uncnews.unc.edu

Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:

International Coverage

Tensions mount on anniversary of Thai coup
The National Newspaper (Thailand)
Thailand remained tense yesterday after massive pro-Thaksin protests passed off relatively peacefully, although some clashes were reported throughout the country, including at the border with Cambodia, and security remains tight amid fears of a return to the political instability of the past two years. ...“There is little scope for reconciliation between these two sides,” said Kevin Hewison, a professor of Asian studies at the University of North Carolina. “The pro-Thaksin forces have come crashing up against the old oligarchy that is not prepared to give up its power.”

National Coverage

Podcasts may help with weight loss
The Los Angeles Times
Successful weight loss may be just a podcast away. But what's on that podcast could make the difference between losing a modest amount of weight and losing next to none, according to a new study out of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Researchers used two types of podcasts to see which was more effective at helping 78 overweight and obese men and women shed pounds over 12 weeks.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2874/71/

Coaches focus on safety after colleague acquitted
The Associated Press
...Coaches like Curtis are putting even more effort into monitoring players during practice and games after one of their own, a former Kentucky head football coach, was charged with reckless homicide and wanton endangerment stemming from the collapse and death of a player. ...From 1998 through 2008, 26 college and high school football players died from heat stroke, Dr. Fred Mueller, director of the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina wrote in a report released last year.

New Drug May Offer Hope to Some With Lung Cancer
HealthDay News
Maintenance therapy with the drug pemetrexed improves the survival of people with non-small-cell lung cancer whose disease has not progressed after chemotherapy, a new study has found. ...Dr. Thomas Stinchcombe of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina, and Dr. Howard West, of the Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle, wrote in an accompanying editorial that the use of pemetrexed as maintenance therapy "merits being considered as a strong option, reflected by the recent approval of pemetrexed in this setting by the European Medicines Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration."

Health Care, Race and Political Polarization (Blog)
The Washington Post
Race has leapt back into the political conversation following former president Jimmy Carter's assertion that many of the attacks against the White House were motivated by the color of President Obama's skin. The debate underscores not only the country's racial sensitivities but also the American political divide. Authors Marc J. Hetherington and Jonathan D. Weiler offer a perspective in their book "Authoritarianism & Polarization in American Politics," published last month by Cambridge University Press. Hetherington is a professor of political science at Vanderbilt University and Weiler is director of undergraduate studies and adjunct assistant professor of international and area studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Secret interviews add insight to Clinton presidency
USA Today
...Clinton on several occasions had encouraged Branch to write a book about their sessions, albeit at some undesignated point in the future. The author used the advance he received from the publishing house Simon & Schuster to have his own tapes transcribed; he had stored them in a safe deposit box at a bank. Those tapes will be available to researchers next year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

How Did Economists Get It So Wrong? (Letter to the Editor)
The New York Times
As usual, Paul Krugman is interesting and insightful, but his explanation of how macroeconomists got it so wrong is badly lacking because it ignores one important element of meaningful economic analysis — the part represented by the work of institutional economists like John Kenneth Galbraith. Behavioral economics has been a step forward by drawing attention to the herdlike potential in human behavior that contradicts one of the key assumptions of “neoclassical” economics. (Gerhard Lenski, Emeritus professor of sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C.)

Why Start a Muslim College?
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Sheik Hamza Yusuf has made up a word to describe the kind of education he wants future students to gain at Zaytuna College. The word is "acadevotional," and he uses it to convey the college's goal: "We want academic rigor within a devotional context."..."It's utterly embarrassing to Muslims that there's not a viable Muslim seminary in America," says Omid Safi, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For that reason, some observers are surprised that Zaytuna is attempting to establish a whole college rather than just a seminary. "My sense is, where we are right now, we do need a seminary first," Mr. Safi says.

Stop the Presses! Revamped Journalism Courses Attract Hordes of Students
The Chronicle of Higher Education
At a time when the newspaper industry is in free fall and thousands of jobs are being cut each year, one would think that the halls of the nation's journalism schools would be awfully quiet. Think again. ...Elsewhere, applications to master's programs were up 30 percent at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 25 percent at the University of Maryland at College Park, and 24 percent at Stanford University.

Regional Coverage

Culver rating slips; poll gives Branstad positive signs
The Des Moines Register (Iowa)
Former Gov. Terry Branstad would emerge from political retirement with favorable impressions from most Iowans if he were to run again next year, and nearly half of Iowans think that’s a good idea, according to The Des Moines Register’s new Iowa Poll. ...“They see him as having presided during good times,” said Thad Beyle, a University of North Carolina political scientist who studies gubernatorial approval.

How real are runaway's fears of being killed for becoming Christian?
The St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
Will religious runaway Rifqa Bary be killed if she's sent home to Ohio? Bary is the 17-year-old girl who fled to Florida in July because she's terrified that her Muslim family has to murder her due to her conversion to Christianity. ..."The allegation that Muslim parents would be required to kill an apostate daughter is absurd," said Carl Ernst, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina, "particularly if there is no evidence to back this up besides the daughter's statement."

Poet William Blake topic of Fox-Adler Lecture at Skidmore
The Saratogian Life (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.)
The visionary Romantic poet and artist William Blake (1757–1827) would likely have loved the Internet, with its infinite capacities, options and variations. Since 1996, much of Blake’s work has been online and free at www.blakearchive.org, through the effort of Joseph Viscomi, the archive’s editor and co-creator. ...Conceived and designed in 1993–95, the Blake Archive contains approximately 5,500 graphic images transferred to digital form, said Viscomi, a professor of English literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

State and Local Coverage

New hospital to fight cancer (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Under a Carolina blue sky in Chapel Hill, a glittering group of state officials and dignitaries participated in the dedication of UNC Hospital's $207 million N.C. Cancer Hospital on Tuesday. But whenever the subject is cancer, the absence of those who are not there weighs heavily.

Promise at University Square (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
The coming renovation of University Square has the potential to turn an architecturally outmoded retail and office space into one better integrated with the rest of Franklin Street. ...The Chapel Hill Foundation, a nonprofit arm of UNC, bought the 12-acre tract, which includes not only the shopping plaza but also the Granville Towers student housing buildings behind it. The foundation has hired a Boston-based architecture firm to redevelop the property.

Good Neighbor Initiative reaches out to UNC students
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
It will be trick or treat in reverse on Thursday afternoon when teams of volunteers and Chapel Hill police officers walk door-to-door in four neighborhoods near the UNC campus. The teams will deliver the message to be a good neighbor and up to 1,000 goodie bags containing a new 20-page resource booklet, a guide to town services, a business guide and a map with coupons for downtown businesses. Now in its sixth year, the Good Neighbor Initiative encourages students who live near campus to develop good relationships with their neighbors and to work together to keep their communities clean and safe.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2882/107/

UNC alums pitch bike rental kiosks
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Imagine stepping off one of Chapel Hill’s free public buses, swiping a card at a smartly placed kiosk loaded with bikes, grabbing one and riding off into the sunset. It could happen. Two recent UNC graduates are pitching a proposal for a subscription-based and pay-per-use bike rental program called WeCycles that would provide bicycle rentals throughout the town of Chapel Hill and the UNC campus. Hasan Abdullah and Ibraheem Khalifa said UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp already has expressed interest in the program, for which market research shows 60 percent of UNC’s students willing to pay an annual $40 membership to use.

Seniors get help stopping falls
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...Public health experts, therapists and doctors have been warning for years about the perilous intersection of two trends: the rising percentage of older people and the increasing frequency with which they fall. ..."Oftentimes, folks understand that they need to be careful or change their environment by removing throw rugs, clutter, etc., but they don't think about other risk factors that contribute to falls," said Ellen Schneider, an associate director of the University of North Carolina Institute on Aging and one of the founders of the N.C. Falls Prevention Coalition.

Doctor to discuss nuclear energy
The Times-News (Burlington)
Dr. David McNelis, director of the Center for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economic Development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will present "Energy Futures" at Blue Ridge Community College at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23 in the Patton Auditorium. McNelis has more than 45 years of environmental sciences and engineering experience in federal government, university and industry settings.

UNC-CH chancellor freezes activist group
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp shut down a campus anti-immigration group Friday after an anonymous flier targeted its faculty adviser, who then joked about his skills with a Colt .45. Activists put out the flier at UNC-Chapel Hill this week revealing the home address of Youth for Western Civilization faculty adviser Elliot Cramer.
Related Links:
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=7022968
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/6038335/
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Ousted+adviser-+
Thorp+-overreacted-%20&id=3658343-Ousted+adviser-+Thorp+-overreacted-

The crusader (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Horace Carter died Wednesday in Wilmington at the age of 88, having lived a long, full and successful life as a newspaper editor and publisher and businessman. As the 1940s became the 1950s, there was some fear that such a life was not ahead of him. ...Carter represented the enlightenment of a generation, and he credited, as so many North Carolinians of that generation did, the teachings of Dr. Frank Porter Graham, president of the University of North Carolina, with helping him understand issues of race.

N.C. Literary Fest draws 12,000 visitors
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
An estimated 12,000 people attended the North Carolina Literary Festival, held Sept. 10-13 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Festival director Amy Baldwin also said that about 3,000 visitors attended the children's activity tent on Saturday and Sunday. Sixty-seven presentations were given by 100 authors.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/2872/68/

5K race raises money for UNC Craniofacial Center
News 14 Carolina
Organizers of the second annual Cleft Palate Gallop raised around $3,950 on Sunday for the UNC Craniofacial Center. The event was put together by Miles for Smiles, a volunteer student group with the UNC School of Dentistry. ...The UNC Craniofacial Center helps hundreds of families each year and serves patients who have cleft lips, palates, or other craniofacial anomalies. In an economic recession, officials with the center said it's become more important to raise funds for families in need.

Issues and Trends

The best UNC leader for our time (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Fayetteville Observer
It is unlikely that UNC system President Erskine Bowles anticipated the leadership challenges - administrative, financial and ethical - he would inherit from his predecessor (the depth of which were unknown even to her) when he took office in 2006. And when presented with the results of an investigation on the excesses of the Easley administration, which spilled over into the UNC system, Bowles did not become defensive. Rather, he addressed the allegations head-on and took corrective actions. (Walter C. Farrell Jr., professor of management in the School of Social Work at the UNC-Chapel Hill.)
Related Link:
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/campusnotes/uncs-bowles
-the-right-leader-for-these-times

More weight for grad rates?
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Each year, public universities get taxpayer money for each student they enroll -- the state's investment in the young minds of tomorrow. But many students drop out. Now, UNC system leaders want to link that public money to academic performance so campuses have more incentive to make sure students graduate. ..."That money is critical for us," said UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp. "That's where a lot of our ability to grow the faculty comes from."
Related Link:
http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-UNC+system+
eyes+graduation+goals%20&id=3648526-UNC+system+eyes+graduation+goals

Judge to review shooting video
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A Randolph County Superior Court judge will view the videotapes surrounding the recent fatal police shooting on Interstate 85 of a UNC-Chapel Hill student. V. Bradford Long, a senior resident Superior Court judge, asked Friday that copies of the dashboard camera videotapes from two Archdale police cars be turned over to him so he can determine whether to release them to the public.
Related Link:
http://www.digtriad.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=130495&catid=57

DA drops charges against UNC protesters
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The District Attorney's office today dismissed charges against two men accused of trespassing at UNC-Chapel Hill last month after being banned from campus following their April arrests for disrupting an anti-immigration speaker.

In full swing, flu shows up early
The Charlotte Observer
We're facing a flu season like no other in recent memory. It's started far earlier than normal, and there are two strains circulating - the regular seasonal flu and the new H1N1, or swine flu, which surprised authorities when it emerged last April, causing the first pandemic in 40 years....Outbreaks also have been reported at several N.C. colleges since students returned for classes. Hundreds of students have been sick at Wake Forest University, Western Carolina University, UNC Wilmington, UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State University.

More turning to Durham Tech for 1st two years
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
...Over the past year, Durham Tech has seen a 15 percent increase in the number of students in its university transfer program, which currently enrolls more than 1,500. The program, under an agreement with the UNC system, guarantees that all credits earned at Durham Tech during those first two years will automatically transfer to the four-year campuses. "It's an agreement that protects the student," said Thomas Gould, Durham Tech's associate dean for university transfer.

An ace for Cole Haan
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Cole Haan has a plan to attract younger shoppers, with the help of UNC-Chapel Hill sororities. The college is one of three universities that tennis player Maria Sharapova will hit during a Cole Haan trunk show this week to promote her new footwear and handbag line, Maria Sharapova by Cole Haan.