uncnews.unc.edu

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

International Coverage

Time to innovate: the future of traditional business schools
Financial Times (United Kingdom)
...Leading the way among the top schools has been the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, which will launch a distance-learning MBA this year that adheres to all the entrance and content criteria used for its other MBA programmes – including a requirement for applicants to take the Graduate Management Admission Test. James Dean, the school’s dean, says he is in no doubt that others will follow.

Oncology advances, error prevention too
United Press International
Advances in radiation oncology have dramatically improved the effectiveness of some treatments but they can also increase error risk, U.S. researchers say. Lead author Dr. Lawrence B. Marks of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill says radiation oncologists can enhance patient safety by further developing a culture of safety in which all team members are alerted to the possibility of errors.

National Coverage

States Can Reap Rewards by Supporting Research
The Chronicle of Higher Education
At a recent regional conference about jobs for the next generation, several speakers highlighted the economic resilience of North Carolina's Research Triangle region, so named for the three research universities—Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—that anchor the triangle. ...The region's successes and attractiveness are not due to chance. What we see today in the Triangle, including the economic vibrancy and opportunities for young people, reflects choices made decades ago by educational, business, and political leaders.

Absent Students Want to Attend Traditional Classes via Webcam
The Chronicle of Higher Education
...Perhaps no classroom professor has experimented more with videoconferencing in a single course than Paul Jones, an associate professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In his fall 2009 course on virtual communities, he brought in a guest speaker via Skype nearly every week.

Value of bed rest for pregnant women questioned
The Los Angeles Times
...The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists states that "bed rest, hydration and pelvic rest does not appear to improve the rate of preterm birth and should not be routinely recommended." ..."There's no evidence-based way to keep someone from delivering prematurely," said John Thorp, a maternal-fetal specialist at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill who helped draft the ACOG statement. By prescribing bed rest, Thorp said, "we're ruining lives, at least temporarily."

The Mammogram Hustle
Newsweek
...A lot of medical interventions have been oversold, and [digital mammography] is another one,” says Dr. Russell Harris, a professor and preventive-medicine expert at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. “The people who make the machines, who benefit by selling newer machines, have triumphed.”

N.F.L. Linemen Tip the Scales
The New York Times
...Various studies indicate that current N.F.L. players are at a greater risk than the general population for high blood pressure and that retired players are more prone to obesity, sleep apnea and metabolic syndrome: conditions like elevated blood pressure, insulin and cholesterol levels and excessive body fat around the waist that together heighten the risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes. ...A 2005 study by the University of North Carolina found that more than a quarter of the N.F.L.’s players fit the category of Class II obesity, which is between moderate and morbidly obese.

Hormones In Food: Should You Worry?
The Huffington Post
...Still, hormones added to the food supply are probably not the biggest culprit behind early puberty. It's more likely that meat, milk, and similar foods help trigger earlier puberty because they are rich in protein, calories, and nutrients, says Marcia Herman-Giddens, an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, in Chapel Hill, and the lead author of an influential 1997 study on early puberty in girls.

Anxiety -- not social fears -- may spur teens to drink more
MSNBC.com
...Anxiety is known to precede substance use, but it is less clear if this is a more significant risk factor than genes or social and cultural factors. Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill looked at the influence of social contexts on drinking in a 2008 study in the journal Child Development. Using information from more than 6,000 children, they found that factors such as family environment and peer relationships greatly affect how teens view alcohol, and whether they will begin drinking.

Beetle pest may encourage nesting turtles to move
New Scientist.com
...Work by Ken Lohmann at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill points to what could be driving this cycle. His studies have shown that turtle hatchlings imprint on their beach of birth and use its geomagnetic signature to return later in life to lay their own eggs.

Regional Coverage

Penance players go to confession
The Sun (San Bernardino, Calif.)
..."I think a lot of people whose religion existed before the Internet will be surprised," said Vincent Gonzalez, who is finishing his doctorate in religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Gonzalez said the app makes a nod toward the transcendentalist belief in the power of the individual to overcome personal problems.

Funds for repairs lacking at Kansas and Missouri universities
The Kansas CIty Star (Missouri)
...In Kansas, the cuts in state funding keep maintenance crews from making upgrades and repairs on aging buildings. The result is buckling, blistering and leaky roofs, water-stained walls and floors, and rotting pipes, said Ed Heptig, K-State director of campus facilities. ...Hurley said the problem is the worst at schools in the Northeast and the South, where many buildings are 200 years old. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s campus paper reported a maintenance backlog of more than $2 billion, up from $1.4 billion in 2008. At the University of North Carolina, the needed fixes would cost $3 billion.

State and Local Coverage

The botanical garden goes platinum (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chapel Hill Herald
Platinum is as good as it gets. Ask any musician whether he'd rather have a gold record or a platinum one. The same is true when it comes to awards for environmental design. When you've designed, built and operated a building for a year, and it meets the highest standards of the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, you receive LEED platinum certification. And that's exactly what the Education Center at the North Carolina Botanical Garden has done. (Holden Thorp is chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.)

Academy puts black males first
The Chapel Hill News
...The new Saturday College Preparatory Academy, a partnership between UNC and the Durham Public Schools, won't accept second best, organizers say. Its goal is to help 54 high school juniors apply to and succeed in college. ...And while it might seem odd that Union Independent, a private school in one of Durham's poorest, most crime plagued areas, is spending its grant on public school students instead of on itself, one of the school's founders said that's just the point. "This is 'self,'" said James Johnson, a professor at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School. "We built this school to be a 24 / 7 operation."
Related Link:
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/bullseye/unc-durham-public-schools-
fight-the-soft-bigotry-of-low-expectations-part-3

Jane Weintraub named dean of UNC dentistry school
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Jane A. Weintraub, a noted dental health expert and researcher at the University of California at San Francisco, has been appointed dean of the UNC School of Dentistry. The UNC Board of Trustees approved the appointment Thursday on the recommendation of Chancellor Holden Thorp and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Bruce Carney.
Related Link:
http://wchl1360.com/detailswide.html?id=17280
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4257/68/

Putting concussions on ice
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
..."I believe the NHL is taking it more seriously," said Kevin Guskiewicz, distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Exercise and Sport Science and director of the Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. ...Guskiewicz is serving on an NFL committee that is closely studying hits to the head. The league, he said, has agreed to place accelerometers in helmets next year - sensors that gauge G-force impacts to the head area - to build a data base that can help combat head injuries

Duke, UNC hospitals aim for greater transparency
The Associated Press
Hospitals at Duke University and the University of North Carolina are trying to make the relationship between drug companies and health providers more transparent. The Herald-Sun of Durham reports both universities have either revised or are in the process of revising their conflict of interest policies. UNC Hospitals implemented a policy this month that's in line with new federal laws taking effect in two years that require greater disclosure from drug companies.
Related Link:
http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/11184408/article-Hospital-conflict-of-
interest-policies-getting-revised?instance=homefourthleft

Duke-UNC-CH team testing diagnostic tool
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Scientists at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill have teamed to test a new diagnostic tool that may offer a more accurate way of identifying precancerous cells in the esophagus. The tool, a tiny light and sensors on an endoscope, was developed by biomedical engineers at Duke University and successfully tested on patients during a clinical trial at UNC-CH.

What makes us get so itchy and scratchy?
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Dr. Maya Jerath, the director of the Allergy and Immunology Clinic at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, explains one of the biggest annoyances known to man - itching.

Unruly kids may not change
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
..."It's so rare to have data that can tell us about such a long period of time," said Mitch Prinstein, a professor of psychology at UNC-Chapel Hill who was not involved in the study. "It offers more direct evidence of what one might suspect than just predicting something that happens a year or two later."

GSK workers can drop Aetna
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
At least one major Triangle employer will allow workers to switch their health coverage if Aetna's contract with the UNC Health Care System is terminated next week. GlaxoSmithKline, which employs about 5,000 people in this region, has told workers who are signed up for Aetna coverage that they can transfer to a similar health plan offered by UnitedHealthcare. ..."We're not going to subsidize Aetna," UNC Health CEO Bill Roper told the UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees on Thursday. "So we are about to end that relationship unless they change their minds."

West Village troubles
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Lawsuits and liens filed against the owners of West Village are snowballing, and the magnitude of the filings has real estate experts speculating about a possible bankruptcy. ...Based on the magnitude of the lawsuits and the amount of money involved, real estate experts weighing in on the matter said the prognosis is not good for the owners of West Village to come out of this mess and still remain owners. "It sounds like -- and I'm speculating here -- they're going to lose this," said Steve Cumbie, director of the Center for Real Estate Development at UNC Chapel Hill.

B-School Students Plan Emerging Markets Workshop
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
UNC business students bring in experienced panelists to discuss emerging markets with interested entrepreneurs. On February 4, Kenan Flagler will host an all-day workshop titled “Business Across Borders Summit: On the Ground in Emerging Economies.”

N.C. law limits Mooresville's options against its mayor
The Charlotte Observer
The unbecoming behavior of Mooresville's mayor has left town board members facing questions from voters but few options to end the controversy. ...Eileen Youens, who teaches ethics at UNC Chapel Hill's School of Government, said local boards are limited in enforcing ethics problems. "I know it is frustrating to some folks," she said. "Here in North Carolina, local governments have the authority to do only what the General Assembly allows them, and the assembly hasn't given them strong enforcement" powers.

2 sides of change in Lumbee Tribal Council's first 10 years
The Fayetteville Observer
...The ability to vote for leaders is a power Lumbees never truly had before, said Malinda Maynor Lowery, an American Indian historian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Despite her frequent disappointment with tribal leadership in recent years, Lowery, a Robeson County native, said the controversies in the past decade signal "growing pains of a young government," not a failed system.

Go ahead, steal his music
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Most music business types of a certain generation bristle at the mention of online piracy. Ken Weiss, however, doesn't have a problem with it. ...Weiss, 62, co-teaches an arts entrepreneurship class at UNC-Chapel Hill nowadays, and he's done a little of everything in the business. But mostly he has worked in publishing - getting songs recorded and/or used in movies, commercials and so forth. And that gives him a perspective that is somewhat unusual.

Celebrating Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Celebrate the birthdays of Charles Darwin, biologist, and Abraham Lincoln, both born on Feb. 12, 1809, with a "plant adaptations walk" from 2 to 4 p.m. Feb. 12 at the N.C. Botanical Garden, followed by a short reception and a lively presentation. Johnny Randall, the Botanical Garden's associate director for conservation, will lead a walk through the garden's plant collections and discuss the various ways in which plants have adapted to the environment.
Related Link:
http://wchl1360.com/detailswide.html?id=17292

A tale of familiar people in the mountains of North Carolina (Book Review)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
You don't learn family secrets at the dining room table. You hear them at the white Formica kitchen table in the cold truth of 2 a.m. And from the person you least expect. Surprising and twisted as mountain roads, "Under the Mercy Trees," Heather Newton's first novel is a stunning book that keeps you bolted to your chair. (Ruth Moose teaches creative writing at UNC-Chapel Hill.)

UNC tests sirens Monday
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
UNC will test its emergency sirens between noon and 1 p. m. Monday. The university tests the sirens each semester to make sure the equipment works and to remind everyone of what happens and what to do in a real emergency.
Related Link:
http://wchl1360.com/detailswide.html?id=17287
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4244/68/

UNC frat brothers aid woman under attack
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Fraternity brothers rescued a woman who was attacked by a man this week in the basement kitchen, police reported. The man knocked on a window at the Beta Theta Pi house, located at 114 S. Columbia St., and then a basement door around 1:15 p.m. Monday.
Related Link:
http://blogs.newsobserver.com/campusnotes/unc-fraternity-brothers-rescue-woman-from-attack

Possible sanctions don't deter Tar Heels
The Charlotte Observer
The NCAA investigation into North Carolina's football program hasn't stopped coach Butch Davis from putting together a recruiting class ranked in the top 25 nationally and among the top three in the ACC. UNC administrators have acknowledged the possibility of NCAA sanctions.

Issues and Trends

Tech schools brace for cuts
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...Community colleges across North Carolina are jammed with record numbers of students, some of them laid-off workers hoping to retool for new careers. In the past three years, the 58-campus community college system has added the equivalent of 50,000 full-time students - an increase of 25 percent. But during the same period, per-student state funding has slid 12 percent. And the coming year could present challenges unlike any the community colleges have seen. Like other state agencies, the colleges have been asked to prepare plans for budget cuts of 5 percent to 10 percent.

State pension issue kicked to legislature (Under the Dome)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The boards overseeing the North Carolina public pension plans have rejected proposals to offer employees a choice between a pension and a 401(k) plan. Their decision, which is only a recommendation, kicks the issue over to the new Republican legislature, where there is considerable support for moving to a 401(k) type retirement system.

Thousands of state jobs might be cut to balance budget
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...State workers such as Johnson feel as if they have a target on their backs. More than 275,000 people are paid from the state treasury, including schoolteachers; state government is North Carolina's largest employer. Plans that agency heads prepared for the governor added up to a potential loss of as many as 21,000 state employees, people in jobs once deemed among the safest around.

Layoff savings would be modest in first year
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
If lawmakers tried to balance the state budget on the backs of employees, it would require a lot of backs. The first-year net savings from shedding a state employee earning an average salary is less than $19,000, according to data from the Fiscal Research Division at the General Assembly. That modest savings comes after the state pays legally required unemployment benefits, severance payouts and health insurance for a year and absorbs estimated losses from taxes that its former workers wouldn't pay.

Town workers, this ombudsman's for you
The Chapel Hill Herald
In a couple of months, town employees who have complaints, concerns or disputes at work will have a neutral, third-party person to whom to turn for advice and direction. Town Manager Roger Stancil has gotten the OK from Town Council to begin contract negotiations with UNC Ombudsman Wayne Blair to provide the service on an interim basis while he helps the town develop an ombudsman program of its own.