unc.edu/news

National Coverage

Coming Soon: Health Care Debate, Part 2
The New York Times
The skirmishing between the Democratic presidential candidates over the mechanics of universal health coverage will soon give way to a quite different general-election debate — about whether universal coverage should even be a national priority. ...Jonathan B. Oberlander, an authority on health politics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, predicted that in the general election the Democrats might regret how much time they spent discussing government mandates, and the tax increases they have proposed to support broad expansions of coverage.

State and Local Coverage

Two UNC seniors named scholars
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
UNC seniors Lisa Bond and Stephanie Jones have received 2008-2009 Churchill Scholarships for graduate work at Cambridge University in England, valued at $46,000-$52,000 each. ...UNC is the only North Carolina university with Churchill Scholars this year and the only university to have two Churchill Scholars named in the same year twice over the last decade.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/students/two-unc-seniors-awarded-churchill-scholarships.html

$106K in grants is distributed
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
The Strowd Roses Foundation has distributed $106,050 in grants for the first quarter of 2008 to a number of local organizations. ...The recipients include... UNC Campus Y, UNC School of Nursing...

Baldwin receives research grant
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The National Lung Cancer Partnership has awarded Dr. Albert Baldwin, a researcher at UNC's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, a two-year $100,000 LUNGevity Foundation Research Grant.
UNC People Brief:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/health-and-medicine/unc-cancer-center-scientist-awarded-
lung-cancer-research-grant.html

N.C. Peace Corps awards prize
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
he North Carolina Peace Corps Association awarded its 10th annual North Carolina Peace Prize to Nourish International of Chapel Hill. Since 2002, Nourish International has worked with UNC's dining services to provide affordable meals for members of the university community.

Shane named NSTA president
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Pat Shane of the School of Education at UNC recently has been elected 2009-2010 president of the National Science Teachers Association. She will serve a three-year term beginning June 1. Shane, a former middle school teacher and counselor, is associate director of the UNC school's Center for Mathematics and Science Education and clinical professor of science education.

Chemical waste info meeting set
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
UNC, its environmental consultant and its remediation contractor will hold a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday to present information about the cleanup of a chemical waste disposal site on UNC-owned property near the Horace Williams Airport.
UNC Media Advisory:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/unc-schedules-media-briefing-public-
meeting-about-clean-up-at-chemical-waste-site.html

Peeling the Orange
The Chapel Hill Herald
The UNC Chancellor's Search Committee released no significant new information during an open session that lasted approximately three minutes on Thursday.

Health policy will get checkup
The News & Record (Greensboro)
Presidential candidates John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are all talking about changing our health care system, but whoever is elected will face an uphill fight. That's the take of Jonathan Oberlander, a professor in the schools of public health and medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill. Oberlander will be speaking March 11 in Greensboro as part of the educational series "Civics 104: Your Health, Your Money, Your Vote."
Related Link:
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_
BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173354807109&path=!localnews&s=1037645509099

Former Yankee speaks at UNC Hillel
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
To some, former New York Yankee Ron Blomberg was a heretic. To others, he was a hero for the game of baseball. ...Sheila Katz, program director for Jewish student life at UNC Hillel, said Blomberg's talk was part of a new initiative on campus. "We've been really making an effort to bring in interesting Jewish athletes to pull our Jewish athletes on campus together," she said. "I think it's very important that all students have Jewish role models, and it's often hard in sports to find the people today."

Does skin tone affect success?
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
Does skin tone within one's race influence opportunities offered and success achieved in life? That question and more will be explored in "Colorism, Caste, Class and Race," a free public conference March 28 at UNC. Sponsored by the UNC Institute of African-American Research and Duke's Research Network on Race and Ethnic Inequality, the symposium will feature authors and scholars from around the world.
UNC Event Brief:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/business/conference-to-explore-race-skin-tone-and-caste.html

Former security adviser to speak
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski will give a free public talk about global security challenges at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday in UNC's FedEx Global Education Center. Brzezinski, an author, political scientist and geo-strategist, is a professor of American Foreign Policy at Johns Hopkins University's Washington, D.C., campus. He was National Security Adviser for the Carter administration from 1977 to 1981.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/government-and-law/former-national-security-adviser-
brzezinski-to-speak-at-unc.html

Home schooling grows as an option
The Charlotte Observer
Meleah Corner of Huntersville decided to home-school two of her children to tailor their education so they could learn at their own pace. She sees more people who are unhappy with public schools making the same choice. ...Gerald Unks, professor of social foundations of education at UNC Chapel Hill, said the biggest drawback is the financial sacrifice for families.

Lectures focus on child abuse education
The Fayetteville Observer
Lanishia Nunez is challenged by the “terrible twos” in her personal and professional life. She’s the mother of a 2-year-old and also teaches at a day-care center. ...The program was developed through a partnership between the faith community and the Child Advocacy Center and focuses on child abuse education and prevention. Here are two upcoming sessions: ...The New Norm by Dr. Sharon Cooper. Date and location to be announced. Cooper is an adjunct professor of pediatrics at UNC-Chapel Hill. She regularly works with national and international investigative agencies on Internet crimes against children cases.

Universities can address system's challenges (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
It's clear from the N&O series on mental health reform that the problems we face are multiple, widespread, and deep-seated. Consequently, there are no quick and easy solutions to North Carolina's mental health system problems. (Joseph Morrissey is professor of health policy and psychiatry in the schools of public health and medicine at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.)

The right to protest (Editorial)
The News & Record (Greensboro)
When Keith Brown's High Point neighborhood was threatened with an unwanted development next door, he turned to a state law for help. ...The protest provision goes back to 1923 in North Carolina, when municipal zoning statutes were first enacted, David W. Owens, a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill's Institute of Government, said last week.

Moratorium Idea Has Towns Studying Law
The Pilot (Southern Pines)
The premise of a development moratorium is to give a town or city an opportunity to take a "drastic step" to address a problem. That is the view of Richard D. Ducker, an attorney and land-use regulation expert with the School of Government at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Related Link:
http://news14.com/content/headlines/593450/town-gets-wish-to-be-annexed/Default.aspx
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/government-and-law/unc-center-for-civil-rights-helps-moore-county-
community-secure-1.1-million.html

Everyman's Library aimed to make us better people
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The idea was simple yet visionary: Publish handsome volumes of the world's greatest books at a price working people could afford. ...This cultural phenomenon is spotlighted by an eye-opening exhibit at Wilson Library at UNC-Chapel Hill. "The ABC of Collecting Everyman's Library: Archives, Books, Collections" showcases more than 100 Everyman's volumes and bookmarks owned by collector Terry Seymour, as well as materials from the Dent archives housed at UNC.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/everymans-library-exhibit-program-
in-wilson-library.html

2 named '07 Charlotte women of the year
The Charlotte Observer
This year's program will include a panel discussion on "The Many Shades of Green: Practicing Sustainability." The panelists will be: Anita Burke, former advisor to Shell International on sustainable development and climate control; Leslie Fields, The Sierra Club's national environmental justice director; and Cindy Shea, sustainability office director at UNC Chapel Hill.

Meet Elin O'Hara Slavick
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM
For artist Elin O’Hara Slavick, art isn’t a commodity, it’s a tool for activism. As a professor of studio art at UNC-Chapel Hill, she uses art to get her students thinking in a new way. But her efforts aren’t always appreciated. Elin received death threats after organizing community teach-ins about the war on terrorism. She joins host Frank Stasio to discuss her life as an activist and the role of art in the pursuit of justice.
Note: "The State of Things" is the statewide public affairs program airing live at noon weekdays and rebroadcast at 9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays.

Magic money? (Book Review)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Over the past two decades Robert Kuttner, founder and longtime co-editor of the liberal bimonthly The American Prospect, has written much the same book three times: "The End of Laissez Faire: National Purpose and the Global Economy after the Cold War" (1991), "Everything for Sale: The Virtues and Limits of Markets" (1998), and now "The Squandering of America: How the Failure of our Politics Undermines our Prosperity" (2007). The third time's the charm, it seems. (Peter A. Coclanis is associate provost for international affairs and Albert R. Newsome Professor of History at UNC-Chapel Hill.)

Issues and Trends

Teaching Boys and Girls Separately
The New York Times
...Teaching Boys and Girls Separately ...After meeting Jacob, Sawicki walked me over to a room labeled “University of North Carolina, 2024,” where the kindergarten teacher Trisha Bailey was sitting with nine boys in a reading circle. Part of Excellence’s strategy is to keep boys too busy to fall out of line.

High school seniors send multiple applications to colleges
The Associated Press
High school seniors have devised a new strategy for getting into college - send applications to more schools, even those they are not likely to attend.
Related Link:
http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/2513293/

N.C. alone in college hiring secrecy
The Fayetteville Observer
North Carolina is the only state in the nation that selects the top leaders of all its public universities in secret. ...The system’s newest chancellor could be named as early as Friday, when Bowles is expected to present his choice for the post at FSU to the UNC Board of Governors. Two other schools — UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC-Greensboro — are conducting searches.