Home arrow Campus & Community arrow Media invited to Asheville, Fairview stops of Tar Heel Bus Tour Thursday (May 15)
Media invited to Asheville, Fairview stops of Tar Heel Bus Tour Thursday (May 15) Print E-mail
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Media representatives are invited to join the 2008 Tar Heel Bus Tour for two stops Thursday in Asheville and Fairview. The privately funded tour, which continues through Friday (May 16), is taking 36 new UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members across the state to learn about its people, economy, environment, culture and history.

Thursday (May 15)
11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
North Carolina Arboretum
100 Frederick Law Olmsted Way, Asheville

At the N.C. Arboretum, bus tour participants will learn about how the Renaissance Computing Institute (a collaborative venture of UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, Duke University and the state of North Carolina) is working to help western North Carolina deal with issues confronting the region, specifically climate issues. Participants will also hear from other RENCI community partners – RiverLink and the Media Arts Project – about their collaboration.  
Contacts: Bridget O’Hara, communications specialist for RENCI at UNC-Asheville, (828) 250-3882; Bonnie Hurst, RENCI engagement center manager, (919) 445-9644

1:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Hickory Nut Gap Farm/Spring House Meats
57 Sugar Hollow Road, Fairview

This farm raises large quantities of beef, pork, lamb and eggs, and its animals are pasture-raised. It is part of the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project and works to provide local food to the region. The Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at UNC-Chapel Hill works with ASAP to provide local food to area schools through the Farm to School Program. The bus tour visit will feature a farm tour by owners Jamie and Amy Ager, where participants will be led through the pasture right past hogs and cows, something that would be unheard of at a more industrialized farm. The owners will explain their sustainable farming techniques and their desire to encourage use of local food. The tour will finish with a presentation at the farm store by ASAP coordinator Emily Jackson and Alice Ammerman, director of the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, describing this collaboration.
Contacts: Emily Jackson, (828) 236-1282; Alice Ammerman, (919) 966-6082

Itinerary:
For the weeklong itinerary of the Tar Heel Bus Tour, visit http://www.unc.edu/bustour/ .

News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it