UNIVERSITY GAZETTE | October 3, 2007 | The University of North Carolina

Today's date:

Carolina First

Gift of the Month: September

Gift: $4 million

Donor: Leonard Wood

Purpose: To establish the Leonard W. Wood Foundation for Excellence in Real Estate

Kenan-Flagler Business School alumnus Leonard W. Wood has committed $4 million to the business school’s Center for Real Estate Development (CRED). His gift, to be matched with an additional $1 million by partners in Wood’s company, Wood Partners LLC, will support faculty recruitment and enable the hire of a new executive director of the center, part of the school’s Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. The CRED will be renamed the Leonard W. Wood Center for Real Estate Development to recognize Wood’s generosity.

Goal: $2 billion

Raised: (as of Sept. 24) 112 percent/$2.24 billion

Amount of campaign complete: 97 percent

Amount raised in September: $16.1 million

Campaign runs through: Dec. 31, 2007

More information: carolinafirst.unc.edu.

All paychecks to become electronic in 2008

Hard-copy paychecks are about to become a thing of the past.

Effective Jan. 1, 2008, all University mployees will have their earnings deposited directly into a bank or credit union account. All faculty and staff hired since July 1, 1999, have been required to sign up for direct deposit. Now, the University wants to ensure that all employees do the same.

The all-electronic system, known as E-Pay, is part of Carolina’s response to the PACE initiative created by Erskine Bowles, UNC system president. PACE (President’s Advisory Committee on Efficiency and Effectiveness) streamlines administrative tasks at all 16 campuses to reallocate money toward the system’s core functions that support the academic mission.

Direct deposit is one of 10 cost-savings PACE initiatives identified at Carolina to help free up money for the University’s core academic priorities: teaching, research and public service.

Currently, about 2,500 employees still receive paper paychecks, said Janet Kelly-Scholle, director of communication and training in the Finance Division. The University will be working with those employees to help them sign up for electronic deposit. Faculty and staff who leave the University will receive their final payroll payment by check, as they do under the current system.

University officials began alerting people about the conversion to an electronic process a year ago. Last October, Dennis Press, University controller, sent a letter to employees who had not yet signed up for direct deposit encouraging them to participate in the program and providing specific instructions about how to sign up.

Employees also received information about free checking accounts. The University has agreements with Bank of America and Wachovia to provide free checking accounts for Carolina’s faculty, staff, students and temporary employees. The N.C. State Employees Credit Union also provides an account in which state employees can have their pay deposited electronically.

“As the Office of Payroll Services moves forward with the E-Pay program, we are working to ensure that employees have the tools and information needed for a smooth transition,” Press said. “We’ve met with HR facilitators and in the coming months we will work with employees and their departments to offer training opportunities for interested employees.”

Once all employees are enrolled in direct deposit, the next step is to eliminate paper pay stubs.
Effective with the first payroll in April 2008, the University will discontinue all paper payroll notifications, Kelly-Scholle said. Instead, employees will access their payroll information through a secure University Web site – which is already available.

“Even now, faculty and staff who are enrolled for direct deposit can view this information online,” she said.

Employees should go to www.unc.edu/finance/payroll and click on “direct deposit pay stub.” Using their Onyen and password to sign in, employees can view their current and past pay information on the secure site.

The E-Pay system is expected to save the University $20,000 a year. For employees, it means saving time and not worrying. They will not have to take time to deposit a pay check in the bank and they will not have to be concerned about the possibility of lost checks.

“Even if severe weather or other circumstances prevent employees from picking up their pay checks, the checks will be automatically deposited in the employee’s bank account when the bank opens,” Kelly-Scholle said.

One area in which the changes are expected to have an impact is Facilities Services.
“With mandatory direct deposit coming in January, we recognize that there are many employees in Facilities who rely on their hard-copy paychecks and many who don’t have computer access,” said Mike Freeman, interim director of Facilities Services.

Of the 1,000-plus employees in Facilities, around 300 have direct access to computers in their jobs, he said.

“We are committed to finding a way to give a hard copy of an employee’s pay check on payday to any employee who wants it. We want to be able to do this in a way that protects each person’s privacy,” Freeman said. “We don’t want to do this forever, of course, but we will certainly work with our employees in the short-term to help them prepare for the long-term.”

The Employee Forum has expressed an interest in helping employees become familiar with online banking and finding ways to provide necessary education and training. Also, the Finance Division plans to offer training in the fall for E-Pay, Onyen account management and checking account maintenance.

For information, refer to www.unc.edu/finance/payroll/epay.htm or call Stephanie Kidd, 843-0383, slkidd@email.unc.edu.

Faculty Council weighs proposed BOG employment code changes

Proposed amendments to the Code of the Board of Governors (BOG) concerning faculty discharge and appeal procedures and post-tenure review prompted questions and comments at the Sept. 14 Faculty Council meeting.

A 12-member committee representing UNC General Administration and campus provosts, legal staffs and faculty members outlined the proposed changes in a June 22 report.

Among its recommendations, the report sought to streamline two time-consuming review processes, said Bernadette Gray-Little, executive vice chancellor and provost. It proposed an optional administrative review instead of a full peer review for post-tenure reviews in which tenured faculty members are reviewed every five years. It also proposed concluding a discharge hearing in a case for dismissal within 90 days of the request for the hearing.

“The heart of the recommendation regarding dismissal is that the Board of Trustees appeal portion be eliminated to compact the time in which decisions are made,” she said. Under the proposal, appeals would go directly to the BOG.

Another recommendation added unsatisfactory performance to the current criteria for discharge: incompetence, neglect of duty and misconduct indicating that the person is unfit to continue as a faculty member.

In general, Faculty Council members were concerned about the small faculty representation on the committee and the short timeframe for consideration of the proposal, which will go to the BOG in November. Three faculty members were appointed and one could not serve because of teaching conflicts, said Joe Templeton, faculty chair.

Judith Wegner said the Faculty Assembly, which represents faculty across the 16 UNC system campuses, requested more faculty participation on future committees. Both the Faculty Assembly and Faculty Executive Committee reviewed the report this summer. Wegner, Burton Craige Distinguished professor of law, is a Carolina delegate to the Faculty Assembly.

Steve Bachenheimer, professor of microbiology and immunology, was concerned about the trustees’ removal from the appeals process.

“I am not bothered that it could take up to a year to investigate the removal of a faculty member,” he said. “This should not be removed from the decision-making process of the Board of Trustees.”

Templeton said that all 16 campuses of the UNC system were looking at the proposal, and he wanted the council to provide input in a helpful way.

The council passed a resolution acknowledging the report and requesting that implementation of recommendations not take place before Jan. 1, 2008, to give the faculty time to evaluate any implications for tenure at Carolina.

UNC Health Care
William L. Roper, chief executive officer of the UNC Health Care System, presented an overview of the system, which was created by N.C. law in 1998. “Our vision is to be the nation’s leading public academic health-care system,” Roper said. “In 1952, the University opened both a hospital and a medical school. This is a major part of who we are. We are an academic institution, without apology.”

N.C. Memorial, Women’s, Children’s and Neurosciences hospitals are all part of UNC Health Care. When it opens in 2009, N.C. Cancer Hospital will become the fifth hospital in Chapel Hill. The system also acquired the 400-bed Rex Health Care seven years ago.

UNC Health Care includes nearly 1,500 University faculty members and hundreds of interns who practice, teach and conduct research. The Chapel Hill facilities have 708 licensed beds and accommodate 4,000 births a year. According to the state auditor, UNC Health Care delivers $189 million in uncompensated care and $46 million in compensated care annually, Roper said.

“Being a public institution is important to what we do, day in and day out. We deliver more uncompensated care than any hospital in North Carolina,” Roper said. “ We see this as a key part of what UNC Health Care is about.”

Another aspect of the University’s vision, he said, is for the medical school to be the leading public school of medicine in the country.

Currently the school has 160 students in each class, but administrators are exploring the feasibility of increasing the class size to 210. If the school grew, students could spend the first two years studying in Chapel Hill and the last two years at medical facilities in Charlotte and perhaps Asheville.

Roper touched on the many contributions of the North Carolina AHEC (Area Health Education Centers) Program. Created in the 1970s, AHEC includes nine regional centers that provide health care to people across the state. “Our program is held up as the leading example of such a program in the nation.”

Carolina’s contributions to the third aspect of its mission, research, are equally impressive, Roper said. The University Cancer Research Fund, approved by N.C. legislators this past summer, opens the door to countless possibilities, he said.

“This research fund is a stunningly impressive achievement, to which I give credit to Chancellor Moeser and President Bowles,” Roper said. Legislators allocated $25 million this year, $40 million next year and $50 million in subsequent years for the fund. The people in North Carolina have just endowed cancer research with a billion-dollar endowment, essentially. This will provide a tremendous benefit for a long time to come.”

The fund’s executive committee met Sept. 20 to begin mapping out how the fund will be used to benefit cancer research.

In terms of National Institutes of Health research grants, Carolina is 17th among the 135 medical schools in the nation, Roper said.

Interdisciplinary collaborations with units outside the medical school account for $300 million in federally funded research — nearly half of the University’s $610 million in sponsored research, he said.

State Health Plan advises careful evaluation of health-care needs

Balancing individual health-care needs with a monthly budget can be challenging.

At its Sept. 5 meeting, the Employee Forum presented information developed by its Health Benefits Committee on comparative health-care costs for faculty and staff through state-sponsored and commercial plans.

N.C. State Health Plan officials said the data presented were misleading. Rates for commercial products used in the forum’s comparison appeared to be the preferred rates, according to George C. Stokes, executive administrator of the plan. Preferred rates are the best available for the healthiest and lowest-risk individuals.

“Individuals who require medical services would qualify at a much higher rate,” he said. “Depending on the insurance company, they may not qualify at all.”

Stokes said employees should consider the factors involved in health-care coverage and evaluate their individual circumstances. Coverage that saves money for one person may not be an advantage to someone else, he said.

“I encourage all members to ask the hard questions about seemingly comparable health plan options, and to focus on their own real needs for health-care coverage,” he said.

Because the State Health Plan provides coverage to 628,000 members, the rates its members pay are based on the health-care services for the group as a whole, Stokes said.

“The State Health Plan’s three PPO (preferred provider organization) options, coupled with pharmaceutical coverage and health management programs, provide a competitive benefits package,” he said.

“These services may not be offered at the same level through individual plans. Individual policies often contain annual dollar limits on both mental health services and prescription drug benefits.”

The state provides 100 percent of the health-care premium for University employees. If an employee selects dependent coverage, the employee pays 100 percent of the dependent premium.

Stokes said the State Health Plan was working with UNC system administrators to understand the alternatives to the cost of dependent coverage. Plan administrators said they had communicated their concerns to the forum.

PeopleSoft chosen to implement all of ERP initiative

Last month, the University officially kicked off its massive undertaking to replace aging administrative software systems, the majority of which are more than 20 years old. But the groundwork for the project — known as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) — was laid more than a year ago.

Through the ERP initiative, the University will streamline and integrate the computing systems that manage student information, human resources, payroll and finance. The goal is to make these key operations more efficient and effective.

Earlier this year, administrators selected Oracle’s PeopleSoft Campus Solutions to replace Carolina’s outdated student software systems. This first phase of ERP will focus on the 16 campus academic units that manage student processes including admissions, financial aid, student accounts, advising and course registration. Implementation is set to begin in February.

“We need speed, accuracy and efficiency, and our old student information systems, most of which are older than many of our undergraduates, simply do not deliver,” said Shirley Ort, associate provost and director of scholarships and student aid, at the Sept. 12 kickoff.

The current student information systems essentially speak different languages, said Steve Farmer, assistant provost and director of undergraduate admissions. But the new PeopleSoft-based system will bridge the gaps among the various student systems and allow them to share information.

Last month the University announced plans to use the PeopleSoft infrastructure to upgrade the human resources, payroll and finance systems as well.

“We feel strongly that the campus has selected a software product that can provide ample support for each administrative area,” ERP project executive sponsors Bernadette Gray-Little, executive vice chancellor and provost, and Richard L. Mann, vice chancellor for finance and administration, said in a Sept. 4 memo to campus leaders.

The timeline for these later phases will be developed based on the student system implementation.

ERP represents the largest non-capital initiative in University history, Gray-Little said at the kickoff. “When ERP is implemented, it will bring the University into the 21st century in terms of our business practices,” she said. “It requires change in the way we think about doing things, and change in how we actually do them.”

Deloitte Consulting, the University’s implementation partner, is helping campus officials think through and execute the various components of this first phase of ERP.

“A group like Deloitte who has done something like this before is very important in providing the vision, the roadmap and the expertise we need to pull all these details together,” said Stephanie Szakal, assistant vice chancellor and executive director of the ERP project.

By 2009, the ERP change management team will begin offering training sessions with information tailored to faculty and staff affected
in the initial ERP implementation phase. Training will be offered both online and in a traditional classroom setting.

For information about the ERP initiative, refer to its.unc.edu/erp.

Input needed before extending smoke-free boundary

In July, the University’s medical facilities went smoke-free when UNC Health Care, the School of Medicine and Campus Health Services banned smoking anywhere on the property.

To protect the entire Carolina community from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke, Chancellor James Moeser is considering expanding the smoke-free zones on all University property.

As a result of legislation passed by the N.C. General Assembly this summer, Carolina administrators are authorized to extend the no-smoking boundaries to 100 feet from all University facilities, both on and off campus. Smoking in state-owned vehicles also would be prohibited.

While smoking inside University buildings and facilities has been banned for years, expanding the smoke-free zones outdoors could require significant behavioral changes. For that reason, the chancellor has sought input from faculty, staff and students before establishing a timeframe for an expanded policy.

“I took the policy to the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee, and it was their suggestion that we have a full discussion by faculty, employees and students,” Moeser told the Faculty Council at its Sept. 14 meeting. “We want to do what is right, but we also recognize the conflicting issues of personal freedom and public health.”

Moeser has asked the leaders of the Faculty Council, Employee Forum and Student Advisory Committee to the Chancellor to share with him any feedback regarding timing of the policy, issues to consider and ways administrators can work with the University community to ensure a smooth transition.

“I wholeheartedly support an expansion of our no-smoking policy because of its tremendous health benefits for the entire University community,” Moeser said to leaders of each group.

The Employee Forum has already supported an expanded no-smoking policy. At its May 2 meeting, the forum passed a resolution urging adoption of a smoke-free policy like that of UNC Health Care. The resolution called on Moeser to set Jan. 1, 2008, as the effective date for the proposed policy to go into effect.

In the forum’s response to Moeser last month, Chair Ernie Patterson asked the chancellor to act quickly to minimize any health risks from seccondhand smoke.

At its Sept. 14 meeting, the Faculty Council endorsed a resolution supporting the 100-foot smoke-free boundary with the request that administrators take into account the needs of those who are nicotine-dependent. The council also endorsed implementing the policy by Jan. 1, 2008.

“Those of us working in tobacco prevention and control are thrilled that the legislature gave the University this opportunity,” said Cathy Melvin, program director and senior research fellow at the Sheps Center for Health Services Research. “This is a well-tested and important way to encourage people to quit smoking. All the pieces are in place to do a good job to move in this direction.”

On Sept. 25 and 26, the Student Advisory Committee in conjunction with the Campus Y committee Table Talk and the Roosevelt Institute, an undergraduate public policy think tank, held forums seeking student input. The student committee will provide its feedback to Moeser on Oct. 4.

Class of ‘05 honors Carolina’s 9-11 victims

The enormity of the country’s loss on Sept. 11, 2001 is often measured by the number of people who perished at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon and in the Pennsylvania countryside.

For most of us, the many fleeting images of sorrow and grief seared into our collective memories reflect only part of the enormous pain the victims’ family members suffered.

Last month, family and friends of the six Carolina alumni who perished that day came together as the University dedicated the memorial garden that the Class of 2005 built to honor them.

Among those behind the project was class treasurer T.J. Abrams who recalled: “For us, the Class of 2005, just weeks into our first year at Carolina, they [the attacks] shocked us at a time when we were already experiencing change and uncertainty. For us, the events of Sept. 11 will always be connected to our Carolina experience.”

The family of Mary Lou Hague filled one of the rows of folding chairs at the ceremony. Pinned to their chests was a portrait of a beaming Mary Lou, revealing how she looked in 1996 in her graduation picture. Eleven years later, the picture was a reminder that she should be remembered as more than a name or number.

The family sat quietly with the others as the Army, Navy and Air Force ROTC Color Guard presented the colors while first-year student Michael Culotta of Cary played the national anthem on his trumpet.

Later, they listened through smiles and tears as 2005 Class President Jovian Irvin told how friends remembered Hague’s fun personality and “happy dance” and how she shouted “woohoo” when she started feeling the music. Hague was a financial analyst for Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. who worked on the 89th floor of the second tower in the World Trade Center.

Karleton Douglas Beye Fyfe had been a financial analyst with John Hancock Co. for nine months when he left his home in Brookline, Mass., to board American Airlines Flight 11. He grew up in Durham and graduated from Carolina in 1992.

“A friend wrote of Karleton,” Irvin said, “‘There are people you are proud to call friends and then there are people whose friends you are proud to be. I always felt I got the better end of our bargain.’”

Andrew Marshall King, who graduated in 1983, wore a kilt to display his pride in his Scottish heritage and a blue Tar Heels cap to show his pride in his alma mater, Irvin said. He was a partner and currency trader at Canton Fitzgerald in the North Tower.

One friend said of King, “He accomplished more in his 42 years than most people do in a lifetime.”

In the same Canton Fitzgerald office that morning was Ryan Ashley Kohart, who grew up on Long Island. A 1998 Carolina graduate, he was a four-year letterman on the lacrosse team and was the team’s co-captain. He loved to read, travel and collect fine wines.

Dora Menchaca was a research scientist and associate director for Amgen, a biotech firm. On the morning of Sept. 11, she was flying home to Santa Monica, Calif., on American Airlines Flight 77, the plane that hit the Pentagon.

She loved to garden and shared that passion with her daughter Imani and son Jaryd, who she left behind along with husband Earl. “She is remembered as a talented and beloved family member, friend and co-worker,” Irvin said.

Christopher Quackenbush was a founding principal in the investment-banking firm of Sandler O’Neill and Partners, with offices in the upper reaches of the South Tower. His parents, three of his four siblings and his niece graduated from Carolina. His grandfather was a Carolina professor for whom Quackenbush in 1996 established the Albert Ray Newsome Distinguished Professorship for the Study of the South.

A 1978 graduate, Quackenbush was a member of the University’s Board of Visitors. Through the years, he made contributions for many Carolina renovations. “He believed strongly in giving back to his alma mater and to his community in many ways, viewing it as his responsibility and an opportunity to do good things to help people and to spread joy,” Irvin said.

Located on Stadium Drive across from Carmichael Residence Hall, the memorial garden features twin stonewalls facing one another, as well as a bench, trees and plantings. The garden’s cornerstone bears a plaque with the names of the six Tar Heels.

Almost 400 members of the Class of 2005 contributed to the memorial. Together with alumni, parents, faculty and others, they raised about $45,000 for the memorial, which was designed by David Swanson of Swanson and Associates PA in Chapel Hill.

SECC KICKOFF: Carolina Cares, Giving for a Brighter Tomorrow

SECC kickoff

José-Marie Griffiths, dean of the School of Information and Library Science, and Chancellor James Moeser sign their SECC (State Employees Combined Campaign) pledges Oct. 1 at the campaign kickoff and charity fair at the FPG Student Union. Griffiths is chair of this year’s campaign: “Carolina Cares, Giving for a Brighter Tomorrow.” The University’s goal is $850,000. The SECC is the only charitable giving program authorized for the state employee workplace. Refer to the SECC Web site for campaign updates and to learn more about eligible charitable organizations: www.unc.edu/secc.

Schwab to chair chancellor search committee

Nelson Schwab III, the immediate past chair of the Board of Trustees, will chair the search committee to recommend a successor to Chancellor James Moeser.

Roger Perry, current board chair, and Karol Mason, the board’s vice chair, will serve as vice chairs of the 19-member committee, which also will represent students, faculty, staff and alumni.

Erskine Bowles, UNC system president, will charge the committee at its first organizational meeting at 3 p.m. Oct. 12 in the Wilson Library Assembly Room. The committee also will be briefed on open meetings laws and confidentiality. A second meeting has been scheduled at 1 p.m. Oct. 16 at the Paul J. Rizzo Conference Center at Meadowmont. The committee will interview three search firms.

Perry said the committee would conduct a national search to find the most qualified person, who might even be among the Carolina community now. “We want another great leader who shares the same ideals that James has of making this the leading public university in America and one whose primary mission is to educate and serve the people of North Carolina.”

Schwab said the search committee would hold two public forums on Oct. 26 and 30 where members of the Carolina community and the public could share the characteristics they hope to see in the next chancellor.

He said the committee would not leave any stone unturned and would work to make the search process as open and transparent as possible. A Web site, www.unc.edu/chan/special, will post updates on the search process.

The search committee eventually will recommend finalists to the full Board of Trustees, who vote on recommending finalists to Bowles. Bowles will recommend one candidate to the UNC Board of Governors, which elects the new chancellor.

Other search committee members are trustees Russell “Rusty” Carter of Wilmington, John Ellison Jr. of Greensboro and A. Donald Stallings of Rocky Mount, and Eve Carson of Athens, Ga., Carolina’s student body president and an ex officio board member.

Faculty members on the committee are Kenneth Broun, Henry Brandis Professor of Law and former law dean; Lisa Carey, associate professor of medicine in hematology-oncology; Bruce Carney, Samuel Baron Distinguished professor of physics and astronomy and senior associate dean for the sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences; James Johnson, director, Urban Investment Strategies Center, Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, and William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished professor of entrepreneurship in the Kenan-Flaglar Business School; and Joseph Templeton, faculty chair and Francis Preston Venable professor of chemistry.

Also on the committee are doctoral student Lauren Anderson, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Federation; Ernie Patterson, chair of the Employee Forum and biology department network manager; and Anna Wu, director of Facilities Planning.

Alumni represented are Julia Sprunt Grumbles of Chapel Hill, retired vice president of Turner Broadcasting; William B. Harrison Jr., of Greenwich, Conn., retired chair and director of JP Morgan Chase & Co.; Willard J. “Mike” Overlock Jr. of Greenwich, Conn., senior director of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and co-chair of the Carolina First Campaign; and Willis P. Whichard of Chapel Hill, former associate justice of the N.C. Supreme Court and former dean of the Campbell University law school.

Public policy institute director to speak Oct. 11

Joel Lawrence Fleishman, a triple-degree holder from Carolina and founding director of the Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University, will deliver the inaugural Thomas W. Lambeth Lectureship in Public Policy.

The free public lecture will be held Oct. 11 at 5:30 p.m. in 211 Chapman Hall.

Fleishman joined the Duke faculty in 1971 and has served as professor of law and public policy studies for the past 33 years. Today Fleishman, who is considered to be a founder of the public policy analysis academic field, is director of the Sanford Institute’s Heyman Center for Ethics, Public Policy and the Professions at Duke.

He previously served as a legal assistant to former N.C. Governor Terry Sanford, senior vice president of Duke University, president of Atlantic Philanthropies and chair of the board of trustees of the Urban Institute. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Public Administration.

Fleishman received bachelor’s, master’s and law degrees from Carolina, and a master’s degree in law from Yale University. He is a recipient of Carolina’s Order of the Golden Fleece and the Distinguished Service Medal of the General Alumni Association.

Fleishman is the author of “The Foundation: A Great American Secret; How Private Wealth Is Changing the World,” published this year.

The Lambeth Lectureship honors Thomas Willis Lambeth, a 1957 University alumnus, who worked for Sanford and later served for more than two decades as executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. In 2006, the lecture was endowed to bring to campus distinguished speakers who are practitioners and/or scholars of public policy.

For information, contact Pete Andrews, Thomas Willis Lambeth distinguished professor and chair of public policy, 843-5011 or pete_andrews@unc.edu.

Eating habits may change during pregnancy, study shows

Things are complicated when you’re pregnant. Your body looks different. Your habits change. For example, if you’ve been living with an eating disorder, you might find that it goes into remission during your pregnancy. On the other hand, if you’ve never had an eating disorder, you may be more vulnerable to developing one while you’re pregnant.

PHOTO: STEVE EXUM

According to a study led by Carolina’s Cynthia Bulik, professor of eating disorders in the School of Medicine and the nutrition department in the School of Public Health, health care professionals should be on the lookout for unhealthy changes in eating habits in pregnant women, especially those women with lower levels of education and income.

To get their results, Bulik and her colleagues at Carolina and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health followed 41,000 pregnant Norwegian women who were part of a population-based study that examined several public health aspects — from environmental exposures in pregnancy to autism to eating disorders, Bulik said. The women enrolled in the study during their 17- to 18-week ultrasound, and some have been involved for almost seven years; researchers plan to continue enrolling women until the cohort is 100,000 strong.

“We need to be very vigilant across the socioeconomic spectrum to screen for the development of disordered eating during pregnancy,” Bulik said. “It’s possible that pregnancy is even more stressful for women with poorer social support and resources, meaning that pregnancy becomes more of a vulnerability window for them.”

The researchers were surprised to find that many women who had never had binge eating disorder developed it once they became pregnant. Researchers also found that the women who already had binge eating disorder were more likely to continue binging than they were to go into remission.

But what is binge eating disorder? And how is it different from feeding a craving or simple overeating, something most of us have done at one time or another?

The main difference, Bulik said, is that people with binge eating disorder tend to lose all control with their eating, quickly consuming inordinately large portions of food on a regular basis, even when they are not hungry. They eat until they are past the point of being full and, out of embarrassment, they often eat alone. Unlike people with bulimia nervosa, binge eaters don’t vomit or otherwise purge the food they’ve eaten.

According to a 2007 survey from Harvard and McLean Hospital, binge eating disorder is the most common eating disorder, and it affects some 3.5 percent of U.S. citizens. It is a dangerous harbinger of various health problems, such as obesity, depression, insomnia, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

What is unknown, Bulik said, is what effect the mothers’ binge eating disorder will have on the children. She and her colleagues will follow the 100,000 women and their children into adolescence to see how and if fluctuating nutrients during gestation affect a child’s birth weight, development, or eating patterns.

Other Carolina authors of the study, which was published in the August issue of Psychological Medicine, include biostatistician Ann Von Holle; Robert Hamer, professor of psychiatry; Anna Maria Siega-Riz, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology; and Patrick F. Sullivan, professor of psychiatry and genetics.

Writer: Margarite Nathe
Editor: Neil Caudle

ECM system aids in paperless communications

A Carolina admissions application reviewer pulls up an applicant’s file on her computer to check that all the relevant documents are there: application, transcripts, letters of reference and correspondence. The application is complete. All the documents are scanned, converted to a PDF and attached to the applicant’s secure file.

Across campus, an administrative assistant is asked to collect information on what documents and links appear on his department’s Web site. He uses an automated report function to compile a complete list of what is known as “assets.”

Carolina is about to take an important step to make those scenarios a reality.

On Sept. 19, the University released a public request for information for enterprise-class document management and Web content management applications, two key components of what is commercially known as an enterprise content management (ECM) system.

An ECM provides a single system that manages and delivers content including documents, Web pages, brochures, digital images and electronic forms, much the same way an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system streamlines data transactions and services across an entire organization. An ECM is essential to create a paperless communications system.

“An ECM system is a structured repository where content can be stored in a single Web-
accessible place,” said Stephanie Szakal, assistant vice chancellor for Enterprise Resource Planning. “It establishes a workflow for creating, editing and managing content.”

The University has formed an ECM project committee, and Provost Bernadette Gray-Little has asked the group to evaluate and select a campuswide system that meets the University’s broad information management needs in terms of document and Web content management.

“We expect the new enterprise solution to provide broad functionality and to meet the variety of needs across campus in an integrated manner,” said DeAhn Baucom, director of the Office of Student Accounts and University Receivables and chair of the ECM project committee. “We are moving to a more paperless way of doing business.”

It is also important that the new system is able to interact seamlessly with the University’s ERP software, she said.

“We’ve identified several areas within the University’s ERP student implementation that will benefit greatly from an ECM solution,” she said. “It makes sense to ensure that the two will be able to work together and talk to each other moving forward.”

The second part of the committee’s charge is evaluating ECM systems based on their Web content management capability. The University plans to select an application that will support efforts to improve the University’s presence on the World Wide Web.

“There has been a great deal of interest and demand across campus for a Web content management system,” said Audrey Ward, assistant vice chancellor for Information Technology Services communications. “The ECM will provide a long-awaited and much needed way to effectively and efficiently manage University Web sites.”

The application will play a key role in the redesign of the University’s main site and allow for centralized control of branding, site architecture, navigation and presentation. As a result, the University’s home page and other top-level pages will have a consistent look and clear navigation. It will also give editors across campus who may have limited time and/or technical ability a manageable tool for publishing and managing high-quality Web content.

Vendors will have one month to respond to the request for information, and the committee plans to choose a solution by the end of the year.

Virtual reality tour

virtual reality

Charlie Green, from Information Technology Services, dons head gear before he embarks on a virtual reality tour. The tours were offered in conjunction with the Oct. 3 Games4Learning Symposium, which explored multiplayer online and computer games and their use in the curriculum at UNC. To join a community of interest, see LearnIT.unc.edu/Games4Learning.

Honors program gift yields expansion, creation of 5 professorships

A $5 million gift will increase the number of first-year students in Carolina’s honors program by 30 percent and recognize the contributions of two alumni by creating five new professorships in their names.

The gift, from an anonymous donor, qualifies for a $2.5 million grant from the North Carolina Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust, bringing the gift’s total value to $7.5 million when matching state funds become available.

These recent professorships will allow the honors program to offer more courses. They will honor Peter T. Grauer, who earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 1968, and William B. Harrison Jr., a 1966 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

Grauer is chair and president of Bloomberg LP in New York and has chaired the honors advisory board in the College of Arts and Sciences since July 1997.

Harrison, retired chair of JPMorganChase and Co., received the William R. Davie Award in 2004, the highest honor bestowed by the Board of Trustees. Both men live in Greenwich, Conn., with their families.

The gift expands a program that has long been nationally recognized by The Fiske Guide to Colleges as “one of the best and most accessible in the country.” Established in 1954, the program continues to serve as a national model for universities.

“This generous gift provides the means for more great faculty to offer students an especially rich academic experience through special seminars and undergraduate courses,” said Chancellor James Moeser.

Of the 3,800 students in the Class of 2011, 200 first-year students were invited to join Carolina’s honors program. With the five new professorships — and more available honors courses — 260 students in future classes will receive invitations.

“Thanks to this gift, we will be able to greatly enhance Carolina’s ability to recruit top undergraduate students. We’re particularly excited by the fact that it will help us keep more of North Carolina’s best and brightest here at home,” said James Leloudis, associate dean for honors.

Any of the 120 honors courses are open on a space-available basis to all students with a “B” average. Students who are not invited to join the program may apply during their first three semesters.

The gift puts the Carolina First Campaign over its goal of creating 200 endowed professorships; these latest five professorships make a total of 204 during the comprehensive, multi-year, private fundraising campaign that has raised more than $2 billion to support Carolina’s vision of becoming the nation’s leading public university.

Kenan-Flagler ranked 6th amid MBA programs

The Wall Street Journal ranked the Kenan-Flagler Business School sixth in its national ranking of MBA programs based on surveys of corporate recruiters, up from 8th in 2006.

Among “most improved schools,” recruiters ranked Kenan-Flagler seventh in a tie with London Business School.Recruiters cited the schools’ integration of academic disciplines, increased attention to interpersonal and leadership skills, international content and practical experiential learning.

Among recruiters’ rankings by industry, Kenan-Flagler was:

Second in health-care products and services;

Second in technology/telecommunications/Internet;

Eighth in management consulting; and

Ninth in consumer products.

The rankings are based on recruiters’ perceptions of the school and its students on 21 attributes, recruiters’ plans to recruit at the schools and hire their graduates, and the number of recruiters who said they recruited at the schools.

The complete rankings, including rankings for international and regional schools, were published in the Sept. 17 edition of the newspaper. For information, refer to www.careerjournal.com/reports/bschool07.

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