uncnews.unc.edu

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

International Coverage

Why North Carolina vote to ban gay marriage might help Obama
The Christian Science Monitor
The North Carolina House voted Monday to allow a May referendum on whether to enshrine a ban on gay marriage in the state constitution. ...“Putting it in the May primary puts the [gay marriage] debate within the Republican Party, so it’s likely to solidify the party’s rightward tilt,” says Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Public Life at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

National Coverage

UNC ranks as 5th best public university for 11th year in a row
U.S. News & World Report
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ranks fifth among the nation’s best public universities for the 11th consecutive year, according to U.S. News & World Report magazine. Among national and private universities, Carolina ranked 29th.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4751/1/

U.S. News and World Report's Shocker-Free 2012 College Rankings
Time
...Excluding the Ivies and other private schools, the top-ranking state schools are as follows: the University of California-Berkley, the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of Virginia (tied for 2nd), the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the College of William and Mary, the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of California-San Diego, the University of California-Davis and finally, in a three-way tie for 10th, the University of California-Santa Barbara, the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Gay marriage question heading to NC Legislature before Democrats’ convention, tough elections
The Associated Press
North Carolina is the only state in the Southeast without a gay marriage ban in its constitution. ...“There’s no doubt that there would be some advantage in motivating voters for Republican candidates,” said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. On the gay marriage issue itself, he added: “We are polarized on this.”

Meet the New Boss
The Atlantic
...(Philip) Rosedale’s timing is good, says Bradley Staats, an assistant professor of operations management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Worklist taps into the trend toward fragmenting tasks and outsourcing. And LoveMachine could be transformative, he thinks, provided business leaders promote the tool.

Bringing Overseas Corporate Profits Back To US Not Necessarily A Job Booster
Forbes
...However, says Douglas Shackelford, tax and accounting professor at the MBA program at the University of North Carolina, “there’s been no compelling evidence that it produced jobs. It is true that multinationals are sitting on massive amounts of cash offshore and they brought it back in they’d be hit with as much as a 35% cut right off the bat. As a result of that rate, the U.S. is getting no revenues from those companies. The way the 2004 law was written, you had to demonstrate that you were going to hire more workers in the U.S. Instead, they paid out more in dividends and bought back more company shares.”

Now That Everyone's A Celebrity, Can We All Get Endorsement Deals?
Forbes
...But now these endorsements are migrating to the offline world, and particularly to college campuses, as detailed in a lengthy business article in the New York Times this weekend. Companies like American Eagle Outfitters, HP, Microsoft and Target hire college kids to wear their logos and promote their brands around campus. American Eagle-clad upperclassmen even swooped in to help freshmen and their families carry things from their cars to their dorm rooms — all while handing out coupons, AE pens, and AE water canisters (though a University of North Carolina administrator was a bit miffed that AE hadn’t contacted the university for permission to send their corporate ambassadors to help out on moving day).

Amid Cheating Complaints, Regents Move to Improve Test Security
The New York Times
...“The steps they are suggesting are nothing out of the ordinary,” Gregory Cizek, a test security expert from the University of North Carolina, said of the panel’s recommendations. “They would pretty much get them in line with the ordinary.” He added that New York’s current test-security practices put it “near the bottom” of states nationally.

A solution to one of football's deadly problems: Institute weight limits
The Chicago Tribune
...Only 10 percent of deceased players born from 1905 through 1914 were obese while active. Today, 56 percent of all players on NFL rosters are categorized as obese...(according to) a 2003 study by University of North Carolina endocrinologist Joyce Harp..in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Regional Coverage

Bachmann Super PAC typifies new election ground rules
Minnesota Public Radio
...But (Bob) Harris's roots in the conservative party appear to be deep; his signature work was a series of ads for Sen. Jesse Helms's 1984 campaign, portraying his opponent as a flip-flopper, said Ferrel Guillory, who leads the Program on Public Life at the University of North Carolina a Chapel Hill. According to KCU's website, Harris has done research for Republican Sens. John Thune and Jim DeMint. What's remarkable is that Harris's spent much of his career in a wheelchair and, more recently, from bed with muscular dystrophy, Guillory said.

GREEN: Grading the Tea Party (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Washington Times
...Meanwhile, at the American Sociological Association’s August convention, professors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt University purported to address “Cultures of the Tea Party.” Their paper claimed “authoritarianism, ontological insecurity, libertarianism and nativism” are the primary cultural dispositions of movement supporters.

State and Local Coverage

Duke, UNC, NCSU rank high nationally
The Triangle Business Journal
Triangle universities again rank highly on the U.S. News and World Report national rankings. Duke University ranked 10th overall in the nation and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ranked 29th overall and fifth among public universities. ...Area universities also ranked highly in terms of value. For the seventh consecutive year, UNC-CH ranked No. 1 among public universities and 12th overall in the “Great Schools, Great Prices” category, with the average cost after receiving need-based grants of $16,959.
UNC News Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4751/1/

Former WH Press Secretary In Chapel Hill Tuesday
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs will be on campus Tuesday, sharing his experiences as part of three separate lecture series. Entitled “Communicating through the Chaos,” Gibbs’ speech will reflect on the two years he spent as President Obama’s press secretary, as well as his extensive career in political communication.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4728/1/

UNC’s Paerl receives honor
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Hans Paerl of UNC Chapel Hill's Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City is the 2011 winner of the Odum Award for Lifetime Achievement. Paerl, William R. Kenan Distinguished Professor of Marine and Environmental Sciences, received the award for his four decades of work to clarify the causes, consequences and mitigation of blooms in estuarine and coastal environments.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4700/74/

Texting while walking 'not safe'
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...Safety experts have developed estimates about the hazards of distracted driving, but there are no solid numbers for pedestrians distracted by their iPods and Androids. "You'll read in a newspaper or hear about a cellphone being knocked out of somebody's hand, or a cellphone found on the pavement at the scene of a pedestrian crash," said Charlie Zegeer, who heads the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center.

Indian Center names interim director
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Marcus Collins, an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, has become interim director of the American Indian Center at UNC Chapel Hill. While serving as interim director, Collins will continue on the center's advisory board.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4718/68/

Marchionini gets annual award
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Gary Marchionini, dean of the UNC Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science, has been selected to receive the Award of Merit, the highest honor presented by the American Society of Information Science and Technology.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4715/68/

More broadband on campus
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
AT&T Inc. has added cell phone capacity to areas surrounding five North Carolina colleges, including Duke and UNC Chapel Hill. The company has added broadband capacity for those two schools as well as ECU, N.C. State and UNC Charlotte. The company says it added the capacity to support some of its heaviest users and improve the performance of their devices.

Issues and Trends

Chapel Hill might ban phoning at wheel
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Chapel Hill is moving forward to create a law banning cellphone use while driving inside the town limits. ...There may be a stronger basis for our having authority to regulate cellphones if we restrict cellphone use only on town streets," he said. The argument is a little more questionable if the town tries to regulate cellphones on state streets, he said. The state owns several main roads throughout town, including Franklin Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Manning Drive, Estes Drive and Weaver Dairy Road. The council didn't discuss the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, which is state property.
Related Links:
http://triangle.news14.com/content/646683/chapel-hill-town-council-to-
continue-looking-into-cell-phone-driving-ban
http://www.chapelboro.com/Council-To-Consider-Cell-Phone-
Ban-Behind-The-Whee/10883552