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Vol. 40, No. 1
gazette.unc.edu
January 14, 2015
6
Ca ro l i n a F a cu l ty a n d S ta ff N e w s
2014: The
year in
stories
Lisa Gregory and Nicholas Graham copy pages
from an 1850 hotel registry from Stanley County
in the N.C. Digital Heritage Center at Carolina.
8
Carolina’s
King
celebration
events
A home for virtually everything
North Carolina housed on campus
T
12
Combining
Activism,
compromise
he North Carolina Digital Heritage Center is best known as
the website with digital scans of yearbooks from almost every
college and university in the state. And while it’s certainly fun
to look at the clothes and hairstyles students were sporting in the 1990s
– or the 1890s, for that matter – the center has preserved much more
than yearbooks in its short five-year history.
“There are more than 800 cultural heritage centers in the state, and
they have great stuff in their collections,” said Nick Graham, the center’s program coordinator. But because of the prohibitive cost of the
equipment and the time and labor needed, “they would never be able to
digitize it on their own.”
That’s where the digital heritage center, better known as Digital NC,
comes in. A program created by the State Library of North Carolina and
the University Library to provide free digitization services to the state’s
cultural heritage centers, Digital NC is housed in the North Carolina
Collection. Funds for its support come from the Institute of Museum
and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and
Technology Act.
Digital NC has put 60,000 digitized objects online containing nearly
2.4 million scans from more than 170 North Carolina institutions
See Digital heritage center page 4
Actions affecting three named in Wainstein report released
The University late last month released information related to three employees who had been
named in a report detailing past long-standing
academic problems at Carolina. The report,
presented to University officials last October, outlined the findings of an independent
investigation led by former federal prosecutor
Kenneth Wainstein.
Tim McMillan, senior lecturer in the Department of African, African American and Diaspora
Studies, resigned effective Dec. 31, and the University earlier had released information that
Jaimie Lee, a former academic counselor in the
Department of Athletics, was terminated after her
appeal rights expired.
On Oct. 22, the day the Wainstein report was
publicly released, the University informed former faculty chair Jan Boxill, a senior lecturer in
the Department of Philosophy, of the intent to
terminate her employment based on evidence
presented in the report. Boxill has appealed that
decision, requesting a hearing before a faculty
committee – “a decision we fully respect,” Chancellor Carol L. Folt said in a Dec. 31 memo.
During the Oct. 22 news conference, Folt said
the University had terminated or begun disciplinary reviews for nine employees. The University
on Dec. 31 released information about these
See Statement page 10
2 U n ive rsity Gaze t t e
on th e we b
Sound Science
Computer science professor Dinesh Manocha is creating technology that makes video games and movies
sound as good as they look.
go.unc.edu/k4Z3W
Newest Numbers
Curious about the University’s fiscal figures from
2013–14? The new financial report for the University
is now available online.
go.unc.edu/k4SNq
Tasty Tadpoles?
Research by biology professor David Pfennig on the
sometimes carnivorous tadpoles of spadefoot toads
is featured in this Scientific American blog.
go.unc.edu/z9NGa
University plans to test sirens Jan. 20
The University will test the emergency sirens
and text messages on Tuesday, Jan. 20 between
noon and 1 p.m., as it does each semester to
make sure the equipment works.
During the test, anyone outside on or near
campus likely will hear the sirens. (The sirens
are not designed to be heard inside or while you
are in a vehicle.) The sirens will sound an alert
tone along with a brief pre-recorded voice message. When testing is complete, a different siren
tone and voice message will signal “All clear.
Resume regular activities.”
The sirens sound only for a major emergency
or an immediate safety or health threat such as:
An armed and dangerous person on or
near campus;
A major chemical spill or hazard;
A tornado warning for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro
area issued by the National Weather Service; or
A different emergency, as determined by the
Department of Public Safety.
The University also sends a text message to
cell phone users who registered their numbers in
the online campus directory. In an emergency,
the University will post safety-related announcements on the Alert Carolina website, alertcarolina.
unc.edu, along with updates. (A mobile-friendly
university
Editor
Patty Courtright (962-7124)
[email protected]
managing Editor
Gary C. Moss (962-7125)
[email protected]
Associate editor
Susan Hudson (962- 8415)
[email protected]
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Jenny Drabble
[email protected]
Photographer
Dan Sears (962-8592)
Design and Layout
Linda Graham
[email protected]
Contributors
Office of Communications
and Public Affairs
Editorial Offices
210 Pittsboro St., Chapel Hill, NC 27599
FAX 962-2279 | CB 6205 | [email protected]
change of address
Make changes at: directory.unc.edu
Read the gazette online at
gazette.unc.edu
The University Gazette is a University publication. Its
mission is to build a sense of campus community by
communicating information relevant and vital to faculty and staff and to advance the University’s overall
goals and messages. The editor reserves the right
to decide what information will be published in the
Gazette and to edit submissions for consistency with
Gazette style, tone and content.
No. 1 value
in public
education –
for the
14th time
version is accessible at m.alertcarolina.unc.edu).
No action is required during the siren test.
Information about what to do when the sirens
sound for a significant emergency or immediate
threat to health and safety is posted on the Alert
Carolina site and is outlined in the poster, “What
You Should Do For An Emergency Warning.”
The posters are hung in University classrooms,
offices, hallways in residence halls and laboratory
spaces, and a PDF is accessible on Alert Carolina.
The sirens are part of the University’s Emergency Notification System and a communications strategy that uses multiple ways to reach
students, faculty and staff, as well as visitors, local
residents, parents and the public. The University
informs the campus community using four types
of notifications – Emergency Warning (sirens),
Timely Warning, Informational Messages and
Adverse Weather Messages.
In an actual emergency, students and employees are strongly encouraged to use the American
Red Cross Safe and Well List (go.unc.edu/
Xi2m8) to let their parents and families know
they are OK while keeping cell phone lines open
for emergency calls. The Safe and Well list is especially helpful in communicating with family members who are outside the emergency area.
Carolina ranks once again – and for
the 14th time in a row – as the best value
in American public higher education,
according to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
magazine. The new ranking appears in
the February 2015 issue and was posted
online last month.
Carolina has topped the list based on
academic quality and affordability every
time since Kiplinger’s began issuing the
rankings in 1998.
“Remaining affordable while offering a
world-class education and opportunities
to participate in groundbreaking research
is central to Carolina’s mission,” Chancellor Carol L. Folt said. “I am proud that we
have never wavered from our promise of
accessibility, remaining one of the few public universities that is both need-blind and
covers full financial need.
“But our promise to our students and
our state is not only about keeping tuition
low and meeting financial need – it’s also
about making sure that each and every student, no matter who they are or where they
come from, can pursue their dreams to the
fullest at Carolina.”
The universities of Virginia and Florida
rank second and third, respectively, on
Kiplinger’s list of publics. The remaining
top 10 public universities are, in order,
the universities of California at Berkeley
and Los Angeles; Michigan; the College
of William and Mary; the universities
of Wisconsin at Madison; Maryland at
College Park; and Georgia.
The magazine combined public schools,
private universities and private liberal arts
colleges into a single rankings issue for the
first time. Princeton University was the top
private university and Swarthmore College
was the top-ranked liberal arts college.
Carolina’s cost has always been among
the lowest of all comparable universities,
including its public peers. This remains
true even in the face of rising costs, declining state funding and an economic downturn, which has significantly increased the
share of undergraduates with need.
Carolina’s average debt at graduation
has remained largely flat for more than
a decade, and the percentage of graduates who borrow money is far below the
national average. According to the Project
on Student Debt, 70 percent of students
nationwide borrow money to pay for college, while fewer than 40 percent borrow
money to attend UNC.
The average student debt loan at Carolina is currently $16,150, with 43 percent
of students receiving need-based aid. Carolina’s most recent four-year graduation
rate is 84 percent, and earlier this year Folt
announced the launch of a campus-wide
initiative that will focus on support to help
all students succeed at even higher rates.
This year, the Carolina Covenant
Scholars Program turned 10. Since 2004,
See Kiplinger’s page 11
January 14, 2 015 3
Forum explores strategies to strengthen ties with faculty
How can universities promote greater understanding
between faculty and staff?
One idea, which was explored during the Jan. 7 Employee
Forum meeting by a ULEAD study group, calls for creating a
joint faculty-staff committee that would meet several times a year
and include an equal number of faculty and staff representatives.
The annual ULEAD (University Leadership Education and
Development) program is sponsored by the Office of Human
Resources to develop the skills of emerging campus leaders.
One supporter of the group’s idea is Forum Chair Charles
Streeter, who said he hopes that a joint committee at Carolina
could be formed as early as this fall. He added that collaboration between the forum and the Faculty Council is already happening to some degree at an informal level.
Streeter said one advantage of formalizing that relationship with a joint group is to create the opportunity to expand
the involvement of faculty and staff beyond current Employee
Forum and Faculty Council delegates. It also makes sense for
both groups to come together to discuss employment issues
that they have in common, from campus parking to the state
health plan, he said.
The ULEAD program consists of faculty and staff from Carolina and N.C. Central. ULEAD team members who spoke at the
forum meeting were Antonio Baines, an associate professor of
biology at N.C. Central; Sonia Davis, a professor of statistics at
Carolina; Maura Murphy, assistant dean for human resources
at Carolina’s School of Government; Brent Blanton, associate
director of the Academic Support Program for Student-Athletes;
Keith Gerarden, IT support specialist in UNC’s School of Medicine; and Patrice Parrish, IT manager at N.C. Central.
Baines said the key is to strengthen the vital partnership
between faculty and staff. Better teamwork between these two
groups will inevitably make both universities stronger and better equipped to achieve their missions of teaching, research and
public service.
Part of the current problem, Murphy said, is the false
assumption that all faculty members are the same and all staff
members are the same.
On the faculty side, there are both tenured and tenure-track
faculty, and there are adjunct and fixed-term faculty. Some do
the majority of their work in a clinical setting, some in a laboratory, and others in the classroom.
Similarly, staff members represent a wide swath of expertise
– from groundskeepers to accountants to information technology specialists.
“What they all have in common is a commitment to contribute to the success of our students,” Murphy said.
Davis said another recommendation of the ULEAD team is to
conduct a campus climate survey that can measure what faculty
and staff members think about their work and how it is valued.
Other recommendations included a faculty and staff partnership award, additional management and leadership training
and development opportunities, an information website and
a collaborative video campaign. To learn more about the proposal, see facultystaffpartnership.web.unc.edu
In other matters, Christopher Chiron, employee and management relations manager in the Office of Human Resources,
reviewed changes to the adverse weather policy that were
enacted by the State Human Resources Commission, effective
Jan. 1.
One significant change is that the activating mechanism
for adverse weather leave will be a warning declared by the
National Weather Service, Chiron said.
In addition, the adverse weather policy will no longer cover
time employees take off from work to care for their children
when schools or daycares close because of bad weather. Under
these circumstances, employees must now cover that time lost
through comp time, vacation or bonus leave, Chiron said. They
also can work with their managers to see whether working from
home or using flex time in their schedules are viable options.
The Office of Human Resources sent all faculty and staff a
detailed memo about the policy changes. That information is
posted at go.unc.edu/o3YPs.
– Gary Moss, Gazette
Caring about lab safety
Beginning Jan. 15, the Department of Environment, Health and Safety
is launching a PPE (personal protective equipment) safety campaign
via digital boards around campus and posters mailed to the University’s
principal investigators. The campaign – titled “What do you care about?”
– features principal investigators as well as graduate and undergraduate
students talking about what drives them to wear PPE in their labs.
Thomas Freeman, SPIRE postdoctoral scholar and a lecturer in the
Department of Chemistry, and Justin Black, graduate research assistant in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics (both shown at
right), are the first to be featured in the lab safety campaign.
University submits response to SACSCOC compliance questions
The University on Monday (Jan. 12) submitted its
response to a request from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)
for additional information and documentation about its
compliance with accreditation standards.
The commission had originally set a Jan. 7 time frame for the
response but extended it to ensure that the University would be
able to thoroughly respond to the SACSCOC request.
SACSCOC sent the University a letter in November asking for clarification on its compliance with 18 accreditation
standards in light of the findings of the independent investigation led by former federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein.
For additional information about the Wainstein report,
the SACSCOC request and the University’s response, see
carolinacommitment.unc.edu.
4 U n ive rsity Gaze t t e
Digital heritage center from page 1
online so far. Digital NC has also helped to gather and share
more than a quarter-million records from digital collections
around the state (including collections at Duke, East Carolina
and Wake Forest) with the Digital Public Library of America
(DPLA). As a statewide hub for DPLA, Digital NC collects
these records to be posted at dp.la, a searchable website housing more than 8 million items.
Digital NC will be able to do even more with a $75,000 grant
received in December from DPLA and the John S. and James
L. Knight Foundation. Among the projects in the pipeline are
scrapbooks and photographs documenting African American culture from the Oliver Nestus Freeman Round House
Museum in Wilson, student newspapers from Gardner-Webb
University in Boiling Springs and even more historic (at least
50 years old) high school yearbooks from three counties.
“Our experience with Digital NC has been wonderful,” said
Traci Thompson, local history and genealogy librarian at Braswell Memorial Library in Rocky Mount. “I have brought all
sorts of collections – photos, yearbooks, scrapbooks, all kinds
of paper ephemera – and they work with us to the utmost to
get these materials online and accessible.
“It has been a fabulous resource to help libraries – particularly public ones, which are always short on funds and staff –
get their priceless and unique materials out there for the world
to see and use.”
Located in the basement of Wilson Library, Digital NC
receives boxes of items from libraries and museums nearly
every day, items the center is asked to preserve in digital form.
On a recent day, Lisa Gregory, digital projects librarian, and
Stephanie Williams, digital projects programmer, examined
high school yearbooks from Davie County and black-andwhite photos from a Masonic lodge. “Every institution has its
own priorities,” Graham said. “We get a lot of old photos, old
newspapers and a ton of scrapbooks. They usually have great
content and they’re in awful condition.”
Through the University Library’s Digital Production Center, Digital NC has the equipment to handle crumbling books
and other distressed items with tender care. Flatbed scanners
are used for small, flat items like postcards, a sheet-feed scanner for unbound documents and an archive book scanner for
bound materials (like those yearbooks). The book scanner can
produce about 3,000 pages per day.
The largest items and any 3-D objects are digitized with an
overhead scanner, the Betterlight Super 8K-HS, that shoots
from above with minimal exposure to harmful infrared and UV
light. “The equipment we use is designed to be as gentle as possible on the originals,” Graham said. “It’s not like we’re mashing
something down on a photocopier.”
In six to 12 weeks on average, an incoming project will be
preserved in pixels, and the originals can be picked up for safekeeping. The scans go up on DigitalNC.org, where anyone with
Internet access can find them. You don’t need to register on the
site, and there’s no charge to download a file.
“Human history is important,” Graham said. “A lot of this
material is extremely rare, if not unique. It’s accessible in libraries. You can go and see the real thing in person, and there’s no
replacement for that. I see what we do as democratizing access
to special collections.”
Digital NC scanning has provided many different users
access to items from her library, Thompson said. “Companies
looking for images to put in stores, family researchers, even
NCPedia, benefited from an image in one of our scrapbooks.”
Yearbooks are by
far the most popular images on the
site. Digital NC has
scanned more than
a million pages of
college and high
school yearbooks,
Graham estimates.
He has heard from
people who didn’t
have any photos of
their parents finding them in old
yearbooks posted
on Digital NC.
Other scans, like
yellowed newspaper advertisements and notices in spidery
handwriting, offer a glimpse of life in North Carolina from
centuries past.
A circa 1895 ad informs any would-be boarder that he needs
to present “a certificate of good character and industrious habits” from his minister or a county official to live there.
A handwritten notice for an 1834 estate sale lists a young
female slave, a clock, hogs, corn, a horse and “other articles too
tedious to mention” as available for purchase.
A privy license from 1893 assures its Davie County patrons
that it has the state’s seal of approval.
But there are also more recent items, like a collection of
Christmas cards from the late 1970s and early 1980s that are
part of the Watson Family Collection given to the Braswell
Memorial Library.
Among Digital NC’s more unusual items are some brass
knuckles from Gastonia, used by anti-union employees during the 1929 Loray Mill strike, and a red, white and blue
bicentennial quilt from Rockingham County. The staff had to
suspend the quilt from the ceiling to take its picture, but the
image is so hi-res that you can see the stitches. “It looks terrific!” Graham said.
Graham, who formerly worked at the North Carolina Collection, knows Digital NC is providing a valuable service, but
sometimes he misses the personal interaction of the pre-digital
days. “You don’t get the stories the way you do when people
walk into the library,” he said.
Not everything in the Digital NC office is a PDF or a JPG,
though. On the wall is a physical map of the state, studded in
bright colors to represent each partner Digital NC has worked
with. “Everything is digital,” Graham said, “so I wanted to
have pushpins.”
North Carolina heritage materials can be viewed at www.
digitalnc.org or via the DPLA at dp.la. A video about the work
of Digital NC is posted at youtu.be/OdGEi_wYA5E.
– Susan Hudson, Gazette
At left, Eric Surber copies pages from a scrapbook from the Raleigh Fine Arts Society in
the N.C. Digital Heritage Center at Carolina.
Top, Katie McNeirney copies pages from the student newspaper at UNC-Asheville.
January 14, 2 015 5
Faculty/Staff
News
New approach may lead to inhalable vaccines for flu, pneumonia
reveals that a particle’s surface charge plays a key role in eliciting immune responses in the lung. Fromen and Robbins
are members of the DeSimone and Ting labs.
Using the Particle Replication in Nonwetting Templates (PRINT) technology invented in the DeSimone lab,
Fromen and Robbins were able to specifically modify the surface charge of
protein-loaded particles while avoiding disruption of other particle features, demonstrating PRINT’s unique
ability to modify particle attributes
independently from one another.
When delivered through the lung,
particles with a positive surface charge
were shown to induce antibody
responses both locally in the lung and
systemically in the body. In contrast,
negatively charged particles of the
same composition led to weaker, and
in some cases undetectable, immune
responses, suggesting that particle
charge is an important consideration
for pulmonary vaccination.
Contributed
Researchers at Carolina and N.C. State have uncovered a novel approach to creating inhalable vaccines using
nanoparticles that shows promise for targeting lung-specific
diseases such as influenza, pneumonia and tuberculosis.
The work, led by Cathy Fromen and Gregory Robbins,
DeSimone
Ting
All areas asked
to prepare for
communicable
disease emergency
operations
Infectious diseases are a continuing
threat. The recent outbreak of Ebola in
West Africa along with occurrences in
the United States is a reminder to be ever
vigilant and prepared for new and emerging threats to the health and well-being of
students, faculty and staff as well as the
local communities.
For this reason, the University – through
the Department of Environment, Health
and Safety (EHS) – is asking all units and
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, also have broad public
health implications for improving the accessibility of vaccines. An inhalable vaccine may eliminate the need for
refrigeration, which can not only improve shelf life, but
also enable distribution of vaccines to low-resource areas,
including many developing countries where there is significant need for better access to vaccines.
Joseph DeSimone is Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of
Chemistry at UNC and William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished
Professor of Chemical Engineering at N.C. State and of
Chemistry at UNC. Jenny Ting is William Rand Kenan
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology in Carolina’s
School of Medicine; she also directs UNC’s Center for
Translational Immunology, co-directs the UNC Inflammatory Diseases Institute and is the immunology program
leader at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.
This work is supported by the National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious Diseases-funded Center for
Translational Research as well as the Defense Threat
Reduction Agency.
– Thania Benios, Communications and Public Affairs
departments to develop a Communicable
Disease Emergency Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) for their areas.
In 2005–06, many units created a
pandemic influenza plan. Since that plan
was based on assumptions specific to
influenza, it is important to create a new
broad-based plan to account for varying
threat levels and risks, said Mary Beth Koza,
EHS director.
“While we hope none of these
contingencies will become necessary, advance
planning and preparation is the best method
to ensure our health and safety,” Koza said.
To create a new plan, visit the EHS web
site, ehs.unc.edu, and click on “Communicable Disease” in the left column for a COOP
template. The form can be completed online
and uploaded (see the instructions on
the form).
For assistance, contact John Covely at
919-062-6975 or [email protected].
ho no rs
Six UNC scientists have been elected fellows of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science,
the world’s largest general scientific society, in recognition
of their distinguished efforts to advance science or its
applications. Honorees from the School of Medicine are
Rosann A. Farber, T. Kendall Harden and
Karen L. Mohlke, all in the Department of Genetics. Honorees from the College of Arts and Sciences are
Dale L. Hutchinson in the Department of Anthropology and Nancy L. Thompson in the Department of
Chemistry. Honoree Nancy L. Allbritton, Debreczeny Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and chair of
the UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, holds joint appointments in the college and the
medical school.
Three pioneering creators of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale at the FPG Child Development Institute
received the 2014 Innovator Award from the Kaplan Early
Learning Company and the Leon & Renee Kaplan Foundation for the Health and Well-Being of Children for the third
edition of the scale. Richard M. Clifford is co-director of the First School Initiative at FPG. Thelma Harms
is director of curriculum development at FPG and research
professor emerita in the School of Education. Debby Cryer
is an FPG scientist and investigator.
The outreach program of the Department of
Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences has been
honored with a prize for excellence and innovation by the
American Philosophical Association and the Philosophy
Documentation Center.
Heather Gendron, head of the Sloane Art Library,
is the new vice president/president-elect of the Art Libraries
Society of North America.
6 U n ive rsity Gaze t t e
April
March
May
Developing ‘cultural competence’
– Radio-based Latijam, led by Lucille Vargas from the
School of Journalism and Mass Communication, serves
the Latino community with news and research coverage
minus negative stereotypes, while it creates “culturally
competent” students.
College affordability a priority –
Chancellor Carol L. Folt attended a White House summit
on college affordability. Carolina announced three plans
to help more students reach higher education and be successful: expanding the Chancellors Science Scholars program and Carolina College Advising Corps and launching
an initiative to improve overall graduation rates.
Storing the sun’s energy – Researchers
led by chemistry professor Tom Meyer at Carolina’s
Energy Frontier Research Center built a system that
converts the sun’s energy into hydrogen fuel and stores
it for later use, allowing people to power devices long
after the sun goes down.
Top educational value – The University
ranked as the top value in American public higher education for the 13th consecutive time, with results released
in the February issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
magazine. Also, Carolina ranked No. 1 among the
nation’s public universities in The Princeton Review’s
list of the 2014 “Best Value Colleges.”
All that jazz – The 37th annual Carolina Jazz
Festival, Feb. 19–22, brought the Grammy award-winning Wayne Shorter Quartet and artists-in-residence
Rahsaan Barber and Roland Barber to campus.
A new independent inquiry – Folt and
UNC President Tom Ross retained attorney Kenneth
Wainstein, a 19-year veteran of the U.S. Justice Department, to conduct an independent inquiry of academic
irregularities at Carolina. He was given complete autonomy in his investigation.
June
May
Jan.
White House photo by Pete Souz a
The year in stories
Complementary research converges
– The joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at Carolina and N.C. State has operated within the
research model of convergence – a merger of life sciences, physical sciences and engineering – drawing on
the complementary strengths of two research universities to help improve people’s lives.
Chemist extraordinaire – Chemistry
professor Mike Ramsey was elected to the prestigious
National Academy of Engineering. With 94 patents
to his name, Ramsey is recognized as a pioneer in the
field of microfluidics, which he coined as lab-on-a-chip
technology 20-plus years ago.
Create a new kind of community –
Near the end of her first year as chancellor, Folt presided over the graduation of more than 5,500 students
in Kenan Stadium. Atul Gwande, a celebrated surgeon
and best-selling author, encouraged the Class of 2014 to
find a new purpose by creating a new sense of community after their UNC days.
Computing fun for all – Maze Day, an
annual event filled with sound-based computer games
designed for visually impaired children, celebrated a
decade of fun and lasting friendships. Maze Day is the
brainchild of computer science professor Gary Bishop.
World-class research home – Marsico
Hall, Carolina’s new nine-story, world-class research
facility, officially opened for business. The state-ofthe-art building provides a new home for interdisciplinary medical and pharmaceutical research and houses a
variety of cutting-edge imaging equipment.
Prestigious accomplishment – Sociology professor Kathleen Mullan Harris was elected into the
National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors
a U.S. scientist or engineer can receive. Harris directs the
National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which
tracks more than 20,000 teens into adulthood.
Translating bench science – The
Department of Applied Physical Sciences, the first science department created in the College of Arts and Sciences in 40 years, announced plans to begin recruiting
scholars across disciplines who can help translate bench
science into products and services that change lives.
A decade of performances – Carolina
Performing Arts announced its 10th season, featuring 51
performances, including four programs in conjunction
with the campus-wide World War I Centenary Project.
Treating the homeless – A group of UNC
psychiatrists heads to Franklin Street weekly to provide
hygiene kits, conversation and help for the town’s homeless population.
Incubation for new ventures – Entrepreneur and “Launching the Venture” instructor Jim
Kitchen enlisted the support of University trustees in his
ongoing efforts to help budding entrepreneurs. Kitchen
has funded 1789, incubator space on Franklin Street for
businesses in the nascent stage of development.
Teaching excellence – Two dozen of
Carolina’s best instructors were honored with University
Teaching Awards, the highest campus-wide recognition
for teaching excellence. The faculty members and teaching
assistants represented 11 departments and two schools.
Preventing concussions – Leading concussion researcher Kevin Guskiewicz was among the
experts invited to the White House to participate in the
inaugural Health Kids and Safe Sports Concussion Summit. Guskiewicz, senior associate dean for natural sciences, has studied the issue for more than two decades.
Racial equality – Fifty years after passage of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964, achieving racial equality
remains a work in progress, from efforts to recruit and
retain African-American faculty members to creating a
welcoming campus environment for everyone.
An uplifting experience – Through Project Uplift, some 1,000 rising high school seniors from
historically underserved populations spent two days at
Carolina immersed in the life of a college student. The
45-year-old program entices many of its participants to
apply to Carolina.
7
Aug.
Nov.
Sept.
Oct.
January 14, 2 015 First online MBA graduates – KenanFlagler Business School graduated the first class from
its innovative online MBA program, MBA@UNC. The
school created MBA@UNC to provide flexibility and
access to an MBA degree for working professionals anywhere in the world.
New faculty chair – Surgery professor Bruce
Cairns, director of the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center, began
his three-year term as chair of the faculty, promoting the
message that everyone matters – and every voice should
be heard.
Losing dedicated pharmacy professor – Feng Liu, a research professor in molecular
pharmaceutics at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy,
died after being assaulted and robbed while taking an
afternoon walk near campus. Liu was passionate about
Carolina and embodied all that makes it great, Folt said.
Raises for employees – University employees covered by the State Personnel Act (SPA) found
reason to celebrate a new state budget that provided a
permanent pay raise of $1,000. It was the second raise
for state employees in six years.
New year, new faces – Carolina’s incoming
class of 3,988 first-year students came from as far away
as Singapore and nearby as Chapel Hill. Selected from a
record 31,331 applicants, these students included scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, directors, dancers and writers, as well as decorated veterans, champion studentathletes and community activists.
New sexual violence policy – The
University adopted a more comprehensive policy on
sexual violence for all students and employees covering discrimination, harassment and related conduct,
interpersonal violence and stalking. A new website
(sexualassaultanddiscriminationpolicy.unc.edu) has
helped the campus community understand the policy.
Losing an advocate – Fred Clark, longtime
Portuguese professor, student advocate and champion of
the Carolina Covenant Scholars Program, died. He joined
the faculty of the Department of Romance Languages
in 1967 and remained for 45 years before retiring from
teaching. Clark then devoted himself fully to being academic coordinator of the Carolina Covenant program.
Preparation for a changing world
– Folt’s op-ed in the U.S. News & World Report online
(go.unc.edu/n7G5E) advocated for higher education
to find new ways to prepare students for the jobs and
industries of the future.
Honoring the past, looking to the
future – Gov. Pat McCrory joined Folt in marking
Carolina’s 221st birthday as the keynote speaker for University Day. Both leaders talked about what Carolina can
do to help fuel a brighter future for North Carolina.
Report of longtime academic fraud
– Investigator Kenneth Wainstein presented the results
of his eight-month investigation into academic problems
at Carolina, revealing how two people within the former Department of African and Afro-American Studies
– former administrator Deborah Crowder and former
chair Julius Nyang’oro – offered hundreds of independent study and lecture classes between 1993 and 2011
that required no class attendance and had no faculty
involvement. Folt said the wrongdoing could and should
have been stopped much sooner by individuals in positions of influence and oversight. “Academic freedom
does not mean freedom from accountability,” she said.
A decade of opportunity through
the Carolina Covenant – Since 2004, the
Carolina Covenant has provided an opportunity for eligible low-income students who earn admission to Carolina to graduate debt-free. With grants, scholarships and
a work-study job, Covenant Scholars can earn a UNC
degree without student loans. The program, orchestrated by Shirley Ort, longtime director of the Office of
Scholarships and Student Aid, has opened the door for
more than 5,350 students in the past decade.
July
Oct.
Revitalizing Tar Heel towns – Through
the School of Government’s Development Finance
Initiative, faculty partner with local governments across
North Carolina to attract the private investment needed
to revitalize those communities. They’re teaching
students to tackle these key issues as well.
A Village of Hope – For as long as she can
remember, Carolina junior Devon Leondis wanted to
help poor orphans in Africa. Now her dream is coming
true as an entire Village of Hope rises from the ground
up in Ghana, seeded with the first $1 million Leondis
has raised for the project in the past year.
Celebrating 15 years of service – For
the past 15 years, the Carolina Center for Public Service
has worked to fulfill a primary obligation of the first public university to the people of the state.
Faculty focus on core values – In the
wake of the Wainstein report, Faculty Council members
discussed their core values and beliefs as members of the
academy. The conversation, facilitated by Jim Thomas,
director of MEASURE Evaluation, focused on what faculty members cared most about, the values that brought
them to Carolina and that keep them here.
$100 million gift for pharmacy
innovation – Alumnus Fred Eshelman made
the largest individual gift in University history when he
gave $100 million to the Eshelman School of Pharmacy.
Eshelman, a 1972 graduate of the school, is the founder
and former CEO of Pharmaceutical Product Development and founding chair of Furiex Pharmaceuticals.
His gift will be used to create the Eshelman Institute for
Innovation in the school.
Striving in the new ‘Human Age’ –
Carolina’s newest graduates need to be ready to enter an
economic epoch defined by human potential, Carolina’s
James H. Johnson Jr. said during the December Commencement ceremony in the Smith Center. “To distinguish yourself, you must develop your own brand,” said
Johnson, a distinguished economic development and
impact researcher and demographer.
– Gary Moss and Patty Courtright, Gazette
U n ive rsity Gaze t t e
News
Contributed
In B r i e f
UNC MLK Celebration
A few upcoming events are highlighted below. Visit go.unc.edu/Mj63H for full details and
contact information.
Jan. 18
The 30th annual University/Community MLK Memorial Banquet will honor the MLK University/Community Planning Corporation, a nonprofit group founded
in 1993 that raises scholarship funds for UNC students
and high school students in Chapel Hill, Carrboro and
Orange County who work to improve the quality of life
for everyone in the community. The banquet begins at
6 p.m. at the Friday Center.
Jan. 19
On the MLK Day of Service, Carolina’s ROCTS (Rejuvenating Our Community Through Service) will sponsor a Move for the Dream 5K race as a fundraiser for the
International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro. The
race begins at 7 a.m. at the Old Well. To participate, bring
$10 and five items of nonperishable food. Preregister at
go.unc.edu/De9z5.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro and UNC chapters of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) will sponsor their annual Martin L. King
Jr. Day rally, march and worship service, starting at 9 a.m. at
the Franklin Street post office and ending with an 11 a.m.
service at First Baptist Church on Roberson Street.
Before and after the 7:30 p.m. lecture, the first I Have a
Dream Campaign photography exhibition will debut
photographs of UNC students articulating their dreams
and aspirations for the future. The exhibition in the
Union Art Gallery is free and open to the public. Parking will be available near the Davis ATM. Please RSVP to
[email protected].
In honor of MLK Day, donation
bins will be available through Jan.
24 at various locations on campus
for the collection of nonperishable food items to support a food
drive for Carolina Cupboard.
Jan. 20
“He Was a Poem, He Was a
Song” will examine King’s legacy
through performances featuring Grammy-nominated
jazz, R&B and hip-hop singer and songwriter Carolyn
Malachi. The free public event begins at 7 p.m. at the
Stone Center and will also include performances by
UNC’s Ebony Readers Onyx Theatre (EROT) and Sacrificial Poets. A reception will follow. To RSVP to this
event, visit go.unc.edu/y4A6J or call 919-962-9001.
Jan. 21
“The Innovative Women Who Paved the Way” brings
together trailblazers and women who were pioneers of
activism throughout the pivotal time that was the civil
rights movement. The event at 7 p.m. in the Stone Center
Hitchcock Room will offer an opportunity to hear personal stories and ask questions about the impact of MLK
in the Carolina community.
Jan. 22
The Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. and Campus Y will
host “50 Years After the Dream,” a panel discussion
about the role of race in the justice system, at 6 p.m.
in Gerrard Hall. A question-and-answer session will
follow. Afterward, the event moves to the Campus Y
Anne Queen Lounge for a reception with refreshments,
an art display and performances by Harmonyx and EROT.
A Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Dinner will be held at
7:30 p.m. in Great Hall. The event, hosted by the Mu
Zeta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., Advocates for Carolina and the UNC LGTBQ Center, will
include discussion questions about King’s legacy: how his
legacy can be preserved and how it can be advanced.
Jan. 23
The Black Student Movement will host “Artistic Explosion: Expressing the Dream,” a free-expression contest
for middle school and high school students, at 6 p.m. in
Room G100 in the Genome Science building. Students
will have the opportunity to submit artwork or compose
an oratorical piece and compete for a cash prize. Students
may enter the contest by contacting [email protected]
with their names and talent. Admission to the event is
free, but donations in the form of nonperishable food
items are highly encouraged.
Comparing farm workers, civil rights movements
Activist, advocate of
prisoners’ rights and
distinguished professor
Angela Davis will deliver
the 34th annual Martin
Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture on Jan. 19 at
7:30 p.m. in Memorial
Hall. The event will also
include the presentation of the 31st annual
Martin Luther King Jr.
Scholarship. The event is free, but tickets are required and will be available at
Memorial Hall.
On Jan. 20, the Carolina Latina/o Collaborative and Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority will host a 5 p.m. screening of “The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez
and the Farm
Workers Struggle”
in Room 3209 Student Union. After
viewing the documentary, participants will discuss
how the farm workers movement compares and contrasts
to that of the civil
rights movement.
Contributed
Annual MLK lecture scheduled for Jan. 19
Contributed
8 January 14, 2 015 Faculty/staff appreciation game, food drive set for Jan. 15
Contributed
UNC Athletics is offering free admission for
UNC faculty/staff and immediate family (up to
four) to the Jan. 15 women’s basketball game with
Notre Dame. The first 150 employees will also get
free T-shirts. The game starts at 7 p.m. Bring a valid
UNC One Card/Hospital ID to pick up tickets at
the Carmichael arena ticket window. Also bring
canned and nonperishable items for a food drive
for the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service Food
Pantry. The food drive is sponsored by the UNC
Employee Forum in collaboration with UNC Athletics and the IFC. For more information, call the
Employee Forum office at 919-962-3779 or the IFC
at 919-929-6380 ext. 15.
UNC women’s basketball knocked out N.C. State Jan. 4.
Contributed
Mandela’s artwork
comes to Carolina
An exhibit that features charcoal and pastel sketches by the late
South African leader Nelson Mandela is on display at the FedEx Global
Education Center through Feb. 20. “Remembering Nelson Mandela:
From South Africa to Chapel Hill” revisits Mandela’s 27 years of political imprisonment. For more information, visit global.unc.edu.
Preliminary findings on Essentials
for Childhood to be shared Jan. 26
The North Carolina Institute of Medicine Task Force on
Essentials for Childhood will present its preliminary findings
at a free public meeting Jan. 26. The presentation will begin at
1 p.m. in the Tate-Turner-Kuralt auditorium. The study will guide
future services provided to children at the state and local levels.
Deadlines to watch
Nominations are now being accepted for the Caroline H. and
Thomas S. Royster Distinguished Professorship for Graduate Education. This three-year term professorship is open to
any tenured professor at the University, including those who
hold other permanent named professorships. Consideration
of candidates will begin Jan. 17, with a selection to be made
in March. More information on the professorship and nomination process is at go.unc.edu/e9W3E.
Registration is now open for the Eat Smart, Move More,
Weigh Less program, which focuses on lifestyle habits that
help you achieve a healthy weight. Jan. 20 is the deadline to
register at go.unc.edu/Ef52D.
The registration deadline is Jan. 23 for the annual Engagement Units Summit, sponsored by the Carolina Engagement
Council, which will be held 8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. Jan. 30 at the
Carolina Club. The event’s theme is “Fulfilling the Promise
of the First Public University.” Centers, institutes, schools,
departments and student organizations are encouraged to
send teams of up to three participants. Schools and other
large units may send multiple teams. Each team is encouraged to include a community partner involved in its efforts.
Register at go.unc.edu/s8AQa.
Nominations for three campus-wide public service awards are
due in February. The Robert E. Bryan and Office of the Provost Awards require a brief nomination submitted by Feb. 2.
Selected nominees will be invited to complete a more detailed
submission about their work by Feb. 23. Full nominations for
the Ned Brooks Award are due by Feb. 23. Nominations are
open and will be accepted online at go.unc.edu/Wx46J. These
awards honoring individual students, faculty, staff and University units for exemplary public service and engaged scholarship
are sponsored by the Carolina Center for Public Service.
Nominations for the 2015 C. Knox Massey Distinguished
Service Awards are due Feb. 6. Chancellor Carol L. Folt will
recognize six recipients for “unusual, meritorious or superior
contribution made by an employee, past or present” and the
honor includes an award of $7,500. Submit nominations
at go.unc.edu/t8G3R, or contact Carolyn Atkins, Massey
Awards Committee Chair, at 919-962-1536.
The Carolina Center for Public Service is accepting applications for the 2015 Community Engagement Fellowship program. A maximum of five fellowships, of up to $2,000 each,
are awarded in the spring. Selected fellows will develop and
9
PlayMakers presents ‘Trouble
in Mind’ starting Jan. 21
PlayMakers Repertory Company continues
its mainstage season Jan. 21–Feb. 8 with a scathingly funny backstage drama, “Trouble in Mind.”
African-American theater pioneer Alice Childress
wrote this groundbreaking drama set behind the
scenes of a Broadway play in 1957. In rehearsals for
a potentially landmark, racially integrated production, the leading actress must wrestle with a choice
between
the role of
a lifetime
or compromising
her values.
For show
times and
ticket information,
visit www.
playmakersrep.org
or call 919962-PLAY
(7529).
implement engagement and/or engaged scholarship projects
that employ innovative, sustainable approaches to complex
social needs. Projects will incorporate an academic connection. Apply online through the go.unc.edu/g9SRx before the
Feb. 9 deadline.
Registration is now open for the
36th Annual Minority
Health Conference, to be held Feb. 27 at the Friday Center. This year’s theme is “Economic Mobility and Minority
Health.” The deadline for registration is Feb. 13. For information and registration, visit go.unc.edu/i8PTd.
The FedEx Global Education Center is accepting proposals
from artists to display work during the 2015–16 academic
year. The center exhibits works by artists from various world
regions. Proposals are accepted on an ongoing basis and will
be reviewed by the FedEx Global Education Art Committee.
Visit global.unc.edu for more information.
NEWS IN BRIEF Submissions
Next issue includes events from Jan. 29 to Feb. 11.
Deadline for submissions is 5 p.m., Fri., Jan. 16. Email
[email protected]. The Gazette events page includes
only items of general interest geared toward a broad
audience. For complete listings of events, see the Carolina Events Calendars at events.unc.edu.
10 U niv ersity Gazet t e
Carolina
w o r k i n g a t
For Thompson,
the work is personal
G
loria Thompson gets by on only three or four hours
sleep a night, but her co-workers would never suspect it.
A single mother of two, she holds down two jobs. A
housekeeper primarily for the Gillings School of Global
Public Health by day, Thompson works nights at the Target
store in Elon. Yet each morning she greets staff, faculty and
students at the school with a cheerful smile and makes sure
they have a clean, safe work environment.
“Tirelessly and with a great sense of humor and equally great
pride, Ms. Thompson has served in her current position for
several years, helping the School of Public Health to remain as
clean and orderly as it needs to be,” wrote Jon Mozes, business
services coordinator in the nutrition department.
Mozes and several others emailed letters nominating Thompson for a 2014 C. Knox Massey Distinguished
Service Award for her dedication and devotion. When
Thompson heard that she had received the award, she was
astounded. “I thought I was going to pass out,” she said.
Thompson is not a supervisor or a team leader, but she
is the housekeeper people call when there’s a problem –
the trash hasn’t been emptied, the bathroom is out of toilet paper, the carpet hasn’t been vacuumed – because they
know she’ll take care of it. “I’m here to please my customer,”
Thompson said.
Five people in the dean’s office signed a nominating letter
singing Thompson’s praises: “Gloria is a hard worker who
goes above and beyond her assigned duties to deliver quality
service. She is unfailingly respectful and upbeat and has a cando attitude when she is asked to take on additional tasks.”
Maybe that’s because Thompson takes her work seriously
and personally.
She is responsible for eight buildings in all, including
those that house the Eshelman School of Pharmacy and
the School of Social Work. If even one of her buildings
Statement from page 1
three employees as part of its commitment to
restore trust, continue to implement a broad
range of reforms and hold individuals accountable for their actions, according to a statement
released that day.
“In providing information about these decisions and ongoing processes, the University
has respected and complied fully with the
North Carolina Public Records Act and the
State’s Human Resources Act,” the statement
doesn’t look clean, she believes it
reflects badly on her.
“I try to do my best,” she said.
Once, just hours before a big function for donors in the Michael Hooker
Research Center, she noticed spots on
the windows and dust on the plants. It
was 3 p.m., but she stayed and wiped,
dusted and mopped until the building
met her standards.
“Gloria takes pride in the work that
she does because she takes pride in
the Gillings School,” wrote Kaida Liang, USAID project
manager in the environmental sciences and engineering
department.
But it isn’t only her housekeeping skills that her customers appreciate. They also praised her smile, her positive attitude and her friendliness.
“Gloria makes it a point to say hello to everyone,” wrote
Tracey Gollwitzer, assistant to the chair of the health policy
and management department. “After all her years of service,
she knows everyone in my department by name.”
Thompson, a former textile worker from Burlington, has
been at the University for 15 years, the last seven at the Gillings School. “I love the people and the students here,” she
said. “I get to meet people from different places – Africa,
Jamaica, Russia.”
Thompson works two jobs (and picks up extra hours
cleaning at football games) because she wants her children
to attend college and have the opportunities she did not.
Her 21-year-old son, Marquis Long, is a student at Alamance Community College and works at a nursing home
in Burlington. Daughter Moesha Long, 18, is a senior in
high school and works two days a week at Tanger Outlets in
Mebane. Both children are aware of their mother’s sacrifices.
read. “We are committed in these very challenging circumstances to providing the personnel information required by law and to
respecting the privacy of due process rights of
our employees.”
Information about Boxill was released to
preserve the University’s integrity and quality of services it provides as it moves forward
“in light of the extraordinary circumstances
underlying the longstanding and intolerable
academic irregularities described in the Wainstein report, as well as her role as chair of the
faculty during a period of time covered by the
“Being a single mother has to be hard on her, but she’s a
fighter because most people in the world don’t do half the
stuff she does,” Moesha Long wrote in her Massey nomination letter. “One day I hope to become a lady like her so I
can give back to her for all the years of her hard work.”
Thompson’s co-workers are impressed by how much
she does and how well she juggles work and home life,
although Thompson wants to spend more time with her
children. She dropped a third job she had cleaning houses
and recently reduced her hours as a cashier and sales clerk
at Target. Now she only works there two nights a week and
on Saturday.
“This year, I don’t work on Sunday anymore, so I get
to go to church. I’m 51 years old. I’m trying to cut back,”
Thompson said. She even set aside time this year for a real
family vacation at the beach.
While Thompson was away, she was definitely missed.
“When most people take vacation, their loss of presence
may only be felt by a few,” wrote Naya Villarreal, Gillings
Global Gateway coordinator. “I assure you, when Gloria is on
vacation, it is felt by the entire School of Public Health.”
report,” the statement read.
Immediately after the news conference
and at Folt’s direction, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost James W. Dean Jr. and
Vice Chancellor for Workforce Strategy,
Equity and Engagement Felicia Washington began a review process for the remaining
six employees.
The University has said it will disclose each
decision as it is made, including the name of
the employee and nature of the disciplinary
action or the decision not to discipline – as
well as any challenge to disciplinary action.
– Susan Hudson, Gazette
The reviews and decisions are guided by
facts and fair process, the statement read. As
decisions are made for the six employees, the
University will release any personnel information required by state law, and will inform the
Carolina community when the reviews have
been completed.
“With this and all actions we take, it is our
intention to be transparent, responsible and
committed to excellence and integrity in
everything we do,” Folt’s memo said.
To read the full statement, see go.unc.edu/
n2H8Y.
January 14, 2 015 Kiplinger’s from page 2
Carolina has promised that low-income students would have
the opportunity to graduate without borrowing a penny.
Some universities that modeled programs after the Carolina
Covenant have abandoned them, while Carolina’s promise to
its students still stands.
Before the Carolina Covenant, 56.7 percent of students
who would be eligible for the Covenant graduated within four
years. As of last year, the four-year graduation rate of Covenant scholars was 76.6 percent. The graduation rate of black
men in the program more than doubled.
The University has launched a number of programs
designed for students from a variety of backgrounds, such as
the Chancellor’s Science Scholars program, which supports
underrepresented students who aspire to become scientists,
and a physician assistant program designed for veterans who
have served as medical sergeants.
Data considered for Kiplinger’s top 100 list included total
cost for in-state students (tuition, fees, room and board, and
book expenses); the average cost for a student with need after
subtracting non-need-based grants (not loans); the average
percentage of need met by aid; and the average debt a student
accumulates before graduation. For the out-of-state ranking,
the magazine recalculated academic quality and expense
numbers using total costs for non-resident students and average costs after financial aid.
Envisioning Carolina’s digital educational future
What will the University’s digital future
be like? How will information technology
be used in 44 years, or even 14 years?
To begin exploring these questions, Carolina administrators and faculty members last
November brainstormed, collaborated and
gained big-picture context from experts at the
“Envisioning the Digital University” conference, organized by Information Technology
Services (ITS) and the Faculty Information
Technology Advisory Committee. The goal
was to envision how technology of the future
can help in the University’s mission, including teaching and learning, research, development and operations.
Participants split into three groups, with
the discussion led by Michael Schinelli,
chief marketing officer at Kenan-Flagler
Business School; David Kiel, leadership
development coordinator for the Center for
Faculty Excellence; and Gene Pinder, director of marketing and communications at
N.C. State’s Centennial Campus.
Gary Marchionini, dean and Boshamer
Distinguished Professor in the School of
Information and Library Science, discussed
“Information Technology in Higher Education: Disruption or Transition,” while
Daniel Russell, a Google research scientist
who specializes in search quality, focused on
“The Future of Learning” and how people
will learn the skills they need for academe,
work and life.
Higher education is in crisis, Marchionini
told participants. The crisis is partly due
to escalating costs, but bigger culprits are
valuing college primarily for the outcome
of a job and pushing education to return
to basics. Higher education must be valued
for its ability to produce intelligent, wellrounded and good people, he said.
Russell talked about the new ways people
learn and the vast – and fast – information
available at their fingertips.
People spend much of their time looking
at their phones. With these supercomputers
ever-present in their hands, he said,
students can learn on their own 24 hours
a day and parcel out what will and will not
grab their attention. Students don’t need
professors standing on a stage in front
of them, he explained: “They all have
alternatives to your presentation.”
The key is to understand the structure of
content online and how to access it, Russell
said. “You must be literate about your own
literacy,” he said.
Marchionini explained that while it is easy
to keep doing what is familiar, envisioning provides a chance for people to get out
of their heads-down mode and understand
how higher education is changing.
“I do feel it’s really important for us to
have faculty and administrators talking
about these things,” he said. “It’s a good way
to begin and extend that conversation about
what we want to be doing.”
The event generated tremendous energy
and passion, said Chris Kielt, vice chancellor
for information technology and ITS chief
information officer. “It was a great opportunity for us to hear directly from faculty and
academic administrators where they would
focus in the IT technology space,” he said.
Participants’ ideas flowed easily during
the breakout groups.
“If anything, there wasn’t enough time
for all the ideas,” said Kelly Hogan, senior
lecturer of biology and director of instructional innovation. Her group, she said,
came up with “fun ideas that were almost
mind-bending.”
Each group was tasked with creating a
list of five ideas, and participants selected
the top five among all 15 ideas by putting
tokens – each one worth $5,000 – in the
appropriate ballot box(es). The five ideas
chosen and the investment amount each
garnered are:
Fund and create an immersive learning
environment, $195,000;
Retrofit learning spaces to support
active and virtual learning environments,
$145,000;
Develop large-scale collaborations with
commercial global leaders in technology,
$140,000;
Preserve digital assets through campuswide awareness and shared resources,
$125,000; and
Support and reward evidence-based creative teaching, $125,000.
– Kelly Johnson, ITS
Above, students study during lunch at the Cafe McColl in KenanFlagler Business School.
Left, students spend much of their time plugged into their technology.
11
12 U niv ersity Gazet t e
Student activist discovers
the surprising power
of compromise
T
he Northern British Columbia wilderness is bigger
than California and filled with jagged mountain peaks,
roaring rivers, alpine meadows and serene glacial lakes.
For much of Tait Chandler’s childhood, a million-acre
region of the area containing the Sacred Headwaters turned
into a battlefield over two very different kinds of treasure: fossil
fuels and fish.
Shell Oil sought to extract some 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas stuck inside vast beds of coal. But opponents, including people in Chandler’s hometown of Hazelton as well as the
Tahltan First Nation, worried that the water-intensive process
used for extraction – fracking – would do inevitable harm to
the Sacred Headwaters.
Those waters, Chandler said, are the birthplace of the
Skeena, Nass and Stikine rivers – three of British Columbia’s
largest salmon rivers on the West Coast.
Another company, Fortune Minerals Limited, wanted to
mine anthracite coal on Klapplan Mountain, a peak overlooking the Sacred Headwaters valley.
The fight, which played out over eight years, was not just
a battle over natural resources, but over competing values,
Chandler said. And to his amazement, the water conservation
group battling powerful economic interests ultimately prevailed.
Tapping into idealism
That triumph, Chandler said, showed him how a committed
group of impassioned people could make a real difference in
their own corner of the world.
So when he left home as a first-year student at Carolina in
fall 2010, Chandler felt not only a nagging sense of regret that
he had missed out on that epic battle, but also an eagerness to
become involved with a struggle no less important.
At Carolina, he quickly learned, such opportunities are not
hard to find.
Chandler found his environmental activism opportunity
with Carolina’s Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) and the Beyond
Coal team – a group of students who waged what would turn
out to be a three-year campaign to convince University leaders
to divest the $2.2 billion UNC-Chapel Hill Foundation Investment Fund from the coal industry.
Chandler said he knew the fight would be an uphill battle,
but team members were convinced that if they assembled the
facts and presented them, they could ultimately succeed – just
as other students had done with similar campaigns in the past.
In 2006, for example, Chancellor Emeritus James Moeser
signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, which calls for Carolina to become climate
neutral – meaning no net greenhouse gas emissions – by 2050.
And in spring 2010, Chancellor Emeritus Holden Thorp
announced that the University would seek to end its use of coal
at the co-generation facility by 2020.
Chandler said members of the SSC launched an information
campaign campus-wide to win support among students, faculty
and staff.
During the 2013 student body election, 77 percent of student voters approved a referendum in support of divesting
from coal, and all nine students who ran for student body president in 2013 and 2014 supported it. Then, in September 2013,
SSC members – backed by supporters holding protest signs –
outlined to the University’s Board of Trustees the benefits of
moving the endowment away from the coal industry.
Audacious as it was, the campaign was also tempered to be
realistic, Chandler said. For instance, the group focused only on
coal and not other carbon-based fuels because it felt that the
combustion of coal was most harmful to the environment and
accelerated the effects of climate change more than any other
energy source, Chandler said.
One of the most valuable insights he said he gained in the
process was that people on the other side of the table could be
on your side.
One such person was Trustee Sallie Shuping-Russell, who
also was a managing director of global investment company
BlackRock and a trustee of the endowment fund.
Finding the right balance
The challenge, Shuping-Russell said, was figuring out how
to channel the passion and knowledge that Chandler and other
members of the Beyond Coal team possessed into a process
that could lead to some tangible results.
That process began, she said, when she offered to meet with
the students at the Old Well. That meeting was vital because
it demonstrated to students that she took them seriously and
was willing to listen to their concerns, Shuping-Russell said. By
the same token, the students demonstrated their willingness to
consider legitimate concerns from the other side.
“We just sat in the grass by the Old Well because I wanted to
hear more of what they had to say,” Shuping-Russell said. “Those
talks were really educational for me, but at the same time, it was
important for them to learn a process that had a higher probability of being successful than just banging the drum for their cause.”
Shuping-Russell said she continued to meet with the students over the course of the year, including a meeting at a
downtown coffee house and at her home. She said that Trustee
Steve Lerner later became deeply involved with the students as
well to pinpoint areas of compromise leading toward an agreement both sides could embrace.
That two-way conversation expanded to the wider community as well and included a panel discussion in spring 2014 in
which representatives from Duke Energy and the investment
community joined with students to discuss clean energy investment strategies.
The process culminated last September when Chandler,
joined by fellow team members Jack Largess and Anita Simha,
made their case to the board’s Finance and Infrastructure Committee, which Lerner chairs.
The next day, the full board unanimously passed a carefully
worded resolution that called for researching the possibility
of investing in “friendly clean energy strategies” that would be
consistent with the fund’s financial objectives.
Meshing passion with policy
The resolution may seem like a small victory, Chandler
said, but it represents the first major step toward coal divestment. It is also part of a national movement in which students
and alumni at more than 300 universities are asking leaders to
divest from fossil fuels and invest in cleaner alternatives.
Chandler said his activism has reinforced what he has learned
in the classroom, including the course on watershed planning
he took this past semester from Todd BenDor in the Department of City and Regional Planning.
BenDor said Chandler exemplifies the kind of urban planner
who in the future will no longer be required to park his passion
for advocacy at the door when he goes to work. Planners have
to know the facts, BenDor explained, but there is also a wider
political context that cannot be ignored. In the end, he said, it
boils down to what the people want and the sometimes-messy
process of figuring that out.
Chandler said his experience has shown him how activism
and change fit together.
“In order for our issue to get publicity and win wide student
support, we needed to begin with an activist strategy,” he said.
“And in order for trustees to understand how serious we were,
they needed to see our serious side.”
That explains why, when students first addressed the trustees, they arrived in T-shirts and carried signs – and why, when
Chandler came back to make the final case, he arrived in a shirt
and tie.
“Both activism and negotiation are integral to this work, and I
don’t think one can be done without the other,” Chandler said.
Shuping-Russell, no doubt, agrees.
“The ‘teachable moments’ happened because both sides were
willing to sit down and listen to each other,” Shuping-Russell said.
“After awhile, we all began to realize we were all on the same team
and shared the same goals, even if we had different approaches
and perhaps a different timetable on how to get there.”
– Gary Moss, Gazette