Massey Award nominations due Feb. 9
Cameron Avenue section closing for through traffic
Carolina honored for global education efforts
Student-athletes take lead to 'get kids in action'
Week of activities honors King's legacy
Two new books to add to the bedside table
UNC leads public research universities in study abroad rate
University retires Bell Award, citing namesake's views
Lensing addresses Carolina graduates in December commencement speech
Scientists discover genetic basis for individual variations in pain perception
Human Resources News:
Carolina Family Matters
Annual maximum contribution figures increase for supplemental retirement plans for 403(b), 401(k)
New year clicks in state's new booster seat law
Star Heels
Massey Award nominations due Feb. 9
Nominations are due no later than 5 p.m. on Feb. 9 for this year's C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Awards. Given for "unusual, meritorious or superior contribution made by an employee, past or present," these awards may be conferred by the chancellor upon "any living full-time or part-time employee, whether faculty or staff." Thanks to growth of the endowment, Chancellor James Moeser last year increased the award from $5,000 to $6,000 and the number of annual recipients from four to six.
For the first time, nominations may be submitted by completing a nomination form at www.unc.edu/masseyawards/nominate. If you prefer, letters of nomination may be sent instead to the address below.
Each nomination should include the name of the proposed recipient, indicate whether the nominee is a present or past University employee (if past, include the dates when the nominee was employed), describe briefly the service rendered by the nominee, explain why this service is thought to be a contribution sufficiently "unusual, meritorious or superior" to deserve an award, and be signed by the nominator or anyone seconding the nomination.
Because of the signature requirement, nominations and seconds made by letter will not be accepted by fax or e-mail. Nominations made online will require a valid Onyen ID and password.
Nomination letters should be addressed to: Carolyn Squires, C. Knox Massey Awards Committee, CB# 6100, 208 West Franklin Street. Nominations received after 5 p.m. on Feb. 9 will be considered in 2006.
Information about the Massey Awards nomination process, guidelines and a list of the former recipients is available online at:
www.unc.edu/masseyawards,
by e-mailing carolyn_squires@unc.edu or calling Squires at 962-1536. Winners will be announced in April.
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Cameron Avenue section closing
for through traffic
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill construction work will temporarily close part of Cameron Avenue to through traffic between Raleigh Road and South Columbia Street beginning Monday, Jan. 17. Through traffic is expected to resume on Cameron in May.
The construction is part of a utility infrastructure upgrade to support the new northeast chiller plant and parking deck, which will be built behind the Center for Dramatic Art, Paul Green Theater and Cobb Residence Hall off Country Club Road.
The chiller plant will support campus-wide energy needs and includes upgrades and additions to existing chilled water distribution and new electrical duct banks connecting with other campus locations. The parking deck and adjacent open space will have 466 and 29 spaces, respectively, to serve north campus. The project also involves redesign of open space in this area that will include improved vehicle and pedestrian paths as well as new tennis courts and a basketball court.
The work affecting Cameron Avenue will be done in short sections, starting at the Raleigh Street end and continuing past the Old Well toward Phillips Hall and Columbia Street. This approach will maintain vehicle access to driveways for local traffic and emergency vehicles. As sections of the project are completed, the work will move west down Cameron. Additional closings of Cameron are scheduled later in the life of this project.
Vehicle access from Country Club on Cameron will progress toward Columbia Street during the project.
Chapel Hill Transit access to Cameron will be affected by this work.
The "RU" Route will continue northward on Raleigh Street past the eastern end of Cameron Avenue. It will turn left onto Franklin, make another left onto Columbia Street, and then resume its route by turning right onto Cameron and left on Pittsboro Street near the Carolina Inn. This change will occur with the resumption of full service on Jan. 18 after the Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday holiday. For updated listings about Chapel Hill Transit routes go to www.chtransit.org/
Pedestrian access will not be affected.
In a related development, traffic on South Road has recently been reduced to one lane in each direction. The duct bank work affecting traffic on South Road stretches down Country Club Road and Raleigh Road to property near the UNC Office of the President. This work is expected to continue through July.
For updates on this and other campus construction projects, visit constructionwatch.unc.edu, and www.dps.unc.edu/dps (under "breaking news").
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Carolina honored for
global education efforts
The University is one of five higher education institutions nationwide to receive the first Senator Paul Simon Award for Campus Internationalization.
The award, presented by NAFSA: Association of International Educators, recognized Carolina for making innovative efforts to incorporate international approaches into campus learning. Also honored were Duke University, Bellevue Community College, Binghamton University and St. Norbert College.
The honor was named for the late Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois, who identified international education as a crucial issue for the future strength and security of the United States.
In conjunction with the awards, NAFSA also announced publication of a report titled "Internationalizing the Campus 2004: Profiles of Success at Colleges and Universities," featuring in-depth profiles of Carolina and the other award recipients, as well as coverage of other colleges and universities.
An advisory panel of international educators selected the institutions featured in the report. Sponsors of "Internationalizing the Campus 2004" are the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
One of the initiatives detailed in the report is the University's Global Education Center, a building that, when completed, will house three major components of international education: student services, academic programs and faculty research. The groundbreaking celebration for the center took place in November.
The building's features will include classroom space, a videoconferencing center and a home for several academic and student programs now spread across campus. Those include the Office of Study Abroad, Curriculum in International and Area Studies, Carolina Asia Center, University Center for International Studies, Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations, Center for African Studies, Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies, Center for European Studies, Institute of Latin American Studies, N.C. Center for South Asian Studies and the Institute for Advanced Research in International and Area Studies.
International study is increasing at Carolina. For example, in 2000, only 25 undergraduates studied abroad in Asia. Last year, the University sent 119. Three years ago, 74 students studied in Latin America. Now, Carolina has 154 students studying there.
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Student-athletes take lead to 'get kids in action'
By Brian MacPherson
"Gazette" student assistant
Hillsborough third-graders and Carolina student-athletes danced together on the Eddie Smith Field House turf to the tune of the "Hokey Pokey."
It didn't matter that some children weren't putting the correct arm in, and it didn't matter that the singing wasn't perfect.
The physical activity was what it was all about.
MOVEMENT IS EVERYTHING Kristine Lilly (left), a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a former Carolina women's soccer player, dances in the Eddie Smith Field House as part of a celebration of the success of the "Get Kids in Action" partnership between Carolina and Gatorade. |
Officials from the School of Public Health announced on Dec. 4 that 76 percent of third-graders involved in the six-week "Get Kids in Action" program, a partnership between Carolina and The Gatorade Company, were reporting at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day.
"UNC and Gatorade aren't afraid to reach for what some might see as something too hard to achieve, to take on the epidemic of overweight children," said Kristine Lilly, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and former Carolina women's soccer player.
The "Get Kids in Action" campaign partnered Carolina student-athletes with third-grade students at Pathways and Hillsborough elementary schools to encourage and discover creative ways to reach a healthy level of physical activity every day.
Activities didn't just include team sports, however. After the celebration of the program's success, children ran in circles, made swimming motions with their arms, danced and turned cartwheels on the turf.
"It could be organized sports, riding bikes, playing or just chasing bees," said Dianne Ward, the program's director of research.
Student-athletes from teams including football, volleyball, field hockey, women's tennis, women's soccer and women's rowing took part in the ceremony.
The student-athletes, in fact, seemed to enjoy the program as much as the children did.
"We had the opportunity to go to classrooms every week and interact with awesome kids in their environment," said women's soccer player Heather O'Reilly. "It was great."
That opportunity provided a break from the pressure typically facing student-athletes at Carolina.
"College students can tend to look inward," said senior associate athletic director John Blanchard. "This is a chance for them to get out in the community, to get outside the Carolina campus, outside the athletic arena, and go back and work with young kids."
"Get Kids in Action" is a four-year, $4 million pilot partnership among the School of Public Health, the Department of Athletics and The Gatorade Company designed to fight obesity in children.
The success of the program bodes well for its organizers' goal of encouraging other colleges and universities to adopt similar initiatives.
"We're a pilot with Gatorade, and we're hoping that we can partner with them and spread the program to other institutions across the country," Blanchard said. "Once again, Carolina will be a leader in having student-athletes get involved in the community."
Participating third-graders kept activity journals throughout the six-week program and returned them to their teachers to tally the results. The student-athletes visited classrooms weekly to lead the children in activities and to help tally the results.
By the sixth week of the program, more than three-quarters of the participants were exercising for more than an hour every day.
"He had more energy to do a lot more things," said Carol Andrews, the parent of one third-grader, about her son. "I'm not sure what specifically brought about the changes, but I know he was motivated by the student-athletes in the classroom."
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Week of activities honors King's legacy
Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr., director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, will deliver the keynote address for the 24th annual MLK Birthday Celebration Week, Jan.16 through 21.
Carson |
Carson will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 20 in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union's Great Hall. Free tickets will be available from the Carolina Union box office beginning Jan. 13.
The celebration week will begin with the 20th annual University-Community Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Banquet at 7 p.m. on Jan. 16, featuring speaker Howard Lee, chair of the N.C. Board of Education. A group of local business, civic, religious and University representatives sponsors the banquet. The location will be the William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education.
Tickets are $25 and available by calling 962-6962.
"Ben Carson and Howard Lee share a strong connection to Dr. King's legacy and remind us of the scope of King's vision for a more just and humane society, whether through the lens of international medicine and health-care access or North Carolina politics," said Archie Ervin, assistant to the chancellor, minority affairs director and chair of the Chancellor's Committee for the MLK Birthday Celebration.
In 1987, Carson gained international recognition as the principal surgeon in the 22-hour separation of the Binder Siamese twins from Germany. This was the first time twins joined at the back of the head had been separated with both surviving.
In 1997, Carson was the primary surgeon in the team of South African and Zambian surgeons that separated twins joined at the top of the head in a 28-hour operation. This was the first time such complexly joined Siamese twins had been separated with both remaining neurologically normal.
He also has written three best-selling books, "Gifted Hands" (1990), "Think Big" (1996) and, most recently, "The Big Picture" (2000), that explores his life philosophy in light of his experiences in education and medicine.
The Library of Congress selected him as one of its "Living Legends" on the occasion of its 200th anniversary in 2000. He has most recently been appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the President's Council on Bioethics.
Carson grew up in poverty in Detroit, and he credits his mother, Sonya Carson, with guiding him toward academic success by requiring him to read at least two books a week and write a report on each for her to read. Years later, Carson would learn that his mother, with only a third-grade education, had been unable to read the reports.
In 1969, Lee became one of the first black mayors in the country, serving as Chapel Hill's mayor until 1975. He became the first African American to hold a cabinet position in North Carolina when Gov. James Hunt appointed him secretary of what was then the Department of Natural Resources and Community Development (now the Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources) in 1977.
He was elected to the N.C. Senate in 1990 and served 10 years as a state senator.
Lee, who received his master's degree from the University, has held positions at Duke University, N.C. Central University and Carolina. In February 2003, he was appointed a senior education and budget adviser to N.C. Gov. Mike Easley and chief executive of the Governor's Education Cabinet. In April 2003, Easley named Lee to the State Board of Education, and a month later, members of the board unanimously voted Lee to be the chair.
The Jan. 20 program also will include the presentation of the 23rd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship to a Carolina junior whose activities demonstrate commitment to the humanitarian ideals King espoused.
Students will observe the federal holiday on Jan. 17 with a day of service organized by Carolina R.O.C.T.S. (Rejuvenating Our Community Through Service), beginning at 9 a.m. in 100 Hamilton Hall.
At 6 p.m. that day, in the Student Union's multipurpose room, students will participate in an oratorical contest and panel discussion examining the question: "Are we taking advantage of the promise of opportunity that our forefathers worked so hard for?"
Students, faculty and staff will read poetry inspired by King's life and work at "He Was a Poem: An Evening of Poetry Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.," at 7 p.m. Jan. 18 in the Robert and Sallie Brown Gallery and Museum of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History.
The Carolina Women's Center will present a multimedia panel discussion on the participation of women of color in the feminist movement and women in the civil rights movement on Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. in Dey Hall's Toy Lounge.
At 7 p.m. on Jan. 21 in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union Great Hall, student performers will present "I, Too, Sing America", a performance including song, dance and poetry exploring the history of African Americans and other minorities in the United States.
The week's events are sponsored by the Chancellor's Committee for the MLK Birthday Celebration, with the support of numerous groups, including the Carolina Union Activities Board, Office for Minority Affairs, Campus Y, Stone Center, Black Student Movement, executive branch of Student Government, Department of Housing and Residential Education, department of African and Afro-American studies, National Pan-Hellenic Council, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Carolina R.O.C.T.S., Carolina Women's Center, Residence Hall Association and Department of Athletics.
For a detailed schedule of events and contact information, visit www.unc.edu/minorityaffairs/mlk or contact the Office for Minority Affairs at 962-6962.
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Two new books to add to the bedside table
"Alone! Alone!: Lives of Some Outsider Women" by Rosemary Dinnage and "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
"Bull's Head Book Notes" features book reviews by Erica Eisdorfer, manager of the Bull's Head Bookshop in the Student Stores.
In the practice of reading books, mourning is a short business. Say I'm bereft because I just finished the wholly absorbing "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" (a novel about dueling magicians in early 19th-century England by Susannah Clarke) and I cannot really imagine life without its 782 pages. The depression's momentary. And why? Because of the stacks on my bedside table (and the floor, and the desk, and, well, you know).
A pause while I thank my customers, two of them, for the books I'm reading now. Thanks to Beverly Long for pointing me toward "The Kite Runner," by Khaled Hosseini. (It was on the shelf with our new paperbacks; she marched me over to the section and put it in my hands; I love it when that happens.) Thanks to the anonymous gentleman in the black sweater who told me about "Alone! Alone!: Lives of Some Outsider Women" by Rosemary Dinnage.
"The Kite Runner" is a first novel by an Afghan author who now lives in California and wrote it in English, so there's no nasty translation to put up with. It's a vivid picture of his home country, both before and after the wars most of us remember best: Russia's brutal invasion, the Taliban's unspeakable atrocities, our smart bombs.
No one should have to come of age the way Afghan kids have to, and "The Kite Runner," while fiction, is as real as any picture of life in a war zone, any life where religious fundamentalism stands in for government. Ali, son of a hugely magnetic father, feels unloved and takes it out on his servant Hassan with whom he flies kites, the Afghan national obsession.
When Hassan rescues a kite for Ali, the lives of both boys are changed forever, and Ali, who escapes from the Russians only to fall into the teeth of the Taliban, must seek redemption from the best friend he ever had.
Hosseini's slightly flat style imbues the narrative with a slight distance: You see the flowering trees, the dancing kites, the bombed out houses and the burkhas as if you yourself are veiled, and in a way that's good. It would be hard to take this story, ultimately beautiful as it is, without a little bit of distance.
"Alone! Alone!" is a New York Review Collection of some of Rosemary Dinnage's writings about what the jacket blurb calls "outsider women." Dinnage divided her women into Solitaries (like philosopher Simone Weil and poet Stevie Smith), Seers (like Madame Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy), Exotics (like the chastely raised Marie Stopes, who was apparently a virgin when, in 1918 she wrote "Married Love," in which she argued that women were capable of sexual pleasure and should have a chance to experience it).
I particularly enjoyed the article about Rebecca West (author of "Black Lamb & Grey Falcon," the most important travelogue of Yugoslavia) because she's so unbelievably self-centered in this fabulously queenly way. That's what makes this book different from other books About great women. Dinnage, the author, is not the starry-eyed, doting type. Sometimes, she doesn't even seem to like her subjects all that much, but, as she seems to point out, what does that matter? You're not having dinner with them. In "Alone! Alone!" we read about their various odd, emphatic, troubled, loud lives and are quite simply, fascinated.
"The Kite Runner" is published by Riverhead, "Alone! Alone!" by the New York Review of Books.
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UNC leads public research universities in study abroad rate
For the second consecutive year, the University had a higher rate of students going abroad than any other public research university nationwide, according to "Open Doors 2004," the latest annual report of global higher education published by the Institute of International Education.
The report, published in November, stated that 1,426 University undergraduates studied in other countries for academic credit during 2002-03, the latest year available for the study. This represents 34.6 percent of the 3,560 undergraduate degrees conferred (up from 31.6 percent the previous year), a higher rate than any other public research university.
The University ranked seventh among all research universities for the total number of undergraduates going abroad. Leading that list were New York University (2,061 students going abroad), the University of California at Los Angeles (1,917) and Michigan State University (1,864).
The University ranked 18 among all public and private research universities for the rate of students going abroad and was the only public institution in the top 20. Leading the list were Wake Forest University (57.8 percent), Georgetown University (55.3 percent) and Dartmouth College (54.4 percent).
"More than one-third of Carolina students are going abroad before they graduate," said Bernadette Gray-Little, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, which oversees the Office of Study Abroad. "This is great news, but we intend to provide a global perspective for all of our students, through increased funding for study-abroad scholarships, as well as international studies and programs on campus.
"Extending international opportunities to all undergraduates is a top priority for the University and a fundamental requirement for a 21st-century education."
The Office of Study Abroad is one of the largest and most innovative offices of its kind in the nation, with 276 programs in 68 countries. Today's students are more interested in study abroad than ever before, said Robert Miles, director of the Office of Study Abroad. "We offer a wide range of programs to respond to their diverse interests and needs. We continue to seek scholarships and program funds to make it possible for even more of our students to go abroad."
The Institute of International Education is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes global higher education and professional exchange. Highlights of the "Open Doors 2004" report are available online at www.iie.org.
Also in November, the College of Arts and Sciences celebrated the groundbreaking for the University's new Global Education Center and announced three major gifts to enhance international educational opportunities:
A $5 million bequest from an anonymous donor to provide study-abroad scholarships for students from targeted North Carolina counties.
A generous gift from Amy and Robert Brinkley of Charlotte to support Asian studies through establishment of the Grier/Woods Presbyterian Asia Initiative. The initiative, named for family members who were Presbyterian missionaries in China during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, will support scholarships for students to participate in an intensive Mandarin study program in Beijing, travel fellowships for faculty research and course development activities in Asia, and an additional lecturer in Mandarin language at Carolina. Amy Woods Brinkley is a 1978 graduate of the University.
A $600,000 gift from Anthony and Hope Harrington of Washington, D.C., to support Latin American studies through an annual visiting professorship for distinguished scholars and dignitaries from the region and study abroad scholarships for majors in Latin American studies. Tony Harrington, former U.S. ambassador to Brazil and a 1963 Carolina graduate, is president of Stonebridge International LLC, an international strategic advisory firm. The Harringtons' gift and others are being matched by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, to create a $1.6 million endowment for the Institute of Latin American Studies.
The three new gifts are part of Carolina First, a comprehensive, multi-year private fund-raising effort to support Carolina's vision of becoming the nation's leading public university.
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University retires Bell Award, citing namesake's views
The Bell Award, set up 10 years ago during the University's bicentennial observance as the University's highest accolade for women, has been retired. Chancellor James Moeser made the decision in December in light of recent charges of racism against Cornelia Phillips Spencer, the woman the award commemorates.
But the decision to retire the award upset members of the Love family, who are descendants of Spencer living in Chapel Hill.
In response, the Love family has asked that the University redirect money from the Martha and Spencer Love Foundation now being used to renovate the James Lee Love house on Franklin Street.
The house, which bears the Love family name, is owned by the University and is being expanded and renovated so it can serve as the home for the Center for the Study of the American South.
Now, the family has asked that the money from its foundation be redirected to pay for scholarships for female students, or to bolster scholarships at the N.C. School of the Arts.
Moeser plans to meet with members of the Love foundation and family to discuss the decision. He had called a family member last month to share the decision before announcing it.
Decision based on careful review
Representatives of the University community held a two-day symposium in October to debate the University's perspective on the Reconstruction years after the Civil War - the period out of which Spencer's deeds have been both celebrated and denounced.
In a Dec. 3 letter to participants of the symposium - titled "Remembering Reconstruction" - Moeser laid out his rationale for ending the award.
"Yonni Chapman and those who protested the Bell Award have said that the University never understood what Cornelia Phillips Spencer was celebrating when she rang the South Building bell in 1875, that she was a white supremacist, and that she is not an appropriate namesake for an award today," Moeser wrote.
Chapman is the community activist and University graduate student who started a protest against the award two years ago after his research showed Spencer's writings espoused the attitudes of white supremacists. Based on facts presented by historians at the symposium, Moeser said in his letter, he had concluded that few people fully understood the meaning behind Spencer's ringing of the bell that day.
"It expressed both her deep love of the University and her joy that the University's Republican-installed administration, sympathetic to the rights of newly freed blacks, was long gone and a Democratic legislature had agreed to reopen UNC. Reconstruction was over," Moeser wrote.
Not an 'unalloyed honor and joy'
Moeser said that in the end, the deciding factor in ending the award was practical. "Some esteemed women on our campus -- women who I think could be considered for the Bell Award -- were asked whether they would accept it if it were offered. Their answer was `no.'
"A universitywide award ought to be an unalloyed honor and joy. ... As someone said, we now have an award with an asterisk beside its name. As a practical matter, this award serves no good purpose if recipients have to ponder whether to accept it, and if the University worries that they will not."
Twelve women have received the award since its inception.
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Lensing addresses Carolina graduates in December commencement speech
Following are excerpts from George S. Lensing's prepared remarks for the University's mid-year commencement ceremony, held Dec. 19 in the Dean E. Smith Center. Lensing is a noted author and the Bowman and Gordon Gray professor of English and director of the Office of Distinguished Scholarships.
My warmest congratulations to the Class of 2004.5! To Abby Spector, who I understand is in the audience today and who has courageously overcome severe and life-threatening health problems to arrive at this day in her life -- a special greeting and congratulation.
'PASSION, PIETY AND AFFECTION' George Lensing, Bowman and Gordon Gray professor of English and director of the Office of Distinguished Scholarships, recalls the writings of William Butler Yeats' "Among School Children" during his commencement address. |
To those of you who have been hanging out at He's Not Here and giving that phone number to Mom and Dad so that, when they call, the bartender can say, "He's not here," perhaps today you can explain to them what that establishment really is! And to Mom and Dad and step-moms and step-dads and all the family and friends of the graduates, a most gracious welcome. I know the graduates join me in thanking you for the difficult sacrifices you have made and the support and encouragement you have given them in order to bring them to this grand day. Welcome to this House of Dean Smith, currently presided over by Roy Williams and a very good nationally ranked men's basketball team and in Carmichael Auditorium, a very good and nationally ranked women's basketball team!
Much has happened to our campus since you undergraduates arrived four years ago -- well, I'll say approximately four years ago! Many of you graduate and professional students have also been here several years. You are really the first graduating class of the new century. Carolina, our "priceless gem," is in a special way your "priceless gem" today.
You have dodged barriers and detour-signs seemingly everywhere on campus as the physical structure of this place is undergoing a reinvention. UNC: what my colleague Chris Armitage has renamed as the University of Never-ending Construction! Cell phones have invaded and totally conquered the campus -- single-handedly! Not long ago I noted a pair of students coming out of Davis Library, hand-in-hand, but in each of the other hands was a cell phone held to their ears, and I don't think they were talking via phone to each other. I just hope there weren't other romances simultaneously in progress on those cell phones. Such is 21st-century romance.
A little metallic and cold, wouldn't you say? You, like me, observed the public objections to the assigned summer reading books, especially "Approaching The Qur'an" and "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America." We as a University quite rightly stood up for our right to explore works that presented other religions and other parts of the world different from the ones that the majority of us know, even if those books fomented some pretty heated controversy.
DRESSING FOR THE DAY Bobbie Brown, a graduate from Durham, pets her guide dog Nicki who wore his own mortar board to the ceremony. Brown transferred to Carolina as a junior, but Nicki attended all four years of college with her. |
We have enacted important changes in our student honor code that have both strengthened the student-run judicial system and reawakened our personal commitments to the role of honor in our community. The oldest honorary society on campus, The Order of the Golden Fleece, celebrated its centennial anniversary in March, and Rebecca Williford, one of its leaders, is here today. Congratulations, Rebecca. Some of you have protested tuition increases in the halls of the General Assembly in Raleigh as the costs of your education seemed yearly to soar ever higher.
I wonder how many of you were in Kenan Stadium that Saturday night in 2001 when our football team defeated then-sixth-ranked Florida State by a score of 41-9 -- and this past October when we beat fourth-ranked Miami.
Of course each of us will remember where we were that beautiful late summer morning, Sept. 11, 2001, when we first heard of the terrorist attacks. I remember thinking that morning that this was the real beginning of the new century. Our country was permanently changed following those events and so were our lives here. Some good things were born on that tragic day. It may interest you to learn that the number of students here studying first-year Arabic has tripled in the last three years.
This fall, Carl Ernst's "Introduction to Islamic Civilization" class had 120 students, with dozens of others, as he says, turned away. I think there is a healthy new interest among our students in studying foreign languages generally. Your generation understands perhaps better than mine that we as Americans cannot live in haughty isolation from the other languages and cultures of the world. The growing number of Hispanic immigrants into our state and region has brought home to you the need to learn their language -- and some of you out there experienced how difficult it was to get into Spanish 1 and 2. Of those of you graduating today, at least one in three of you has spent a semester, a summer, or longer studying abroad -- 34.6 percent of last year's class studied abroad -- up from 21 percent only three years earlier. UNC is now ranked seventh in the U.S. among all institutions of higher education, public and private, in total number of undergraduates studying abroad.
And so, as you look over your shoulder in bidding your farewells to Carolina, what lies ahead? I will speak briefly to you as a professor of 20th poetry who has taught Carolina students for more than three decades -- the whole of my career. What a privilege that has been! As we have read and pondered many of the great poets and great poems of the century, I am confident that I as the professor and they as the students have learned from each other because all readers bring their unique life-experiences to a work of art.
Year after year I have gone back to the poems of an Irish poet of the past century, William Butler Yeats, and the poem "Among School Children" has been a particular favorite. I tend to take it up in class very near the end of the semester because it captures many of the themes of the course.
The poem presents Yeats as a senator in the newly formed Irish Free State in the 1920s, standing among school children whom he is inspecting in his role as a senator. He is conscious of his advancing age, and, there amid the schoolgirls, his thoughts go back to his passion of many years for Maud Gonne, the beautiful but stubborn political radical who refused every one of his marriage proposals because of her first and fiery dedication to the cause of Irish independence. Then, with something of a letdown, he remembers her in the disfigurements of her present old age. He thinks also of a mother, giving birth to a son, but imagining the mother's own disappointment at seeing the son years later with the "winters" of old age upon his head. Finally, he thinks of nuns, one of whom is instructing the schoolchildren before him -- nuns who create their own images of religious hope but whose statues and icons commemorate only a cold "marble or bronze repose."
In this very dark mood, Yeats, reflecting on his own life and its disappointments, then speaks in summary fashion of "passion, piety and affection." He recalls the passion of his own love of Maud Gonne, the piety of the nuns and the affection of a mother for her newly born child. All lead to some disappointments and frustration. But, he adds, passion, piety and affection, which seem to mock us and our earthly human actions, also -- as the poem says -- "symbolize all heavenly glory," as if to say that these workings of the human heart may cast us down in defeat, but they also raise us up toward heavenly glory and triumph.
I mention this about "Among School Children" today because I feel sure that each of you has already experienced in your own life and in your own heart the stirrings of passion, piety and affection. I want to suggest that your education at Carolina has been successful if your studies, along with your personal life experiences, have offered you some glimpses of insight into the workings of these three great human actions.
ACHIEVING A GOAL Chancellor James Moeser (right) presents a diploma to a doctorial candidate during mid-year commencement on Dec. 19. |
Perhaps you have been in love or are in love. I could wish nothing better for you. Perhaps you are contemplating marriage or a permanently committed relationship, or perhaps marriage seems to you that gigantic, weighty, crushing ball-and-chain to be avoided as long as possible! How, you may be asking, can I incorporate passion as a vital part of my life and, at the same time, honor its commitments and necessary self-sacrifices? How can I temper passion with reason and good judgment so that, if I choose to make a lifetime commitment, I can make the right choice? Perhaps you have learned something about passion, its dangers and its joys, from Shakespeare, or Tolstoy, or Dante, or "The Odyssey," or the stories of Abelard and Heloise or even, in the last century, Edward VIII who gave up the British throne to marry Mrs. Simpson, or, closer to home, the lovers-partners-spouses you have observed among your own family and friends.
Another example of the triumph of passion could be cited, and it is from our University's own history. At the end of the Civil War and following the surrender of the Confederacy, the 30-year-old Brigadier General Smith B. Atkins of Illinois, representing the conquering army, occupied the town of Chapel Hill. One of his first actions was to call on the president of the University, David L. Swain, after whom our Swain Hall is named. In the president's home that evening he met Ellie, aged 21, Swain's beautiful daughter, and he fell immediately in love. So taken was he by this fetching young beauty that he sent the regimental band to serenade her each evening in President Swain's front yard. The romance and courtship flourished in what might have been an ideal model for political reconciliation in post-Civil War America instead of the years of bitter Reconstruction that otherwise lay ahead. The couple was wed in Chapel Hill about three months later, but, as you might suspect, not without controversy and opposition. Cornelia Spencer attended the ceremony and recorded: "Invitations were spat upon in one or two houses. ... The only way one can find an apology for it all is to believe honestly in the love which appears to have brought it about. Let us think and speak respectfully of a genuine love affair."
Our passions in life can take many forms. They may involve a commitment to another person, but they can also define a deep devotion to our work, to one of the arts, to a sport or hobby, or to working for greater justice in the world. I suspect that many of you graduate and professional students in a special way have come to love the study of your discipline, and that love, too, will perhaps become a life-time commitment.
Piety, or how we respond to the presence of a transcendent reality in our lives, is an intensely personal thing, for no two of us exactly the same and for all of us hard and exacting at times. Perhaps your studies here have shown you how excessive religious zeal can lead to intolerance and even great bloodshed, as it did during the Crusades, during the Reformation, and as it threatens to do in the decades before us now and is already doing in our own historical moment -- from Northern Ireland to the Middle East and Iraq. Those of us who are Christians believe that faith is an unearned gift, and those of us who have tried to live by it know how it waxes and wanes in day-to-day and year-to-year living. For the poet Hopkins, "the world is charged with the grandeur of God," while the philosopher Nietzsche declared Him dead. My wish for you would be that your search for the pieties of your life, however you understand them, the God of your salvation, however you define Him, and the peace that transcends the world as you know it would be one that you will always pursue freely and bravely.
No one will dispute the need for affection in our lives, and I can imagine that part of the sadness you feel on this day of celebration is the taking leave of friends who have become very special to you. If you will allow me to quote Yeats once more -- this time as he reflected back on his long life: "Think where man's glory most begins and ends,/ And say my glory was I had such friends." Affection sustains us all, day after day; we could not survive without it. You mark this occasion as a new turning in your life, a new beginning; we call it a commencement. As you reach out to others in the months ahead to forge new friendships and affections, I want to encourage you to move outside your own comfortable world and make up your mind to seek out genuine personal bonds with people of other races, other sexual orientations, other nationalities and cultures, other ages and generations, other political and religious convictions, other social classes.
My own model for this kind of openness to others who are different is a friend I knew when he was a student here, Rye Barcott, Class of 2001. During the summer following his junior year, Rye traveled to Kenya and lived in East Africa's largest slum, called Kibera. He had won a Burch Fellowship from UNC to do research there. Living among the poorest of the poor, he came to know many of the inhabitants there as personal friends, especially local youth leaders. They nicknamed him Omondi, meaning "born very early in the morning," because he would jog in the early morning hours throughout the slum. Before returning to Chapel Hill to write his honors thesis on the conditions of the slum, he made a resolution to himself. He knew he wanted to raise money to assist the kids in the slum to help their soccer league and to draw them into community service. The following Christmas he said to himself, "Let's just start an organization." Thus was born "Carolina for Kibera," and with some funds from the UNC Center for International Studies, he returned there the following summer. His open and engaging personality, along with his dedication and hard work, has brought about a remarkable achievement. As the "Carolina Alumni Review" reports, "What started as an effort to find youths who could serve as core leaders and essentially run Carolina for Kibera from Kibera blossomed into an organization of 10,000 with spin-offs like a girls' soccer league, a medical clinic, a library and a community center for young girls that teaches HIV/AIDS prevention. Carolina for Kibera operates with only three paid, full-time staff, all in Kibera: a program coordinator, a youth coordinator and medical clinic director named Tabitha Festo. All of this on $50,000 a year."
We cannot all be Rye Barcotts, nor do we need to work in the slums of Africa. The ties of affection that we create can be far more local and responsive to the world as we know it just down the block, or where we work, or where we play -- but, at the same time, embracing those who are different from and even contrary to our own familiar backgrounds and habits. I believe that in the more-or-less 120 hours of course-work you have completed as an undergraduate and its equivalent for you graduate students, all under the direction of our superb faculty, and in your exposure to a culture and population on this campus that is increasingly diverse and inclusive, you are richly prepared to proceed to the next stages of your life. You do not leave Carolina but take it with you.
SUCCESS Graduates show their enthusiasm during the ceremony at the Smith Center. |
The words of St. Paul to the Romans 2,000 years ago can be a kind of guide for us in living our lives of passion, piety and affection today: "Let your love be without pretense. ... Love one another with fraternal charity, anticipating one another with honor. ... Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Be of one mind towards one another. ... Be not wise in your own conceits. To no man render evil for evil, but provide good things not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of all men."
Robert Frost says that "home is where/ when you go there, / they have to take you in." Carolina is truly now your own home and will, not just take you in, but always welcome you back in the years ahead. As you leave us now, please take with you these final sentiments from all of us here on the platform, as well as faculty, family, and friends:
May your dreams be bold and audacious;
May you love and never count the cost;
May you heal a broken world with a passion for justice;
And may Carolina always be your priceless gem.
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Scientists discover genetic basis for individual variations in pain perception
For millions of years, pain has helped protect humans and other creatures by alerting them that a serious threat was present -- the fire was too hot, the water too cold, the rival too strong to continue fighting and so on. But uncontrolled chronic pain can also make life seem unbearable.
An age-old question is why some people seem to be able to withstand high levels of discomfort while comparable pain causes others to cry for mercy. A related question is how some people can live through major physical and psychological stresses with no apparent consequences while others develop chronic pain conditions.
Now, University scientists, collaborating with National Institutes of Health, the University of Adelaide in Australia and Attagene Inc. researchers, say they have discovered a major part of the answers to both questions.
The key is genetics, the scientists say. Subtle variations in certain genes can make one person highly sensitive to pain and more susceptible to developing chronic pain disorders, while other variations can be protective.
"Our findings are extremely exciting and will interest the general public and the medical community," said William Maixner, professor at the University's Comprehensive Center for Inflammatory Disorders and director of the University's School of Dentistry's Neurosensory Disorders Unit.
In their five-year study to determine the relationship between pain sensitivity and development of chronic pain, he and colleagues found that humans have a tremendous range in pain sensitivity.
"Some people are very resistant to pain like they have taken a clinical dose of morphine," Maixner said. "More importantly, people who are less sensitive to painful stimuli are protected from developing a very common and debilitating pain condition called temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJD). These variations in pain sensitivity are stable over time, suggesting a genetic predisposition."
By concentrating on the genetics of an enzyme called COMT that controls levels of epinephrine and other chemicals and is released in response to stress, the scientists could explain significant variations in pain sensitivity.
The experiments were led in part by Luda Diatchenko, research associate professor at the inflammatory disorders center. They involved 202 healthy women, whose COMT gene variants, pain sensitivity and risk for TMJD were analyzed. Molecular biological, cell culture and animal behavior experiments were also conducted to demonstrate the relationship between COMT activity and pain sensitivity.
"We identified three genetic variants of COMT that are highly prevalent in the human population," Diatchenko said. "This is the first demonstration that a genetic variation influences both human pain perception and the risk for developing a chronic pain condition."
"By analyzing slight differences in the gene that produces the COMT enzyme, we can predict the risk of developing TMJD, which is both common and costly and impacts more than 10 percent of the U.S. population," said Gary D. Slade, formerly a University clinical epidemiologist now at the University of Adelaide.
The researchers believe their discoveries will apply to conditions such as fibromyalgia syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome and several other chronic sensory disorders that are also characterized by enhanced pain sensitivity and are frequently seen in patients with TMJD.
A report on the findings will appear in January in Vol. 14 of the journal "Human Molecular Genetics."
"These results have broad ramifications for our understanding of pain physiology and genetics, for the development of genetic markers of pain conditions and for devising new and better strategies for treating pain," Maixner said.
He, Diatchenko and their team are now identifying additional genes that contribute to both pain sensitivity and TMJD, he said. They also have begun investigating new drug therapies for treating TMJD and related conditions.
Other University authors of the report are Andrea G. Nackley, a postdoctoral fellow in the neurosenstory disorders unit; Asgeir Sigurdsson, former associate professor of endodontics; and Konakporn Bhalang, a former graduate student in oral biology now with Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand.
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Human Resources News
Proper posture is critical
to health and comfort
At the end of a work day, do you ever find yourself with a stiff neck or tight shoulders? Or perhaps a dull ache in your lower back? Poor posture is a likely culprit.
Reminder
Tuition Waiver forms for the spring semester are due in the Benefit Program dministration office at 104 Airport Drive, Suite 1700, by 5 p.m. on Jan. 19. Call Benefits at 962-3071 if you have questions.
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Posture is the position in which you hold your body upright against gravity while standing, sitting, or lying down. Good posture involves training the body to stand, walk, sit and lie in positions where the least strain is placed on supporting muscles and ligaments during movement or weight-bearing activities. Proper posture keeps bones and joints in the correct alignment so muscles are used properly; prevents fatigue because muscles are used more efficiently, allowing the body to use less energy; prevents backache, strain and overuse problems; and contributes to a good appearance. When you keep your spine in a neutral alignment, maintaining its natural curves throughout the day, you are using your body in the most efficient manner.
There are many factors that contribute to poor posture, involving both the body itself and its environment. For the body, each of the following can contribute to poor posture:
Obesity;
Weak muscles;
Wearing high-heeled shoes;
Tight muscles; and
Poor sitting or standing habits.
In each of these instances, the pelvis and spine are moved out of neutral alignment, causing increased force on other areas of the body.
In terms of environment, keyboard location or office chairs that are not adjusted for your body can force your body out of alignment. For more information, visit the ergonomics web site in the Department of Environment, Health and Safety for information and a workplace evaluation:
ehs.unc.edu/workplace_safety/ergonomics/index.shtml.
Being aware of the causes of poor posture is the first step to correcting it. Depending on the specific cause, solutions can include a weight-loss program, wearing healthy, practical shoes with proper arch support and a flat heel during the day, or beginning a flexibility program. If you are unsure of when your spine is in neutral alignment, participating in body-awareness programs such as a beginning yoga class can be a wonderful way to learn the basics of alignment and posture.
Some quick tips that you can try today to improve your posture include:
Standing: Hold your head high, with chin forward, shoulders back, chest out and stomach tucked in to increase your balance. Aim for a neutral spinal alignment, rather than something rigid or unnatural. If you stand all day, try resting one foot on a stool or take breaks to get off your feet.
Sitting: Use a chair with good lumbar support. Adjust the chair or use a footrest to keep pressure off the back of the legs, keeping your knees at the same height as your hips. Keep your work surface (keyboard and desk) at elbow height. Also, get up and stretch frequently, preferably every 30-45 minutes.
Computer work: Keep the top of the screen at eye level. This would be different for bifocal or trifocal users, who should see the Ergonomics web site for assistance. Place reference materials on a copy stand even with, and close to, the monitor.
For more information about posture and exercises that can aid in keeping a neutral alignment for the spine, or to suggest topics for future installments of Carolina Wellness Matters, contact Holly Tiemann, Training and Development, 962-9682, holly_tiemann@unc.edu.
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Annual maximum contribution figures increase for supplemental retirement plans for 403(b), 401(k)
The annual maximum contributions employees can make to their supplemental retirement plans have increased with the new year.
For 2005, employees can contribute a maximum of $14,000 to any individual supplemental retirement program, including 401(k), 403(b) or 457 accounts. This figure represents an increase of $1,000 more the 2004 maximum.
Participants who are or will be age 50 by the end of 2005 can contribute an additional $4,000 above the normal limit, for a total maximum of $18,000. This allows participants to increase their contributions to catch up as they approach retirement age.
If an employee belongs to both a 403(b) and 401(k) plan, the total contributions to the two plans together cannot exceed the yearly maximum of $14,000. Contributions to a 457 plan are independent of contributions to either 401(k) or 403(b) plans. Therefore, employees may contribute $14,000 into a 457 plan in addition to their contributions into 401(k) and/or 403(b) plans as specified above.
If you have questions about retirement contributions, contact HR Services at 843-2300 or visit the HR web site at hr.unc.edu/Data/benefits/suppretire/index. This site also includes contact information for the various retirement vendors.
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New year clicks in state's new
booster seat law
North Carolina's new booster seat law, which took effect Jan. 1, means that in most cases, children will be required to be in a booster seat or some other type of child passenger restraint system until they reach eight years of age or 80 pounds, whichever comes first. The previous threshold for switching to a properly fitted seat belt was on a child's fifth birthday or 40 pounds, whichever was first.
The other changes that went into effect Jan. 1 are related to the penalty for a violation. Drivers cited for a violation of this law for a 5, 6, or 7 year old will be able to have the charges dismissed if they present proof to the court that they have acquired an appropriate restraint for that child. Additionally, drivers cited for a violation of this law will be able to have the charges dismissed if they present proof to the court that they were in a vehicle not normally used to transport that child.
The full text of the current North Carolina Child Passenger Safety Law, including the changes effective Jan. 1, is available at:
www.buckleupnc.org/laws_cps_sb1218info.cfm (Adapted from information found at www.buckleupnc.org.)
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Star Heels
Gayla Scott
Purchasing Department
"Give and you shall receive," is a familiar phrase around the holidays. Gayla Scott and her co-workers in the Purchasing Department are familiar with this sentiment. Scott was recently awarded her department's Star Heels Award at a monthly luncheon.
"Gayla continually and without hesitation provides backup support for her team members as well as others in their absence," her nomination materials confirm. She echoes her own nomination comments when asked about what it is like to work in the department.
"This really is a wonderful group of people to work with. Everyone is always willing to help when it is needed." In a small department, Scott was surprised when she learned that she was the recipient of the award; she sees herself as part of a team dedicated to customer service.
Scott came to the University six years ago from a commercial design company in Research Triangle Park. Currently a purchasing agent, she has remained in purchasing, where she began her career with the University, and has been promoted within the department.
As a long time Tar Heel fan, Scott can be found on game days at home, watching the game from the comfort of her couch. Though she has switched from having season tickets to pulling for the Tar Heels at home, there's no doubt about her dedication -- whether it's football or the Purchasing Department team.
The following employees have also received recognition as Star Heels:
Jane Darter, Sheps Center
Jessica Gonzalez, Otolaryngology/HNS
Michelle Howlett, Otolaryngology/HNS
Linda Kastleman, School of Public Health
Ruth Lewter, Dentistry
Troy Link, Office of Greek Affairs/Dept. of Disability Services
Nannette Martin, Pediatrics
Beth McLean, Pediatrics
Bessie Neville, Sheps Center
Steve Parker, Environment, Health & Safety
Arlene Rainey, Friday Center
Sandra Tysor, Dentistry
