People
and jobs on the move: implications for higher education
Brennan
selected for inaugural Keohane professorship
School
of Education receives $10 million to improve rural
schools
Alty
takes facilities job in stride
Recycling:
the winning game stats
U.S.
judge dismisses Quran suit
Tuition
task force reviews needs
Employee
Forum addresses health benefits at Oct. 20 community
meeting
HR:
NCFlex reminder
Carolina
Wellness Matters: Finding healthy challenges for learning
and growing
Flu
shot clinics on hold
Stand-alone
photo: Lay of the land
Stand-alone
photo: Honoring a friend
People and jobs on the move:
implications for higher education
Following are excerpts
from remarks delivered by James H. Johnson Jr. during the annual
University Day convocation. Johnson, a William Rand Kenan Jr.
Distinguished Professor of management in UNC's Kenan-Flagler
Business School, discussed "People
and Jobs on the Move: Implications for Higher Education."
My remarks are anchored primarily in research
conducted over the past decade in the university's own Frank
Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. The findings
document the profound demographic and economic changes that
we are currently experiencing as a state, as a nation, and
indeed as a global community.
'PEOPLE AND JOBS' James Johnson, William Rand Kenan Jr.
distinguished professor of management and director of
the Urban Investment Strategies Center, delivers
the University Day address. |
Today, I will focus specifically on the challenges
that higher education institutions and their graduates will
face in the years ahead because of these shifts. I will conclude
my remarks with a brief commentary on what I think the University
can do to respond to the challenges.
The message I hope you will take away from
here today is as follows: The way the world does business is
changing rapidly and dramatically, and America needs to move
rapidly to equip itself to compete successfully in the global
marketplace. Higher education can play a critical role in preparing
our increasingly diverse society for the new world economy,
but only if it transforms itself into a more nimble, entrepreneurial,
and catalytic agent for change.
Let me begin by providing a brief overview
of the recent population and job shifts.
Demographically, two "colorful" processes
are transforming the composition of our population. The first
is what I term the "browning" of America, which refers to the
increasing role that non-white ethnic minority groups, especially
Hispanics, are playing and will continue to play in the years
ahead in the growth of the U.S. population. The "browning" of
America is driven in large part by both legal and illegal immigration
to the U.S. from Mexico, other parts of Latin America, and
Southeast Asia.
Census 2000 revealed that the U.S. population
grew by 32.7 million, or about 13 percent, during the 1990s.
Nationally, non-white ethnic groups, many of whom arrived from
abroad, accounted for 65 percent of the net growth. Non-whites
accounted for roughly half of the net population growth here
in North Carolina during the 1990s.
This trend has continued since 2000. The
U.S. population grew by 6.9 million between 2000 and 2002,
with non-whites accounting for 80 percent of this net growth.
Between 2000 and 2002, North Carolina's population grew by
271,000; non-whites accounted for 60 percent of this growth.
Because the non-white population is much
younger and has a higher fertility rate than the white population,
most projections forecast that non-white population growth
will continue to outpace white population growth at least until
2050.
This will result in a major color adjustment
in America's population. The white share of total population
is projected to decrease from its 1995 level of almost 75 percent
to about 53 percent in 2050. Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and
Native Americans together will account for 47 percent of all
Americans, up from just over 26 percent in 1995. The largest
growth will be among Hispanics, who are projected to account
for almost 25 percent of the population in 2050.
What this means is that the racial and ethnic
make-up of the applicant pool to this University and others
in the years ahead will be far more diverse -- racially, ethnically,
economically, religiously, and culturally -- than at present.
And it will require a radical rethinking and re-engineering
of the way we do the business of higher education.
The second "colorful" demographic process
is the "greying" of America, or the aging of the U.S. population,
that is, the growing share of the population that is 65 or
older. Within the next seven years, those of us who were born
between 1946 and 1964, the post-World War II baby-boom generation,
will begin aging out of the labor market. It will be a significant
exodus with enormous implications for the human resource needs
of public- and private-sector organizations, including higher
education institutions.
This will be the case because the post-World
War II baby boom was followed by a baby bust. That is, the
native-born population, especially native-born whites, stopped
having children in sufficient numbers to replace itself. Largely
for this reason, one study forecasts a U.S. labor shortage
of 10.6 million by 2010.
Here at the University, roughly two-thirds
of the faculty and staff are aging baby boomers. Does Carolina
have a plan for replacing them when they retire? Where will
we find their successors? And how will the University ensure
the successful transfer of knowledge accumulated in the retiring
baby boomers to the next generation of faculty and staff?
Economically, our challenges are anchored
in two waves of globalization. The first wave involved the
offshore movement of blue-collar jobs. This shift began in
earnest in the early 1960s and continues to this day. Nationally,
5.3 million manufacturing jobs have been lost to globalization
since 1979. Roughly half of this manufacturing job loss occurred
between July 2000 and July 2003.
But nowhere in the United States has the
flight of blue-collar jobs been felt more acutely than here
in North Carolina. During the second half of the 1990s, North
Carolina lost an estimated 57,000 blue-collar jobs to foreign
competition. And since January 2001, the state has lost another
148,400 manufacturing jobs -- more than Michigan and New York,
which have larger manufacturing workforces. ...
COMING HOME Elson Floyd (right) acknowledges the crowd's
applause after receiving his Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Floyd, a native of Henderson, is a former Carolina executive
vice chancellor and is now president of the University
of Missouri system. In addition to Floyd, other award recipients
are Charles Melvin Hudson Jr. of Danielsville, Ga. (left)
and (not pictured) William Carter Jenkins of Atlanta, John
Frederick Schultz of Richmond, Va., and Marilyn Zschau,
who grew up in Raleigh. |
Our mantra to displaced blue-collar workers
has been to go back to school and re-tool for white-collar
jobs in the information economy. But, ironically, the latest
or second wave of globalization involves the offshore movement
of white-collar jobs. This wave started in the early 1990s
with U.S.-based corporations outsourcing, to offshore vendors,
work related to the maintenance and upgrading of their computer
programs. During the late 1990s, the trend accelerated as U.S.
firms contracted with offshore vendors to address their Y2K
programming needs.
More recently, in an effort to cut costs
during the latest recession, U.S. corporations have engaged
offshore vendors in what is known as business process outsourcing,
which involves a range of business functions, including supply-chain
management, operations, sales, marketing, and customer care.
In addition, some state governments have contracted with offshore
vendors for various services -- notably call centers for food
stamp programs.
The most recent evidence suggests that the
trend toward offshore outsourcing is moving up the value chain
within U.S. firms to higher order, knowledge intensive functions
-- what is known as knowledge process outsourcing. At present,
this development is most evident in the financial services
industry. One study estimated that "potentially 2.3 million
American jobs in the banking and securities industries could
be lost to outsourcing abroad."
No one knows for sure how many U.S. based
white-collar jobs are likely to move offshore. The U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics is just now beginning to gather data systematically
to monitor the trend. However, one reputable study estimates
that about 14 million U.S. jobs -- roughly 11 percent of the
U.S. employment base -- are concentrated in occupations vulnerable
to offshore outsourcing.
Estimates of North Carolina white-collar
job losses to offshore outsourcing are not available. But what
we do know is that an estimated two-thirds of the largest companies
headquartered in North Carolina have engaged in offshore outsourcing
of white-collar jobs -- mainly information technology work
-- in recent years. And there is some evidence that increasingly
higher value research and product development jobs in the financial
services, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries are
being outsourced offshore along with IT work.
In part as a result of these shifts, North
Carolina has lost high-tech jobs at nearly twice the national
rate since 2000. And given these trends, the Carolinas reportedly
could lose 125,000 white-collar jobs and more than $5 billion
in wages between 2000 and 2015. ...
Most economists downplay the public's growing
concerns about offshoring of white-collar jobs. They contend
that, as in the past, the U.S. will develop the next wave of
innovations that will create even better and higher paying
jobs than those lost to offshore outsourcing. Historically,
the U.S. has demonstrated a high level of resilience in response
to globalization and structural changes in the economy. But
several recent developments challenge our innovation capacity
-- and thus our ability to create the next wave of good jobs
in the years ahead.
First, the global competitive landscape is
changing. Consider the developing nations that are embracing
capitalism and free trade -- China, India, and the former Soviet
Union, among others. Collectively, these nations have a population
that is 10 times that of the U.S. They produce annually more
well-trained college graduates than we do as a nation. And
their college graduates perform the same work as educated American
workers -- albeit half way around the world -- for about a
10th of the cost. Moreover, these countries have invested in
new technological infrastructure and created the business and
regulatory environment necessary to compete with the U.S.
Second, immigrants to the U.S. have constituted
much of the talent pool that has driven innovation in our economy.
Immigrants led many of the high-technology start-up companies
that fueled the economic boom of the 1990s. And, at both the
undergraduate and graduate levels of U.S. higher education,
international students and children of immigrants are principally
responsible for nearly all of the enrollment growth in the
physical sciences, math, and engineering programs -- the training
grounds and scientific incubators for new advances that lend
themselves to commercialization.
But security restrictions imposed after the
9/11 terrorist attacks constrain the flow of foreign talent
into the U.S. and thereby threaten our ability to develop the
next generation of innovators and innovations. Moreover, research
indicates that some of the immigrants who were engaged in the
development of innovations that drove the 1990s boom are now
returning home and setting up businesses that will compete
with U.S.-based firms in fields like biotechnology and nanotechnology.
Third, and perhaps most threatening, many
U.S.-based firms are shifting a significant proportion of their
research and development activities offshore. General Electric,
one of America's most revered firms, was one of the first companies
to establish an offshore R&D facility in Bangalore, India
in 2000. The John F. Welch Technology Centre hosts more than
1,600 scientists, engineers, and researchers -- two-thirds
of whom have advanced degrees. ... The center reportedly has "filed
more than 150 patent disclosures for research and development
activities" since 2000.
Following GE's lead, a wide array of U.S.
headquartered multinational firms have established R&D
facilities offshore in India and other developing nations.
Much of the work in drug discovery, for example, reportedly
is shifting to Hyderabad, India, nicknamed Genome Valley.
These demographic and economic trends, especially
the offshore movement of white collar jobs, raise compelling
questions about the University's role in training the workforce
of the future and in fostering economic and community development
in the state and the nation. How should UNC respond to these
challenges?
On the demographic side, the University needs
to redouble its recruitment efforts and re-engineer its admissions
policies to ensure that future classes of incoming freshmen
mirror the population diversity of the state and the nation
-- broadly defined. Carolina Covenant, a University initiative "designed
to allow eligible low-income students to attend the university
and to graduate debt free," is a step in the right direction.
But we should push the envelope even further to identify other
innovative ways to demonstrate the University's commitment
to diversity -- domestically and internationally.
LEADING THE WAY The faculty processional enters Hill
Hall on University Day, Oct. 12. |
One way that comes to mind immediately is
to appeal to the U.S. Congress to reconsider the potential
adverse impacts of post 9/11 immigration reforms on our ability
to recruit talented international students. Another is to take
steps to ensure that all students have equal opportunity of
access to the majors of their choice once they have been admitted
to Carolina. To achieve this goal, we must move away from an
education access model based on selectivity to one based on
inclusivity. The first step in such a shift is to re-evaluate
the "gateway" courses to our most competitive majors. Currently
designed to "weed out" students, these courses must be redesigned
to ensure that they are sensitive to diverse cultural orientations
and styles of learning of the student population of the future.
If this is not done, we run the risk of excluding some students
from majors of their choice based not on ability, but, rather,
on flawed, culturally biased course designs.
With regard to the aging baby-boomer problem,
the University should devise a comprehensive succession plan
for soon-to-be retiring administrators, faculty, and staff.
It should include two components: a strategy for nurturing
and mentoring high potential young talent from within the existing
ranks of the University; and an aggressive worldwide search
for human resources, with an eye toward recruiting a more diverse
pool of talent.
To address the economic challenges that this
state and our nation face as a function of globalization, the
University must be transformed into an incubator for creative
solutions to some of our most pressing societal problems. To
do this effectively, the following steps are necessary.
First, the university will have to move away
from the ivory tower and toward being an entrepreneurially
oriented economic engine. This will require a re-engineering
of the incentive and reward structure to embrace equally the
traditional emphasis on basic research "as we know it" and
a new emphasis on high-impact applied or action-oriented research.
Second, the curriculum must be fundamentally
restructured to train students to become far more resourceful
and innovative in creating "outside-of-the-box" solutions to
pressing problems -- domestically and internationally. Given
that rapid and unpredictable change is likely to be the only
constant in the future, students will need to graduate with
greater entrepreneurial acumen -- a demonstrated willingness
to take incalculable risks and the ability to be agile, flexible,
tenacious, and decisive in responding to unanticipated crises
and opportunities. These skills are essential to thrive and
prosper in the increasingly speed-driven and knowledge-intensive
economy of the 21 st century.
In revising the curriculum to prepare students
successfully, the University must develop an appreciation of
and demonstrate a major commitment to what is known as "intellectual
entrepreneurship" -- a form of structured engagement and commitment
to developing concrete solutions to "problems of the world
around us." It involves:
"... creating synergistic relations among
academic disciplines and intellectuals on and off campus to
make seamless connections among disciplines and between the
academy and the public and private sectors. Intellectual entrepreneurship
is about harnessing and productively utilizing intellectual
energy and talent wherever it is located in order to promote
academic, cultural, political, social, and economic change."
By developing and nurturing intellectual
entrepreneurship, the University will teach students "not merely
to understand the world, but to change it."
This shift toward intellectual entrepreneurship,
I contend, will enable the University to create the next and
succeeding generations not only of traditional entrepreneurs
in business venturing, but also social and civic entrepreneurs
who are committed to using their entrepreneurial talents to
make meaningful change in the nonprofit and government sectors.
We are moving down this entrepreneurial path here at Carolina
by way of the Kauffman Foundation-funded Carolina Entrepreneurial
Initiative, which is designed to infuse greater entrepreneurial
content in the curriculum of the College of Arts and Sciences.
We must take steps to ensure that the initial momentum and
enthusiasm this project has generated among faculty and students
continues in the years ahead.
Finally, as state governments approach their
limits on annual financial commitments to higher education,
university administrators will have to become far more entrepreneurial
in their effort to raise funds to maintain and enhance the
quality of education. University administrators, in essence,
will have to become "academic entrepreneurs" in order to generate
the financial resources needed to compete for the best and
the brightest students and faculty in the years ahead.
Let me conclude with the following: Throughout
its rich and storied history, The University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, like the consummate entrepreneur, has demonstrated
time and again the ability to turn adversity into opportunity
in dealing with its own internal challenges as well as external
threats to the state, the region, the nation, and the world.
As this nation's oldest public university,
we must respond to the current demographic and economic challenges
in much the same way: by developing, nurturing, and most importantly
unleashing the full entrepreneurial potential of the university
community. Responding in this way, I believe, will pay great
dividends in years ahead. Foremost among the payoffs, it will
ensure that future graduates of this institution are able to
compete successfully for employment and business opportunities
in the knowledge economy of the 21st century.
To learn more about University Day, see www.unc.edu/universityday.
BACK
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Brennan selected for inaugural Keohane professorship
Geoffrey Brennan, an economist from Australia
with research interests in political philosophy and policy
analysis, has been named the first Nannerl O. Keohane Distinguished
Visiting Professor at Carolina and Duke University.
Brennan is a professor in the Social and
Political Theory group in the Research School of Social Science
at Australian National University in Canberra. He is well known
for his work in public-choice theory, welfare economics, public
finance and political philosophy.
Brennan will spend the spring 2005 semester
splitting his time between Carolina and Duke, teaching two
classes and working with faculty on both campuses to develop
a cross-campus undergraduate Program in Philosophy, Politics
and Economics.
"We're thrilled to have Dr. Brennan coming
to Carolina," said Robert Shelton, executive vice chancellor
and provost. "The expertise he'll bring to our campus will
enrich not only our students' experience, but the entire University
community. We also look forward to hearing his ideas on how
we can work even more closely with our colleagues in Durham."
Peter Lange, Duke provost, echoed that sentiment.
"We are delighted -- as I am sure Nan would
be as well -- at this choice," Lange said. "With his varied
interests in economics, politics, tax reform and other policy
arenas, Geoffrey Brennan will bring a fresh perspective to
our campuses that should mesh extremely well with the faculties
of both schools and be well received by our students."
Educated at Australian National University,
Brennan has held posts in Virginia -- at George Mason University
and Virginia Tech -- as well as in Canadian and British universities.
Brennan boasts a long list of publication
credits, including several books and numerous articles. He
also serves on the editorial boards for several scholarly journals
and edits "Economics & Philosophy." His academic honors
include membership in the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.
The Nannerl O. Keohane Distinguished Visiting
Professorship was created last spring as a way to honor the
former Duke president's contributions toward advancing collaboration
between Carolina and Duke.
Keohane retired June 30 after 11 years at
Duke. During her tenure, she helped launch the Robertson Scholars
Program in which scholarship recipients study at both universities;
the Rotary Center for International Studies in Peace and Conflict
Resolution; and the Institute for Renaissance Computing, based
in Chapel Hill with support from Duke and N.C. State University.
Half of the $3 million needed to create the
professorship bearing Keohane's name was pledged as a challenge
by Carolina graduate Julian Robertson of New York and his wife
Josie, who also funded the Robertson Scholars Program. The
William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust provided the remaining
$1.5 million. The trust has been among Carolina's most generous
benefactors and has also supported the Kenan Institute for
Ethics at Duke.
"We're very fortunate to have such generous
benefactors," Shelton said. "They recognize that partnerships
between institutions of the quality of Carolina and Duke can
only lead to good things for everyone involved."
BACK
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School of Education receives $10 million
to improve rural schools
The U.S. Department of Education has awarded
$10 million to the University to improve teaching, learning
and student achievement in rural schools nationwide.
The grant establishes a National Research
Center on Rural Education Support through which 20 Carolina
researchers will implement training for teachers in participating
rural schools. They also will provide academic and social programs
for students.
Researchers later will compare achievement
in those schools to that in similar rural schools that lack
such programs, thus identifying the programs' effectiveness.
"The aims of the center are twofold," said
Thomas Farmer, center director, principal investigator for
its research and assistant professor in the School of Education. "One
is to implement and evaluate staff development models to enhance
teacher performance in schools. The other, to assess the impact
of such training on student outcomes."
Researchers are recruiting participating
schools in North Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi
and Virginia and identifying additional sites in the West and
Midwest. The center's activities and studies will take place
in states that the Rural Schools Community Trust identifies
as most needing attention to rural education policy.
"The new center demonstrates the strong commitment
of this school and the University to work with all communities
that face challenges as they strive to create excellent schools
for their children," said Tom James, dean of the School of
Education. "We will continue to intensify our outreach efforts,
and we believe it is possible to make significant advances
in expanding educational opportunities in rural areas."
The needs of North Carolina's rural schools
will remain an important focus for the researchers, said Lynne
Vernon-Feagans, William C. Friday distinguished professor of
education, co-director of the new center and co-principal investigator
for its research.
"The School of Education is committed to
the well-being of small communities around this state," she
said. "We will work hard to make sure that North Carolina schools
benefit from the progress of this new center."
The center is one of three funded this year
by the Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences,
and the only one focused on rural education. The two other
grant recipients are Johns Hopkins and Vanderbilt universities.
Faculty in the School of Education will lead
the five-year effort. The work will involve collaboration among
faculty and researchers at the school and the University's
Center for Developmental Science and Frank Porter Graham Child
Development Institute. The center houses multidisciplinary
research on all aspects of human development by faculty from
colleges and universities across the state.
Learners' and Educators' Assistance and Resource
Network of North Carolina (LEARN NC) also will play a role.
A part of the School of Education, LEARN offers resources to
North Carolina students and teachers via the World Wide Web.
Other units represented by the 20 researchers come from the
School of Social Work and the psychology and sociology departments.
Farmer hopes that by the third year of the
federal grant, the center will be communicating nationwide
via printed materials, the web and other means. Teachers and
administrators will be encouraged to contribute their own tips,
ideas, needs and questions.
"We'll develop a dissemination network to
reach rural schools across the country and let them know what
we're doing and what we're finding out," Farmer said. "We'd
like to create a dialogue to help us focus a national agenda
on rural education research."
The center also will provide rural teens
with guidance and information on career options via the web.
Of the 200 poorest school districts in the
country, 195 are in rural areas, he said.
"Rural schools have high concentrations of
children from low-income situations. These schools typically
are in areas with low tax bases and low funding for resources
in their schools.
"They also have difficulty attracting experienced
teachers and providing professional development."
Such development opportunities are widely
available in urban areas, Farmer said.
"The center will develop technological support
that teachers in rural schools can use, even though they're
in fairly remote and isolated areas," he said.
Three center research programs will focus
on transitions into elementary school, into middle school,
and from high school to adulthood.
The first, Best Start, will provide training
for kindergarten and first-grade teachers, emphasizing skills
that studies suggest help children succeed later in school:
reading and social development.
The second will train middle school teachers
to teach in ways that encourage all students to participate
in class and succeed, reinforce appropriate social behavior
and discourage problem behavior among students, and establish
positive social environments in classrooms.
The third research program will examine the
use of information technology and distance learning to help
teens prepare to move from high school to post-secondary education
or the workforce.
"This is a great opportunity for UNC to collaborate
with communities around the state and elsewhere on important
educational issues," Vernon-Feagans said.
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Alty takes facilities job in stride
When Jim Alty
became the University's new director of Facility Services this
summer, he hit the ground running. Or, if not running, getting
out of the office and walking around.
Alty replaced Jim Mergner, who retired in
May after 19 years at the University. Alty spoke to the Employee
Forum on Oct. 6 to introduce himself, to answer questions and
to explain his management style and philosophy.
JIM-OF-ALL-TRADES Facility
Services Director Jim Alty (left) works a shift in
recycling with Jason Sanders. They are emptying recycling
containers on Polk Place. |
After graduating from the U.S. Military Academy
at West Point in 1981, Alty spent 21 years as an Army engineer
officer. From that experience, he came to understand it is
better to lead people rather than to manage them -- and the
best way to lead to is to set an example for them to follow.
That is why, on several Fridays over the
past three months, Alty has spent the whole day working with
and getting to know the various work crews under his jurisdiction.
"First of all, being new to UNC, this gives
me a chance to meet my new team and get to know them personally,
learn how they provide services to the University, to see the
condition of the equipment that they use and to make sure that
the crews have the necessary resources to do their jobs well," Alty
said.
On the flip side, it gives team members a
chance to get to know him as a person instead of just their
boss.
Finally, Alty said, "it gives me the opportunity
to see what the University thinks of my folks. Since our University
customers usually don't know that I'm the director when they
stop and talk with the crews, I think I'm getting a good feel
for what the customers think about the crews and their quality
of work."
The customers include, in one way or another,
every employee, every student and every visitor who walks the
campus.
Alty had his first opportunity to work with
a crew in the Grounds Division on Aug. 20 where he mowed, edged
and spread mulch around near residence halls.
Since then, he has worked with the Housekeeping
Division during the midnight to 8 a.m. shift to clean one floor
in Carroll Hall; spent a day with one of the construction crews
doing ceiling work in Howell Hall; and learned how supplies
and equipment are procured in a day with Materials & Logistics.
With 1,000 employees in Facilities Services,
Alty said he knows he will not get the chance to work with
each and every employee, but he hopes to be able to get around
to enough of the crews in each to get a representative feel
of each division.
"Generally, what I have found is that the
Facilities Services employees are very dedicated and technically
very good at what they do," Alty said. "Many of the folks have
been employees for one or more decades, and they are proud
of what they do everyday to support the University."
In learning about his new organization, Alty
has found that customers are generally satisfied with the quality
of the work that the employees do for the campus, but there
are areas that could be improved.
One of these is improved communication --
both internally with the Facilities Services employees and
externally with the customers. To improve communication within
Facilities Services, Alty wants to find ways to give each of
his employees access to computers both to pass along information
and to do business.
During his military career, Alty spent three
years as an assistant professor of civil engineering at West
Point, two years as a research engineer at the Defense Nuclear
Agency in Washington D.C., and three years in Europe during
the Bosnia and Kosovo peacekeeping period before completing
his duty as the director of the physical plant at Fort Lee,
Va.
Alty came to Carolina from the University
of Texas at Austin, where he was the associate director for
the physical plant for a campus of 50,000 students and 20,000
staff and faculty.
Alty, 46, was born in Ardmore, Okla., and
his father was an enlisted man in the Air Force. He and his
family live in Cary.
Adapting from a military culture to a university
culture did require some changes, Alty said.
As an Army officer, if he had a good idea,
it was possible to go to the general and sell it. And if the
general agreed, the general arranged the resources to get it
done and told him, "Go do it."
Here, ideas are incubated in committees and
emergefor action in a consensus-driven, discussion process.
"Actually, this process often results in
a better decision, but it does take more time and patience," Alty
said.
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Recycling:
the winning game stats
When it comes to mounting a winning team,
the Office of Waste Reduction & Recycling can be found
at the top of the heap. Led by B.J. Tipton, the recycling office
this year targeted Fall Fest and home football games for an
aggressive assault on trash.
At Fall Fest, 46 percent by volume of all
waste generated by the 18,000 people at the event was recycled.
Further, the event planning committee made a commitment to
use all compostable food packaging and utensils, and that also
contributed to the success of the clean up.
For home football games, the recycling office
has been working with the Athletics Department and Student
Environmental Action Coalition, and 43 percent by weight of
the cardboard, plastic bottles and stadium cups were collected
from the concourse and stands after the first game.
For more information on these recycling efforts,
see www.fac.unc.edu/WasteReduction/-event.asp.
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U.S. judge dismisses Quran suit
Two years and two books after a Christian
organization filed a federal lawsuit against the University
for its summer reading program, an appeal of the lawsuit has
been quietly dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge N. Carlton
Tilley in Greensboro.
The book, "Approaching the Qur'án:
The Early Revelations," was written by Michael Sells, a Haverford
College professor, as a scholarly primer of the religion and
covered only selected passages.
The Family Policy Network, a Virginia-based
family values organization, recruited anonymous student plaintiffs
in the case, who claimed the University was proselytizing and
crossing the line between church and state in making the assignment.
But Tilley, in dismissing the lawsuit, wrote, "Although
(the University) clearly used a book exploring Islam as the
basis for an analytical skill-building exercise, it is not
clear that UNC is excessively tangled with Islam."
Tilley further stated in the opinion that "the
activities engaged in at the orientation session did not advance
or promote religion and thus there is no excessive entanglement
with a religious activity."
Tilled also said in the ruling, "It was scholarly
discourse, not a proselytizing mission."
University officials had no comment on the
ruling.
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Tuition task force reviews needs
The top priority driving campus-based tuition
increases in recent years has been generating revenue targeted
to address pressing needs such as faculty pay.
The one proviso in levying these tuition
increases has been to set aside from 35 percent to 40 percent
of the additional revenues generated to expand the pool of
need-based financial aid.
The University's Tuition Task Force, at its
second meeting on Oct. 7, reiterated this dual commitment -
but with a few added wrinkles.
In reviewing needs, the panel has decided
at least to explore the possibility of using tuition revenues
to generate more money for merit-based aid and for adding faculty
resources in order to increase the number of course selections
offered each semester while reducing class size. The latter
is a University priority.
All these priorities deals in a different
way with improving the quality of education students receive.
And none of them can be addressed fully with
tuition increases alone, task force members agreed. As Provost
and Executive Vice Chancellor Robert Shelton put it, "Any of
these needs are so large that campus-based tuition cannot in
any way close the whole gap."
When it meets again on Oct. 21, the group
will explore how best to spread revenues from a theoretical
$100 campus-based tuition increase.
The charge of the panel is to have a recommendation
ready for the University Board of Trustees to consider for
its Nov. 18 meeting. An outside consultant's tuition price
sensitivity study is expected to be ready for the group to
review by early November.
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Employee Forum addresses health benefits
at Oct. 20 community meeting
The Employee Forum is sponsoring a "Fall
Community Meeting on Health Benefits" in Gerrard Hall on Oct.
20 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Leslie Winner, vice president and general
counsel for the 16-campus University of North Carolina system,
will make a presentation on "Health Care Benefit Planning." N.C.
Sen. Ellie Kinnaird and N.C. Rep. Verla Insko, also will attend.
"We all know how important our health care
is, so please make a special effort to attend this meeting," said
Employee Forum Chair Tommy Griffin. A survey conducted by the
Chancellor's Task Force for a Better Workplace showed employees
had concerns about the State Health Plan, he added.
At the same time, an employee survey is now
underway to get feedback on the possibility of creating a pilot
health insurance plan for employees and their dependents throughout
the UNC system.
To complete the survey, go to the web site,
then enter the password: 005100. Responses must be completed
by 8 p.m. on Oct. 31.
The address is:
www.intelliscaninc.com/hewitt/unc_health_survey
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NCFlex reminder
The time is now to make any changes to your
NCFlex enrollment for 2005. Enrollment ends Nov. 5.
For 2005, NCFlex offers several benefit changes,
including:
New life insurance option;
New dental insurance rates and tiers;
New cancer insurance plan; and
Convenience card for flexible spending accounts.
Important enrollment reminders:
You must enroll each year to make contributions
to either the health-care or dependent-care flexible savings
accounts. Contribution amounts do not carry over from one year
to the next.
You must submit an enrollment form to add
or delete dental, vision or AD&D coverage, or to enroll
in the new life insurance or cancer insurance options. You
must also submit an enrollment form to change your dependents
on these plans.
NCFlex information
sessions planned
For additional NCFlex details, attend
one of two information sessions scheduled for Carolina
employees:
Oct. 21, 105 Berryhill Hall, 9:30 -
11:30 a.m. or 1 - 3 p.m.; or
Oct. 22, boardroom, General Administration
offices, 910 Raleigh Road, 9 - 11 a.m. or 1 - 3 p.m.
Call your HR generalist at 843-2300
for more information. |
You do not have to submit an enrollment form
if you do not have any changes to your dental, vision or AD&D
elections.
Coverage changes are effective Jan. 1, 2005.
For more information on NCFlex, consult your
enrollment materials or go to www.ncflex.org.
Please submit your enrollment forms to the
Benefit Program Administration office as soon as you've completed
them to allow time for processing and to submit the forms to
the benefits vendors.
Completed forms must be received in the Benefits
office no later than 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 5. Send your forms via
campus mail to CB# 1045 or drop them off in person at 104 Airport
Drive, Suite 1700. Note that this is a different location than
previous years. For directions, go to hr.unc.edu/directions.
Forms will also be accepted from 9 a.m. to
3 p.m. at the Benefits booth at the Employee Appreciation Event
on Nov. 5.
During the same Oct. 11 - Nov. 5 period,
you can also enroll in the following benefit plans:
Fortis dental insurance (after-tax); and
Tricare Supplemental Medical Plan (pre-tax;
for employees currently covered by Tricare). Information is
available at www.ncemployee22.absmil.net.
Enrollment forms for these plans will also
be accepted at the Benefits booth at the Employee Appreciation
Event, or must be submitted to the Benefits office by 4:30
p.m. on Nov. 5.
For additional information on University-sponsored
plans, go to hr.unc.edu/departments/
benefits.
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Finding healthy challenges for learning and
growing
Learning and growing are two of the most
important wellness components we can embrace to live whole
and healthy lives. The learning process continues throughout
life, and finding ways to ensure that we have healthy challenges
to keep our minds sharp and engaged is a key component of holistic
wellness.
Winter
blood drive to be held Dec. 16
Dedicated
blood donors at the University
are being given another opportunity
to give the gift of life this
year. A University-wide blood
drive has been scheduled for
Dec. 16 from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
in Woollen Gym.
With
a goal of 250 units, this drive
will bring much relief at a crucial
time. Donors and volunteers may
schedule times beginning in late
November. Watch for more information
in future issues of the "Gazette."
|
In the workplace, we may find ourselves in
positions which require us to have high attention to detail,
such as data entry, forms processing, landscaping or laboratory
bench work. In the daily routine of work, however, these tasks
may not require us to think creatively or require us to learn
new skills. If we find ourselves in this situation, it is important
to explore activities and outlets that will challenge us to
learn new skills and develop ideas, and allow us to learn and
grow continually. Such opportunities may exist in the workplace,
and can be as simple as volunteering to help on a team or project
that would be outside of your regular work duties. Having a
discussion with the department supervisor and expressing interest
in learning a new aspect or component of the job may also lead
to new opportunities.
If these suggestions do not seem feasible
for your workplace, there are many opportunities available
to employees to learn and grow outside their department. One
resource is the Tuition Waiver Program, administered through
the Benefits Program Administration Department in the Office
of Human Resources. The purpose of the Tuition Waiver Program
is to provide an opportunity for eligible employees (employees
who maintain permanent employment status at 30 hours per work
week or more for the entire semester during which the course
is taken) to have tuition waived for a course taken at any
of the 16 constituent institutions of the UNC system. Participation
is voluntary and courses may be taken for career development
or for personal interest. More information about the Tuition
Waiver Program is available at the following link: hr.unc.edu/employees/spa-employees/training/tuitionprograms/tuitionwaiver.
Another learning and growth opportunity available
to employees is the Educational Assistance Program. The purpose
of the Educational Assistance Program is workforce planning
and development. For more information about this program and
for specific guidelines surrounding available funding, see:
hr.unc.edu/employees/spa-employees/training/tuitionprograms/educationalassistance.
And the good news is that learning and growth
opportunities are not limited to the workplace. Finding a hobby,
joining a book club or social activist group, participating
in a volunteer organization or visiting a special-interest
group are all wonderful ways to keep your mind active and engaged
in the learning process. Finding activities that keep your
mind challenged in a healthy way begins with the self-initiative
to go exploring for new opportunities.
Live Well!
For more information about learning and growing
opportunities available on campus or to suggest topics for
future installments of Carolina Wellness Matters, please contact
Holly Tiemann in Training and Development at 962-9682 or holly_tiemann@unc.edu.
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Flu shot clinics on hold
Due to the current shortage of influenza
vaccine, the Department of Environment, Health and Safety (EHS)
and University Employee Occupational Health Clinic (UEOHC)
regret that the 2004 Flu Shot Clinic has been placed on hold.
On Oct. 5, the CDC issued "Interim Influenza
Vaccination Recommendations" due to a shortage of influenza
vaccines as a result of the suspension of Chiron Corporation
in Great Britain. The University ordered its vaccination supplies
from Aventis Pasteur but is unsure how much of its initial
order will be received. In the interim, UEOHC will only administer
the flu vaccination to healthcare workers who provide direct
patient care, as outlined in the CDC's priority groups.
In the meantime, EHS strongly recommends
any University employees who have a chronic medical condition
or are over the age of 65 to follow up with their personal
health-care provider for their vaccination. EHS and UEOHC will
monitor the forthcoming availability of any vaccines for personnel
not in a high-risk group.
Visit the EHS web site (ehs.unc.edu)
and select 2004 Flu Shot Clinic for the latest information.
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Lay of the land
Paul Kapp, campus historic preservation manager
(left), and Kevin MacNaughton, special assistant for capital
projects, give visiting Board of Governors members and chancellors
an overview of the campus' ongoing renovation from the steps
of Murphey Hall. In the background is Saunders Hall, also under
renovation.
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Honoring a friend
Joel Schwartz, professor
emeritus in the Department of Public Policy, speaks
at the dedication of the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Memorial
Garden on Oct. 12.
