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November 14 , 2007 edition TOP STORIES: In his nominating letter for the Massey Award, Marcus Bullett wrote: “Terry Bowers is one of the most valuable employees that the University of North Carolina could ever ask for.” In the four years he had known Bowers, Bullett continued, he had yet to meet another employee who cared about the students, the University or his job more. “He has always stepped up to any challenge without complaining,” Bullett said, and he is always the first to step up whenever there is an emergency. Beginning Jan. 1, 2008, smoking will not be allowed within 100 feet of all outdoor areas controlled by the University, both on and off campus. That includes any facility in which the University leases the entire space. The smoking ban also applies to state-owned vehicles. In addition, there will be no designated University smoking areas. Faculty members recognize that many strong leaders in higher education have come from backgrounds outside the academy, particularly politics and business. But they also believe that such leaders are the exception rather than the rule, and a gamble not worth taking when choosing Carolina’s 10th chancellor. That was one sentiment expressed by faculty who spoke before the Chancellor Search Committee at the Oct. 30 forum. In this second of three forums the committee is holding, faculty, staff and students expressed their feelings about the kind of chancellor they would like to see when Chancellor James Moeser steps down next summer. Noted journalist and policy expert Hodding Carter III, a professor of leadership and public policy at Carolina, will deliver the December commencement address. Chancellor James Moeser will preside at the ceremony set for 2 p.m. Dec. 16 in the Dean E. Smith Center. Moeser selected Carter in close consultation with the University’s speaker selection committee. The committee, chaired by Executive Associate Provost Steve Allred, is also made up of four students, the faculty chair, the faculty secretary and two distinguished faculty members. The Office of University Relations wants to know more about the ways you use print, online and e-mail sources for the information about Carolina you need and want. We want to know what type of information is most meaningful to you and what format(s) you prefer. This feedback will help with general communication with faculty and staff, and it will be instrumental in planning for a redesign of the University Gazette and information for the Gazette’s Web site. Please take a few minutes to
respond to a short survey of 10 questions. The survey is completely
anonymous, so be candid. You can complete the form
online at: ir.unc.edu/communications/ There is no known safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Adults who are exposed to secondhand smoke experience immediate adverse effects on their cardiovascular systems, which can lead to coronary heart disease. These are among the conclusions of the U.S. Surgeon General’s 2006 report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke. The report concludes that even short-term exposure to tobacco smoke is hazardous, said Adam Goldstein, professor of family medicine and director of the School of Medicine’s Tobacco Prevention and Evaluation Program. “In the past, we thought there had to be cumulative, long-term exposure to tobacco smoke to be harmful, but that isn’t what the surgeon general’s report shows,” he said. “The more we’re exposed to secondhand smoke, the worse it is, so there is no safe threshold. That’s why the new policy at UNC is so beneficial; it removes that risk of exposure to secondhand smoke.” Beginning Jan. 1, 2008, smoking will not be allowed within 100 feet of all facilities controlled by the University, both on and off campus. That includes any facility in which the University leases the entire space. The smoking ban also applies to state-owned vehicles. In addition, there will be no designated University smoking areas. The practical effect of the policy is that Carolina will be smoke-free, Chancellor James Moeser said when he announced the new policy. “It isn’t simply a choice of whether to smoke or not smoke, but a choice not to be exposed to secondhand smoke at all. Essentially, if you can smell smoke whatsoever, you have raised your risk for cancer and heart disease,” Goldstein said. “This policy is a big step for our university, and it shows real leadership for the entire nation.” CONTACT THE GAZETTE: |
More Stories
Send us your pet stories: fur, feathers, fins They had always been dog people. So when their 8-year-old said she wanted a guinea pig, they really didn’t know what to expect. The man at the pet store was very reassuring. Guinea pigs are a lot like people, he said. They enjoy two things: sitting around and eating. Armed with that information, Spunky the guinea pig (pictured below) came home with them.
Just as the man from the store predicted, Spunky spent most of his days lounging against the corner of his cage or hunkered down in his tube, with just the tip of his nose peeking out from his plastic “cave.” Only at mealtime did he dart out of his tube and race to his bowl. Of course, as Spunky enjoyed this lifestyle, he blossomed, so to speak. So much so that he got stuck in his tube — which was replaced with a super-sized version. All was good again. Spunky, who probably should have been named Mellow, showed that a pet does not have to bark, lick your face in energetic greeting or race around the yard on squirrel patrol. A pet can simply be part of your life and provide a non-human way to connect with, and care for, another being. This story illustrates that pets come in all varieties. Most families have stories to tell of the role their pet(s) play, or played, in their lives — and how these members of their extended families have enriched their lives. We’d love to hear your story as part of the Gazette’s annual December writing assignment. Whether traditional companion animal or something out of the ordinary, share your pet’s story and we will print selected anecdotes in our Dec. 12 issue. Don’t hesitate to make us smile, laugh out loud or say a collective “awwww.” Everyone who submits a tale will be included in a drawing for great prizes from Carolina Performing Arts, the Carolina Inn and PlayMakers Repertory Company. Winners’ names will be published in the December issue as well. E-mail your stories of no more than 150 words to gazette@unc.edu. Be sure to tell us if you have a photo that might illustrate your story, too.
Faculty advocate for partnerships to benefit state The welfare of North Carolina depends largely on creating partnerships between UNC system universities and the communities of North Carolina. That message was repeated throughout the Nov. 2 UNC Tomorrow listening forum in which faculty members from the Triangle’s public universities and the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics shared their views on North Carolina’s pressing issues in the next two decades. The forum was part of a series of public, community and university discussions sponsored by UNC General Administration to identify the state’s needs and help implement solutions. Speakers advocated forging sustainable partnerships that use the knowledge generated by universities to address the state’s pressing business, social, educational and environmental issues. “We have to get the knowledge off the hill and into the community in the form of a partnership,” said Gary Nelson, director of the Center for Aging Research and Educational Services in Carolina’s School of Social Work. Specifically, speakers wanted the state’s public universities to differentiate their missions as they prepared to take on real-world problems. Issues that topped the list of needs that faculty members expressed included defragmenting public mental health services, addressing the primary health-care needs of people in rural and underserved areas, preparing North Carolinians for an entrepreneurial economy, enhancing technology transfer and creating translational research opportunities. Make teaching desirable The impact of an effective teacher on the life path of a child should not be underestimated, said Suzanne Gulledge, clinical professor in Carolina’s School of Education and a member of the Faculty Council. “But we have to make teaching attractive and sustainable if we want to keep people in the classroom,” she said. “The future of our university system is contingent on the quality of our K-12 education.” As the state prepares for the estimated 34,000 public school teachers it will need by 2014, it is crucial to make teaching a career of choice, not the “next type of migrant labor,” said Jim Martin, professor of chemistry and chair of the faculty at N.C. State. Speakers suggested expanding study abroad and language-immersion programs, offering mentoring opportunities and sabbaticals, and generating an excitement of learning by keeping scholars and researchers in the classroom. Previous forums held across the state also raised concerns about K-12 education, said Thomas Ricketts, professor of health policy and administration and social medicine and a member of the UNC Tomorrow Scholars Council. “There is a real sense of trust in our university system as a place where the hard problems can be solved,” he said. “The people of North Carolina trust us to make the future better for us all.” Health issues George Sheldon, Distinguished Professor of surgery and research professor of social medicine, said universities have to forge a connection with the state’s community colleges, particularly in helping people with basic training prepare for higher-level careers in health care. “There has to be a seamless evolution through related career paths.” Lee McLean, associate dean and chair of allied health sciences, emphasized that many of the people universities train today are the community college teachers of tomorrow and this “supply line of future faculty” is crucial. Thomas Bacon, director of the N.C. Area Health Education Centers Program, reinforced the expanding need to put people and medical training opportunities where they are needed most across the state. Jim Porto, clinical assistant professor in Carolina’s School of Public Health, raised an issue that UNC President Erskine Bowles said had not been mentioned in previous forums: disaster management. “North Carolina will undoubtedly have more frequent, intense disasters in the future, and we need to be prepared with a cadre of people trained in disaster management,” said Porto, director of the disaster management program. “No matter what vocation we choose, our workers have to be prepared to deal with disasters.” Forum summaries “We tend to think year by year because that’s the way we are funded by the legislature,” he said. For information about UNC Tomorrow, including a summary of the group’s findings to date, refer to www.nctomorrow.org. First Faculty Engaged Scholars selected From developing a journalism “bucket brigade” to enhancing life and learning via computer technology for people who have disabilities, eight Carolina faculty will apply their teaching and research to practical problems in new ways. These faculty members have been selected as Carolina’s first class of Faculty Engaged Scholars. In this two-year program, the scholars will apply their skills to make a difference in a particular community as they connect their work with the needs of the community. The Faculty Engaged Scholars, selected through a campuswide competitive process, are addressing a variety of social, cultural, educational and communication problems:
Each scholar will receive a financial stipend of up to $7,500 per year for each of the two years. “As the nation’s first state university, Carolina has a strong tradition of serving the people of North Carolina and the nation,” said Mike Smith, vice chancellor for public service and engagement and dean of the School of Government. “The Faculty Engaged Scholars program will support faculty members who want to join their many colleagues who already are collaborating with communities to apply their scholarly work to the state’s challenges.” The program is a new initiative of Carolina Center for Public Service and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Public Service and Engagement to advance faculty involvement in the scholarship of engagement. Ronald Strauss will serve as faculty director and Lucille Webb as community director. “This program aims to recognize and reward these faculty, create and sustain a community of engaged scholars from diverse perspectives, and to continue to build Carolina as an institution committed to strong university-community relationships,” said Lynn Blanchard, director of the Carolina Center for Public Service.
Replacing retiring faculty gives challenges, opportunities When James Moeser steps down as chancellor next year, he will leave a record of accomplishment — from the successful completion of the Carolina First Campaign to the launch of the Carolina Covenant to his stewardship over an unprecedented level of campus construction. But, as he admitted in his 2006 State of the University speech, Moeser will also leave one “big, hairy audacious goal”: the challenge of generating $1 billion in research funding by 2015. That looming challenge has Robert Lowman worried. But he is also optimistic. And he has good reason to be both. Lowman, associate vice chancellor for research, documented the cause of his worry in a white paper, “Meeting the Challenge of a Changing Workforce,” detailing how Carolina will be faced with replacing an unprecedented number of aging faculty members over the next decade. He is worried because every top research university in the country will be faced with exactly the same problem and will aggressively recruit many of the same top-level candidates to replace their aging stars that Carolina will. “We want the very best, most able people we can recruit,” Lowman said. “That is the key to being a successful research university, and ideally, we’d like to continue to get better and better and better, and that is why the hiring decisions we make in the next 10 years are going to be so critical. “Those hiring decisions will either put UNC-Chapel Hill on a course to sustain or enhance its reputation as a research university or to level off or even decline if we are not successful at hiring the best and brightest of this next generation.” In fiscal 2006-07, 41 percent of Carolina’s tenured and tenure-track faculty were age 55 or older, a jump from 29 percent only 10 years before. Based on current numbers, at least 500 tenured faculty members can be expected to retire in the next 10 years. Lowman wrote the paper for Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for research and economic development, not knowing that Moeser would draw from it for his annual speech. Factors in our favor “I have talked to a lot of people at colleges and universities around the country, and I don’t know if there is something in the water here or what, but this is a place that is perceived to be a very special place by a lot of people,” Lowman said. “When faculty arrive here, and I talk to them after they have been here a relatively short period of time, I hear them talking about the collaborative environment here, the collegiality that they feel among their faculty colleagues, the ease with which they have been able to establish new contacts and potential collaborators for their research.” Lowman credited Carolina’s deans of the medical school for their contributions. “We have been blessed with visionary leaders in our School of Medicine who understood the importance, from a scientific standpoint, of being an integral part of the University with everything that that entails.” The University’s centers and institutions including the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and the Carolina Population Center also rely on collaborative endeavors. “These centers exist to foster multi- disciplinary collaboration and they have been phenomenally successful,” Lowman said. “They work on the basis of an interest in a problem rather than what disciplinary background you happen to come from.” Lowman said the Carolina campus itself was another major reason collaboration was such a part of the culture. “Our health affairs campus and our academic affairs campus are one. We’re contiguous. We’re all right here.” That may not seem like much of an advantage, Lowman said, until you go elsewhere where the medical schools are separated from the rest of campus, not by feet, but miles. An extreme example is Cornell, where the university is in Ithaca and the medical school is in Manhattan. “Having that easy availability for meetings and conferences and being able to get together and go eyeball to eyeball in conversations is a tremendous advantage, and so is being able to hire graduate students who can easily go back and forth from one lab to the other.” That proximity may have once been an historical accident, but construction over the past decade has been guided by a new campus master plan predicated on the principle of physically connecting the north and sound areas of campus to foster stronger ties between academic affairs and health affairs, Lowman said. The Carolina Physical Science Complex, at the center of campus on what was once considered the boundary between health affairs and academic affairs, is an example of how new construction has fostered that connectedness. Lowman also said department chairs and school deans were finding more ways to incorporate interdisciplinary and multi- disciplinary research into decisions about tenure and promotion. Adequate compensation He understands that professors, like everyone who works for a living, have to pay attention to their paychecks and that a positive working environment is only half the battle in the competition for the best. Lowman credits the UNC Board of Governors and University Board of Trustees for recognizing this challenge and establishing a goal to raise pay for tenured and tenured-track faculty to the 80th percentile of their peers. “We’ve got a tremendous building program that has given us state-of-the-art facilities, but we’ve still got to be able to offer more competitive salaries and fringe benefits because great facilities and collegiality can only take us so far,” Lowman said. “If somebody else offers you 50 percent more money, it’s hard to turn that down. So money clearly has to play a major role in our success in attracting that best and brightest cohort of faculty members for the next generation. That is a key issue.” A changing professorate From 1996-97 to 2006-07, total faculty at Carolina increased by more than 30 percent — from 2,506 to 3,272 — while the number of tenured and tenure-track faculty actually dropped by 4.3 percent — from 1,793 to 1,716. This pattern, Lowman said, is the unintended consequence of the University’s burgeoning research enterprise. Most of Carolina’s fixed-term faculty are research appointments and are typically paid out of research grants or other non-continuous funding sources. At the same time, Carolina has a growing number of clinical professors paid out of income generated from patient care. Lowman said the change has not had much effect up to this point, but he sees embedded in this structural shift in the academic workforce a potential threat to academic freedom. “You don’t want to be in the position of having research faculty members reluctant to take on controversial research subjects or publish findings that may be controversial because they fear for their jobs,” Lowman said. A major rationale for having tenure is to protect academic freedom so that professors can speak out and write within their areas of expertise secure in the knowledge their jobs are protected, he said. “That is one reason tenure has been such a cherished and important norm within American higher education.” Lowman also worries that the declining number of tenure-track openings could deter the best and brightest from coming to Carolina for what they might perceive as dead-end, fixed-term appointments. “We want to make sure there is enough of a perception among the people we hire that there is a permeability in the boundaries between a research faculty member and a tenure-track faculty member that we can hire the best and brightest across the board,” he said. Going global “It is hard to be a global university if all of your faculty members are American,” Lowman said. “That doesn’t exactly send the right message to potential students who want to learn to live in a new global society.” Since all major U.S. universities want to become global universities, Carolina will face formidable competition for these professors, he said. “We’re starting to see universities in other countries start to compete successfully for American-born faculty,” Lowman said. “So this street goes in both directions.” Enrollment growth “We pride ourselves here in a strong undergraduate tradition of teaching, and I personally very much subscribe to the philosophy that the best scientists, scholars and artists are oftentimes the best, most exciting teachers because they are state-of-the-art themselves,” Lowman said. However, many large research universities have had to hire a growing number of part-time, temporary instructors when budgets have not kept pace with enrollment growth, Lowman said. So far, that has not been a problem at Carolina. “We keep class sizes smaller. We have our first-year seminars that get our freshmen directly in contact with leading professors,” he said. “But maintaining that contact between our faculty and our students at a time of enrollment growth — and at a time when we know a large percentage of our faculty is going to retire and leave the workforce — is going to be a tremendous challenge for us.” On the other hand Currently, about 90 percent of faculty members have retired by the age of 70. But that doesn’t mean the pattern will continue. Take, for example, Nobel Prize-winning Oliver Smithies, who is well into his 80s and has said he has no intention of retiring because he loves what he does. Whatever happens, Lowman remains reasonably optimistic about Carolina’s chances to attract great faculty that will keep this a great university. “It is still going to be a lot of work,” Lowman said. “There are going to be a lot of search committees for people to serve on over the next eight years to get it right. But frankly, faculty hiring in my personal opinion is the most important decision that a department chair and a dean make. Our research and teaching reputations rest squarely on the shoulders of the faculty we hire. “The faculty we hire may be with us 30 years. And if we hire the right people, we want them to stay, we want them to prosper and we want them to develop their careers and their intellectual capabilities and bring glory to the University as well as create that dynamite environment to teach students.”
New faculty come to Carolina, thanks to special fund
Howard “I was very attracted to the quality faculty and administration in the School of Social Work, considered one of the top programs in the country. It is such an exciting and productive environment in which to do work that can affect policy on a broad scale,” said Howard, Frank A. Daniels Distinguished Professor for Human Services Policy Information in the school. Howard, whose extensive research interests include the physical and mental health aspects of drug abuse, came to Carolina last spring from the University of Michigan. He was recruited through a special $5 million fund initiated by UNC President Erskine Bowles and made possible by the N.C. General Assembly. With the fund, designed to recruit and retain faculty members across the UNC system, Carolina used $1 million to successfully recruit nine faculty members and retain six others. Currently, Howard is studying inhalant abuse among adolescents, particularly those using glue and gasoline, through a federally funded grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This is a prevalent, although hidden, form of substance abuse among adolescents, he said. This research, and other studies Howard is undertaking on the mental health and substance abuse behavior in incarcerated youth and adults, could help determine possible methods for substance abuse treatment and care for antisocial children and adults. Howard holds a Ph.D. and M.S.W. from the University of Washington–Seattle, and a master’s of science degree in psychology from Western Washington University. The following new faculty members were among those recruited through the special fund.
Nancy Allbritton She has doctorate degrees in physics, medical engineering and medicine from MIT and Johns Hopkins. At Carolina, she is the Paul Debreczeny Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, working with the Institute for Advanced Materials and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Michael Reiter As the Lawrence M. Slifkin Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, he will develop a new program in computer security. A Morehead scholar who graduated first in the class of 1989, Reiter earned a doctorate from Cornell. He taught at Carnegie Mellon University and was director of Secure Systems Research at Bell Laboratories at Lucent Technologies. He is editor-in-chief of the journal ACM Transactions on Information and Computer Security. Stefan Litwin He is a professor of contemporary music and interpretation at the Hochschule fur Musik Saar, one of the top colleges in Germany. He previously served as a distinguished artist-in- residence at Christ College at Cambridge University and as a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin. Litwin performs regularly with renowned conductors and orchestras. He holds a doctorate in music from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Simon Blackburn Blackburn is a fellow of the British Academy and is an expert on the philosophy of the mind, including language, psychology, metaphysics, metaethics and science. He is the author of many publications, including The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Think, Being Good, Lust, Truth: A Guide for the Perplexed and Plato’s Republic (2006).
Aging research retreat
Margaret Dardess, associate vice chancellor for strategic alliances, presents opening remarks before a campus retreat on aging Oct. 29. More than 115 leading researchers in aging at UNC gathered to discuss the depth, breadth, interdisciplinary linkages and future direction of the University’s aging research. The retreat was organized by the Institute on Aging in collaboration with the Center for Aging and Health at the request of Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for research and economic development.
Flu case confirmed in North Carolina; slots still open for flu shots at UNC The state’s first case of flu this season — Type A — has been confirmed by state officials. Of the two types of influenza that commonly infect humans, Type A is generally more serious than Type B, N.C. Epidemiologist Jeff Engel said. The good news is that this year’s vaccine is targeted at this particular type of flu, he said. Type A has accounted for a large percentage of flu cases in the southern hemisphere during flu season. The other good news is that there is plenty of flu vaccine to go around. In partnership with the State Health Plan, flu shots are being offered for Carolina employees only through Dec. 5. Shots are free to employees covered under the State Health Plan, or one of the state’s preferred provider organization (PPO) plans. Non-members will pay $25 by cash or check at the time of vaccination and obtain reimbursement from their insurance company. At the time of the appointment, be prepared to present the State Health Plan/PPO card along with a photo ID. An e-mail reminder will be sent two days prior to appointments. See below for a list of the times and locations for the clinics. Register online at ehs.unc.edu. For more information, call 962-5507. Flu shot clinics (All run 8 am-5 pm)
Employees can receive help with E-Pay transition In early 2008, Payroll Services will discontinue distribution of paper paychecks and all employees will be paid through direct deposit. In April, the paper pay stubs will be discontinued and employees will access their pay information via the Web. The last paycheck or pay stub in October included information about this change. To help employees make the transition, the Finance Division is providing training about enrolling in direct deposit and accessing electronic pay stubs. The sessions also will include information about creating Onyen accounts (the campus sign-on name provided to Carolina faculty, staff and students) and managing passwords, both of which employees will need to access their electronic pay stubs. Separate training sessions on checking account maintenance are also available. Training sessions are scheduled in the following locations, which are accessible by Chapel Hill Transit:
Information on Onyen account management and the E-Pay process will be offered at 9:35 a.m., 11:35 a.m., 1:35 p.m. and 3:35 p.m. Checking account maintenance sessions will be offered on the same dates at 8:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Employees also can receive information without attending a training session. Representatives from local banks and credit unions will be outside the training rooms to answer questions or help employees set up a direct deposit account. Information about University and community financial resources will also be available. For more information about E-Pay, refer to www.unc.edu/finance/payroll/epay/index.htm or contact Stephanie Kidd at slkidd@email.unc.edu or 843-0383. Registration is not required for any of the training sessions. For more information about the training, contact financetrainer@unc.edu or call 843-3069.
The symbol of altruism
A metal pelican sculpture now presides over the rooftop garden of the Carrington Hall addition, the sustainable landscape that captures 70 percent of rainwater that falls on the building. Fabricated by Carrboro artist Mike Roig, the pelican was commissioned by the Class of 1967 in memory of Cheryl “Sparkie” Alexander. Not only was the pelican Alexander’s favorite animal, but it also represents altruism, a key component of the nursing profession. (Contributed photo)
Sit in on ‘A Conversation with Ted Turner’ Nov. 19 Former PBS President Pat Mitchell will interview Ted Turner, the pioneering founder of CNN, about his work, philanthropy and life in “A Conversation with Ted Turner.” The free public program will take place at 4 p.m. Nov. 19 in Memorial Hall. Turner comes to Carolina as the Frey Foundation Distinguished Visiting Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences. The Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative will co-sponsor the program. As owner and chair of Turner Broadcasting System Inc. (TBS Inc.), Turner launched some of the most recognized brands in the world, including flagship TBS Superstation (TBS), Turner Network Television (TNT), Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Cartoon Network. Turner’s most successful network, CNN, the world’s first 24-hour cable news network, revolutionized news media practices with its “all news, all the time” format and attention to international coverage. TBS Inc. and its various networks and brands are now owned by Time Warner. Currently, Turner chairs the Turner Foundation, which supports efforts to improve air and water quality, develop a sustainable energy future, maintain wildlife habitat protection and develop practices and policies to curb population growth rates. He co-chairs the Nuclear Threat Initiative and chairs the United Nations Foundation and Turner Enterprises Inc. He is a partner in DT Solar, a provider of solar energy technology. In 2000, Mitchell became the first woman to be president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Today she is president and CEO of The Paley Center for Media (formerly The Museum of Television and Radio), with locations in New York City and Los Angeles. The Paley Center’s assortment of radio, television and advertising content serves as a lens for exploring the impact of media on life, culture and society. The center is home to an international collection of more than 140,000 programs covering almost 100 years of television and radio history. During Mitchell’s 30-year career as a journalist, producer and media executive, her work has received 44 Emmy Awards and two Academy Award nominations. She is vice chair of the Sundance Institute board; a founding member of Mikhail Gorbachev’s global environmental organization, Global Green USA; a member of the Human Rights Watch board of directors; a member of the Mayo Clinic’s board of trustees; and on the corporate boards of Bank of America, Participant Productions and Sun Microsystems Inc. The Frey Foundation Professorship was established in 1989 to bring to campus distinguished leaders from a variety of fields. The late Edward J. and Frances Frey of Grand Rapids, Mich., established the foundation in 1974. Their son, alumnus David Gardner Frey, chairs the foundation.
Employee Forum changes cycle for officers’ terms In past years, the end of the calendar year has marked the season of transition for the Employee Forum. Typically, in November the forum nominated candidates for upcoming officers, and in December the slate of candidates gave speeches, members voted and the new officers were announced. December also marked the last meeting for those delegates whose four-year terms were coming to an end. That changed at the Nov. 7 forum meeting, thanks to a new policy the forum approved to put the election cycle of delegates and officers in sync with the fiscal year, said Employee Forum Chair Ernie Patterson. It made sense for a new chair to take office at the start of a new fiscal year, not midway through it, he said. To accommodate that change, delegates whose terms would have expired in December will continue to serve on the board through the end of June, as will the board officers. The forum also swore in new delegates to fill the terms of delegates whose participation had dropped off because of work commitments or other factors. Patterson said it was normal to have about a dozen vacant positions out of the 60 delegate positions as delegates neared the end of their terms. With the extended terms, he said, it was important to fill out the roster with people who wanted to serve. The new delegates include some familiar faces, such as former chair Tommy Griffin and former vice chair Katherine Graves. Other new delegates are Megan Bell, Laurie Norman, Jonathan Stephenson, Joe Marro, Donna Brooks, Charles Streeter, Zach Fisher, Dan Barmmer and Pat Bigelow. Another new policy calls for the outgoing chair to remain on the forum an additional year even if the person’s four-year term as a forum delegate expired. Patterson, who will be the first to stay on an extra year based on the new policy, said the change was made to ensure a smoother transition and better continuity. Issues to address Patterson said the issues raised would be referred to appropriate committees, which would use the comments as a basis to present their priorities for the coming year at the December meeting. Most of the issues raised were not new, but one common theme seemed to be a call for better communication — among delegates themselves, between Human Resources and employees, and between the forum and the wider University community. Jackie Overton, a staff development specialist with Public Safety, began the discussion by joking that one thing that could not be discussed was parking. Then, on a serious note, she said that one of her pet peeves was not starting meetings on time. She also insisted that she would like to “see some sense of respect and civility restored to the forum.” She also suggested that the forum “let go of the things we can’t change and focus on the things we can.” Delegates also said that information about benefits should be communicated as plainly as possible because of the range of literacy levels among employees. Vice Chair David Brannigan said the forum needed to consider a newspaper of its own so that it could print its message instead of relying on the Gazette. Since its October meeting, the forum has published a special edition of its electronic “In Touch” newsletter devoted exclusively to the issue of collective bargaining, available at forum.unc.edu. Michael McQuown, a media technician with the School of Public Health, said the forum had passed a number of resolutions on a range of issues the past year, and it needed to do a better job of following up on each resolution to see whether it had accomplished its intended effect. McQuown was instrumental in crafting the language for many of the resolutions. There was considerable discussion about how to recognize employees for their service in a way that seemed more real and warm, less cold and impersonal. Jill Crowder, administrative assistant in Grounds Services, said she received a paper from Human Resources that was a black-and-white photocopy and included a stamped-on signature from Brenda Malone, associate vice chancellor for human resources. Cutting costs is a good idea, Crowder said, but it should not be done in a way that cheapened a gesture intended to make employees feel valued and appreciated. “That was so insulting I threw it in the garbage,” Crowder said. Malone did not take issue with Crowder’s criticism. “This is why this is so helpful,” Malone said. “I didn’t even know I sent (the letter) out.”
Council examines priority registration, research funding Some Carolina students are eligible to register for courses ahead of their classmates. Known as priority registration, it is a common practice among universities to accommodate students with special needs and students whose university requirements or obligations create unusual academic challenges. While most universities have such a system, the structure varies from school to school, said Steve Reznick, director of developmental psychology and chair of the Priority Registration Task Force. “Our current system is really a complex web of permissions, traditions and precedents,” Reznick said at the Nov. 9 Faculty Council meeting. “This task force wants to replace that system with a transparent, regulated one with systematic oversight.” Conversations about fine-tuning Carolina’s system began last fall with the Faculty Committee on Athletics, which established the task force. Athletes who practice the maximum 20 hours per week allowed by the NCAA are eligible for priority registration consideration. Other groups that might be eligible include students with disabilities, students studying abroad and students whose majors require a practicum or clinic for licensure, such as education, nursing and allied health. Under the new proposal, a University official responsible for potentially eligible students would forward students’ names and a rationale to the University Registrar. A tally and the rationale statements, but not the names of the students, would then be sent to the Priority Registration Advisory Committee (PRAC) for final determination. Meetings of the PRAC and its decisions would be public. In general, no more than 25 percent of the seats in each course section would be available for priority registration, according to the proposal. Students who were granted permission to register early would be moved to the head of their cohort. For example, juniors given priority status would register ahead of other juniors, but not before seniors. Concerns raised by the council included whether non-priority students would be closed out of required courses for their majors, whether individuals, not only groups, should be able to qualify for priority status and whether students’ extracurricular obligations should be singled out over academic ones. The Office of Faculty Governance plans to establish an online discussion board for faculty members to air additional questions or concerns. In December, the council will consider the task force’s proposal, which has been endorsed by the athletics committee, the Educational Policy Committee and Student Government representatives. If adopted, the task force recommended that the process be considered “a four-year experiment” and reviewed again at that time. Future research directions “I’m sure we would probably prefer not to set a dollar goal because that sends a message that we only care about money and not the quality of research and its impact. But it provides something concrete,” said Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for research and economic development. Reaching that goal, though, was complicated by reduced resources and greater competition for available funding, panelists said. The nature of business as usual has changed, said Harvey Seim, chair of the Faculty Research Committee. In marine sciences, where he is associate professor and director, Seim said National Science Foundation (NSF) funding had fallen from 30 percent to less than 10 percent. “We’re on this wheel and running but we’re never being terribly productive,” he said. “Interdisciplinary research is where new money seems to be. You need to figure out how to make yourself look attractive, but this is a different business than writing a straight NSF grant. It means reaching across campus, to other campuses or to private industry to find additional resources.” Peggy Bentley, associate dean for global health, agreed that faculty should take advantage of their strengths in collaborative research. “That is the competitive edge we need to pursue.” The School of Public Health, for example, has identified four areas of emphasis that play on the school’s existing strengths, she said. “It isn’t that other areas aren’t important, but having these strategic areas has helped us crystallize where to put our resources.” Creating a more collaborative research focus also would have an impact on promotion and tenure considerations, Waldrop said. “Currently, we don’t emphasize being a member of a team,” he said. In the humanities, unlike the sciences, securing grants is not directly related to tenure, said Jacquelyn Hall, Distinguished Professor of history. “But in an indirect sense it is just as important for faculty research to be supported through sabbaticals and fellowships,” she said. In its report, the committee made several recommendations for finding and responding to funding opportunities including dramatically increasing funding for the University Research Council grants program. Other suggestions included fostering interdisciplinary research and enhancing faculty incentives by evaluating compensation packages and implementing a campus-wide sabbatical program. Other action
University reports 25 percent reduction in water consumption Experts called the drought of 2002 the worst the state had ever seen. But this year’s drought has already edged out the 2002 drought for that distinction. What is even worse is that this year’s drought appears to have no end in sight. The “U.S. Drought Monitor,” published by the National Weather Service, reported that the drought in the East Coast area including North Carolina will continue through January because of La Niña conditions — and could intensify. The University has responded to this year’s water shortage in the same way it did five years ago. It has urged employees, both at home and at work, to limit their water use. It has constructed new buildings designed to capture and reuse rainwater; it has limited the irrigation of athletic fields to a level necessary for the players’ safety; and it has installed new “waterless” toilets. Chancellor James Moeser, in an Oct. 29 summary to UNC President Erskine Bowles, reported annualized water savings of 25 percent. Moeser also called attention to the chilled water savings yet to be realized this winter. Since the peak cooling system ended in October, Moeser wrote, water consumption will be reduced about 75 percent compared to peak demand. In addition, Carolina, in partnership with Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA), is constructing a system that will provide highly treated, or “reclaimed,” water from OWASA’s Mason Farm Sewage Treatment Plant to replace potable water use in Carolina’s water system cooling towers. (Potable water is water suitable for drinking because it contains no harmful elements). The system, when it comes on line in 2009, will permanently eliminate the use of more than 200 million gallons of potable water a year. Engineers from OWASA and the University’s Energy Services Department are also at work studying whether temporary above-ground piping from the sewage treatment plant to some of the chilled water plants could be installed in time for the 2008 cooling season. Students as well as employees have been asked to do their part — and are responding to the challenge. Students in Carolina’s residence halls have engaged in friendly competition with their counterparts at N.C. State to see which group can save the most water between last Saturday’s Carolina-State football game in Raleigh and Feb. 20, 2008, the day the men’s basketball teams will face off on the court. Carolina officials plan periodic readings of water meters that will be posted along with updates on the Sustainability Office Web site, sustainability.unc.edu. “We’re calling on students in our residence halls to be creative and have some fun while stepping up to meet this challenge,” said Eve Carson, president of the Student Government, and Brian Sugg, president of the Residence Hall Association, in their e-mail to residence hall students. “To those of you who have already been doing your part, thank you. Now we’re asking everyone to cut back even more.” Moeser said that students’ conservation efforts are key because water use in residence halls represents more than 30 percent of the University’s yearly water demand. OWASA, which provides water and sewer services for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area, including the University, has reported that its reservoirs are about half full. The late-October rainfall had a nominal effect on replenishing the water supply because the ground was dry and ponds in the OWASA’s watersheds were low. Assuming no additional rainfall, the water on hand would last six to seven months, OWASA officials said. OWASA also reported that the community’s overall water usage has dropped in response to the crisis, but its customers needed to cut back even more. In the first week of November, OWASA customers averaged using about eight million gallons per day — down from water usage exceeding nine million gallons per day in early and mid-October. But the water conservation goal for a “Stage Two” water shortage, declared by OWASA Oct. 18, is to limit demand to 7.3 million gallons per day or less, OWASA officials said. For information about campus sustainability initiatives, refer to sustainability.unc.edu. For general water conservation information, refer to www.owasa.org. University water savings estimates for 2007
Connolly helps troops overseas On last count, more than 525 boxes weighing 7,000-plus pounds had already been postmarked and sent overseas to U.S. service personnel deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For 22 months Robert Connolly, associate professor of finance and economics in the Kenan-Flagler Business School, and his wife have recruited the help of many University faculty, staff and students to collect and organize care packages to send abroad. Connolly said he had learned that the people who receive these care packages appreciate that “they haven’t been forgotten by the rest of us.” Currently, the couple is undertaking a specific project for the winter: supplying the 173rd Airborne, which is deployed in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, with the necessary supplies to make it through both a holiday season away from home and a harsh winter. Members of the brigade will be spending the winter at various outposts and forward operating bases along the Pakistan border. Receiving supplies is often challenging due to the weather and terrain in the region. Based on e-mail interaction with company-level officers and senior non-commissioned officers, Connolly is putting out a plea for the following items:
To help ensure that the brigade receives the care packages before Christmas, Connolly is requesting donations as quickly as possible. His goal is to send them by Nov. 28. Items may be dropped off at Connolly’s office in Room 4415 of the McColl Building or left with Barbara Ann Aversano in the MBA program office.
Honoring our veterans
Adverse weather policy always in effect The adverse weather policy is always in effect. Any time you cannot attend work due to a weather-related event, the policy applies. This includes having to stay home to care for a child who could not attend school due to adverse weather. Human Resources has detailed adverse weather information available at hr.unc.edu/hottopics/adverseweather. This includes resources to determine the University’s current adverse weather condition, a link to the Department of Public Safety’s Web page and access to the adverse weather leave policy. The University uses three adverse weather operating conditions:
Non-emergency employees are responsible for their regular duties during Conditions I and II. They must make up any time missed and should make their own decisions about coming to work based on personal safety. Only emergency employees must report to work during Condition III events. Announcements indicating the closing of state government offices due to adverse weather do not apply to the University. For details regarding the University’s current condition, employees can call the University’s adverse weather hotline at 843-1234 or visit the UNC main home page, www.unc.edu, for specific updates.
New office serves EPA non-faculty positions The Office of Human Resources (OHR) has a new EPA non-faculty human resources unit in Suite 1300 of the Administrative Office Building, 104 Airport Dr. On Nov. 1, all EPA (exempt from the State Personnel Act) non-faculty personnel responsibilities were transferred to OHR. Matthew Brody, assistant vice chancellor for human resources, oversees these activities and is assisted by Bonnie Smith, who is temporarily assuming the duties of EPA non-faculty human resources officer. To contact the new office, call 962-2897.
Passwords are the keys to protecting your online kingdom We have all heard nightmares about identity theft. And we have all been warned never to share personal information. But most people have the common misconception that personal information is limited to a Social Security number or bank account number. Today, such information as birth date, phone number, address or driver’s license information can be just as dangerous if it gets in the wrong hands. One way identity thieves obtain personal information is by “phishing” for consumers’ personal identity data and financial account credentials. One strategy used is sending “spoofed” e-mails to lead consumers to visit Web sites designed to trick recipients into divulging credit card numbers, account usernames, passwords and Social Security numbers. By creating sites with names similar to legitimate banks, e-retailers and credit card companies, phishers may convince recipients to respond. Responding to any e-mail from people or organizations asking for sensitive information carries risks. While victims of phishing voluntarily give out personal information, other victims of identity theft have personal information stolen from their computers. The first line of defense against computer intruders is never to share passwords with anyone, change them immediately if you think someone might have obtained them, create strong and complex passwords, have different passwords for different systems and store passwords in a safe place. For more information about protection against phishing, refer to www.antiphishing.org. How passwords are stolen For example, the intruder might try “tarheel” as a possible password. At Carolina, such a simple password would never be allowed as an Onyen password because it is so easy to guess. A seven-character password might be guessed within hours. Onyen passwords follow guidelines that make them strong and complex. They must be at least eight characters long, contain at least one letter and one digit and must share fewer than six consecutive characters with the previous Onyen password. For more information about creating a strong password, refer to help.unc.edu/4873. How many passwords to have How to keep track of passwords Cryptainer is free for up to 25 megabytes of data. To learn more about this application and how to use it to store passwords, refer to help.unc.edu/5900. Other free or low-cost solutions are also available. So when it comes to passwords, remember: Never share them with anyone, make them complex, make them diverse and be sure to store them safely. If you have questions, call 962-HELP.
Women’s soccer program receives $1 million endowment A $1 million dollar gift from the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust will help endow scholarships and the operating budget of the University’s women’s soccer program. The endowment will be made in the name of William R. Kenan Jr. in honor of alumnus Braxton Schell, an attorney for the William R. Kenan Jr. Funds. A longtime fan and supporter of the soccer program, Schell regularly attends the team’s games and has traveled with the team on overseas exhibition tours as well. The grant also honors a successful athletic program that serves as a model of the best that college sports can offer to its participants, fans and alumni, said Richard M. Krasno, executive director of the trust. “We hope that our gift will enable the women’s soccer program to thrive and continue to demonstrate that all college athletic programs can be a source of pride and excitement to the UNC-Chapel Hill community.” Chancellor James Moeser called Schell Carolina women’s soccer’s most diehard fan. “He has supported women’s soccer here since the early days of what is now a true dynasty. “Brax is a great friend and active volunteer for the University, so it’s wonderfully appropriate for the Kenan Trust to honor him in this way,” Moeser said. Carolina has won 19 of the past 26 national championships in women’s soccer and boasts an all-time record of 643-31-18 in 29 years as a varsity sport. “We are overwhelmed and so appreciative of the Kenan Charitable Trust for this remarkable gift,” said Coach Anson Dorrance. “We are all incredibly humbled with the size of the gift and honored with the rationale.”
BOG member honored for service to higher education The late Benjamin S. Ruffin of Winston-Salem is the 2007 recipient of the University Award, the highest honor given by the UNC Board of Governors. On Nov. 8, UNC President Erskine Bowles and awards committee chair Brad Adcock presented Ruffin’s family with the award, which recognizes illustrious service to higher education in North Carolina. Ruffin, a highly respected civil rights activist, businessman and civic leader who served as the first African-American chair of the Board of Governors, died unexpectedly last December at the age of 64. He was known as a tireless defender of greater educational access and affordability, as well as greater inclusion in state government and in the political process. The posthumous award acknowledged his inspirational leadership and lasting impact on the UNC system and all of public higher education in the state. A Durham native, Ruffin held a master’s degree in social work from Carolina and seven honorary doctorates. A business consultant, retired vice president for corporate affairs for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and former special assistant to Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., Ruffin was the recipient of the NAACP’s Kelly M. Alexander Humanitarian Award and the D. H. McGannon Citation from the National U | |||||||||
