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(11/17/06 5:00am)
UNC is ready to show some tough love to students who are struggling to make the grade.
Madeline Levine, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, rolled out a new initiative that seeks to improve four- and six-year graduation rates at the Thursday Board of Trustees meeting.
Among the changes are increasing academic eligibility standards, establishing academic probation, expanding the Summer Bridge Program and hiring a full-time retention coordinator.
But she said students should not fret.
"We've got purgatory in our new plan," she said, noting that students who don't meet eligibility requirements will be granted a probation period to target improvement.
Levine said several factors contribute to students dropping out of college, including low grades, a lack of engagement in classes or social life, and low parental income levels.
"We need to be early and effective," Chancellor James Moeser said after hearing Levine's four-point plan.
Officials said they want UNC to meet or surpass peer institutions' graduation rates.
UNC's four-year graduation rate is 71 percent, and the goal is to increase it to 75 percent by 2011.
Eighty-four percent of students graduate in six years, and the goal is to reach 87 percent - equal to University of California at Berkeley and the University of Michigan.
Affording struggling students a term of academic probation with one-on-one advising should help solve problems early, Levine said.
Academic eligibility requirements would be bumped up to a minimum grade point average of 2.0 for each semester.
"There are many reasons why students don't get that 2.0. Sometimes they're just homesick or they're not managing their freedom right," Levine said.
Previously students earned sophomore standing with a 1.5 GPA, junior standing with a 1.75 GPA and senior standing with a 1.9 GPA. The 2.0 GPA wasn't required until graduation.
Students on probation will be under contract to perform better during the upcoming semester.
A retention coordinator, who will be hired this spring, will work with campus groups and conduct long-term research to aid academic achievement and decrease the dropout rate.
Levine said study abroad and the double major do not correlate with students' failure to graduate.
Of all issues voiced during the session, academic advising elicited the most discussion from the trustees.
Trustee Rusty Carter cited an e-mail from a mother upset about her child's experiences with several University advisers. He said advisers could do more to smooth out bumps in the road.
But trustee Richard "Stick" Williams said students need to take it upon themselves to communicate with advisers.
"I don't accept that we are bringing in students that are too stupid to read e-mail," he said. "It's not acceptable that we can't expect them to take care of business."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(10/31/06 5:00am)
When Bob Epting strolled over to the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center to cast an early vote Monday morning, he said he was approached by a pleasant, college-aged girl.
The girl, who was part of a group, asked Epting if he was a registered Democrat as he passed by.
Epting said he stopped and replied with an affirmative.
He said the young woman handed him a flier to bring into the voting booth, saying, "Good, here's a list of the candidates we support."
What Epting didn't know at the time was that the flier listed a slate of conservative judicial candidates.
And what the young woman probably didn't know was that Epting has been practicing law in Chapel Hill for more than 20 years and knows many of the candidates personally.
Members of Student Congress were handing out fliers at the time, according to a report by WCHL.
Congress Speaker Luke Farley, who was handing out fliers to passers-by later in the day, said he had heard of the allegations but denies them.
"My guess is that it's someone trying to nail Republicans for voter fraud," Farley said about the second-hand report he heard.
"In my time out there, all I would say was, 'Are you here to vote?' . 'Would you like a list of good, qualified judges?'" Farley said.
Though he did cite a miscommunication with a voter, Farley attributed the problem to interference by the Democratic volunteers before his conversation was complete.
Epting said while walking down the stairs out of the planetarium after voting, he pulled the list - to which he had initially paid little attention - from his pocket and was both surprised and offended to see the line of conservative candidates.
He approached the girl and asked why she had attempted to deceive him.
"She was embarrassed," he said about the girl whose name he never learned. "I didn't want to yell at her about it, but I told her 'What you did was wrong,'" said Epting, who is law partners with Rep. Joe Hackney, D-Orange.
Dan Siler, a radio broadcaster for WCHL, said he spoke with Farley and other volunteers at the site.
Siler said it took at least six questions to get one of the members' political affiliation after questioning her about Epting's reported incident.
Farley recalled the encounter with Siler and said, "I feel like a lot of this comes from hostile Democratic voters."
"The fact of the matter is that these races are not partisan."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(09/15/06 4:00am)
The University raked in a record-setting amount in health grants for the 2005 fiscal year, standing atop all public universities in the South.
The National Institutes of Health awarded about $297 million to the UNC-CH Schools of Medicine, Public Health, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Nursing, collectively. The total is about $7 million more than last year's sum.
This is a large portion of last year's $593 million in external funding that UNC reaped as a whole - also a record.
The announcement comes at a time when the NIH - a facet of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting medical research - has cut back on award funding during the last several years, said Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for research and economic development.
"It's very important that, at a time of increased competition, we were able to grow," Waldrop said.
NIH awarded more than $15 billion in 2005. More than 37,000 institutions got a piece of the pie.
The Schools of Public Health, Nursing and Dentistry each received one of the top 10 largest grants of all institutions in their respective fields.
The School of Medicine drew the largest sum of any department at $217.4 million, ranking 17th among competitors.
Institutions must apply to become grant eligible, which entails extensive work from faculty, Waldrop said.
"Obviously, they thought highly of (faculty's) applications," he said.
These rankings, which Waldrop said were released to the participating institutions a week ago, come one week after Chancellor James Moeser announced his goal to achieve $1 billion in external funding by 2015.
UNC surpassed several universities that were consistently awarded more money, Waldrop said, adding that he thinks it is possible to move further up the ranks.
"I'm hopeful because of the quality we have and the infrastructure that we've set."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(09/14/06 4:00am)
About 150 of the nation's most prominent higher education leaders traded ideas for the past four days at a politics of inclusion conference at UNC.
The event concluded Wednesday with a four-and-a-half hour practicum aimed at tackling the event's overarching question: How can college be more accessible and more affordable to students?
Seventeen panelists from different universities discussed low-income-based student aid to an audience of about 80 administrators and media representatives.
Each of the panelists serves as a top official in his or her respective university's newly established programs for low-income students.
"These are the rubber-hits-the-road people," said Lisa Katz, director of UNC News Services.
There was no consensus except that there is more work to be done, especially in recruiting and informing high school students.
Among the represented schools were the University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Amherst College and Troy University.
Each administrator was given a packet of the speakers' written briefs.
"The next stop will actually be inviting speakers to develop their short papers into 20-page papers . into a book," Shirley Ort, director of scholarships and student aid at UNC, said after the conference.
Ort represented UNC and spoke about the Carolina Covenant - a program instituted in 2004 that pledges to meet all of an eligible student's financial need with a combination of grants, scholarships and federal work study.
"I see it as a promise to the citizen of the state," Ort said.
Sally Donahue, director of financial aid at Harvard University, touted the school's alumni for helping to raise $94 million that will go toward aiding students hailing from homes of with an annual income of less than $60,000.
Ron Martinez, director of financial aid at the University of New Mexico, said his university does not have a fair aid program yet, as "many are falling through the cracks."
Responses from the eclectic slew of panelists revealed disparate rates of success in the schools' programs.
"You have to understand the institutional, political and legal culture to understand our program," said Charlie Bruce, director of scholarships and financial aid at Oklahoma State University.
The panelists addressed such questions as whether referring to low-income students who receive aid should be called "scholars," whether these students should work during the year, whether grade point average standards should be set and what the household income cutoff should be.
"There is an incredible amount of qualified kids who don't think Ohio State is affordable," said Natala Hart, director of academic affairs at The Ohio State University.
The conference saw more than a dozen discussions delving into such topics as diversity, socio-economics and state and federal funding.
"Hopefully this is just the start of these evaluations," Ort said.
Assistant University Editor Whitney Kisling contributed
to this report.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(09/12/06 4:00am)
In a ballroom filled with more than 150 leaders from universities across the country, diversity was an appropriate theme for the first panel discussion of a four-day conference.
Four panelists addressed those assembled Monday morning in the Carolina Inn about patterns of diversity within U.S. colleges.
The panelists sought to answer the questions asked by moderator Henry Frierson, a UNC professor of educational psychology: "Who are the 18-year-olds of the next decade?" he asked. "Will they be college-ready? And will college be ready for them?"
Walter Allen, a professor at the University of California-Los Angeles, said of the roughly 4,400 students admitted as undergraduates to UCLA this year, only 150 are black - most of whom are scholarship athletes.
He pointed to UNC as a model for enrolling black students. This year the University brought in 470 black students - or 12.3 percent of first-year students.
Archie Ervin, associate provost for diversity and multicultural affairs, attended the conference. He said it's important for UNC to represent all of the people it serves.
"We are a University that is owned by the people of North Carolina," he said. "If we fail to achieve the vision of all people, then we've failed as a University."
Don Nakanishi, director of the Asian American Studies Center at UCLA, also addressed the audience and spoke about the social and financial divide between the upper and lower echelons of Asian Americans.
He said Asian Americans have the largest representation of any ethnic group, including whites, at UCLA - a school that receives more than 40,000 freshman applications and is forbidden by state law to take race into account.
He said this trend of high achievement is visible from coast to coast but is not as lopsided as at UCLA.
Jerry Lucido, vice provost for enrollment policy and management at the University of Southern California - who previously held the same title at UNC - said whites are now fewer, richer and more anxious about admissions.
"Many kindergartners come into the first grade with four years of pre-school on their r
(08/30/06 4:00am)
It's termed the critical one-third by Linda Dykstra, dean of the graduate school.
That's roughly 8,000 graduate students on campus who account for a soft-spoken 30 percent of the total student pie.
Each is handpicked. And each decides, for one reason or another, that committing to more years of research, learning and possibly debt at UNC is worth it.
The College of Arts and Sciences alone hosts about 1,000 teaching assistants, more than 400 research assistants and more than 300 fellow recipients, according to Dykstra.
In an environment where only 20 percent of all applicants are accepted, the grade point average for students entering their graduate years in the College of Arts and Sciences is 3.5, Dykstra said.
Though GPA matters less every year, she added.
Other admission considerations include the student's previous college, standardized test scores and experience in their fields.
"Many of them are interested in pursuing an academic career in which they will be the future faculty of the University," Dykstra said.
A majority of graduate students are from out-of-state, according to officials.
"It was basically between Carolina or Duke," said David Bautz, a fourth-year graduate student working on his doctorate in the department of bio-chemistry and biophysics.
Bautz, who came from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, said UNC covers his full tuition for being a research assistant.
Graduate students teach 45 percent of all undergraduate sections and 13 percent overall, according to Dykstra.
Stipends for teaching assistants range from about $12,000 to $15,000 annually. And each teaching assistant must help instruct at least one class per semester.
UNC's School of Law, which often is associated with student debt, costs N.C. residents about $29,000 and non-residents about $41,000 per year, said Michael States, assistant dean of the law school. Seventy-seven percent of graduate students in the law school are from out-of-state, he said.
The GPA for this year's incoming class is 3.6, and the average LSAT score is 162, he added.
"Because of the popularity of the school and the number of applicants, we have the luxury of looking into a pool of 3,600 to 4,000 people to choose a diverse, interesting class," States said.
The majority of judges in North Carolina are graduates from the UNC law school, he added.
The UNC School of Medicine shows an average GPA of 3.65 for science majors and 3.71 for non-science majors for this year's class, said Randee Alston, who works in the admissions department for the school.
Average MCAT scores are 10.51, 10.88 and 10.61 for physical science, biological science and verbal reasoning, respectively.
Admissions officials also put great emphasis on community service, letters of recommendation and personal interviews, said Axalla Hoole, associate dean of admissions for the School of Medicine.
"It's not just check boxes, it's what you've done to prepare yourself," Hoole said.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu
(08/28/06 4:00am)
The latest administrator to exit UNC hopes to leave the University with a good taste in its mouth.
Ira Simon, director of University food and vending services, submitted his resignation Aug. 14.
"I really enjoyed working here, and it was a great opportunity," Simon said of his six years at UNC.
Sept. 1 will be Simon's last day before departing for Western Washington University, where he will direct campus food services.
Simon said the move is only partly motivated by finances, choosing to keep the exact dollar figures undisclosed.
"To be honest, the biggest thing is that I'm looking at a new challenge," he said.
Western Washington, located in Bellingham, Wash., mirrors the academic competitiveness and student involvement of UNC, Simon said.
"At this time in my career, I feel I am looking to be more involved in the hands-on operation of a campus dining hall," he said.
Simon said he will be responsible for hundreds of student employees at Western Washington.
"Sitting at the dining hall, looking out at the Puget Sound is just breathtaking," he said.
Simon was a major player in the design and development of Rams Head Dining Hall, as well as the renovation of the Tar Heal Cafe and the opening of Alpine Bagel during his time at UNC.
He oversaw all student vending operations, including laundry and video games as well as dining.
"Ira was very important to our program," said Mike Freeman, director of auxiliary services. "He's our point person."
The search for a new director is already underway, Freeman said, adding that he has sent out advertisements for applications.
Freeman will assume Simon's duties in the interim. He said he hopes to begin choosing potential replacements by the end of September and to have a new director in place by January.
Student Body President James Allred said that while he is disappointed about Simon's departure, he also is excited about the fresh start.
"We've been very pleased with the changes he's made . but we're excited for the new opportunity."
Allred said he and his cabinet have several ideas about enhancing campus dining. Among them are automatic meal plan renewal and attaching video game credit to the purchase of a meal plan.
The challenge is implementing changes without increasing expenses, Allred said.
Carolina Dining Services operates on a thin profit line and still is climbing back from the massive overhead costs of building Rams Head, according to dining board members.
"We don't want to make changes that puts them out of business," Allred said.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(08/25/06 4:00am)
UNC's fight against poverty is here to stay.
After a $2 million donation, officials said UNC's Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity now has the funds to sustain its current and future operations.
"It means the center will be a permanent part of UNC," said Laura Hogshead, associate director of the center, which is run through the University's School of Law.
The gift was the largest given to the young center to date.
The center was founded in 2005 and is directed by former U.S. senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards - who still is locked in to his initial two-year contract, said Marion Crain, deputy director for the center.
The gift is welcomed with gratitude as well as a sigh of relief, Crain said.
Before the pledge the center's slim budget caused uncertainty that the operation could sustain itself beyond Edward's contract, she said.
"Now it means that we can continue with a sense of confidence," she said.
Worry about financing salaries, meetings or supplies is no longer an issue, said Jack Boger, dean of the law school.
"This is a very strong affirmation of the work that's been done by Senator Edwards and Marion Crain," he said.
The unexpected pledge came from Michael Cucchiara and Marty Hayes, a Chapel Hill couple who keep to themselves but regularly attend center events, Hogshead said.
In his only public statement, a press release issued by the school, Cucchiara said problems facing the working poor have gone unattended for too long.
"Michael was deeply affected by the quality of discussion and effectiveness of the center," Boger said.
"He was really drawn in by the events at the center," he added.
The benefactors were not acquainted with the center or its officials before they began attending the events, Crain said.
"There was nothing expected about it," she added.
This opens the door to a number of projects the center previously had tabled, Hogshead said.
Among the slated projects are a documentary set to come out this fall, a journal about employment rights and a book that will be published in the spring.
The $2 million also secured salaries for center officials, something Crain said she and her colleagues had been battling with since its inception.
Previously the state provided starter salaries while the University fronted $40,000 annually to Edwards, Crain said.
Hayes has consulted for the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, and Cucchiara sits on the board of directors for the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh and the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(08/23/06 4:00am)
Kathy Hotelling's office is still filled with boxes.
The new leader of Counseling and Wellness Services said she's been bogged down with acquainting herself with her colleagues and information technology systems.
Hotelling, who assumed her post Aug. 1, is charged with overseeing the integration of Counseling and Psychological Services and the Center for Healthy Student Behavior - now known as Campus Wellness Services.
"My vision is to achieve this integration of very different departments to provide a great spectrum of care to students," Hotelling said, referring to the overhaul of health services provided to students.
The change is part of a larger overhaul of campus health services that began last year. Officials announced in December that student health, counseling and outreach services would be combined into an umbrella organization
Hotelling, who specializes in eating disorders, replaced John Edgerly, who stepped down in July.
"Faculty and students and staff all reach out to each other," Hotelling said. "I think that's the neat part about a community like this."
Hotelling said she hopes to communicate to students the importance of knowing when to seek assistance.
"The bottom line is that we're here to help students in their academic work and in being healthy," she said.
Hotelling previously served as director of the counseling and student development center at Northern Illinois University. A UNC search committee chose her from a slate of five finalists after two days of an intense interviewing process.
Melissa Exum, dean of students and chairwoman of the search committee, said in April that Hotelling's vision meshed well with the University's greater goals.
While researching eating disorders, Hotelling said she consulted with and learned from several universities.
"My experience is that it's a problem on all college campuses, high schools and middle schools," she said, adding that she even came across anorexia at an elementary school. "We're a very appearance-based society."
During her interviews in April, Hotelling said she also has a level of expertise with issues ranging from sexual violence on campus to problems associated with the transition to college.
Recently she has worked with 24-year-olds to examine the health risks associated with Facebook.com and MySpace.com, two popular social networking Web sites.
"We want you to be as successful as you can, and the way to do that is by balancing work and play."
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(08/23/06 4:00am)
UNC Hospitals has come under attack by critics who say leaders are putting business before medicine.
A petition presented to UNC-system President Erskine Bowles Thursday was signed by about 1,100 community members who are unhappy with health care policies.
Those who signed the petition said the hospitals are overlooking their mission of serving the state by turning away those who can't afford medical care. UNC leaders counter that more affordable care is being provided now than in years past.
(08/22/06 4:00am)
A convicted felon who slipped through the cracks of a UNC employment policy has brought to light a possible need for stricter background checks.
Chancellor James Moeser fired University accounting services technician, Regina Woods, of Durham, after learning that she was convicted of a felony more than two months ago.
Woods worked full time at the Office of Sponsored Research several weeks after being convicted - along with her husband - on 32 counts that included conspiracy, mail fraud, making false statements and money laundering.
None of the offenses were committed against the University, according to details released so far. The story was first reported by WRAL.
Despite the late notification of Woods' mischief, the time lapse between Woods' conviction and her termination wasn't a violation of any University rule.
There is no employee duty to disclose criminal charges or convictions, said Nancy Davis, associate vice chancellor for university relations, in an e-mail.
She said the University plans to review the policy.
UNC can consider only convictions when hiring employees - not arrest records.
If a current employee is convicted, that person's job duties are reviewed in relation to the conviction, she said.
The chancellor's office will investigate whether University employment and background-check policies were followed in this instance, Davis said.
Moeser did not think the University would be well served by keeping Woods in her job, so he directed that she be fired immediately, Davis said, adding that the University will determine if any employment policy changes are necessary.
The amount and type of sensitive University information that Woods had access to has raised concerns. Her job entailed helping administer close to $600 million in research programs, according to WRAL.
The department supervisor reviewed Woods' duties to make sure she did not have access to financial systems or employee records that could compromise the University or its employees, Davis said.
As far as University officials know, Woods carried out her University responsibilities in a capable manner.
WRAL reported that trial evidence indicated the couple had accumulated in excess of $1 million fraudulently. The couple also stole identities and made up fake mortgages through Woodbai Inc., their lending company.
Sentencing for Woods is scheduled for September.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(04/25/06 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Officials are recapping the finalists to lead Counseling and Psychological Service.
Search committee members - comprising students, staff and community members - are evaluating the five candidates vying to become the next director of CAPS.
They will submit a recommendation to Margaret Jablonski, vice chancellor for student affairs, who will make a final decision.
The last stage of interviews is under way, and Jablonski hopes to make a decision by Friday, said Debra Eatman, executive assistant to Jablonski.
Leaders are searching for someone to replace John Edgerly who will retire from the post. They hope to have a new director in place by July 1.
The director search coincides with an overhaul of the health services provided to students.
CAPS, Student Health Service and the Center for Healthy Student Behaviors are being merged into one umbrella group - Campus Health Services.
Those competing for the position are:
(04/21/06 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Counseling and Psychological Service now can choose the best mind to lead it.
Christopher Flynn rounded out the field as the fifth and final candidate to interview for the position of CAPS director.
The search began when John Edgerly announced his retirement.
Flynn is the director of the counseling and career services center at Loyola University at New Orleans. He said he has gained valuable counseling experience in dealing with students and staff in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
"For everyone who struggled with Katrina, there was another who did better because of Katrina," he said.
"I know I'm more resilient," he added.
Flynn's vision for the role was largely about "adaptive challenges" - such as staff working and learning outside the office to assess mental health issues caused by social or cultural problems.
"We need to address social inequalities that we perpetuate as psychological problems," he said.
He spent half of his 40-minute speech explaining that mental distress is not typically the product of a psychological problem.
He cited a gay man who overcame a struggle with mental distress.
"The issue wasn't that he was gay," he said. "It was that society didn't accept that he was gay."
The other finalists are:
(04/18/06 4:00am)
Counseling and Psychological Service heard a diagnosis Monday from a familiar voice.
Allen Hamrick, the third candidate bidding for CAPS director spoke at an open forum.
He is UNC-Chapel Hill's associate director of counseling and psychological service - a post he has held for eight years.
Hamrick is the only internal candidate of the five finalists, and he said there are both advantages and disadvantages to already working here.
His familiarity with the system affords him a leg up from the start, he said.
But there are relationships within the system that he might not be able to mend, he added.
Hamrick opened his speech with a quote from Socrates: "A life unexamined is a life not worth living."
Using Powerpoint, Hamrick gave the audience a mini-lecture about Abraham Maslow's theory of the hierarchy of needs and spoke about his own days as a mentally unhealthy medical student.
The community relief effort in his hometown of Charleston, S.C., after Hurricane Hugo struck in 1989 was one of the many metaphors he used in explaining his vision to create a trustworthy working environment for the revamped University health service departments, which recently merged CAPS, Student Health Service and the Center for Healthy Student Behaviors.
"We had no power," Hamrick said. "We had no roof. But we had something new. A sense of camaraderie had spread through Charleston."
He said that establishing a healthier working environment is already in the works but that it would take at least a year to bring up to snuff.
Hamrick is vying to replace John Edgerly, who will retire as director, and officials say the post will be filled by July 1.
The other finalists are:
n?Edward Morris, director of the student counseling center at Salisbury University, who interviewed April 10;
n?Jennie Cassidy, associate director of counseling and psychological services at Appalachian State University, who interviewed April 12;
n?Kathy Hotelling, director of the counseling and student development center at Northern Illinois University, set for today;
n?Christopher Flynn, director of the counseling and career services center at Loyola University at New Orleans, will interview Thursday.
Hamrick earned his doctoral degree at UNC-CH and boasts a r
(04/13/06 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Counseling and Psychological Service has had its second session.
Jennie Cassidy, the second of five candidates bidding to become UNC-Chapel Hill's new CAPS director, touted her qualifications at a forum Wednesday.
"I believe in working hard, and I believe in playing hard," she told the 10-person audience.
Candidates are vying to replace John Edgerly, and officials hope to make a transition July 1.
The forum was just one of the day's many interview activities for Cassidy, the associate director of Counseling and Psychological Services at Appalachian State University.
Cassidy said that she has looked to UNC-CH as a leader in the field and that she would be excited to run the program.
"This is Carolina," she said. "It's the flagship institution. I'm in the state system right now, and this is looked at as being it."
The other finalists are:
(04/11/06 4:00am)
Counseling and Psychological Services is looking for a sound mind to lead the way.
The selection process to find the new CAPS director entered its next step Monday with Edward Morris arriving on campus for two days of interviews and tours.
The position - which officials say should be filled by July 1 - became vacant when John Edgerly announced his resignation.
Morris spoke for almost an hour Monday about his experience as the director of student counseling services at Salisbury University.
"I feel I finally know what it takes to be a good clinician," he told the 10 attendees, an audience including three members of the search committee.
Morris is the first of five to begin the two-day intensive interview process, said Christopher Payne, associate vice chancellor for student affairs.
The other finalists are:
n?Jennie Cassidy, associate director of counseling and psychological services at Appalachian State University, who will interview Wednesday;
n?Allen Hamrick, associate director of counseling and psychological services at UNC, scheduled for Monday;
n?Kathy Hotelling, director of counseling and student development center at Northern Illinois University, set for April 18;
n?Christopher Flynn, director of the counseling and career services center at Loyola University at New Orleans, who will round out the process April 20.
A committee composed of students, faculty and staff has the task of nominating one of five candidates to be passed on to Margaret Jablonski, vice chancellor for student affairs, for final approval.
Morris has administrative experience at five universities and three medical institutions, as well as consultation and teaching experience, according to his r
(03/30/06 5:00am)
Women made up the majority of the almost 100 attendees Wednesday night silently protesting sexual violence.
But a man was the center of attention.
The audience members gathered in a tight group in front of Wilson Library and held flickering candles around guest speaker, Christopher Kilmartin, to commemorate Take Back The Night - an international chain of rallies and marches that protest against sexual and domestic violence.
"Men's violence is the single most serious health problem for women," said Kilmartin, a psychology professor at the University of Mary Washington, stand-up comedian and playwright.
"There is this unconscious need by men . to keep women in their place," he said.
Colored with witty humor and strings of expert psychological terminology, Kilmartin's message ultimately was stern in urging men to be proactive in stopping the violence.
"The main issue is about good guys being passive bystanders ... when other men are causing harm," Kilmartin said.
He addressed several notorious cases, including the Kobe Bryant trial and the recent rape allegations against members of Duke University's men's lacrosse team.
"There were probably nice men at that party who just didn't speak up," he said of the Duke party, at which an exotic dancer says she was raped.
Take Back the Night rallies and marches began in England, and first appeared stateside in 1978 in San Francisco as a protest against the fear that plagued women while they walked the street at night.
This is the ninth year that UNC has participated, said Chimi Boyd, interim director of the Carolina Women's Center.
"It's important to end silence around sexual violence," she said. "Anyone of the University should be able to walk anywhere and feel safe."
Among a slew of statistics Kilmartin listed after his presentation, he said the most astounding was the fact that about 50 percent of women's emergency room visits regard domestic violence.
"And only about 1 percent of sexual assault perpetrators ever spend a day in jail," he added.
Local domestic violence has been on the rise since 2003 for reasons unknown to police.
The Chapel Hill Police Department saw 562 domestic disturbance calls in 2005 - a 6.8 percent increase from the year before.
Kilmartin warned against those domestic crimes that often go unnoticed or unreported.
"A stranger rape always makes the papers, but an acquaintance rape never does unless it's a celebrity," he said.
Wednesday's event was sponsored by Project Dinah, a campus women's advocacy group.
"This represents the need for women and men to step forward," said Allison Rose, chairwoman for the project. "It's about survivors having a voice and making sure they don't feel alone."
Following the speech, a silent march ensued. The participants started at Wilson Library, headed to Franklin Street and then returned to Hanes Hall, where the ceremony's final events were held.
Kilmartin said he is happy with the increasing number of men attending his lectures.
In addressing spousal abuse, he offered some advice.
"If you can't understand your wife, I recommend the much-overlooked method of listening to her."
Contact the News Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(03/28/06 5:00am)
The final chapter of Student Body President Seth Dearmin's administration is hot off the presses - and is aimed at being more reader-friendly than those of his predecessors.
Students can turn the last pages today when the executive branch releases its annual March Report.
The report is the administration's final official word on the yearlong term.
"It's important because it serves as student government's official historical document each year," said Matt Calabria, last year's student body president.
Dearmin's March report - which contains 55 pages of student government committee reports - is far shorter in length than years past, which have seen copies comprising hundreds of pages.
"The long and short is that it's an easy-to-access report of what student government has been up to," said Dearmin, who is serving his last week in office. Junior James Allred will take the post April 4.
The report sums up the highs and lows of the last six months of work - the time elapsed since the October Report recounted the administration's first half-term.
Among this year's most prized accomplishments are the development of SLICE - an online calendar of events - work regarding tuition increases and a new nondiscrimination policy, Dearmin said.
The report will be archived with reports from years past and can act as a reference tool and source of information, Calabria said.
An additional condensed version also is available, which Dearmin said provides an aesthetically pleasing summary of the most important points.
"It's easy to peruse through and get a lot of information from one place," he said.
The report traditionally has been dense, and it can be a daunting one to tackle.
"No one expects every average student to read it," Calabria said.
Two hundred fifty copies of Dearmin's version will be available today in the student government office, in Suite 2501 of the Student Union, said Neepa Mehta, student body secretary.
"It will be much more presentable than the traditional report," she added.
The report is a completely objective historical document, though an administration's shortcomings are less of the focus, Calabria said.
"There is a self-interest to make things as comprehensive as possible," he said. "But it's tough to see things that the administration didn't do because the March Report is a record of things the administration did do."
But Mehta said this year's report is not merely self-praise, also serving as a vehicle for self-criticism and recommendations for future administrations.
"This time we let the committees explain things in the way they want it," she said. "But the committees are pretty honest."
Much of the report is transition-focused, she said. Information valuable to next year's administration is highlighted.
"Looking at where the incoming group is and knowing that they will go through the same thing . is a really cool feeling," Dearmin said.
Contact the News Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(03/23/06 5:00am)
Medical bills are not the only thing expensive about hospitals.
UNC Health Care's board of directors recently approved the allocation of $17.8 million to cover cost overrun in the construction of the N.C. Cancer Hospital - an endeavor bearing a price tag that has grown to almost $200 million.
The unexpected price inflation is linked to the urgent demand for resources needed to rebuild the Gulf Coast, coupled with China's newly acquired stronghold on much of the world's steel, said Bill Roper, CEO of the UNC Health Care System.
The $17.8 million came from the hospital reserve, which is a pool of UNC Hospitals' annual earnings after expenses have been subtracted.
"What we've done is increased the budget," said Karen McCall, vice president of public affairs for the medical center.
The hospital, which broke ground in September, is one of many campus construction projects either in progress or on queue that are feeling the heat from growing construction costs.
Both materials and labor have skyrocketed in price, said Bruce Runberg, assistant vice chancellor for facilities construction and planning.
"Our projects in general on campus at the University . have had significant inflationary issues," he said.
The rising cost of labor is also a problem, McCall said. "This is a supply and demand thing."
Growing labor costs are a product of the construction marketplace, which is in the midst of a growing glut of projects, Runberg said.
Contractors have more flexibility and freedom as projects are arising rapidly. This produces less competition per project, allowing contractors to require higher fees, Runberg said.
"We're lucky if we get three bids per project, whereas we were getting eight to 10 bids a few years ago."
Building materials, such as steel, concrete, glass and lumber, are a few of the products that have shot up in price recently, McCall said.
Runberg echoed McCall, saying that campus projects in general - beyond the cancer hospital - have been squeezed by similar predicaments.
Rising costs forced administrators had to nix plans for a North Campus underground parking deck, which was to be a part of the Arts Common.
Campus officials also have been forced to extend the timeline of residence hall renovation.
"In the last 18 months, the cost of materials and labor toward construction have risen significantly," Runberg said. "The cost of steel has gone up as much as 25 percent."
Concrete has increased by 20 percent and petrochemical products have spiked similarly, he added.
However, the price of lumber - an equally essential building material - has actually decreased during the past year, said Mike Gambee, co-owner of Shamrock Building Materials Inc., a wholesaler based in Portland, Ore., in the lumber-rich Pacific Northwest.
Cost of a type of pine plywood dropped $15 per 1,000 square feet from this time last year, he said.
Both Roper and McCall said they are confident that the University's money reserve can handle the increases, and dipping into it for the cancer hospital most likely will not harm other projects.
"This is something we don't do lightly, and we carefully examine the possible effects," Roper said. "It won't hamper our ability to do future projects."
Contact the News Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
(03/21/06 5:00am)
Of the nation's college-bound elite, more head to UNC.
A record 53 high school students - 10 more than last year - received the prestigious Morehead Scholarship, including two from Chapel Hill.
"It was the largest and most competitive group we've had," said Charles Lovelace, executive director of the Morehead Foundation.
The recipients were whittled down from 1,620 applicants, and 126 finalists were chosen from across the U.S. and Great Britain.
"I think that (the most competitive applicant pool to date) reflected the continued strong interest in UNC as an undergraduate choice," Lovelace said.
"The committee was charged just as in years past to select the best students," he said. "(The provision is) a pass-through for us."
This year's scholars are the first group to be affected by a new provision that allows nonresident scholars to be counted as in-state students for tuition purposes.
"The result is that it lowers the average cost per scholar," Lovelace said. "It allows us to award more scholarships with the same resources."
Each scholarship is valued at $80,000 for in-state students and $140,000 for out-of-state students. All expenses within a four-year study are financed.
Funds also are provided for summer enrichment programs that offers study abroad options.
There are no quotas for in-state or out-of-state students, Lovelace said. Fifty-five percent of this year's winners are from North Carolina, he added. "We wish we could give out 100 scholarships."
Two of the recipients go to high school in Chapel Hill.
Catherine Burns, a senior at Chapel Hill High School said she is thrilled about the opportunity.
"Since I live in Chapel Hill, I've been hearing about the Morehead Scholarship my whole life," she said. "I can't believe I'm getting this opportunity."
Burns plans to play for the field hockey team next year and said she is interested in studying Spanish and environmental studies.
Ashley Harrington, a senior at East Chapel Hill High School, was unavailable for comment Monday.
The ability to offer more scholarships has been a relief for the Morehead Foundation, which was threatened with offering fewer awards due to rising tuition costs.
The recently installed policy sparked debate by those concerned that it would either cause UNC to lose funds or undermine the school's mandate that 82 percent of incoming students are N.C. residents.
The provision will not compromise the cap, said Jerry Lucido, vice provost for admissions and enrollment management.
"This policy doesn't take up any spaces for North Carolinians. This is the most important part," he said.
He added that he does not expect the University to lose any money due to the change.
Contact the News Editor at udesk@unc.edu.