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National Coverage

Growing — and Defining — ‘Global Studies’
Inside Higher Ed
What, exactly, do we mean when we say “global studies?” “That’s the central question,” Niklaus Steiner, the director of the Center for Global Initiatives at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said when pressed by an assistant provost in his audience who asked, “What is the intellectual justification for global studies? What do you bring that’s new?”

Seniority an Issue for Delta, Northwest
The Associated Press
Northwest Airlines Corp. pilots have integration issues to sort out. Not just the ones with their counterparts at Delta Air Lines Inc. that threaten to scuttle talks to combine the two carriers. The ones with Republic Airlines. From 1986. ...John D. Kasarda, a management professor at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School, said it would be prudent for airline executives to wait for the pilots to settle their differences.

The Influencers
Entrepreneur magazine
In our first-annual look at the nation’s top 25 influencers, we name the individuals, groups and trends we believe will have a substantial impact on business owners in the coming year. ...U.S. entrepreneurs can’t afford to take emerging economies for granted. "We’re going to see a continued acceleration of jobs [moving] offshore," predicts James H. Johnson Jr., a business professor at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

A Rough Flu Season on Campus
U.S. News & World Report
Second semester is in high gear, and so is flu season. ...At the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the 457 students who showed up for help between late January and mid-February represent "a higher number of cases in a shorter period of time," according to Mary Covington, assistant vice chancellor for campus health services.

Regional Coverage

Get back on track
The Citizen-Patriot (Jackson, Mich.)
...So in the spirit of new beginnings — admit it, those resolutions have fallen by the wayside already — we've collected some small-but-sure ways to invigorate your life and jumpstart the trip toward healthfulness. ...And when University of North Carolina researchers had couples recount stressful events, those who had spent time before touching and hugging measured lowered blood pressure and heart rates than their non-PDA counterparts.

Immigration: Myth Vs. Reality
The Jackson Free Press (Mississippi)
“They can vote themselves in a pay raise, but they can’t do nothing about all this illegal immigration,” says Jackson talk show host “JT,” of the JT and Dave show, after the House approved a raise for government officials, including a $10,000 raise for in-session work for legislators. ...“There’s no doubt in my mind that ‘solving’ the immigration problem will make prices will go up. When you pay the wages that unions and other Americans want, then obviously those cost increases are going to be passed on in the prices of the goods; otherwise the firm goes out of business,” said John D. Kasarda, an economics professor at the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, a division of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

State and Local Coverage

New ideas keep boys from dropping out
The Citizen-Times (Asheville)
...Consistently for the past five years, about 60 percent of dropouts in the state have been boys, and in the majority of Western North Carolina school districts last school year, more boys dropped out than girls. ...“The same factors that affect boys also affect girls, but it seems to be affecting more boys than girls,” said Oscar Barbarin, a UNC Chapel Hill professor in the School of Social Work.

Researchers use interviews to develop preservation tools
The Smoky Mountain News (Sylva)
Sometimes, amid the focus on such divisive issues as growth regulations or steep slope construction, it’s easy to forget that on the most basic level most people in the region share a similar feeling — a love of the mountains. An ambitious new project aims to make people remember what they love most about the land they live on, with the hope that pinpointing these ideas will instigate people to help protect it. The project is called Mountain Landscapes, and it’s the brainchild of the Southwestern Economic Development Commission and two UNC-Chapel Hill doctoral students.

Another Universe?
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM
Last August, astronomers detected a giant void in the universe. According to Laura Mersini-Houghton, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UNC-Chapel Hill, it could be evidence of another universe on the edge of our own. She joins host Frank Stasio to discuss her theory and its implications.
Note: "The State of Things" is the statewide public affairs program airing live at noon weekdays and rebroadcast at 9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays.

Perils of secrecy (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The notion of keeping secret the process of selecting a new leader for a public institution is just wrong. The next chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will have to be comfortable doing business in public, because that is the nature of taxpayer-supported universities, or taxpayer-supported entities of any kind.

Shhh... it's a secret (Editorial)
The Daily Tar Heel
As the reign of Chancellor James Moeser wanes with the passing days, the chancellor search committee is nearing the time when it needs to narrow down the pool of applicants to a group of finalists for the position, leaving us wondering who those intrepid souls might be. ...This decision has left some feeling excluded from the process. Unfortunately, while it does leave us out of the loop, the closed approach is actually in the University's best interest.

Venable Hall dead at 83; at UNC, few mourn
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Venable Hall, UNC-Chapel Hill's aged science dungeon, with hallways as tortuous as the chemistry formulas taught within, has died. ...Venable Hall is survived by a nationally acclaimed chemistry department and more than 4,700 graduates with chemistry degrees.

Business Doings
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill and the Kenan-Flagler Business School Foundation announced a $1.6 million initial closing of its first Real Estate Investment Fund. The fund is a student-run private equity fund that invests in real estate development projects.

Pittsboro hopefuls sharpen rhetoric
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
More than three months after the race for the Pittsboro Town Board of Commissioners devolved into a mess of misappropriated ballots and allegations of bad behavior, the passions that fueled the fall have not subsided. ...The differences between (Michele) Berger and (Hugh) Harrington were apparent in more than just their words. While Berger, a UNC Chapel Hill professor, spoke with a polished manner while seated behind a microphone, Harrington refused to sit or use the sound system.

Actors pursue new tradition
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...You can get a taste of "Wine in the Wilderness" director John Rogers Harris' work -- and also the work of one of the nation's best playwrights -- if you're up for a road trip to Actor's Theatre of Charlotte. Harris, an assistant professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, directed the current production of August Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean," the first play in the ambitious 10-play cycle that brings to life a century of African-American history.

Pavers for sale at campus
The Charlotte Observer
Want people to walk all over your good name for a good cause in Kannapolis? Then consider buying an engraved brick in front of UNC Chapel Hill's Nutrition Research Institute at the North Carolina Research Campus.

Living wheat-free is a challenge (Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Some people seem to be allergic to just about everything. If the problem is a wheat allergy, their claim may be close to the truth. (Suzanne Havala Hobbs is a registered dietitian and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy at UNC-Chapel Hill.)

UNC-CH icons vandalized
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Someone put a fresh coat of paint on the Wolfpack-Tar Heel rivalry early Wednesday morning. UNC-Chapel Hill campus police found red paint on the Bell Tower bricks and a column of the Old Well, two of Chapel Hill's landmarks.
Related Links:
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-926439.cfm
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2461217/

Issues and Trends

Study favors funding for ECU
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
More state investment in research at East Carolina University could pay off in biotech jobs in five nearby counties, a new study suggests. ...Just as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University and N.C. State University fuel the economy of the Triangle -- where about 300 biotech companies employ about 27, 500 people -- ECU could invigorate economic development in the five-county region.