University gazette

              Last spring, Samuel Marsan didn’t get any A’s.
It wasn’t like him. The psychology major, research assistant
and honors student began to wonder if coming to Carolina was
such a good idea.
“I honestly thought I wouldn’t graduate,” Marsan said.
Far from his family in Cuba, he grappled with economic difficulties
and his identity. Amid the accepting climate of the University, he finally
felt free to talk about his sexual orientation. He found himself struggling
emotionally, which led to trouble concentrating in class.
His grades began to slide. But, through the Carolina Millennial Schol-ars
Program (CMSP), he had a support system to get him back on track.
As part of a small group of minority male students making up the first
cohort of CMSP scholars, Marsan had access to academic and network-ing
opportunities, seminars on finances and success-seeking behaviors,
and connections to researchers who shared his interested in substance
abuse and organizational psychology.
Equally as important, he had a net.
He had mentors to look up to and a group of “brothers” to
lean on, who accepted him without question though he had wor-ried
initially that he’d be alienated. He had Ada Wilson, director of
Carolina Faculty and Staff News
Vol. 38, No. 19
gazette.unc.edu
Advocate for yourself, defer gratification
and surround yourself with good people,
Carolina’s Kevin Guskiewicz told graduates
Dec. 15.
“Knowing how to advocate for yourself is
so important,” Guskiewicz said. “Advocate
for yourself, but do it tactfully and methodi-cally,
without boasting or promoting. Learn
how to build a case for yourself and your
mission and you will capture the attention of
the people who can take you places.”
Guskiewicz, the Kenan Distinguished
Professor of Exercise and Sport Science
and senior associate dean in the College of
Guskiewicz to grads: Carolina
‘will always be here for you’
Program
provides
support for
minority male
students at
Carolina
Michael Morrison, left, and Sam Marsan, right, visit with Ada Wilson, center, a director at CMSP.
Morrison and Marsan said Wilson’s support was helping them succeed at Carolina.
uni v e r s i t y
See Comencement page 4
‘Little
miracles’
for Grayson
Clamp
6
Tuition
increase
concerning
to trustees
4
Tammy
cotton
feels
blessed
10 See Scholars page 12
December 18, 2013
2 University Gazette
on the web
go.unc.edu/Za76M
go.unc.edu/a9DJd
Working on Women in Science
The number of women faculty in the sciences lags
far behind the percentage of female graduate and
undergraduate students nationwide. Carolina’s
campus-wide initiative, Working on Women in
Science, is trying to change that.
SEMESTER RECAP FROM
CHANCELLOR FOLT
As the fall semester draws to a close, Chancellor
Carol Folt sent a video message recapping her first
semester and thanking the Carolina community for
making UNC an extraordinary place to be.
Carolina remembers Mandela
The world lost a great leader and inspiration with
the death this month of Nelson Mandela, the former
president of South Africa and an anti-apartheid hero.
His courage and wisdom are remembered by many
across the Carolina community.
go.unc.edu/e5X2F
Editor
Patty Courtright (962-7124)
patty_courtright@unc.edu
managing Editor
Gary C. Moss (962-7125)
gary_moss@unc.edu
Asociate editor
Courtney Mitchell (962-8594)
courtney_mitchell@unc.edu
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Jenny Drabble
drabble@live.unc.edu
Photographer
Dan Sears (962-8592)
Design and Layout
Linda Graham
Contributors
University Relations
Editorial Offices
210 Pittsboro St., Chapel Hill, NC 27599
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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.
uni v e r s i t y
The University ranks as the number one value
in American public higher education for the
13th consecutive time, according to Kiplinger’s
Personal Finance magazine.
Since 1998 Kiplinger’s has periodically ranked
public universities based on how they combine
excellence and affordability; Carolina has been
first every time. The new ranking appears in the
February issue (go.unc.edu/Yd2f8).
“With today’s sky-high sticker prices and wor-risome
student debt, the college landscape looks
very different,” Kiplinger’s reported. “But one
element has remained consistent: the University
of North Carolina is still on top.”
In the seven-page spread, Kiplinger’s singled
out UNC as “the only school on our list to meet
100 percent of financial need.” The magazine
also designated Carolina “best in class” for low-est
percentage of students who borrowed and
for out-of-state value.
“At Carolina, we know that we can be excel-lent
and affordable,” Chancellor Carol Folt said.
“These beliefs guide our decisions and the pri-orities
we set. We fight to meet 100 percent of
demonstrated need and to keep debt low for our
students. I want to make sure our students can
choose professions and careers driven by their
interests and their passions – not paying back
a loan.”
The universities of Virginia and Florida and
the College of William and Mary ranked second,
third and fourth, respectively, on Kiplinger’s list.
The remaining top 10 schools are, in order, the
universities of California at Los Angeles, Michi-gan,
Maryland at College Park, Wisconsin at
Madison, California at Berkeley and Georgia.
Kiplinger’s assesses quality according to a
number of measurable standards, including the
admission rate, the percentage of students who
return for their sophomore year, the student-faculty
ratio and the four-year graduation rate.
Cost criteria include low sticker prices, abundant
financial aid and low average debt at graduation.
“UNC’s combination of stellar academics,
low cost and rich financial aid has once again
bested its peers,” wrote Kiplinger’s staff writer
Carolina officials are investigating a data
breach that risked unauthorized online
access to personal information concerning
some current and former employees, vendors
and students. It is believed that more than
6,000 people are affected.
On Nov. 11, an information technology man-ager
in the Division of Finance and Adminis-tration
was informed that some electronic files
managed by the Division of Facilities Services
inadvertently became accessible on the Inter-net.
The files contained names and Social Secu-rity
or Employee Tax Identification numbers,
and in some cases, addresses and dates of birth.
When University officials learned about
the incident, they immediately took steps to
block access to the files and began an extensive
investigation, which is ongoing. University
officials believe that on July 30, during main-tenance
of one computer, the safeguards that
protected the files against public access were
accidentally disabled.
The University also learned that as part of
Google’s automated processes, these files were
copied and made publicly accessible. The Uni-versity
asked Google to take the records down
immediately, and Google complied. As of
Nov. 23, the records are no longer accessible
on the Internet.
The University engaged a nationally rec-ognized
consultant to identify potentially
affected individuals as soon as it had been
confirmed that their personal information was
included in the files. On Dec. 10, the Univer-sity
began notifying these people by mail.
Information about the data breach was also
posted on the UNC homepage, ITS website,
News Services website and Gazette website.
“Other than Google’s activities described
above, we have not been able to determine
whether individual personal information was
accessed by others or was misused as a result
of this incident,” Kevin Seitz, interim vice
chancellor for finance and administration, said
in the notification letter sent to the affected
people’s last known addresses.
“Please be assured that we continue to evalu-ate
our computer and administrative systems
and to implement appropriate measures to pro-tect
the sensitive information in our possession.”
Chris Kielt, vice chancellor for informa-tion
technology, said the University’s prompt,
aggressive action underscores its commitment
to protect sensitive data. Making sure the files
were secured and notifying the affected people
as quickly as possible were top priorities, he said.
To help protect personal information stored
on campus servers, Information Technology
Services (ITS) has a process in place for regu-larly
scanning servers that have been identified
by a unit’s system administrator as storing sen-sitive
data.
“Furthermore, as part of a broader initiative
to address the risk imposed by the exposure of
sensitive data, ITS is working to formalize the
process for identifying and safeguarding sensi-tive
data University-wide,” he said.
“That process will help in the discovery and
remediation of less-than-ideal security proce-dures
surrounding the storage of sensitive data
– data that is so important to safeguard for
our community. And this need is well under-stood
by campus administrators. ITS is part-nering
with IT leaders from the University’s
schools and departments to continue to move
this initiative forward.”
The letter sent to people affected by this
data breach included recommendations, based
on information from the N.C. Department of
Justice and the U.S. Federal Trade Commis-sion,
about ways to protect against identity
theft and a link to frequently asked ques-tions
outlining what happened, what kind of
personal information was involved, and steps
people can take to monitor any potential
fraudulent activity and protect their informa-tion
(see its.unc.edu/incident).
People also can contact the toll-free call center
assisting the University at 1-866-458-3184 from
9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays until Feb. 10, 2014.
People at the call center are able to assist in Eng-lish
or Spanish, and anyone needing translation
assistance in Burmese or Karen can call the
Facilities Services human resources office at
919-962-9060 or visit the office in Room 110 of
the Giles Horney Building on Airport Drive.
University investigates data breach, notifies affected people
Carolina top value among public
campuses for 13th time in a row
See Rankings page 11
December 18, 2013 3
Malone thanks
forum members
for their honesty,
engagement
Caudill tells faculty ‘You’re what makes this place go’
During last week’s Faculty Council meeting, two things were
evident. The quality of Carolina’s faculty drives its reputation,
and the way faculty members feel about open access to their
research depends largely on their field of study.
Three leaders – Chancellor Carol Folt, Executive Vice
Chancellor and Provost James W. Dean Jr. and special guest
Board of Trustees Chair Lowry Caudill – all spoke about the
integral role of the faculty in shaping the University’s national
reputation.
Their comments came on the heels of Carolina’s latest rec-ognition:
being named the top value in American public higher
education for the 13th consecutive time by Kiplinger’s Personal
Finance magazine (see the story on page 2).
“What I have always liked about that ranking is that they are
trying to actually put some metrics around combining quality,
affordability and outcome,” Folt said. “And that’s where we all
believe we (at Carolina) live.”
Caudill talked about his decades-long association with
the University and its faculty, from his undergraduate days
in the 1970s studying under venerable chemistry professor
Royce Murray.
“I am well aware of the quality of the work our faculty pro-duce
here,” he said. “To me, it’s very clear that you are the great-est
asset we have at Carolina. You drive our reputation, you
drive our research, and you attract the students who come to
Carolina, particularly our graduate and professional students.”
Caudill also outlined four goals the trustees are using to focus
the board’s activities for the year:
To ensure the effective transition of the chancellor and her
senior leadership team. “We’re quite happy with where we
are,” he said. “I get the privilege to see Carol in action and
how she understands our University’s business. I don’t think
a better decision could have been made than the choice of
her as chancellor.”
To build stronger external relationships, “to look outside the
walls of Chapel Hill and determine who our constituencies
are and how to build effective relationships and good com-munications
with them.” Initial feedback in this understand-ing
of constituents’ needs and helping them recognize what
Carolina can deliver has been positive, Caudill said.
To build a sustainable approach to enterprise risk manage-ment,
a way to mitigate risk associated with the operations
and activities in which Carolina’s $4.5 billion enterprise is
exposed as well as to seize opportunities that will position
Carolina as a premier university in the future.
To mature and consolidate the entrepreneurial activities on
campus, to quantify them and to demonstrate their impact
on the state of North Carolina.
“We have a great board,” Caudill said. “We’re moving the
needle for Carolina and moving in the right direction. We like
where we’re headed, and we value our faculty. You’re what
makes this place go.”
Former faculty member Julius Nyang’oro was indicted
Dec. 2 by an Orange County grand jury on one felony count of
obtaining property by false pretenses.
The indictment centered around $12,000 Nyang’oro was
paid to teach a lecture course during the second session of
Summer School 2011. The course was handled as an indepen-dent
study and did not meet even though he signed a contract
stipulating that it would be taught in a lecture format.
The University asked Nyang’oro, longtime chair of what
was known until recently as the Department of African
and Afro-American Studies, to resign as department chair
last year, and he was forced to retire July 1, 2012. The Uni-versity
recovered the money Nyang’oro received for the
course, which an internal University review found was taught
irregularly.
In that review as well as subsequent internal and external
reviews, Nyang’oro was implicated as one of the two individu-als
responsible for the academic irregularities that occurred in
the African and Afro-American studies department (which has
since been restructured and renamed the Department of Afri-can,
African American and Diaspora Studies).
In 2012, Former Chancellor Holden Thorp, in consultation
with UNC President Tom Ross, had directed the University’s
public safety department to contact the State Bureau of Investi-gation
to seek assistance in reviewing possible criminal actions
related to how Nyang’oro taught the 2011 course. (The Uni-versity
first contacted law enforcement officials in November
2011 as part of the departmental course review conducted by
the College of Arts and Sciences.)
“We fully support the district attorney’s decision to seek an
indictment in this case,” Ross said in a statement. “We must now
allow the judicial process to run its course. Both the University
and (D.A.) Mr. Woodall relied on the SBI to help determine
whether any criminal acts had occurred, since the SBI had
broad investigative powers not available to the University.
“From the beginning, UNC-Chapel Hill has cooperated with
this investigation and will continue to do so as the criminal pro-cess
proceeds to conclusion.”
Carolina officials said they had provided unrestricted access
to any information requested during the SBI investigation.
“The action described in today’s indictment is completely
inconsistent with the standards and aspirations of this great
institution,” said Chancellor Carol Folt.
“This has been a difficult chapter in the University’s history,
and we have learned many lessons. I am confident, because of
effective processes already put in place, we are moving ahead as
a stronger institution with more transparent academic policies,
procedures and safeguards.”
Nyang’oro indicted for obtaining property by false pretenses
In her last meeting with the Employee
Forum on Dec. 4, Brenda Malone
offered this parting advice: keep the con-versation
going.
Malone, Carolina’s vice chancellor for
human resources and interim director of
the Equal Opportunity/ADA office, came
to Carolina from the City University of
New York in 2007.
For the past six years, she has met
with forum members each month,
both to dispense
information and
answer people’s
questions. At the
December meet-ing,
she came
to say goodbye
before she takes a
new position the
first of the year as
vice president for human resources at
Georgetown University.
“I appreciate the warmth and support
you have all shown me and the honesty
we have had with each other talking
about a number of really, really hard
issues,” Malone said. “My advice to you
is to stay together and keep support-ing
Charles (Streeter) and each other
and our chancellor. If you do that, the
possibilities are endless.”
She also thanked forum members
for pushing back when it was appropri-ate.
“We have never shied away from
that,” she said, “and I think it made the
relationship stronger and the institution
healthier.”
The meeting also featured two guest
speakers: Ryan Hancock, chair of the
N.C. State Staff Senate, and Anna Wu,
assistant vice chancellor for facilities
operations, plan-ning
and design.
Hancock, who
serves as the
administrative
support special-ist
with Urban
Affairs, said chairs
of the Staff Sen-ate
serve one-year
terms because of the time demands
the leadership position has. Like the
Employee Forum at Carolina, he said,
the Staff Senate serves as an advisory
board to the chancellor.
One major difference he noticed
between the groups at Carolina and
N.C. State is the number of formal reso-lutions
each has passed. “I was looking
See Faculty Council page 11
Malone See Malone page 11
Wu
4 University Gazette
Arts and Sciences, delivered the December Commencement
address in the Smith Center. Chancellor Carol Folt presided at
the ceremony.
“Students, you are topmost in our hearts and minds today,”
Folt told the graduates. “You worked hard, you learned from
talented faculty and staff who rejoiced in your accomplish-ments,
and you were supported by a community that wanted
you to succeed.”
Before the ceremony, 1,104 students had applied to gradu-ate.
Campus administrators anticipated awarding 542 bach-elor’s,
408 master’s, 144 doctoral and 10 professional degrees.
In August, 964 students were awarded with degrees.
Guskiewicz’s selection as speaker continues a tradition of
highlighting faculty speakers at December Commencement.
Guskiewicz leads the NFL’s subcommittee on safety equip-ment
and playing rules and has been working with the league
during the last decade to develop safer ways to play the game. His
long-term epidemiological study on hundreds of retired football
players uncovered a correlation between the number of concus-sions
a player suffered and the appearance of dementia, depres-sion
and other brain dysfunction later in life. His work earned
him the MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” award in 2011.
Guskiewicz’s speech to the graduates included tales from
his career, starting from his service on the medical staff for the
Pittsburgh Steelers as a graduate assistant while he earned his
master’s degree. Two life-long mentors advised him to imme-diately
start work in a doctoral program right after finishing his
master’s degree, Guskiewicz said. The decision wasn’t easy, he
added, because it meant turning down three job opportunities,
including one to continue with the Steelers.
But the decision to continue his education was the right one,
because it “allowed me to chase a dream of becoming a sports
medicine researcher, something I still cherish today,” Guskie-wicz
said. “Deferred gratification certainly paid off.”
As a professor and administrator, one of the biggest challenges
he said he faces involves conflicts among people who don’t trust
each other. Guskiewicz said he often wonders how different it
would be if there was more trust in those situations. He encour-aged
the graduates to get to know people before signing on for
anything that will consume personal time, energy and money.
“Regardless of the endeavor, make sure you are surrounded
with people whose values match yours and for whom you trust,
but those who also trust you,” he said. “Good people are those
who you trust and who will challenge you to be the best person
that you can be.”
In his closing, Guskiewicz told graduates to have faith in
what they have been trained to do at UNC. “Let go of Carolina
and Chapel Hill for now, but trust that we will always be here
for you.”
Tuition, by definition, is money people pay
to a school to be able to study there. A tax,
on the other hand, is money a government
requires people to pay to help support the
government and its services – from building
roads to paying teachers.
In essence, as Trustee Don Curtis pointed
out at the Nov. 21 Board of Trustees meeting, a
new class of taxpayer is emerging: select under-graduate
students from outside North Carolina
who will have to pay increased tuition rates that
subsidize the state’s general fund instead of sup-porting
the university they attend.
“If the money comes in and goes straight to
the state, it is a tax,” Curtis said.
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
James W. Dean Jr. agreed. “Conceptually, you
are right,” he said.
That exchange took place as Dean reported
the recommendations of the Advisory Task
Force on Tuition and Fees, which were more
limited in scope than in past years.
That’s because UNC President Tom
Ross has said he would not support a tuition
increase for in-state students, and the
N.C. General Assembly, in approving its biennial
budget this past summer, imposed a statutory
increase for out-of-state undergraduates at 14
state universities next academic year, with that
revenue allocated for the state’s general fund.
Carolina was one of four UNC sys-tem
schools where lawmakers stipulated a
12.3 percent increase for those students, result-ing
in a hike of $3,469 – from $28,205 this
academic year to $31,674 in 2014–15. Legisla-tors
imposed a 6 percent increase at 10 institu-tions,
with the remaining two – N.C. State and
UNC-Charlotte – seeing no increase.
When trustees questioned Dean about the
reason for the disparity in tuition increases, he
said, “I’m sure there is a reason; we just don’t
know what it is.”
Double trouble
Stephen Farmer and Shirley Ort, however,
are already worried about the impact of the
proposed tuition increases in two areas at the
heart of the University’s core values: accessi-bility
and quality.
Since campus-based tuition increases began
in 2000, Carolina has protected accessibility
by returning a portion of tuition revenue to
students in the form of need-based aid, said
Ort, associate provost and director of the
Office of Scholarships and Student Aid.
That commitment has given the University
the money to cover the tuition increases for stu-dents
who qualify for need-based financial aid.
But next year, with all the revenue from the stat-utory
increase for out-of-state students going to
the state’s general fund, Carolina’s financial aid
office will get no money to offset the increases.
When asked how much money would be
needed to offer need-based aid to eligible stu-dents,
Ort said, “We’ll need $4.6 million to cover
the need as a result of the 12.3 percent increase.”
The concern about quality stems from the
unintended impact of the tuition increase on
the ability to attract the top students from out-side
North Carolina, and how that could lead
to losing top students from within the state.
Farmer, vice provost for enrollment and
undergraduate admissions, reviewed with the
Board’s University Affairs Committee the
results of a study initiated last year to answer
three vital questions: How would applications,
enrollments and net revenue be affected by vari-ous
increases in tuition? How would these same
outcomes be affected by the loss of need-blind
admissions with prospective students? And what
other initiatives might the University pursue to
improve its position with prospective students?
Trustee Alston Gardner said there is no
doubt that a $3,500 increase in tuition would
have a significant effect on the number of top
students who apply to Carolina as well as the
number of accepted students who enroll.
He emphasized the correlation between
having these top-notch out-of-state students
in the classroom and the University’s contin-ued
ability to attract the “cream of the crop” of
in-state students.
“If this tuition stands, it presents an enor-mous
challenge for us to remain the kind of
university we’ve been for centuries,” Dean said.
“This is a major problem. We need to do every-thing
in our power to get this changed.”
Trustees approved the task force’s recom-mendations
for school-based tuition increases
and a proposed $350 tuition increase for all
graduate students. See go.unc.edu/e4GZn for
information about the next steps in the process.
Trustees concerned about impact of out-of-state tuition increase
Comencement from page 1
Chancellor Folt, left, and Guskiewicz address Carolina’s newest
graduates in the Smith Center ceremony.
Academic Year 2014–15
Proposed Tuition increases
		 2014–15
	
	 2014–15 Proposed
	
2013–14 Statutory Campus Based 2014–15 Base Percent
Student Type Current Tuition Increase Increase Tuition Rate Increase
Undergraduate
Resident $6,423 - - $6,423 0%
Non Resident $28,205 $3,469 - $31,674 12.3%
Graduate
Resident $8,343 - $350 $8,693 4.2%
Non Resident $25,554 - $350 $25,904 1.4%
December 18, 2013 5
Faculty/Staff News
Judith Cone, special assistant to the chancellor for inno-vation
and entrepreneurship, received the Town-Gown Award
from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce at its
Salute to Community Heroes event.
Samuel L. Odom, director of the Frank Porter Graham
Child Development Institute, was awarded the 2013 Arnold
Lucius Gesell Prize for his extraordinary contributions in
research and service to the field of child development.
James H. Anderson, professor of computer science,
has been named to the Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM) Fellow Class of 2013. The ACM Fellows Program cel-ebrates
the exceptional contributions of the leading members
in the computing field.
Alexander “Sasha” Kabanov, Mescal Swain Fer-guson
Distinguished Professor of Pharmacy, has been named
a member of the Academia Europaea for his prominence and
contributions to pharmacy.
The University has been named as a Military Friendly
School for 2014 by Victory Media based on a number of criteria
including its interest in recruiting military students. This places
Carolina in the top 15 percent nationwide.
Joe DeSimone, Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of
Chemistry, was recently elected a Fellow of the National
Academy of Inventors. The academy honors academic inven-tors
with a prolific spirit of innovation in creating inven-tions
that have made an impact on quality of life, economic
development and the welfare of society.
Gary Marchionini, dean and Cary C. Boshamer Dis-tinguished
Professor at the School of Information and Library
Science, has been named a Digital Preservation Pioneer by
the Library of Congress for his research and development in
technology.
Tim Carter, David G. Frey Distinguished Professor of
Music, is the first scholar to receive two honors from the Amer-ican
Musicological Society in the same year. He was awarded
the H. Colin Slim Award for his article “Monteverdi, Early
Opera and a Question of Genre: The Case of Andromeda
(1620)” and the Claude V. Palisca Award for his edition of Kurt
Weill’s “Johnny Johnson.”
honors
At the end of their last meeting of 2013,
Title IX Task Force members took two
key votes on how student sexual mis-conduct
cases should be decided in the
future. They approved adjudication pan-els,
as opposed to individual judges, and
they agreed that these panels shouldn’t
include students as members.
“I don’t think students should be
involved in the adjudicative process,”
Christy Lambden, student body presi-dent,
said at the Nov. 18 meeting. The
other student representatives on the
22-member task force supported the
decision, which grew out of discussions
for the need for panel members with
expertise and training in issues particular
to sexual misconduct. Students should
be involved in other parts of the process,
though, task force members agreed.
Task force members favored a small
panel to decide the cases, with panelists
drawn from a pool of highly qualified par-ticipants,
perhaps shared among area uni-versities,
as Chair Christi Hurt suggested.
The discussion leading up to those two
votes focused mostly on areas where there
wasn’t as much consensus, as the task
force members continued to struggle with
balancing fairness with a speedy resolu-tion
process. Some expressed frustration
with the requirement by the Office for
Civil Rights in the federal Department
of Education that these cases be resolved
within 60 days.
“The guidance from OCR is that it is
a guidepost, not a stopwatch,” said Gina
Maisto Smith, the University’s legal con-sultant
and Title IX expert, about the
60-day rule.
As Brenda Malone, vice chancellor for human
resources and interim director of the Equal Oppor-tunity/
ADA Office, prepares to take on her new
position at Georgetown University (go.unc.edu/
Bc85H), Chancellor Carol Folt has announced
interim leaders for both offices.
“It is essential that the Office of Human Resources
and the EO/ADA Office – two critically important
offices that serve our faculty and staff have appropri-ate
leadership in place to sustain them until perma-nent
leadership is appointed,” Folt told the campus
community in an email message on Dec. 6.
Matthew S. Brody, associate vice chancellor for
human resources, will provide leadership and over-sight
to the Office of Human Resources as part of
his current role. Jayne Grandes, currently associate
director for investigations and compliance reporting
in the EO/ADA Office, will serve as interim direc-tor
of that office and will report to Brody during the
interim period.
“Matt is uniquely qualified and positioned to build
on OHR’s record of success,” Folt said.
Brody joined Carolina in 2002 after serving in var-ious
roles at MIT and Duke University. Prior to his
current position, he served as assistant provost for
academic personnel and as a senior director in OHR.
“Jayne came to UNC-Chapel Hill from Rutgers
University, where she was director of the Office of
Employment Equity – experience that will serve her
well in this interim role,” Folt said.
She thanked Brody and Grandes for agreeing to
lead these important University offices until perma-nent
leadership is named.
University employees were notified in November of immedi-ate
action they need to take due to recent legislative changes to
North Carolina income tax laws effective Jan. 1.
With recent changes to these laws passed by the N.C. General
Assembly, the N.C. Department of Revenue (NCDOR) issued
revised state tax withholding forms for the 2014 calendar year
and instructed employers to obtain new state tax withholding
information for all employees.
The new laws set a single income tax rate and make substantial
changes to the taxable income calculation, so employees’ current
state tax withholding allowances may no longer be appropriate. As
a result, the University is required to have each employee provide a
new Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate (Form NC-4
EZ, go.unc.edu/Bk56Y, or Form NC-4, go.unc.edu/y4RHj).
Employees need to submit the new withholding form to Car-olina’s
Payroll Department in time for the allowances to take
effect for any payments received on or after Jan. 1. Based on the
individual tax allowances after completing Form NC-4 or Form
NC4-EZ, the Payroll Department will take action within the pay
period the form is received; no withholding adjustments will be
made retroactive per NCDOR instructions.
To comply with the new rules for withholding state income
tax, the University will default the status for all employees who
do not submit Form NC-4 or Form NC4-EZ by the deadline to
“0” and “single.”
Bi-weekly employees should submit their new withholding
forms to the Payroll Department, CB #1260, by Dec. 20, and
monthly employees should submit their forms by Jan. 3.
The NC-4 EZ and Form NC-4 forms can be accessed at
go.unc.edu/z7P6Q. A copy of the memo and frequently asked
questions is posted at go.unc.edu/k7Y4P. Questions can be
emailed to payroll@unc.edu.
– Janet Kelly-Scholle, Finance Division
Title IX Task Force agrees on panels without students
Interim leaders Changes in income tax withholding for 2014
announced for
HR, EO/ADA Office
See Task force page 11
6 University Gazette
Many a boy has sat on Santa’s lap to ask for a
puppy for Christmas. This Christmas, 3-year-old
Grayson Clamp won’t have to.
His new dog – a Golden Retriever named
Tully – arrived at the Clamps’ home several
weeks before Christmas, fully grown and trained.
Grayson’s parents, Len and Nicole, got what
they asked for this year, too.
Their biggest gift came wrapped in what they
believe is a miracle – one they were able to wit-ness
all over again the first time Tully barked and
Grayson’s eyes widened in wonder.
A change of heart
Nicole Clamp has hugged more babies, pat-ted
more tiny bottoms and cooed sweet noth-ings
in more little ones’ ears than she could
count. As a nurse in the Carolina’s Medical
Center nursery in Charlotte, doing those things
was part of the job she loved. Even so, she never
felt that she wanted – or needed – to be a
mother herself.
She had married Len Clamp, her high school
sweetheart from Williston, S.C. They went to
Clemson University together, where he stud-ied
business and she trained to be a nurse.
After graduation, they moved to Charlotte in
2001. Len went to work for Bank of America;
Nicole started her nursing career at Carolina’s
Medical Center.
They were happy, she said, and their
life together seemed rich and full enough
without children. “I love babies, I really do,”
Nicole said, “but I didn’t have a burning desire
to have one of my own.”
All that began to change the day her mother
suggested that she and Len consider becoming
foster parents.
Strangely, she said, there was something about
that idea that felt right – almost as if it was
something God was calling them to do. That’s
how they became foster parents for medically
fragile children and newborns, Nicole said.
Even then, she never intended to be a mom.
“I just thought the children would stay for a little
while and be going on,” she said.
That was exactly what happened with the
children the Clamps cared for before Grayson
came along.
From the start, Grayson seemed different.
The seventh child of a drug-addicted mother,
Grayson was born with CHARGE syndrome,
a recognizable genetic pattern of birth defects
that occurs in about one in every 10,000 births
worldwide.
Most have hearing loss, vision loss and bal-ance
problems. They are often born with life-threatening
birth defects, including complex
heart problems.
Grayson fit the pattern. He was blind in one
eye and had a congenital heart defect known as
Tetralogy of Fallot that prevented blood from
flowing normally through his heart. The condi-tion
required open-heart surgery to repair it, and
that is how Grayson ended up coming home
with the Clamps eight days later.
From that moment, they knew he
wasn’t leaving.
“When we brought Grayson home, I was con-vinced,
and I think Nicole was too, that God
had uniquely equipped us to take care of him,”
Len said. “And we knew early on that God
had brought Grayson to us not just to foster,
but adopt.”
In fall 2010, a few days after they started the
adoption process, Nicole found out she was preg-nant
with their son Ethan. Not long after that,
they discovered Grayson was profoundly deaf.
‘A walk of faith’
Between three and four of every 1,000 chil-dren
are born with some form of hearing loss,
and roughly three-fourths of these cases can be
helped with hearing aids. About one in 1,000
need cochlear implants – a 50-year-old pro-cedure
that has given hearing to thousands of
adults and children.
Grayson was among the rarest of cases: chil-dren
born without an auditory nerve, the wiring
that transmits outside vibrations from the ears to
the brain, creating sound.
Nicole remembers the day they found out
from UNC otolaryngology surgeon Craig Buch-man
that the cochlear implant would not work
for Grayson. But she refused to let go of the
belief that Grayson would be able to hear and
speak one day. To hold on to that belief, she did
the only thing she could: she prayed.
The miracle they prayed for arrived in the
form of an auditory brainstem implant, a clinical
trial that Buchman and Matthew Ewend, chair
of UNC’s neurosurgery department, had been
developing for nearly a decade. The implant
would insert tiny microchips inside Grayson’s
brain, which would perform the functions of
both the cochlea and the missing auditory nerve.
Grayson, Buchman told the Clamps, appeared
to be a perfect candidate for the experimental
procedure.
When Grayson was 18 months old, Buch-man
inserted a cochlear implant, as required
by the Federal Drug Administration, to see if it
would work. The operation was a necessary step
toward getting permission to perform the audi-tory
brainstem implant as part of a clinical trial.
Once the operation was approved, one more
hurdle remained: money.
“The most desperate I felt was when we got to
the point we could schedule surgery and there
was no money,” Nicole said. “Then, one day out
of the blue, the medical director from our insur-ance
company called to tell us they were going to
foot the bill for the whole thing.”
Buchman and Ewend performed the surgery
on April 9. In May, Grayson returned to Cha-pel
Hill so the device could be turned on. That
magic moment was captured in a video showing
Grayson’s father tapping him on the shoulder
and speaking the first words Grayson ever heard:
“Daddy loves you.”
Then came the look that lit up the world (see
go.unc.edu/n2ZSd).
A universal desire
The day after the video of Grayson had gone
viral, Len and Nicole found themselves in a
Page 6: Above, Service dog Tully leans against his charge, Grayson Clamp, to help him keep his balance as Grayson explores
Christmas decorations at SouthPark Mall near his home. Upper right, Grayson gets a hug from his mom, Nicole Clamp, and
lower right, Grayson and his brother, Ethan, play with a new toy.
Page 7: Left, Tully waits patiently as Grayson sits on Santa’s lap. Upper right, Grayson communicates to his mom that he wants
more cake, and lower right, Grayson and Tully during a quiet moment at home.
Nothing has been calm for the Clamps, but this Christmas all will be bright
December 18, 2013 7
television studio in New York City for a live
interview with CNN.
When asked about the operation that peo-ple
had begun calling a medical miracle, Len
answered, “God is still in the miracle business.”
In the months since Grayson discovered
sound, his days have been filled with therapy ses-sions
to teach him how to recognize words and
to talk, and to work with companion dog Tully.
“He really loves sound,” Nicole said. “When
he hears a sound, he’ll look at me and point to
his ear like, ‘I hear that.’ And we have just figured
out that when he does that he wants us to tell
him what it is.”
In an interview with CBS News, Nicole said
she did not want Grayson to have a normal life,
but an extraordinary one. And each day, there
are “little miracles” that make her believe he will.
“When he was very little, professionals told us
that they didn’t really know what he would be
able to do. He may not be able to walk, they said.
He may not be able to feed himself. But I refused
to put any limits on him.
“We will not know until we try. We are going
to try until we can’t try anymore, and if he can’t
do it, that’s fine. But it is not going to be because
we didn’t try.”
So many people have been drawn into Gray-son’s
story, Nicole said, and she thinks she
knows why.
“I think it is because, no matter your age, your
economic status or where you live,” she said,
“everybody is looking for hope.”
For many people born with hearing loss, the problem
lies in the inner ear, or cochlea, a spiral-shaped organ in
the temporal bone. UNC is home to one of the largest
pediatric cochlear implant programs in the country and
gives more than 100 children a year the ability to hear.
Grayson Clamp is not one of those children.
Rather than missing the thousands of microscopic sen-sory
cells in his cochlea, Grayson was born without the
auditory nerve that connects the cochlea to the brain.
Nothing could be done for Grayson until break-through
research at the UNC School of Medicine led
to the development of an auditory brainstem (ABI)
implant clinical trial. On April 9, 2013, Grayson became
the first of 10 children approved to receive the implant
as part of a clinical trial approved by the Federal Drug
Administration.
Craig Buchman (above right), a professor
of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery, teamed
with Matthew Ewend (above left), chair of the
Department of Neurosurgery, to perform the eight-hour
operation.
The other members of the surgical team were audi-ologist
Holly Teagle; auditory electrophysiologist
Shuman He and John Grose, whose specialty
is psychoacoustics.
Teagle’s primary job was to activate and program the
device, while Grose and He monitored electrodes placed
on Grayson’s head to track the brain’s response to the
device once it was on.
“There is an anatomic spot that we know how to find,
and once we got there we put the electrodes in that space.
The other three team members had a role in stimulat-ing
the electrodes and interpreting the brain’s response
to that stimulation,” said Buchman, who is the principal
investigator in the study.
Ewend, Teagle, He and Grose are the four co-investigators
in the FDA-approved study. All are faculty
members in Carolina’s School of Medicine.
“We all have complementary, but overlapping, areas of
expertise and that is important to establishing a team who
can communicate with each other every step of the way,”
Buchman said.
Their groundbreaking work continues. A 2-year-old
girl received the second ABI device this past summer, and
last week, a 2-year-old boy received the third device.
The surgical team
HOW IT
WORKS:
Melanie busbee
8 University Gazette
‘Fables in Story and Song’
The Friday Center’s Under the Atrium Series will host
“Fables in Story and Song” Jan. 11. Daniel Wallace, author and
J. Ross MacDonald Distinguished Professor of English, and
The Old Ceremony’s singer-songwriter Django Haskins will
feature music, stories and impromptu conversations. Food
trucks will also be on site. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show
begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at the door for $12 or $10
in advance online, at the Carolina Union Box Office or over the
phone (919-962-1449). go.unc.edu/Zw7q4
Deadlines to watch
Jan. 16 – Nominations are due for honorary degrees to be
conferred at May 2015 Commencement. Five prestigious
awards will be given to recognize individuals who have
rendered outstanding service to humanity, made outstand-ing
contributions in scholarship, enriched lives through
the arts and those whose devotion to the University mer-its
highest recognition. The Board of Governors and staff
of UNC and constituent institutions are not eligible. For
criteria, eligibility, past winners and nominations, visit
go.unc.edu/Qi5k4.
Jan. 21 – Nominations are due for the 2014 C. Knox Massey
Distinguished Service Awards. The awards will be given to
six recipients for “unusual, meritorious or superior contri-bution
made by an employee, past or present” and include
an award of $7,500. Nominations can be submitted at
go.unc.edu/t8G3R.
Jan. 24 – Nominations are due for the 2014 University Awards
for the Advancement of Women. This award recognizes men
and women who have contributed to the advancement of
women on campus. Each year, three individuals (one faculty
member, one staff member and one undergraduate/graduate
student/postdoctoral scholar) may be selected to receive the
award. The faculty and staff recipients each receive $5,000 and
the undergraduate/graduate student/ postdoctoral scholar
recipient receives $2,500. go.unc.edu/m9X8R
Global health research grants
available for faculty
Applications for the Explorations in Global Health faculty
research grants are due Jan. 10. Grants will be given to fac-ulty
for international travel, to bring international colleagues
to campus, or to undertake small-scale research projects with
international collaborators. Five grants will be awarded of up
to $5,000 for a single applicant or $8,000 for two co-applicants.
Full-time faculty members from all departments are eligible
to apply. Degree-seeking students may co-apply with a fac-ulty
member. Grant-funded travel will be authorized to begin
on or after April 1, and must be completed within one year.
go.unc.edu/s2N7J
Events at N.C. Botanical Garden
Dec. 21 – The Piedmont Youth and Family Ensembles will
play selections from “The Nutcracker” in a free holiday violin
concert at 4 p.m. go.unc.edu/Jc48M
Jan 10 – See local owls as they return to their nesting terri-tory
and look for signs of screech, barred and great horned
owls at the Owl Prowl from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Mason Farm
Biological Preserve. Attendees will also meet Otus, a screech
owl, and Athena, a barred owl, that are used in education
programs at Piedmont Wildlife Center. The program is $15
or $10 for members. go.unc.edu/r8YEm
Jan. 15 – Children ages 3 and 4 are invited with a parent to
learn about nature through mini-hikes, crafts, stories, songs
and puppets during the “Sweet Peas ‘When It Gets C-c-c-cold’”
event from 10 to 11 a.m. The registration fee is $10 or
$8 for members. go.unc.edu/p7ANb
IAH Winter Welcome
The Institute for the Arts and Humanities will host its
annual Winter Welcome and Fellows Recognition Recep-tion
Jan. 15 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the University Room at Hyde
Hall. The reception celebrates new books, performances and
News In Br i ef
Change in PlayMakers’
PRC2 schedule
Due to changes in the schedules of guest artists
appearing in PlayMakers’ upcoming PRC2 shows,
dates for this season’s remaining PRC2 produc-tions
have changed. “The Story of The Gun” by
Mike Daisey, which explores America’s relationship
with guns, will be presented Jan. 8 through Jan. 12
(go.unc.edu/s7ZFp). “Hold These Truths” by Jeanne
Sakata will be performed April 23 through April 27
Commnuity Engagement Felowship for gradute stduents (go.unc.edu/Kw92L).
The Carolina Center for Public Service is accepting applications for the Community Engagement Fellowship pro-gram
through Feb. 3. A maximum of five fellowships of up to $2,000 each will be awarded to develop and implement
engagement or engaged scholarship projects that employ innovative, sustainable approaches to complex social needs
and have an academic connection.
Returning full-time graduate students (individuals or teams) are eligible to apply, with preference given to interdis-ciplinary
teams of students. Fellows work in collaboration with community
partners and faculty mentors who are familiar with the identified topics or
geographic areas, while fellows are responsible for the major planning and
implementation of their projects. Apply online at www.unc.edu/ccps/portal.
Alison Doernberg, a graduate student in social work, received a Community
Engaged Fellowship in 2012 for a project on providing support, including
the resource kits seen at right, to North Carolina families affected by cancer.
Contributed
Celebrate the holidays at The Carolina In
Holiday afternoon teas and the gingerbread house and Twelve Days of Christmas displays are ongoing until Dec. 31.
The remaining holiday events are:
Dec 21, 22 – Horse-drawn carriage rides every half hour
from noon to 4 p.m.
Dec. 22, 23, 24 – Breakfasts with Santa each day from 8:30
to 10:30 a.m. and brunches from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Dec. 22 – Story time with Santa from 6 to 8 p.m.
Dec. 23 – Children’s etiquette luncheon with a five-course
dining tutorial from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Dec. 23 – Children’s gingerbread house-making class at 2 p.m.
Dec. 24 – Christmas Eve dinner from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
Dec. 25 – Christmas Day brunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Dec. 31 – New Year’s Eve dinner from 5:30 to 10 p.m.
go.unc.edu/Pn45J
Mike Daisey in “The Story of The Gun”
December 18, 2013 9
compositions released by IAH Fellows during the 2013 cal-endar
year. New publications will be available at a special dis-count,
and authors will be available to discuss and sign their
works. go.unc.edu/r2XGn
GAA Civil War lecture series continues
The General Alumni Association will offer historical lec-tures
by Fred W. Kiger in the George Watts Hill Alumni Cen-ter’s
Royall Room as part of the Civil War series Jan. 6 and
Jan. 13 from 7 to 9 p.m. The lectures will cover Civil War
diplomacy and the Founding Fathers of the Confederacy,
respectively. Registration is $30 or $25 for GAA members.
go.unc.edu/o3Q9E
Computer purchase plan
for UNC employees
Student Stores is offering University employees a payroll
deduction program for the purchase of computers, tablets
and accessories from the RAM Shop. The UNC Employee
Computer Purchase Plan offers employees an opportunity
to purchase eligible items from the RAM Shop through an
initial downpayment and an interest-free payroll deduction
loan spread over six months. go.unc.edu/s4B3W
Chancelor’s Awards for Excelence
in Student Activities and Leadership
Nominations for the 2014 Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence
in Student Activities and Leadership are due Feb. 7. Nominees
should include outstanding students cited for their achieve-ments
in academic endeavors, as well as their exceptional
leadership to the campus through their involvement in residen-tial
and Greek life, student self-governance, and many other
areas. go.unc.edu/Lm2x4
Global Photography Exhibition
opens Jan. 16
The 2014 Carolina Global Photography Exhibition will
kick off with an opening reception Jan. 16 from 5:30 to
7:30 p.m. at the FedEx Global Education Center. The exhi-bition
will feature amateur photography from around the
world by Carolina students, faculty, staff and alumni. Win-ning
photographs will be awarded at the exhibit opening.
go.unc.edu/Mm8k9
Send students to SURF
information sesion Jan. 28
The Office of Undergraduate Research asks faculty and staff
to encourage capable undergraduates to apply for the Summer
Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) and attend a
SURF information session in room 3408 at the Carolina Union
Jan. 28 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Projects must be carried out under
the supervision of a UNC faculty research adviser and, when
possible, in collaboration with a postdoctoral fellow or gradu-ate
student mentor. our.unc.edu
NEWS IN BRIEF Submisions
Next issue includes events from Jan. 16 to Jan. 29.
Deadline for submissions is 5 p.m., Mon., Jan. 6. Email
gazette@unc.edu. 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.
The national Chi Phi fraternity last month suspended the campus chap-ter
because of alleged alcohol and hazing violations. The action means
that all chapter activities – including meetings and social or other events
– were suspended immediately following the Nov. 26 announcement by
the national fraternity.
Winston Crisp, vice chancellor for student affairs, said the University
supported the fraternity’s decision and would cooperate fully as that judicial
process moves forward.
“The University has zero tolerance for actions by individuals or groups
that threaten the health, safety and well being of our students,” Crisp said.
“The University always investigates any allegations of such behaviors and
will take appropriate actions based on the facts and the requirements of our
own policies and procedures.”
University officials encourage the positive contributions members of the
Greek community make to campus life and students’ social and educational
development, he said. “At the same time, we expect the students in fraternities
and sororities to adhere to the high standards of behavior consistent with the
University’s values, and we support activities designed to further those aims.”
The suspension did not affect the living arrangements for Chi Phi mem-bers
who live in the chapter house. Student Affairs provided those students
with the same services and support available to other students during the
final exam period this month.
Information Technology Services has
rolled out a new Onyen management system.
Now, all users are required to select five
security questions and identify at least one
emergency contact the first time a password
is changed.
With the required security questions,
users can reset a forgotten password online
without contacting 919-962-HELP for
assistance.
This new Onyen management interface
enables people to change their password,
reset a lost or forgotten password, check pass-word
status, create or update security ques-tions,
add or update emergency contact infor-mation,
and add or update a phone number
for receiving Alert Carolina text messages.
See help.unc.edu for additional informa-tion
about Onyen management.
Emergency contact information is now
part of the interface so the University can
contact an appropriate friend or relative for
students, faculty and staff in the event of an
emergency or urgent situation on campus.
“Your emergency contact information
will be securely held, and will never be
made publicly available. It will only be used
in the event of a true emergency as deter-mined
by senior University administration
and/or the Department of Public Safety,”
Brenda Malone, vice chancellor for human
resources, told the campus community.
People can enter up to two emergency
contacts, including name, relationship,
phone number(s) and other optional con-tact
information. The University first will
attempt to reach the primary contact before
trying the second contact. This information
is not searchable in the online directory and
cannot be seen by unauthorized users.
Employees with questions should contact
the Office of Human Resources at 919-843-
2300 and students should contact the Dean
of Students Office at 919-966-4042.
Onyen management system has new features National fraternity suspends campus chapter
It’s become an exam-time
tradition for UNC
Libraries and Academic
Advising to bring certi-fied
therapy dogs to
campus on reading days.
Students, faculty and
staff enjoyed visiting,
petting and playing with
the pups at various loca-tions
across campus on
Dec. 5 and 11. In addition
to stress-relief sessions
with therapy dogs, of-fices
all over campus of-fered
events and services
– from knitting lessons to
an evening ramen noodle
bar – to support Caro-lina’s
students during win-ter
exams. Here, therapy
dog Pippin expresses his
approval at the atten-tion
from students at the
Carolina Union.
10 University Gazette
Carolina working   at
Tammy Cotton was born in a doctor’s office almost
close enough to the Chatham County Courthouse to
fall under its shadow. All but a few of her nine siblings
were born there as well.
“My daddy was a truck driver and my mom had to be there
with us,” she said. “We didn’t come up rich. We had a garden
that our dad made us go out and pick, and I used to cry all the
time about that.”
The family never got everything they wanted, she said, but
they all had what they needed most: each other. She is proud of
the fact that she and all her siblings graduated from Northwood
High School in Pittsboro.
“We were a happy family. A giving family. A close family. We
always do from the heart,” she said.
Cotton grew up dreaming of becoming a model, but when
she finished high school, her first priority was getting a job and
going to work. Not that she had a choice.
“My dad always said, ‘If you are not going to go to school,
you have to work. You are not going to stay here for free,’”
she explained.
She started out with what she calls “little itty-bitty jobs,”
working part-time at the state liquor store while working as a
cook at a hamburger joint in town so she could earn enough
money to buy her first car, a Chevrolet Sprint.
Cotton drove that Chevrolet 16 miles each way to her first
“real job” at Glendale Hosiery in Siler City and stayed at the
mill until it closed down eight years later.
Next, she worked at a Cato’s store but ended up spending as
much money in the store as she earned. “Oh God, I can shop,”
she said.
To make ends meet, she began cleaning houses and office
buildings on the side, and later got a job as a waitress at one of
the nicest restaurants in Pittsboro. It was there that she ran into
her old high school principal, who asked, “Do you know anybody
looking for a job because I just fired every custodian I had.”
“I said, ‘You are right on time because I am looking for a full-time
job,’” she said. “And he said, ‘The job is yours. Come see
me on Monday.’”
Shortly afterward, Cotton began to think about getting a full-time
job as a housekeeper at Carolina.
“I kept putting my application in over and over, but nobody
called,” she said. That is, until a temporary position became
available on the midnight shift at the Smith Center.
Her response: “I’ll take it.”
The temporary job turned into a permanent job and she
stayed at the Smith Center for several more years until she took
a day-shift position taking care of whatever needed to be done
at three buildings on the other side of Manning Drive: Thur-ston
Bowles, Mary Ellen Jones and the Lineberger Comprehen-sive
Cancer Center.
In the 16 years she has worked in Chapel Hill, she has also
worked part-time at her old high school in Pittsboro, putting in
a few hours of cleaning each day after finishing her shift for her
job at Carolina.
Cotton has come to understand that being in the right place
at the right time was how good things happened in her life. It
was how she met her husband one morning as she was walking
to her car and he jogged by.
“He left a note on my car saying he would like to take me
out,” she said, “and I didn’t know who he was. I asked my sister
Abigail about him and she said, ‘Oh, he’s a wonderful man. I go
to his church.’”
They went out for the first time in August 2007 and he pro-posed
in December that same year. After the wedding, they
moved into the house in Siler City that she had saved up to buy
on her own.
This past September, they celebrated their sixth wedding
anniversary.
Cotton said she did not think life could get any sweeter
until she got the phone call from former chancellor Holden
Thorp last spring telling her she had been awarded a C. Knox
Massey Distinguished Service Award.
More than 20 people nominated her for the award, includ-ing
many who described how lucky they feel to have her work-ing
the day shift in their buildings. In their nominating letters,
they all mentioned the same qualities: Helpful. Positive. Always
pleasant. Always busy.
One said, “She’s what I consider a ‘people person’ because
she genuinely cares about people and wants good things to hap-pen
for them.”
Cotton feels very lucky as well.
“The Lord has really blessed me, I’ll tell ya,” she said.
Cotton’s approach: helpful,
positive, pleasant, hard working
University remains open unless change in operations announced
Unless the chancellor or a designee closes
the University, it is always open.
Any announcements about a change in the
University’s operations will be posted as soon
as possible to www.unc.edu. Unless a change
is announced, the University always oper-ates
under Condition 1 – regular schedule.
(classes will be held; offices will be open)
UNC uses three main operating conditions
for adverse weather: Condition 1 (open);
Condition 2 (classes canceled, offices open);
or Condition 3 (classes canceled, offices
closed). Reports of state government closings
do not apply to the University.
The University announces adverse weather
news on www.unc.edu, Alert Carolina
(alertcarolina.unc.edu), a recorded message
on the Adverse Weather and Emergency
Phone Line (919-843-1234) and through the
news media.
Employees (SPA and EPA non-faculty)
are reminded of the University’s Adverse
Weather Policy (go.unc.edu/n4J7G). Emer-gency
employees should report for work
(go.unc.edu/Hb6g9). Other employees are
responsible for their regular duties, mak-ing
up any missed work time, and making
their own decisions about work based
on personal safety.
Check the UNC Department of Public
Safety (www.dps.unc.edu) for details includ-ing
parking lot conditions.
Check with Chapel Hill Transit
(go.unc.edu/Az25E) for inclement weather
updates, routes and schedules, and actual bus
arrival times.
December 18, 2013 11
Susannah Snider in her story, “The College Rankings that
Really Matter.”
With UNC’s strong admissions process and the high
quality of its entering first-year class, UNC “competes
with elite private schools” in academic quality,
Kiplinger’s reported.
About 35 percent of Carolina undergraduates borrow
to pay for their education, with an average debt at gradu-ation
of less than $16,983. That’s the fourth least debt in
the Kiplinger’s ranking and well below the national average
of $29,400.
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 gradua-tion.
For the out-of-state ranking, the magazine recalcu-lated
academic quality and expense numbers using total
costs for non-resident students and average costs after
financial aid.
Read more at go.unc.edu/Nc3w9.
Rankings from page 2
Open aces
A lively conversation about issues surrounding open access
and scholarship showed that humanities and sciences faculty
members feel differently about open access to their research
published in peer-reviewed journals.
Open access refers to the availability of this information
online and the degree to which users can read, download,
copy, distribute, print or link to the full text of research arti-cles
at no charge.
Technology makes disseminating materials much easier
today than when they were strictly published in printed texts,
said panelist Anne Gilliland, scholarly communications offi-cer
at UNC Libraries. “This is why open access is more of an
issue now,” she said.
“We need to decide how to move forward as a community,”
she said, “to look at a model that works well for the gamut of
disciplines here – one that isn’t imposed on the faculty, but
arises out of the faculty’s will and sense of what is needed.”
Today, people have a copyright as soon as they write an
article, unlike years ago when the article had to be published,
Gilliland said.
Under the University’s current policy, developed in 2005, fac-ulty
members retain ownership of their research and are encour-aged
to use open access publication venues whenever possible.
Recently, however, new types of content such as MOOCs
(massive open online courses) and policies surrounding
federally funded research, primarily in the sciences, have
changed the access landscape.
The Administrative Board of the Library has proposed
that the Faculty Council appoint a broad-based study group
to consider a policy that grants institutional rights retention,
with faculty members’ ability to opt out.
Harry Watson (history) was concerned about the potential
effect of such a policy on the humanities. “There is no crisis
in the humanities,” he said, because that body of research is
largely published by scholarly associations and disseminated
as part of the associations’ membership.
Greg Copenhaver (biology) said the proposal’s general
direction could work well for disciplines supported by federal
funding, but he understood that it might not be feasible for all
fields. “We need to be careful of a one-size-fits-all approach,”
he said. “It could be burdensome if people like Harry have to
continually opt out.”
See go.unc.edu/d9E6X for additional information about
open access and scholarship.
Tuition status
Council members approved a resolution supporting in-state
tuition status for all North Carolina residents, including undoc-umented
aliens, to expand accessibility and affordability. The
resolution was prompted by an appeal from Carolina students
who are directly affected.
While other universities in the UNC system are also explor-ing
this idea, it isn’t something the UNC system or its indi-vidual
institutions can change. Statutory authority to grant
in-state tuition to undocumented students would require a
change in state law.
Faculty Council from page 3
Other topics included remedy-based solutions, the role
of attorneys in proceedings and how much weight the find-ing
of the investigator should have. “I want to bullet-proof
this policy,” said Amy Tiemann, community representative
and a local author.
Task force members will continue the discussion next
month at an all-day off-campus retreat.
Task force from page 5
at your website – you do a lot of resolutions over here,”
Hancock said. “At State, there have been only two resolu-tions
voted on and passed in the past five years.”
Wu came to Carolina as an architect in 1995,
just in time to plan for the University’s decade-long
capital construction program that would eventually
reach $2.1 billion. She began as a project manger and
became intimately involved with the three-year process
of crafting a new master campus plan that, when it was
approved in 2001, was considered the roadmap to Caro-lina’s
future.
That summer, she was named University architect and
director of Facilities Planning and Design, and in June
2012 was named to her current position.
Wu talked about the dedication and drive of the people
who work in Facilities Services. They not only keep the
campus operating every day, they also protect it when it is
threatened by fire, flood or storms, she said.
“Everything is not always rosy, but I want to continue
to foster an environment in which people feel respected
and supported and have an opportunity to grow,” Wu
said. “We should be engaging in lifelong learning just like
the students we are setting along that path.”
Malone from page 3
More than 900 people can benefit from ‘the gift of life’
UNC students, faculty and staff as well as community members collected 310 pints of blood at the 15th annual
Holiday Carolina Blood Drive, potentially touching or saving the lives of 930 patients in need of blood products.
The impact of the blood drive will affect the lives of patients in hospitals across the state.
“This is an amazing gift to a patient in need especially so near the holiday and at a busy time of the year for campus
life,” said Kirsten Kruhm, donor recruiter with the American Red Cross Carolinas Region.
Inclusive Student Excellence and one of the directors of
CMSP, who helped him apply for jobs so he could stay at
Carolina. Soon, he was focused in the lab and investigating
graduate programs.
“It’s not only about the research experience and academic
opportunities this program has given me, it’s also about sup-port
and community. It became a family, and through that, I
was able to focus on school again,” Marsan said.
Tackling a troubling trend
CMSP is aimed at engaging, recruiting, retaining and
supporting African-American, American Indian and Latino
males through graduation and beyond. Scholars apply to
and enter the two-year program their first year at Carolina,
and around 15 are accepted.
A 2010 retention study from Carolina’s Office of Under-graduate
Retention showed UNC’s four-year gradua-tion
rate was 49.2 percent for black males, in contrast to a
70.8 percent graduation rate for white males. Retention
rates of American Indian and Latino males were also low.
“These are exceptional young men who enter our univer-sity
with strong records of academic performance and co-curricular
engagement,” said Taffye Benson Clayton, vice
provost and chief diversity officer. “The question is what
happens when they arrive here, and this is a question that is
being asked all over the nation.”
Marco Barker, senior director at UNC Diversity and Mul-ticultural
Affairs, added: “We know it’s not their deficit. If
they got in here, they are outstanding students. Our efforts
had to address the unique racial, ethnic and gender nuances
of males of color on a university campus.”
Barker, who heads CMSP along with Wilson
and Josmell Perez, coordinator for multicultural pro-grams
and the Carolina Latina/o Collaborative, said
those nuances come to light in the different ways people
approach college life. For instance, men are less likely to
ask for help, which may keep them from accessing the
abundant resources for academic success that Carolina has
to offer all students.
“We know that, culturally, many men are taught that ask-ing
for help is a sign of weakness or vulnerability. We have
to teach help-seeking behaviors and encourage young men
to identify a problem, find solutions and start the steps,”
Barker said.
National research and the work of other campus offices
committed to these issues showed that one key to the suc-cess
of minority males was the opportunity to be engaged
in high-impact experiences, which CMSP provides. CMSP
scholars are connected to study abroad, undergraduate
research opportunities and summer fellowships.
Those experiences help students become more engaged,
Barker said. “Getting connected helps them increase
their confidence so they are much more proactive and
self-aware about some of the resources and tools needed to
be successful.”
Michael Morrison, now a sophomore scholar, applied
to CMSP because he wanted a group who could help him
focus on success. During his first year at Carolina, CMSP
exposed him to learning and testing techniques that he
credits with giving him a steady start.
“One of the great things about this campus is that there
are so many resources. But because there are so many, it can
be easy to overlook them,” Morrison said. “Even though
we’re a small group, we’re powerful, and we’re a great sup-port
system for one another.”
A shared concern
Sharon James was aware of the stereotypes attached to
minority males, and she’d seen her students react to the
misconceptions.
“Some were afraid to ask questions – what happens
if they raise their hand and say they don’t understand
something? Would someone say they didn’t belong here?
We know that there’s no race, class or gender that can-not
succeed academically,” said James, associate professor
of classics.
“I emailed Marco and said, ‘If you want a middle-aged
white lady classics professor for this, I’m happy to help.’”
Last year, James became a mentor for CMSP scholar
Anthony Gore, a junior transfer student who sought out
the program to avoid feeling like he was “under the micro-scope.”
The two meet regularly for lunch or coffee, or dur-ing
James’ office hours, and talk about classes, tips for writ-ing
papers and life.
“This is the line you hear over and over: ‘I am used to
being the only man of color in my upper-level classes at high
school,’” Gore said. “So, you get used to it and expect it.
But you also feel like you’ve got the weight of the world on
your shoulders.”
In CMSP, Gore found a community where he could
speak openly about issues of racism and what it would take
to succeed. He can open up to James – but what has meant
even more, he said, is that she opens up to him.
“It’s actually good that we’re from different worlds,” he
said. “She gives me this complete other perspective. She
talks about how important education was to her family
growing up, and she grew up in a university background. It’s
been important for me to hear that side of things.”
Reports of low-retention rates for minority males at Car-olina
also troubled Roxana Perez-Mendez, an assistant pro-fessor
of art, and serving as a CMSP mentor has given her
a way to be part of the solution. In her own undergraduate
experience, Perez-Mendez had seen how easy it could be to
fall through the cracks.
“Making connections makes the expanse of a university
feel smaller, more accessible and attainable,” she said.
“There are people who these students can go to and see they
are not necessarily alone.”
In addition to official faculty mentors, Barker maintains
a list of faculty and staff who’ve expressed interest in being
called on when there’s a need.
A pipeline of progres
Marsan wants one day to be recognized for his contribu-tions
to science and his work in substance abuse. Within
that, he wants to influence others in the minority commu-nity.
He’s already started as a mentor to a first-year CMSP
scholar from Michigan.
“I know how important it was that someone cared about
how I was doing, so I check on him regularly,” Marsan said.
“He’s doing awesome!”
Morrison wants his CMSP connection to stay strong long
after he leaves Carolina. “I look forward to giving back after
everything they’ve given to me,” he said.
Multiple campus groups in addition to CMSP are
helping the Carolina community learn more about the
factors that contribute to the success of minority males,
Clayton said. “We must continue to create and sustain
an environment where all students have the opportunity
to thrive.”
CMSP helps students at Carolina thrive now, Barker said.
What’s more, it acts as a pipeline to solve larger issues of
race and gender.
“We really want to see that pipeline of support go from
K–12 to alumni,” Barker said. “I dream of the day when
we’re able to see the student we reached as a 6th-grader
stay in touch, come to Carolina and join CMSP. And when
that student graduates, my hope is he’ll come back to talk to
the scholars.”
That hope helps Gore focus less on the disconcerting low
enrollment of young black men like himself.
“Now, I look toward the pipeline that Dr. Barker talks
about: taking the young men at UNC now and having them
impact high school and elementary school kids,” he said.
“I know what I need to do to help others like me: be
around, be present.”
See cmsp.unc.edu for more information about
CMSP.
Scholars from page 1
12 University Gazette
Roxana Perez-Mendez
serves as a faculty
mentor for students
in CMSP.