Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
Everlasting love is a myth, author says
The Star (Toronto, Canada)
…In fact, thinking of love in those terms could be a recipe for disaster and loneliness, says Barbara L. Fredrickson, a psychology professor from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, in her new book Love 2.0: How our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything we Feel, Think, Do and Become. “Love is not sexual desire or the blood-ties of kinship,” she writes in her new book released this week. “Nor is it a special bond or commitment” or something that you “can fall into or a year later, out of.”
National Coverage
N.F.L. Joins With G.E. in Effort to Detect Concussions
The New York Times
… “Is this their way of defending themselves with this cloud over the sport? I’d be lying if I told you it had nothing to do with it,” Kevin Guskiewicz, the founding director of the Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center at the University of North Carolina, said of the initiative. Guskiewicz is a member of the league’s Head, Neck and Spine Committee and the chairman of a subcommittee focused on safety equipment and playing rules. He will work with the N.F.L. and G.E. to identify areas of focus.
A tale of two former NFL players — and their brains
CNN
…Quarterbacks like Clark — especially backups — get nowhere near the number of hits linebackers like McNeill suffer. In fact, the highest-profile cases of CTE thus far have primarily been diagnosed among linemen and linebackers, positions where hits to the head occur on virtually every play. "One of the arguments is that it may have less to do with the number of concussions but more the number of sub-concussive impacts over the course of a player's career," said Kevin Guskiewicz, director of the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The NFL’s problems in one accidentally revealing ad (Blog)
The Washington Post
Like millions of other Americans, I spent Sunday night watching the Super Bowl. And like millions of other Americans, I did so with a pang of guilt. Football is a cruel sport that permanently injures the brains of its players. A “great hit,” the kind that elicits “oohs” and leads to instant replays, is a trauma. The brain slams into the skull. Hard. At the University of North Carolina’s Sports Concussion Research Program, they put six sensors into the helmets of their players.
Report: U.S. Muslim Terrorism Was Practically Nil in 2012
Wired Magazine
…“Online, there’s all sorts of radical material out there — exhortations to violence, [instructions], and yet despite it being out there, so few people are taking it up,” University of North Carolina sociologist Charles Kurzman tells Danger Room. Kurzman’s research has been the driving force behind the Triangle study for the past four years. “From the democratization of the means of violence, accelerated by the internet, we might expect to see more violence and, fortunately, we haven’t.”
Related Link:
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/01/u_s_muslim_terrorism_close_to_non_existent_last_year/
'American Sniper' Chris Kyle shot dead in a post-combat world
The Los Angeles Times
…A recent sampling of 1,388 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans by the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine reported that one-third had shown aggression toward others in the past year, with 11% reporting they'd used or threatened to use a knife or gun against another person, gotten into a fight with someone or tried to rape someone. PTSD, homelessness, substance abuse and joblessness were listed as risk factors.
Untold Tales of Ad Meter
USA Today
…Journalist, author and professor Philip Meyer at the University of North Carolina worked with our poll director Jim Norman on a system to hard-wire voters and measure their reaction to the 1988 debates in real time, turning knobs from 1 to 5 on small devices at their seats. Democrat Lloyd Bentsen's debate-winning line to Vice President Dan Quayle, "I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy,'' scored especially high on our Debate Meter that year. After the 1988 election, the concept was cleverly re-imagined to rate ads at the 1989 Super Bowl. The Ad Meter has been a part of Super Bowl Sunday ever since.
Stanley Karnow, Journalist and Historian of Vietnam, Dies at 87
The Chronicle of Higher Education
…"It was balanced and thoughtful," said Michael H. Hunt, a professor of history emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mr. Hunt said the series "tackled a lot of key issues that even today we think about," such as capturing the viewpoints of multiple sides in a war.
Time to Play Offense
Inside Higher Ed
…There is an anecdote circulating on the web that is illustrative, if unverifiable, of the unreliability of connecting a major to career earnings. Supposedly, the highest average starting salary of University of North Carolina graduates belongs to geography majors — thanks to Michael Jordan's staggeringly high earnings. The cautionary message, of course, is that high-paid outliers, who may well be in careers unrelated to their majors, can skew the statistical average and provide students with misleading data on salary prospects.
Regional Coverage
Job growth fuels Wall Street rally
The Boston Globe
…Arne L. Kalleberg, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of “Good Jobs, Bad Jobs” about the earning gap between high- and low-skill workers, said that trend is “a real source of concern.” “These were good jobs, steady, secure, and well paying, and they are required if we are going to make investments in our future,” he said. “We’ve got to continue to create jobs, stimulate the economy, and make investments in infrastructure.”
State and Local Coverage
North Carolina GOP lawmakers work to block Medicaid coverage expansion
The Fayetteville Observer
…Democrats and others who oppose the bill say it harms the poorest North Carolinians, and it could force hospitals to make tough decisions about what types of services they can continue to offer. "There's no place for those folks to go," said Jon Oberlander, professor of social medicine and health policy and management at UNC-Chapel Hill. "They're going to remain uninsured."
Muslim American Terrorism In Decline
WUNC-FM (Chapel Hill)
…They released the findings in conjunction with the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security. In 2009, 49 people were arrested, and the number has dropped each subsequent year to 14 arrests last year. David Schanzer, director of the Triangle Center, says recent terrorism plotters haven’t been as sophisticated. “They’re less capable than individuals from earlier years and their plots are getting stopped at an earlier stage,” he says. “Of the 14 individuals we only had one person who was actually able to execute an act of violence. All the rest were arrested before anything actually happened.”
The injustice of health disparity (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
…Minorities here and across the country face an unequal access to medical care, and as a result of that and other factors on average suffer from poorer health than the population as a whole. Jonathan Kotch, a physician at UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, laid out many of the results of those inequalities, as The Herald-Sun’s Keith Upchurch reported Friday: …
Dentists bridge a gap at free clinic for kids
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Dentists brought out smiles in more than 40 youngsters Friday as they filled a deep need for dental services at a free clinic. The annual drill at Give Kids A Smile Day at the Durham County Department of Public Health included cleanings, X-rays and more. …The dental team of public health dentists and volunteers from the UNC School of Pediatric Dentistry deftly worked its magic to keep kids as young as 4 with their mouths open without screaming.
UNC Scientists Tackle Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
WCHL-FM (Chapel Hill)
Several UNC scientists recently performed groundbreaking research on how doctors can fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria. UNC chemistry professor Matthew Redinbo led the team. “Resistance spreads in bacteria by mobile genes, and the way these genes move has remained a bit of a mystery,” he says. “What we did is, we tried to figure out exactly how that process starts and stops.”
UNC incoming freshmen know summer reading book
The Associated Press
The latest novel by Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison is the recommended summer reading for incoming freshmen at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A nine-member selection committee chose "Home" from five finalists. Students on the committee described the book as an inspiration to first-year students in their academic, personal and social lives as they leave home for Carolina.
Related Link:
http://books.blogs.starnewsonline.com/17148/home-for-the-summer/?tc=ar
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5838/75/
UNC professor speaks of Sir Walter's volatile life
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
…On Sunday afternoon, at the historic Joel Lane House, UNC professor Christopher Armitage held an audience spellbound with the tales of Ralegh’s exploits in the 16th and 17th centuries. Armitage deployed his Oxford accent to puncture some of the myths and misunderstandings of a man so fascinating that he inspired 30 different biographies in the 20th century alone.
UNC Coastal Studies Institute opens for public
The Associated Press
The public has an opportunity to see the newly completed research and education campus of the UNC Coastal Studies Institute in Skyco along the Croatan Sound. An open house for the public is scheduled for Saturday afternoon on the 200-acre campus. …The academic research and education institute was found in 2003 as part of the University of North Carolina system. Its university partners include East Carolina University, Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina State University, UNC Chapel Hill and UNC Wilmington.
Elkin 2.0: Surry County town reinventing itself
The Winston-Salem Journal
…The next move came midway in 2010 with a new minimum water bill. Until then residents paid $3.30 per 1,000 gallons of water used a month plus a $1.40 administration fee. The increase raised the minimum monthly bill to $10 for 2,000 gallons with $3.30 charged for each 2,000 gallons after that, elevating the average customer’s bill 20 to 30 percent. The increase, which came after public meetings, a series of internal studies and reports from the UNC-Chapel Hill Finance Center, drew the expected ire of some residents opposed to the hike.
NC State, UNC see rise in freshman applications
WNCN-TV (NBC/Raleigh)
…In Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina also has seen an increase in applicants from their 29,497 the school received last year. Carolina had a final total of 30,689 freshman applications. After having a 15 percent increase in first-round applicants, UNC has already sent out 5,393 early acceptance letters.
Town wellness program a win-win (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chapel Hill News
…Chapel Hill Wellness@Work was recently named one of the Triangle’s Healthiest Employers by the Triangle Business Journal. It was established in 2011 through a collaborative partnership between the town and UNC Health Care’s Department of Family Medicine. The umbrella program, Wellness@Work, is a program designed and delivered by UNC Family Medicine to provide comprehensive programs that lead to less absenteeism, lower health care costs, and higher productivity. (Donna L. Parker, MPH, is the director of communications at the UNC Department of Family Medicine.)
Judge will hear case Monday on software for Internet sweepstakes business in Midway
The Winston-Salem Journal
A judge in Davidson County will consider a motion Monday to dismiss a lawsuit against Gov. Pat McCrory and another state official by an Internet sweepstakes business that says it is using software for its games that meets state law, despite a state ban on the games. …Jeff Welty, a professor with the UNC School of Government, said Johnson’s order prohibiting action against the sweepstakes games made by IIT “is likely to give many law enforcement agencies pause before charging anyone for using the specific sweepstakes system.”
Lincoln dressmaker has Hillsborough ties
The Chapel Hill News
…(Elizabeth) Keckley’s portrayal of Lincoln, although probably honest, did not present the unpopular former First Lady in the best light, said William L. Andrews, a professor of English at UNC-Chapel Hill who gives presentations at Burwell School on Keckley and edited a 2005 edition of Keckley’s autobiography published by Penguin Books.
New Northside school to bridge past and future (Column)
The Chapel Hill News
Excitement is intensifying around the opening of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ newest school: Northside Elementary. …The location is ideal for community partnerships. In fact, we are already working on a partnership with the UNC Department of Athletics that would involve the university’s student-athletes working regularly with Northside students, teaching them about fitness, wellness and character.
UNC colleges lead to light, liberty and leaders for tomorrow (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
In a radio show Tuesday, Gov. Pat McCrory said he wants to change the way higher education is funded in North Carolina. He said that state money should be allotted toward education that will train students for jobs and away from academic pursuits “that have no chance of getting people jobs.” According to McCrory, he plans to draft legislation so that universities and community colleges in the UNC system are funded “not based on butts in seats but on how many of those butts can get jobs.” (Maxine Eichner is a Reef Ivey II Professor of Law at UNC School of Law in Chapel Hill.)
Related Links:
http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/x1733188266/Higher-ed-needs-more-thoughtful-approach
http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/opinioncolumnists/x1733189183/MCrory-
Education-a-key-to-reviving-our-economy
http://www.news-record.com/opinion/666563-94/editorial-universities-and-jobs
UNC Assistant AD Reflects On His Super Bowl Experience
WCHL-FM (Chapel Hill)
For many families, the Super Bowl is a time for watching the big game and stuffing your face with wings. But for one UNC alumnus it’s something more. Corey Holliday is the Assistant Athletic Director for football at UNC, but he was also a wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1996 Super Bowl when they took on the Dallas Cowboys.
Nichol’s needed look (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Thank you for publishing “As poverty pervades, we evade” on Jan. 27. I commend Professor Gene Nichol’s commitment to lend his voice to the poorest among us this year. Reading his commentary reinforced the sad reality that it is much easier to digest a statistic than to absorb a personal account of those faced with the bleak realization of hunger, unemployment and homelessness. (Tezurra Gooding, Morrisville)
UNC Professor Under House Arrest Waits For Appeals In Argentina And Chapel Hill
WCHL-FM (Chapel Hill)
The UNC Professor that was arrested more than a year ago and found guilty of attempted drug smuggling in Argentina is awaiting rulings on two appeals both in the states and abroad. Paul Howard Frampton is the Louis D. Rubin, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UNC.
Drescher: Baker Tilly retracts key finding in UNC report (Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The accounting firm that worked with former Gov. Jim Martin in investigating academic fraud at UNC-Chapel Hill last week dropped one of their key findings. Martin had said athletic officials and academic support officials raised questions with the Faculty Committee on Athletics about courses in one department that were supposed to be lecture courses but never met.
Issues and Trends
The End Is Not Nigh for Colleges
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The sky is not falling on higher education. Doomsayers believe that purveyors of massive open online courses, or for-profit companies, or shadowy entrepreneurs will make higher education so cheap that any number of existing colleges and universities soon may find themselves out of business. Those arguments are off track because they make two false assumptions: that participants in higher education have homogeneous goals, and that students are consumers and not producers, or constructors, of their own personalized product of higher education.
MOOC Mess
Inside Higher Ed
Maybe it was inevitable that one of the new massive open online courses would crash. After all, MOOCs are being launched with considerable speed, not to mention hype.
Towns weigh park-and-ride fee
The Chapel Hill News
Using a park-and-ride lot to catch the bus would no longer be free if Chapel Hill and Carrboro officials follow UNC’s lead in charging an annual fee. In August, UNC students and employees will start paying to park in university-owned lots. The permits will be priced on a sliding scale, starting at $227. It’s part of UNC’s five-year plan to cover an expected $6.5 million shortfall in the transportation and parking budget.