of talents from local community artists and showcase performances by UNC students and ensembles.
Issues and Trends
Big Ten schools get more money than ACC schools, but just barely
The Baltimore Sun
According to The Kansas City Star, which is using numbers published by Forbes magazine (in an article that does not appear to be online yet), the Big Ten will earn $310 million during the 2012-13 financial year from outside deals. That’s the most of any conference. But because the Big Ten is paying 12 schools and the Big 12 is only paying 10 schools (what an absurd clause to have to write), Big 12 schools get the most money returned from the conference at $26.2 million. Big Ten schools make $25.8.
It’s the Economy, Stupid
Inside Higher Ed
…State revenues and appropriations to higher education tend to lag after a crisis, but right on cue they seem to be showing modest stabilization and improvement, just like the national economy.
UNC system wants to raise percentage of degree holders in North Carolina
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
North Carolina is squarely in the middle, 26th in the country, when it comes to the percentage of residents with undergraduate degrees or better. Now University of North Carolina system officials say they’ll study ways to raise the percentage to 36.2 by 2025.
How much do N.C. colleges spend per degree?
The Business Journal
Costs and spending at the University of North Carolina system have gotten a lot of attention lately and the budget office has done some number crunching. The system as a whole has brought its spending down some 12 percent in the past five years, thanks in part to $414 million in state budget cuts it had to swallow.