uncnews.unc.edu

International Coverage

Newspapers changing, but are far from the grave (Opinion-Editorial Column)
Guelph Mercury (Canada)
...One leading authority, Philip Meyer, a professor of journalism at the University of North Carolina, predicts that the 300-year history of newspaper publishing in the United States will come to an end when the last reader tosses the last printed newspaper into a recycling bin some time in the first quarter of 2043.

National Coverage

The Uneven Playing Field
The New York Times
By the time Janelle Pierson sprinted onto the field for the start of the Florida high-school soccer playoffs in January, she had competed in hundreds of games since joining her first team at 5. ...Steve Marshall, a professor at the University of North Carolina’s School of Public Health, leads a large A.C.L. study financed by the National Institutes of Health that is following students at the three major U.S. military academies.

Exercise can ease fibromyalgia pain
The Los Angeles Times
For people living with chronic pain, exercise is often the last thing they want to do. But physical activity could be a key component of some treatment plans, new studies suggest, especially with conditions such as fibromyalgia and arthritis. ...Similar results were found in research led by Leigh F. Callahan, an associate professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina's Thurston Arthritis Research Center in Chapel Hill.

A Shaky Performance on Corrections
The Washington Post
The Post's approach to corrections is not consistent: Some run promptly, others are resisted, a few go astray. And top editors are not looking for trends in the statistics kept on corrections. ...Gerardo Heiss, a medical professor at the University of North Carolina and the study's lead author, said progesterone and progestin are not the same but "the way they are used is the same."

"SWAT Moms" Fill Work Force, Life Gaps
"The Early Show," CBS News
American companies are reaching out to a unique group of capable workers for help. They've been dubbed "SWAT moms," short for "Smart Women with Available Time." ...Their friend was hiring mothers for a project at the University of North Carolina's business school, which coined the term "SWAT moms."

Struggling Communities Turn to Colleges
The Chronicle of Higher Education
...The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, through a grant from Jessie Ball duPont Fund, provides training and technical assistance to four small, private colleges in Appalachia for economic-development outreach in their counties. ..."These colleges have the desire to engage in this kind of work," says Jesse L. White Jr., director of Chapel Hill's Office of Economic and Business Development and a former co-chairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission, a federal-state partnership. "But they don't always have the capacity."

How a Lawsuit Over Electronic Reserves Could Affect Colleges
The Chronicle of Higher Education
(Laura) Gassaway, associate dean for academic affairs and a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law, says that a lawsuit recently filed against Georgia State University regarding electronic reserves could have implications for how colleges distribute course material online.

Open-Access Humanities Press Makes Its Debut
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Scholars in the sciences have been light-years ahead of their peers in the humanities in exploring the possibilities of open-access publishing. ...Internet hosting is being provided gratis by ibiblio, a sort of Internet library — or "conservancy," as it calls itself — based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Regional Coverage

On College
Redwood City Daily News (San Carlos, Calif.)
...In today's ultra-competitive college admissions environment, it is very important to stand out from the crowd, and community service involvement is one way to do this. ...In fact, community service has become so important that some colleges and universities, such as Vanderbilt, Duke and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, offer scholarships that are partially based on meaningful community service involvement.

State and Local Coverage

A campus winner (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Holden Thorp, who will become the next chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a Fayetteville native and an alumnus of the university he now will lead. But the truth is, Thorp's resume is so thick and impressive that he likely would have been a candidate for any number of leadership positions nationwide.

UNC Chapel Hill picks an identifiably Southern boy (Editorial)
The Charlotte Observer
Holden Thorp, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC Chapel Hill who was just picked to be the new chancellor there, is a UNC graduate from Fayetteville and a Southern boy with his values intact.

Thorp is a good choice to lead UNC (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
In accepting his selection as the next chancellor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, H. Holden Thorp noted that "we have so much work ahead of us." ...In nominating Thorp to the Board of Governors Thursday, Bowles said: "There is not a doubt in my mind that Holden Thorp is the right leader for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the right leader for today and the right leader for tomorrow." With that vote of confidence and with his own substantial accomplishments, we expect a chancellorship of distinction from Holden Thorp.

Fayetteville native can propel UNC forward through collaboration. (Editorial)
The Fayettevill Observer
In his acceptance speech Thursday, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s next chancellor, Holden Thorp, reminded the UNC Board of Governors that it all began in Fayetteville. The decision to create UNC-Chapel Hill, the country’s first public university, was made here, on Dec. 11, 1789, during a legislative session downtown.

The university chooses an insider (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
For seven months, the UNC Board of Governors Search Committee looked all over the nation. It turns out, they found what they were looking for right under their noses. The soon-to-be new chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a home boy. Holden Thorp is the offspring of a Tar Heel alum, a Carolina graduate himself, a university professor and a UNC dean. He couldn't be any more light blue if he were dipped in paint.

Right chemistry in Chapel Hill (Editorial page blog)
The News & Record (Greensboro)
Holden Thorp is a native North Carolinian, UNC-Chapel Hill grad, brilliant scientist, award-winning teacher, talented administrator, successful entrepreneur and proven fundraiser. Mix all those elements together and no wonder he emerged from more than 100 applicants as the next chancellor of the state’s flagship public university.

In Thorp, UNC-CH has 'a complete package'
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Holden Thorp loves a puzzle. As a teenager, he won $500 in a regional Rubik's Cube tournament, which he promptly blew on records. As a young chemist a decade ago, it was DNA, on which he published extensively and has spun off technology leading to 19 issued or pending patents.

State Broadcast Note

Today's edition of "North Carolina Now" on WUNC-TV will air an interview with Chancellor-Elect Holden Thorp Monday, May 12, at 7:30 p.m. Chancellor-Elect Thorp is the featured "Newsmaker" guest during tonight's edition of "North Carolina Now," a statewide public affairs program.
For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.unctv.org/ncnow

Rain shortens Carolina ceremony
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
It was cold, rainy and miserable, but everyone at Kenan Stadium Sunday morning seemed to agree -- it really was a great day. Chancellor James Moeser called UNC's commencement ceremonies the shortest on record. "We're going to move immediately to the conferral of degrees," he said shortly after taking the podium in Kenan Stadium to the cheers of those who had been sitting in the rain waiting for the commencement ceremonies to begin.
Related Links:
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-950004.cfm
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/front/story/14423.html

Rain commences, but graduations go on
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Rain dampened outdoor commencement ceremonies Sunday morning at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University and chased Meredith College graduates to exercise a drafty, bad-weather backup not far from campus -- Dorton Arena at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh.
Related Links:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/higher_education/story/1069240.html
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1068843.html
http://www.wchl1360.com/details.html?id=6751

Grads fulfill hopes of covenant plan
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
To be a Carolina Covenant scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill is to have a guardian angel named Fred. Fred Clark, 64, is the angel -- though he prefers the term "grandfather" -- for nearly 1,400 low-income students going to school free under the university's covenant scholarship program.
UNC Media Advisory:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/students/first-covenant-scholars-set-sights-on-commencement.html

First Carolina Covenant Scholars graduate
The Chapel Hill Herald
The first class of Carolina Covenant Scholars will be graduating today debt-free from UNC. Around 200 members of the first class will don their caps and gowns in Kenan Stadium thanks to the university's groundbreaking effort to open enrollment to students from low-income families.
Related Link:
http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2008-05-11-0008.html
UNC Media Advisory:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/students/first-covenant-scholars-set-sights-on-commencement.html

Colleges honor slain students at graduation
WTVD-TV (ABC/Raleigh)
A university official says the slain student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill received a degree at Sunday's commencement ceremony.
Related Links:
http://www.newsobserver.com/1565/story/1068233.html
http://www.digtriad.com/news/local_state/article.aspx?storyid=103266&catid=57
http://wral.com/news/local/story/2866474/

UNC Graduates Pay Tribute To Eve Carson
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
The graduation ceremony at Carolina was also bittersweet. It would have been the graduation ceremony of murdered student body president Eve Carson. UNC Senior Class President Ashley Shores addressed the undergraduates. Carson would have graduated with highest distinction and received two degrees, one for biology, and the other for political science.

Job picture bright for class of '08
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
For the fresh-faced and hopeful students who will toss their caps in the air at Duke University and UNC Chapel Hill's commencements today, there is a silver lining in this economy: For the class of 2008, the job market is still looking good.

A path to college (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Thanks for your May 5 editorial "College timber," which called attention to the excellent work that N.C. Central University is doing to recruit and enroll students from North Carolina community colleges. UNC-Chapel Hill is also working to foster access and success for community-college transfers. The university is part of a national effort to make sure that more community college students enter and graduate from competitive four-year colleges and universities. (Stephen Farmer, Assistant Provost and Director of Undergraduate Admissions, UNC-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill)
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/letters/story/1067483.html

Doctor wins UNC-CH faculty award
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A UNC-Chapel Hill doctor has received the school's highest faculty award. Dr. Myron S. Cohen received the O. Max Gardner Award on Friday from the Board of Governors of the UNC system.
UNC System Release:
http://www.northcarolina.edu/content.php/pres/news/releases/pr2008/
20080509_2008_Gardner_Award_Announcement.htm

Consider the context that sparks migration (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The assumptions that inform future discussions on immigration are intrinsic to the outcome, for they will serve to fix the parameters of policy. Premise will determine purpose. (Louis A. Perez, Jr. is the J. Carlyle Sitterson professor of history and the director of the Institute for the Study of the Americas at UNC-Chapel Hill.)

We must act to protect our water resources (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chapel Hill Herald
While there is no doubt that modern water sanitation practices have nearly eliminated cholera, typhoid, dysentery and other waterborne diseases, it is equally without doubt that a significant number of the chemical by-products of these practices are highly toxic, carcinogenic and known to cause mutations of mammalian genes. ...Because of the excessive amounts of THMs in Pittsboro water, chloramination may not solve the problem for which it's being used. UNC Prof. Philip Singer, in consultation with Pittsboro, wrote that if THMs continue to exceed regulatory levels, "... ammonia addition will not solve the problem."

Seeing blue in N.C. (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
In last week's once-in-a-lifetime Democratic presidential primary in North Carolina, with repeated visits by the candidates and Bill Clinton to cities and towns that had never seen a presidential candidate, let alone a former president, turnout was heavy -- 36 percent, twice the norm for primaries. ...But exit polls during primaries are notoriously unreliable, as James Stimson, a professor of political science at UNC-Chapel Hill, pointed out in a public radio interview.

Superdelegate concerns dwindle
The Rocky Mount Telegram
Thanks in part to North Carolina's Democratic primary election, the concern that superdelegates might override voters has begun to fade, political experts are saying. ..."It would take a significant and unforeseen event to cause the superdelegates to overturn the will of the people," said (Thomas) Carsey, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

UNC seeks power to create airports
The Chapel Hill News
UNC officials are asking the General Assembly to grant the UNC system the power to create airport authorities, a step toward a new airport in Orange County. Chancellor James Moeser and other campus officials are asking the system to lobby for the authority in the General Assembly's upcoming short session.

Procedure hopes to give stroke victims extra time for treatment
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
When a person is having an acute stroke, every minute of delayed treatment means a higher risk of permanent brain damage. A new procedure, available at UNC Hospitals, hopes to increases a person’s window of treatment up to eight hours.
UNC Health Care News Release:
http://unchealthcare.org/news/May/penumbra

North Carolina case claims financial calamity from Bayer drug
The Triangle Business Journal
North Carolina could become a battleground in the fight over Bayer Corp.'s embattled bleeding-control drug Trasylol, but for a different reason than safety. ...Dr. Brett Sheridan, a cardiothoracic surgeon at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's medical school, says he stopped using Trasylol in 2002. He had no data, only experience suggesting kidney problems associated with the drug. Sheridan says alternative drugs are not as "robust" as the Bayer product, but he did not want to risk harming patients.

Summer college books offer provocative ideas
The Charlotte Observer
Many college-bound students get their first taste of college work when they dip into their required summer reading. ...UNC Chapel Hill: “Covering: The Hidden Assault On Our Civil Rights,” by Kenji Yoshino.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/students/covering-the-hidden-assault-on-
our-civil-rights-is-summer-reading-program-choice-for-2008.html

Salad days: $10K grant for Eastway
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Eastway Elementary School will get a $10,000 grant from Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressings as part of the Love Your Veggies campaign. The grant was written and submitted by graduate students at the UNC School of Public Health who were working as interns with the Durham Public Schools Child Nutrition Services Department.

Child behavior class to be held
The Chapel Hill Herald
From birth to age 5, children demonstrate remarkable development in the areas of language, thinking, and fine and gross motor skills. ...The session will feature joint presentations by Lynn Wegner, a developmental/behavioral pediatrician at N.C. Children's Hospital and chief of pediatric developmental-behavioral medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, and Becky White, a therapeutic recreation specialist at the Children's Hospital.

Issues and Trends

Shelter finally finds a good home (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
It was almost lost amid the blaze of attention focused on the primary elections, but something else of enormous importance to this community happened last week. On Monday, officials announced that UNC and the Town of Chapel Hill had formed a partnership to move the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service's shelter for homeless men to a new long-term home.
Related Link:
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/news/story/14435.html
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/campus-and-community/town-university
-announce-partnership-to-bring-new-homeless-shelter-to-chapel-hill.html

Formal opening nears for N.C. Research Campus
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
The North Carolina Research Campus is rapidly nearing its grand opening, and management of the $1 billion-plus project is offering a sneak preview on May 15. ...NCRC also is working with Duke, the University of North Carolina System and other institutions to launch operations onsite.

Like father, like son: Easleys on stage
The Charlotte Observer
Michael Easley Jr. made a rare political appearance this week in High Point, joining his father, Gov. Mike Easley, and Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York at a campaign event in High Point. The younger Easley, a law student at UNC Chapel Hill, stood on stage with the two elected officials and spoke briefly to the crowd of about 200.

Town Council refuses to listen to residents (Letter to the Editor)
The Chapel Hill News
The recent Town Council approval of the UNC Student Government proposal to install extra lights and blue call boxes in the McCauley-Ransom historic district should be questioned as badly justified and not evidence-based. Compelled by the passionate, though poorly grounded, arguments of students and a loving parent, the council summarily dismissed long-term residents' concerns and requests for additional discussion. (Vera Halpern, Chapel Hill)

Class and borders (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The argument that goes, "What is it about illegal that you don't understand?" is meant to be a show-stopper, and there's no mistaking the fact that people in this country without official permission are in violation of the law. ...In North Carolina, the debate now has focused on the specific issue of higher education for those immigrants.
Related Links:
http://news14.com/content/school_news/595620/preps-for-college-
regardless-of-status/Default.aspx
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1067701.html

New state challenges confront legislators
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The economy is souring, money is tight, and state lawmakers have to run for re-election in the fall. It's the kind of scenario that might prompt state lawmakers to do little more this legislative session than put out a state budget and then go home.
Related Link:
http://www.heraldsun.com/state/6-949984.cfm
http://www.charlotte.com/288/story/618777.html
http://www.newsobserver.com/689/story/1068376.html
http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/2867755/

State long aware of Wake's trouble with probation
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Last month, state probation chief Robert Lee Guy stood in the glare of the television lights, saying he was embarrassed at how his division's Wake County office bungled the case of Demario Atwater, a suspect in the slaying of UNC-CH student body president Eve Carson.
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2811/story/1068367.html