uncnews.unc.edu

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

International Coverage

Chocolate milk post workout: A nutritious choice or a big, tall glass of hype?
The Globe and Mail
...“[A] very small percentage of people need anything other than water [after exercise],” said Barry Popkin, the W.R. Kenan, Jr. distinguished professor at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina.

The Future of Smart Systems
The Financial
Hundreds of tech analysts foresee a future with “smart” devices and environments that make people’s lives more efficient. ...“I await my jetpack. While I’m waiting, my home is much smarter, as are my car, my fridge, and my lawn care. The pace of growth in smart systems for enhancing performance continues apace.” – Paul Jones, clinical associate professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

National Coverage

For Attorneys General, Long Shot Brings Payoffs
The New York Times
...Jonathan Oberlander, a University of North Carolina professor who studies health care politics, said conservatives had exploited a legal Achilles’ heel that few believed existed. “Every minute that the administration and Democrats had to spend answering those questions was time lost not talking about the law’s myriad benefits,” he said. “This fight has been on ground defined by conservatives.”

Chesapeake’s 1% Tax Rate Shows Cost of Drilling Subsidy
Bloomberg Businessweek
...The 2007 study, whose co-authors are Scott Dyreng of Duke University and Edward Maydew of the University of North Carolina, found that many oil and gas companies have unusually low long-term cash tax rates, because of breaks that benefit the industry.

Biblical Samson Torches Fox Tails in Ancient Synagogue Mosaic
Bloomberg Businessweek
...“This discovery is significant,” Jodi Magness, an archaeologist from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said today. “Only a small number of ancient Late Roman synagogue buildings are decorated with mosaics showing biblical scenes, and only two others have scenes with Samson. One is at another site just a couple of miles from Huqoq.”

Regional Coverage

Stunning Synagogue Discovered in Huqoq
The Jewish Press (Brooklyn, NY)
...The excavations are being conducted by Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and David Amit and Shua Kisilevitz of the Israel Antiquities Authority, and sponsored by UNC, Brigham Young University in Utah, Trinity University in Texas, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Toronto in Canada.

State and Local Coverage

Chapel Hill researchers tie gene to speedy spread of skin cancer
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Metastasizing cancers – cancers that spread throughout the body – are often deadly and difficult to treat. Melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer, can metastasize quickly to various organs. Recent research from UNC Chapel Hill sheds light on why these tumors move so fast.

What they bring (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...American students from, say, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, can easily recall students from other lands who enhanced their own educations. And plain figures make the case: foreign students and grad students often play key roles in inventions or innovations in science – not to mention bringing art and music from their own cultures to campuses and communities. One survey showed that foreign inventors were included in a majority of patents at top universities in the survey group.

Universities seek US residency for foreign grad students
WRAL-TV (CBS/Raleigh)
More than 100 university presidents nationwide have asked President Barack Obama and Congress for legislation that would allow foreign-born students to remain in the U.S. after graduation. Duke University President Richard Brodhead, who signed the appeal along with University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp and North Carolina State University Chancellor Randy Woodson, said many of the nearly 2,000 foreign graduate students at Duke are engaged in cutting-edge research that could benefit the U.S. economy.

Grant will fund arts collaboration
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
An $800,000 grant will enable Carolina Performing Arts to strengthen links between academics and the performing arts at UNC-Chapel Hill. The grant, from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York, will fund cration of Arts@TheCore, a five-year program to involve faculty more directly in performing arts. It also will help launch a position to help curate future performance seasons, plan programs and identify connections with UNC faculty. Joy Kasson, an American studies professor, will be the first to fill the job.
UNC Release: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5382/107/

Study: Junk-food diets worse than saturated fats
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
A diet based on American junk food could lead to more obesity-induced inflammation than a diet high in animal fat, according to a new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ... “The diet that consisted of human junk food caused the most inflammation and dramatic metabolic changes,” said Liza Makowski, Ph.D., assistant professor of nutrition at UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and the study’s senior author.

New law school employment data requirements in place
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
... At UNC, 68 percent of 247 graduates were employed in full-time, long-term jobs that required passage from the bar nine months after graduation. Overall, the school had 86.6 percent of 2011 graduates employed in that period, and about 85 percent of 2010 graduates employed. Brian Lewis, assistant dean for career services for the UNC School of Law, said he doesn’t just look at the number of students in full-time, long-term jobs requiring bar passage.

Well-deserved walk (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
... I do not know Butch Davis, Drew’s father, but I have talked with Drew and I have watched him play football and rec basketball. In the basketball games, opponents would sometimes commit a hard foul and Drew would get up smiling. His opponents respected him. He is kind, pleasant, interacts well with adults and is well liked by his peers.

Issues and Trends

A Conversation With Bill Gates About the Future of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Bill Gates never finished college, but he is one of the single most powerful figures shaping higher education today. That influence comes through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, perhaps the world's richest philanthropy, which he co-chairs and which has made education one of its key missions.

Colleges Struggle With Title IX Rules on How to Handle Reports of Sexual Violence
The Chronicle of Higher Education
In April 2011, the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights issued a "Dear Colleague" letter detailing how colleges should deal with reports of sexual harassment and violence involving student victims. The letter was essentially a warning to campuses: If they did not handle such instances properly, they might be in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a section of the Higher Education Act that prohibits discrimination based on gender at schools and colleges that receive federal money.

A ruling to ensure health care for all (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
... Duke University Health System, as a result of the decision, is preparing for a surge in demand for primary care doctors, as is UNC Hospitals. The ruling also means more consumers of health care, more of an emphasis on quality and cost, according to one local expert. One provision, which will allow adult children up to age 26 to stay on their parents’ health plans, is already implemented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.