uncnews.unc.edu

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

International Coverage

Bio-threat system being showcased
United Press International
The North Carolina Bio-Preparedness Collaborative is showcasing a bio-surveillance system for early outbreak threat detection. When complete, the NCB-Prepared system will integrate data from sources as disparate as the environment, animal and human clinical services and food production, processing and distribution to detect emerging health threats more quickly and effectively....The North Carolina Bio-Preparedness Collaborative is a public-private partnership that includes the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University and SAS, with support from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

State and Local Coverage

UNC-CH doesn't foresee overhaul
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill does not anticipate a major academic restructuring - in the manner of N.C. State University - to deal with budget cuts. "We're going to continually make changes," Robert Winston, chairman of the UNC-CH Board of Trustees, said recently. "There will be some restructuring here and there. But nothing that will shock people and blow them away."
Related Link:
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/campusnotes/unc-ch-no-ncsu-esque-reorg-plans

Thorp wants to protect academics as UNC-Chapel Hill cuts
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is already making budget cuts for the next fiscal year. Chancellor Holden Thorp said Thursday that the five percent cut he has ordered for 2011-12 will cost the university $26 million. Thorp added that deeper cuts, the 10 and 15 percent options suggested by the governor and legislators attempting to balance the state budget, could "significantly erode" academics.

Proposed state budgets cuts put UNC on edge
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
UNC officials continued Wednesday to voice concern about proposed state budget cuts that could threaten the university's academic mission. Richard Mann, vice chancellor for finance and administration, told members of the UNC system's Board of Trustees' Audit & Finance Committee that additional state budget cuts beyond 5 percent would be severely felt throughout the university.

Mann: Cuts Could Cause UNC "Irreparable Damage"
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
As the General Assembly met in Raleigh to discuss the state’s financial difficulties, the UNC Board of Trustees kicked off their two-day meeting at the Carolina Inn by examining the troubles facing the University. Speaking before the Audit and Finance Committee, Vice Chancellor Richard Mann delivered news that surprised no one: the University faces serious financial jeopardy in the year ahead.

UNC, Durham Public Schools fight the 'soft bigotry of low expectations' - Part 1 (Blog)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
This past Saturday, founders of Union Independent School, a private-becoming-charter school on Dowd Street in Northeast Central Durham, launched a unique college prep program for 54 handpicked black students at Hillside and Southern high schools. This is the first of 3 parts of a story in progress for Sunday's Durham News. ...“This school was never started for just K-8. This is ‘self,” said James Johnson, professor at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. “We built this school to be a 24/7 operation.”

College advising corps making strides in county
The Mount Airy News
Surry County Schools high school students are learning more about college opportunities with the help of two members of the Carolina College Advising Corps. Meredith Allred and Jake Reardon are two recent graduates from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They have relocated to Surry County to help students at East Surry, North Surry, Surry Central and Surry Early College high schools learn more about their college options, including information on financial aid, testing and the application process.

TB infections in NC fall over 31 years
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
North Carolina used to have one of the highest numbers of tuberculosis cases in the country, but big strides in public health over the last three decades have helped the state prevent the spread of the potentially deadly infection. "We have done tremendously well due to our excellent public health department here," said Dr. David Weber, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Controversial exhibit opens quietly (Blog)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
When Ackland Art Museum director Emily Kass returned after attending a meeting of the national Association of Art Museum Directors in Puerto Rico last week, she went up to the Ackland's second-floor study gallery and looked at the comment book for David Wojnarowicz's video installation, "A Fire in My Belly."

Beta Theta Pi members stop attack
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
A young woman's screams from the basement of a fraternity house on Monday alerted members, who rushed to her rescue as she grappled with her attacker. The attack occurred between 1:20 and 1:30 p.m. at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house at 114 S. Columbia St., according to Lt. Kevin Gunter of the Chapel Hill Police Department.

Issues and Trends

GOP-led legislature gets down to work on goals
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Republicans celebrated a monumental shift in political power at the state legislature Wednesday, then immediately set in motion elements of their agenda. ...The day after Gov. Bev Perdue said she was considering including in her budget recommendation $1.3 billion in temporary tax increases that were due to expire in June as an alternative to large-scale cuts in education, Republican leaders said they were committed to building a budget without that money.

Republicans face daunting job (Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...The GOP achieved a goal Wednesday that it had sought for generations. And the reward, as House Speaker Thom Tillis put it, is to have laid in its lap "a budget deficit that threatens our ability to fund critical services." The projected $3.7 billion budget shortfall presents difficult choices for the legislature - either major and painful cuts in state government or an increase in taxes. And the Republican leaders reiterated their opposition Tuesday to raising taxes or extending the 2009 temporary tax increase.

Security Hacks
Inside Higher Ed
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found out last year that, in 2007, someone had hacked into a server holding personal information of 180,000 mammography patients from around the state.