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Few people choose a career in aviation by going to dental school. For Mike Benson, though, it was a natural progression. A School of Dentistry student in the late ’60s, Benson found himself drawn more to the Medical Air Operations planes flying daily over Brauer Hall than to the care of patients’ teeth. So when James Bawden, then dean of the school, asked Benson, who already had his pilot’s license, to fly his open-top two-seater plane to transport a visiting lecturer from Charlotte to Chapel Hill, Benson gladly obliged. With that trip, a career as a pilot supplanted one in dentistry. “I was a much better pilot than I was a dental student,” Benson said. In 1977, Alan Fearing hired Benson to fly health-care professionals, medical residents, faculty members and others conducting University business across the state for UNC Medical Air Operations (Med Air), known as the wings of Carolina’s successful AHEC Program. AHEC, the N.C. Area Health Education Centers Program, partners with academic and health-care institutions across the state to improve the health of the people of North Carolina. Since 1972, AHEC has brought medical expertise, patient care and consultation to rural areas of the state. Fearing, pictured at left above with Benson, has been actively involved with Medical Air for the past 38 years. Following a stint in the Navy, he joined the operation as a part-time pilot in 1970 and flew several times a week. There was no lack of work, he said – just no available full-time position at the time. Except for his weekend flying duty with the Navy Reserves, Med Air was Fearing’s only employment. “As a matter of fact, although there was no guarantee of future full-time employment with Med Air, the part-time work was so exciting and challenging that I decided I’d gamble on a future full-time position being added,” he said. exploring 403(b) options 4 massey finds fortune 6 12 the joy of cooking, serving Vol. 33, No. 18 gazette.unc.edu The University’s reduction in non-recurring state appropriations for this fiscal year is now 4 percent. The increase from 2 percent to 4 percent, which Gov. Michael Easley announced earlier this month, had been expected and was a topic Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Berna-dette Gray-Little discussed at the Oct. 10 Faculty Council meeting. State appropriations account for $574 million, or 22 percent, of the University’s total operat-ing budget of $2.38 billion. The amount the University will revert back to the state is $20.6 million, double the $10.3 million that would have been reverted under the original 2 percent cut that was announced at the beginning of this month, said McGregor Bell, the University’s budget director. Gray-Little and Richard Mann, vice chan-cellor for finance and administration, sent a memo Oct. 15 to vice chancellors and deans about the additional increase. They reiterated their belief that decisions about implementation of the cuts should rest with each vice chancellor or dean because they could limit the adverse effects the cuts would have on their departmental goals. To assist vice chancellors and deans, Gray-Little and Mann offered several principles, including the following: n Manage operations with available resources; n Weigh a broad array of factors in setting priorities and selecting programs that would be affected; n Move expenditures to non-state sources to Non-recurring state funding to be reduced 4 percent UNC Medical Air has been flying high for 40 years After a combined 70 years of service, two premier pilots choose to leave the cockpit uni v e r s i t y See AIR page 10 October 29, 2008 Carol ina Facul ty and Staff News See BUDGET page 10 2 University Gazette Editor Patty Courtright (962-7124) patty_courtright@unc.edu managing Editor Gary C. Moss (962-7125) gary_moss@unc.edu Assis tant editor Susan Phillips (962-8594) susan_phillips@unc.edu Photographer Dan Sears (962-8592) Design and Layout UNC Design Services Amanda Zettervall (843-4967) STUDENT ASSISTANT Alison Amoroso Contributor News Services Editorial Offices 210 Pittsboro St., Chapel Hill, NC 27599 FAX 962-2279 | CB 6205 | gazette@unc.edu change of adres Make changes at: dir.unc.edu/dir/home Read the gazete 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. uni v e r s i t y on the web snipurls save space When sharing an impossibly long Web link, try pasting the link into snipurl.com. It will dramatically shorten the link so it won’t span longer than a line in e-mails – and risk losing its link – and will be much easier to remember as well. The Gazette frequently uses snipurls to save space in layout. Supercomputer on the move Moving supercomputers from one location to another presents a host of challenges and risks. When Information Technology Services’ Topsail cluster underwent upgrades, it needed to be moved from ITS Franklin to ITS Manning. Planning for the tran-sition began in February and the actual move was done in two stages: snipurl.com/4lio8 TRANSPORTATION FORUM Commuters can provide feedback and ask ques-tions of the University’s transportation service pro-viders at the annual UNC Transportation Forum on Oct. 30 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Great Hall of the FPG Student Union. On hand will be representatives from transit agencies, the CAP Program, Zipcar and others. The magic touch of hugs The Herald-Sun in Melbourne, Australia, writes about embracing the healing power of hugs, citing as one source the UNC School of Nursing’s 2005 study that women had lower blood pressure after hugging their partners: snipurl.com/4jjrp snipurl.com All Hallows eve What with Halloween just around the corner, what better way to get in the spirit than to take a trip to ibiblio to visit Ghost Stories of North Carolina. Once there, click on the haunted house to enter … if you dare. For UNC fans, the Legend of Gimghoul ibiblio.org/ghosts is included. Find the best gas prices Think you know where to get the best bargain on gas in Chapel Hill and around the Triangle? This Web site offers a search by location and also has a form to use to report your own finds. snipurl.com/48vqo Heartfelt gifts Every year we give our readers an annual writing assignment – and the chance to be part of the December issue with their submissions of short essays on assigned topics. With an eye toward economy and ecology, this year’s theme is "When Less Is More: Gifts from the Heart." We’re looking for inspired gift ideas – holiday, birthday or other special occa-sion – that are homemade, budget-minded or that leave a small footprint in the lives of the recipients. Everyone who sends us a submis-sion will be included in a drawing for great prizes. E-mail your stories of no more than 200 words to gazette@unc.edu by Dec. 8. Be sure to tell us if you have a photo that might illustrate your idea, too. If your gift idea includes directions, keep your story to 200 words. But your directions can be as long as they need to be. We’ll include them online and send readers there for the lowdown. The Town of Chapel Hill aims to return Halloween on Franklin Street to a more manageable celebration this year with a campaign to control the crowds and make things safer for the local community. Mayor Kevin Foy said that Halloween on Franklin Street no longer reflects the char-acter of the community. The town’s Homegrown Halloween in Chapel Hill campaign is intended to return the annual event to the “family friendly, grassroots celebration that it once was,” he said. To do that, access to downtown will be limited. In addition, bars and restaurants will close at 1 a.m. to new patrons to slow alcohol sales. And downtown convenience stores that sell alcohol will either close or stop selling alcohol at 1 a.m. What this means for Carolina employees: n There will be no campus parking for the evening before 6 p.m. After that, parking will be available in specifically designated lots for $10; n Several campus parking lots and roads will be closed during the evening; n Some downtown streets will be closed around 8:30 p.m. (Franklin Street from Raleigh Town puts damper on annual event Note to ghoulies and ghosties from Brian Curran, Chapel Hill chief of police: ‘Find somewhere else to celebrate.’ When les is more to Robertson streets, Columbia Street from Rosemary Street to Cameron Avenue, Raleigh Street from East Franklin Street to Cameron Avenue, and Henderson Street from East Rosemary to East Franklin streets); n There will be no special park-and-ride bus shuttles and little or no parking downtown; n The Point-to-Point Express campus shuttles will run during normal hours but the routes will be modified; n Chapel Hill Transit will run its usual bus routes but some will be rerouted. Modified service will be available on the following evening routes: D, J, NS, NU and all Safe Rides. The weekend Safe Ride bus routes will be available to transport riders away from downtown. For information about the event, see www. townofchapelhill.org/halloween. For Carolina-spe-cific information, see www.dps.unc.edu/NewsLinks/ HalloweenWeb/Halloween2008.pdf. October 29, 2008 3 Do not Fold, Spindle or Chad Soapboxes and Tre Stumps A man from Burlington votes in the presiden-tial election of 1956 that featured a rematch between incumbent Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson. The photo is one of 250 piec-es from the North Carolina Collection Gallery’s exhibit on display in Wilson Library through Jan. 31, 2009, “Soapboxes and Tree Stumps: Political Campaigning in North Carolina.” The show focuses on the period from 1890 to 1990. See library.unc.edu/ncc/gallery.html. civic duty Chancellor Holden Thorp casts his ballot last Friday at the Morehead Building on campus, one of the early-voting sites in Orange County. Task force weighs raising revenue, keeping tuition affordable Tough times often lead to the kind of tough choices that members of the Tuition and Fees Task Force now face as they weigh possible tuition rates to recommend for the 2009–10 academic year. The task force met for a second time on Oct. 20 to begin plugging in possible numbers. It will hold its final meeting on Nov. 10 to vote on a range of tuition increases to forward to Chancellor Holden Thorp. Thorp, in turn, will consider the task force’s recommendations before presenting his rec-ommended tuition increases to University trustees next month. The UNC Board of Gov-ernors will vote on trustees’ recommendations early next year. Even when times are good, there is a natu-ral tension between two widely supported, yet opposing objectives – generating additional revenue to enhance academic programs and meet pressing needs while keeping tuition affordable for all students. In recent years, University trustees have focused on raising revenue enough to make steady, incremental progress in bringing fac-ulty salaries more in line with salaries paid by Carolina’s peers. Since most peer institutions continue to increase salaries for their faculty every year, the University must maintain a sustained pattern of substantial increases not only to close the existing disparities in faculty pay, but to keep the gap from widening, trustees have consis-tently argued. Keeping the best faculty by improving their salaries, they add, is one of the best ways to ensure that the quality of education for future Carolina students will be as good or better than it is now. For students, the focal point has been fairness and accessibility, coupled with an elusive goal to design a predictable tuition program so that parents and students will be able to anticipate tuition costs from the time students enter school until they graduate. The University cannot fully control predict-ability, said Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Bernadette Gray-Little, because the UNC Board of Governors and ultimately the General Assembly have the final say on total tuition increases. Some years, the BOG has denied campus-based tuition increases, while other times the BOG and the legislature have added increases on top of campus-based increases, Gray-Little said. In-state cap In recent years, the battleground has nar-rowed to out-of-state tuition because of guidelines set forth by General Administra-tion capping the size of campus-based tuition increases for in-state students. On Oct. 15, General Administration sent a memo to all UNC system campuses announc-ing a ceiling of 6.5 percent for all campus-based tuition increases, along with ceiling of 6.5 per-cent for fee increases at all but five campuses, including Carolina. For in-state undergraduate students now paying annual tuition of $3,705, a 6.5 percent increase would generate an additional $241 per student, for a total of about $3.35 million based on an enrollment of 13,933. Similarly, for out-of-state undergradu-ates now paying annual tuition of $20,603, a 6.5 percent increase would generate addi-tional revenues of $1,339 per student, or about $3.86 million based on an enrollment of 2,877. Student Body President J.J. Raynor said she would like to see increases for out-of-state undergraduates stay below the $1,000 psycho-logical threshold. “How about $999.99?” Gray-Little quipped and noted that a failure to keep up with the rate of inflation would mean diminished support for current programs. Inflation index At its final meeting, the task force will look at the Higher Education Price Index (HEPI), which is designed to track the rising costs associated with higher education in a more specific way than the more familiar Consumer Price Index. Following Gray-Little’s suggestion would mean the increase for out-of-state undergradu-ate tuition should be at least as high as the HEPI percentage increase. An increase below $1,000, as Raynor advocated, would mean a percentage increase below 4.9 percent. As for how the revenue will be used, Trustee John Ellison and Steve Farmer, associate pro-vost and director of admissions, proposed establishing a fund that would be used to pay for a new initiative, yet to be developed, geared toward attracting more of the best and brightest students to Carolina. Farmer, in an earlier conversation with Elli-son, said that the University would be well served in the future to ensure competition for the best students based on the quality of programs, not solely on low costs. “That made an awful lot of sense to me,” said Ellison, who in recent months has teamed with Raynor to gather ideas from a variety of people and groups about how to strengthen the Uni-versity. One of the topics raised was the need to develop new initiatives serving as a more pow-erful magnet to draw the most talented students here from across the state and the country. “We need to figure out a way to take care of quality, because it is not just cost that people pay attention to when they come to Carolina, or when they decide to stay after seeing if the education they are getting is worth what they are paying,” Farmer said. “Even as we are tightening our belts, I think we will be able to help ourselves if we can dem-onstrate that we are also moving forward with the quality of the experience we can offer the best students we can least afford to lose.” No dollar amount for such a fund was dis-cussed, although Farmer suggested it should be placed under the control of the provost’s office. Gray-Little pointed out that discretion-ary use for the revenue generated by tuition increases would be limited to 40 percent of total revenue. Historically, Carolina has reserved 35 percent for need-based student aid to protect accessibility, and General Adminis-tration policy requires that at least 25 percent be used to bring faculty salaries to the 80th percentile of its peers. Revenue generated by campus-based tuition increases since they were first instituted in 2000–01 now total more than $64 million, including nearly $34 million that has been devoted to faculty salaries and benefits. Need-based aid generated during this same period has amounted to slightly more than $24 million. In addition, $3.1 million has been earmarked to improve stipends for teaching assistants. Last year, for the first time, some money was earmarked to improve student advising. Gray-Little suggested that a smaller amount be devoted to student advising during the next few years in order to pay for the additional staff that will be needed for some of the new advising programs. 4 University Gazette On Jan. 1, TIAA-CREF and Fidelity Investments will become the only vendors for supplemental 403(b) contributions. The Office of Human Resources began communicating the change throughout the UNC system this summer and has continued efforts to keep people informed. Recently, the Gazette talked with Brian Usischon, senior director of benefits and employee services, about what this means for emloyees. Why is this happening now? The Internal Revenue Service created 403(b) plans for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations, public colleges and universities, and public schools in 1964 as a means for their employees to invest for their retirement on a tax-deferred basis. The IRS did not issue final regulations governing 403(b) plans until 2007 and these final regulations will go into effect on Jan. 1. What has Human Resources done to alert employees to this pending change? We sent an e-mail message to all 403(b) participants in July and another announcement at the beginning of this month. We also made presentations to both the Employee Forum and the Faculty Council. In the next few weeks we will send additional information to let employees know the various times and places they can meet with investment counselors from TIAA-CREF and Fidelity Investments. How did employees react at those meetings? With genuine interest about how all of this is going to affect them. There was concern about why this was happening, espe-cially now. Some were unhappy that they couldn’t keep the investment company they currently have. Some worried about losing an adviser with whom they have a relationship. Their anxieties no doubt have been compounded by the volatility in the stock market. We in Human Resources know that this man-datory change is happening at a difficult time. But the IRS set the timing two years ago, long before the current crisis in the global financial system occurred. Why is the number of vendors being reduced from seven to two? The UNC system made a decision to implement a system-wide 403(b) plan to provide more efficient and cost-effective plan administration and ensure compliance by all UNC insti-tutions. The current decentralized model with more than 50 authorized 403(b) vendors across the UNC system (seven at Carolina) was no longer prudent or practical. At the request of all UNC schools, General Administra-tion established a systemwide 403(b) steering committee to recommend a process to ensure compliance and to develop an implementation plan. That committee was assisted by a national benefits consulting firm and by outside legal counsel who were experts in tax regulations. The committee recom-mended offering TIAA-CREF and Fidelity as the vendors of the new systemwide 403(b) plan. In its final regulations, the IRS shifted many compliance responsibilities to the employer. The trend we are beginning to see in higher education to comply with these new regulations is to reduce the number of vendors. Although the final regula-tions do not state how many vendors an employer can offer, it is clear that complying with these regulations in a multi-vendor environment is extremely complex. State systems in Maryland, Georgia, Texas and California are all going through a similar process and reducing 403(b) vendors. The state’s 401(k) plan, like those in the private sector, has only one vendor. How did the selection process work? As part of the competitive bid process, the steering com-mittee reviewed each bidder’s proposed investment offerings, fee structure and service capabilities and education tools they could offer. Of the nine vendors that submitted proposals, five were selected to give presentations. I should add that the com-mittee also considered as part of the evaluation process each bidder’s financial stability along with the ability to grow market share across the entire UNC system. From this rigorous process TIAA-CREF and Fidelity emerged as the top two choices. Has the reduction in vendor choices been a major complaint? And is it a bad idea to limit employees’ investment choices? The reduction of vendors has been the biggest complaint. And, yes, it would be a bad idea for us to limit investment options for employees. Our biggest communication challenge is to explain to employees that the reduction of vendors will not equate to a major loss of investment choices. With the selected vendors, employees will continue to have the ability to invest in as many choices as they do now. In addition, the new systemwide 403(b) program will not offer products with excessive fees, surrender charges or loads, which has been very common in this market. As a matter of fact, there has been conversation about requiring vendors to dis-close fees on employee statements so they can see exactly what they are paying for when they purchase an annuity or mutual fund investment. How can you have as many choices with two vendors as with seven? The UNC System’s Voluntary 403(b) Retirement Program is offering a tiered investment structure. By that I mean we will offer employees options to tailor their plans to their investment style and goals. Some people want the freedom to make invest-ment choices of their own. Others want a simpler approach. The plan will feature four investment tiers that offer vary-ing degrees of choice. No one tier is right for everyone, but each person can find the investment choices that best meet individual financial goals. What tier would someone choose if they don’t want to make investment choices for themselves? That would be Tier I, which offers lifecycle funds that target investors in a certain age group, with a specific time horizon for investing based on their retirement date. Each lifecycle fund starts with investment mixes gener-ally considered appropriate for investors at different stages of retirement planning, with the goal of achieving the highest pos-sible returns while minimizing potential risks. (Keep in mind that there is no guarantee this objective will be met.) Then, the funds adjust periodically to maintain an appropriate asset allo-cation for the remaining time horizon. In this way, a lifecycle fund is a way to put your invest-ment strategy on auto-pilot because it adjusts from being more aggressive to less aggressive as you grow older. What about someone who wants to have more control over investments? The next three tiers would meet this need, starting with Tier II, which provides a menu of funds representing all the primary asset classes. A third-party consultant will monitor the performance of these funds, similar to the fund monitoring provided under the Optional Retirement Program. What about Tier I and Tier IV? These two tiers really answer the earlier question about how it is possible to have only two vendors and still maintain the wide array of investment choices that a sophisticated investor would demand. Tier III, for instance, would provide an expanded class of mutual fund offerings. In fact, Fidelity will offer through its platform all Fidelity funds not offered in Tiers I and II (more than 150 mutual funds) plus mutual funds from T. Rowe Price, American Funds and the Vanguard Group, all highly respected names in the mutual fund industry. TIAA-CREF will also offer additional funds in this tier. In Tier IV, both Fidelity and TIAA-CREF will provide a self-directed brokerage option through which more expe-rienced investors will have access to literally thousands of mutual funds. What if I want to maintain my relationship with an independent investment adviser from another company who charges fees? Fees for independent investment advisers can be paid from a 403(b) account with TIAA-CREF and/or Fidelity. You and your adviser may have to sign an agreement with these vendors to grant access to your account and to have these fees deducted from your account. What should employees with 403(b) accounts do now? If you are enrolled with Fidelity or TIAA-CREF, you do not need to do anything other than review your asset allocation in light of new funds being available. On the other hand, if you were enrolled with any of the other five vendors who will be discontin-ued, you must enroll with either Fidelity or TIAA-CREF before Jan. 1 to continue contributing to a 403(b) account after Jan. 1. Will an employee with any of these discontinued vendors have to transfer their funds to either Fidelity or TIAA-CREF? No. Employees can retain assets with these other vendors. But they will not be able to make future contributions to these companies. Employees who are thinking about transferring their funds to Fidelity or TIAA-CREF should contact their current vendor to discuss any surrender fees that may be associated with their accounts. Q&A Employees have different choices for investing in 403(b) plans October 29, 2008 5 Faculty/Staff n ews Seven Carolina employees were recognized for their outstanding con-tributions Oct. 10 at a luncheon at the Carolina Inn. Five people received the Chan-cellor’s Awards for Excellence and two received the Excellence in Management Awards. The Chancellor’s Awards were established in 1991 to recognize contributions made by University employees based on meritorious or distinguished accomplishments. Winners of Chancellor’s Awards were: Katrina Coble, Department of Computer Science; Robert A. Connolly, Kenan-Flagler Business School; Karen Moon, News Ser-vices; Bonita A. Summers, School of Law; and Kim Walker-Barnhardt, Department of Public Safety. Coble Nominators praise Coble for her compas-sion, dedication and work ethic. They describe her as a humanitarian who deftly applies technical knowledge, human resources skills and a genuine love for people in her daily responsibilities – even as she takes on some of the more stressful aspects of her job, including as one nominator said, her gentle handling of the dreaded parking allocation. As business manager for the past 15 years, Coble has oversight for the computer science department’s budgetary, human resources, student services and faculty support areas. While her job often requires a “tough love” approach, she is also known as someone who “always goes the extra mile, and does it with the extra smile!” She embraces roles outside the department with equal zeal and is perhaps best known across campus for her work with the Carolina Blood Drive, serving as campus chair since 1997. “Simply stated, UNC-Chapel Hill’s blood drive is widely recognized as one of the very best in America,” a nominator said. “Katrina’s tireless devotion to this wonderful cause has helped so many people and it has also brought well deserved praise to this university as a place of caring and involvement.” Conolly According to his nominating materials, it was four years ago that Connolly began a patriotic mission whose scope has contin-ued to expand: He sends care packages to American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. During this period, as one nominator wrote, he has contributed “substantial time, great personal expense and significant energy” to provide the troops with items that add to their comfort and ensure their well-being. In doing so, he has rallied the local community, as well Carolina���s faculty, staff and students, to support his project. In all, Connolly has personally coordinated the shipment of more than 800 packages University awards honor employee excellence Chancellor Holden Thorp (center, first row) and Dwayne Pinkney (center, third row) assistant vice chancellor for finance and administration, presented Chancellor's Awards and Excellence in Management Awards Oct. 10. Pictured are: (first row, from left) Karen Moon, Thorp, Kimberly Walker-Barnhardt; (second row) Bonita Summers, Katrina Coble; (third row) Ed Phillips, Pinkney, Robert Connolly. Not pictured: Todd Owen. For 12 years, Michelle Lynn Mayer battled scleroderma, a chronic autoimmune disease in which hardening of the skin is a major element. In the process, she suffered years of misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment. Not until she became a "difficult patient" did her physicians accurately diagnose the disease that was destroying her health. Even after the diagnosis was made, she had to continue to advocate for herself before she could get the best treatment for scleroderma. Mayer, a research fellow at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and a research assistant professor in the Gillings School of Global Public Health from 2001 to 2007, lost her battle with scleroderma on Oct. 11 at age 39. She spent much of her professional career focusing on health-care access and quality for underserved and special needs children. And she used her own health-care battle to provide insight and inspiration to others. In May, Mayer began sharing her experiences facing the challenge of terminal illness through a blog of essays on parenting, living and dying, www.diaryofadyingmom.blog-spot. com. Last month, she wrote about her experiences as a “difficult patient” and the importance of self-advocacy in the journal Health Affairs. "I wasn't interested in being told what to do and I expected my doctors to respect my right to make truly informed choices that were consistent with the way in which I wanted to intervene in my disease and live my life," she wrote. "But being a difficult patient is a tricky proposition. By advocating for myself, I risk incensing the person on whom I depend for care." The full text of the article is available at snipurl.com/4lhxk. Mayer received a master’s degree in health education and a Ph.D. in health policy and administration from Carolina. She taught several courses and seminars in the graduate program of the Department of Health Policy and Administration and served as a mentor to five doctoral and two master’s students, guiding their dissertations and theses. Before joining the Carolina faculty, she was a clinical research associate in the Depart-ment of Pediatrics at Stanford University and research director of the Children’s Health Initiative at the Lucile S. Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif. Memorial contributions may be made to the Scleroderma Foundation, 300 Rosewood Drive, Suite 105, Danvers, MA 01923 or to the Duke Hospice Inpatient Care Facility, 1001 Corporate Dr, Hillsborough, NC 27278. Mayer, Sheps Center research fellow and health-care advocate, dies Oct. 11 See Awards page 11 6 University Gazette At a time when most people are heading for bed, Gloria Fortune is hopping a bus for work. She works the midnight shift as a housekeeper on the fourth floor of Dey Hall, where she has worked the past 19 years. Over the years, she has come to know every crack and crevice of that floor, and the people have gotten to know her – if only through the quality of her work, and the fact that it always gets done night after night. She does not have a car, but she does have Triangle Transit. She catches the system’s last bus from Durham to Chapel Hill at 10:10 p.m. for the 40-minute ride and gets off on Franklin Street to grab what on her schedule is really breakfast. But it’s never bacon and eggs or cereal. Some nights it’s pizza, some nights a chicken wrap, some nights Chinese, other nights a sandwich from Subway. The routine at work is far more predictable. She dust mops every night. She cleans the bathrooms every night and stocks them with toilet paper, paper towels and soap. She empties the garbage cans on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The next week, she spends two full nights waxing and buffing the floors into a glimmering shine. Staying put As a young woman, Fortune knocked around at part-time jobs. When she landed a job at Durham Draperies, she kept it for 17 years before someone convinced her to take another job that paid a bit more money. She lost that job almost as quickly as she got it. Maybe that’s why after she started working with the University in 1989 she decided to hold on to her job as long as she could. “I really didn’t make any money when I first came over here and I‘m still not making all that much money now, but I enjoy the people I work around and I am thankful I have a job,” she said. It helps her cover the mortgage and keep the lights on in her two-bedroom house in Durham, where she has lived for the past 10 years. She doesn’t like the house much. It’s too small and sits on a piece of low-lying property that has experienced constant water problems. She can’t remember the last time she missed work, not because she is more dedicated than anybody else, she said, but because she needs every dime she makes. When she worked the afternoon shift, she got to work at 4 p.m. when the building was still filled with people. Some people spoke to her, some didn’t. It was all the same to Fortune. She believes her work speaks for itself. There are a handful of people she has gotten to know over the years, people who have become almost as important to her as her job. “Mary Jones was in the building when I came here and she is just as sweet as she can be,” Fortune said, adding that the same could be said for Thomas Smither, the graduate student ser-vices manager for Romance languages. Jones is the department manager for Romance languages. “I am just like family to them and they are just like family to me,” Fortune said. “I can go and talk to them about anything.” She doesn't make too much more than a beginning house-keeper makes, now that the University increased the minimum salary for SPA full-time permanent employees to $25,000 a year. But Fortune does not begrudge them the salary boost. Their raise helped get them a little bit ahead and did not put her any farther behind, she said. After all, they are all fighting the same battle of survival. “This day and time you really don’t know,” Fortune said. “The time is real bad. I have a house and you just have to pull your purse strings a little tighter.” She doesn’t have bad habits, largely because she never has been able to afford them, she said. Her only vice is playing the lotto. Each ticket she buys holds an elusive promise that it might be the chance for a better life. A winer This year, her biggest winning ticket came in the form of a 2008 C. Knox Massey Award. It paid $6,000 before taxes, but was worth more to her than the money, she said. With Massey Award, good fortune smiles on Gloria Fortune Housekeeper Gloria Fortune, winner of a 2008 C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Award, stands in front of Dey Hall, the building that she has helped to clean for nearly 19 years. See Fortune page 10 The University will mark the opening of a new world-class center for develop-mental disabilities treatment tomorrow (Oct. 30) at an event in the George Watts Hill Alumni Center. The Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities will provide leading resources for children and adults in North Carolina with developmental disabilities and their families. Along with on-site clinical services, the institute will provide treatment and training for patients and service providers throughout the state. It will also carry out research on the causes, development, effects and treatment of these conditions. The research arm will work in conjunction with the clinical arm to translate such studies into practice. The institute, one of the largest programs for developmental disabilities in the country, brings together four existing programs within the School of Medicine: the TEACCH Pro-gram (Treatment and Education for Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children); the Clinical Center for Develop-ment and Learning; the Family Support Net-work of North Carolina; and the Neurode-velopmental Disorders Research Center. The institute’s founding director is Joseph Piven, Sarah Graham Kenan Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics in the medical school and in the psychology department. Speakers at the event include Piven, former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, UNC President Erskine Bowles and Chancellor Holden Thorp. Members of the developmentally disabled community and their families will also attend. Developmental disabilities include many conditions, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, dyslexia, fragile X syndrome, Down syndrome and autism. Their impact is widespread. For example, 15 percent of children in the United States have some form of developmental dis-ability and one in 150 school-age children has an autism spectrum disorder. For more information about the institute, see www.cidd.unc.edu. New Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities opens Diane Adamson doesn’t have any children of her own, but she knows a lot about being a mom. Growing up in the outskirts of Pittsburgh, she was the second oldest of eight children, and the oldest girl. When she was in high school, her two youngest brothers were born, and her only extracurricular activity was to care of them. Her father worked for a machinery plant, her mom at a snack bar during the day and as a waitress at night. Even so, some years the only Christmas presents they got came from the Salvation Army, along with powdered milk and cheese. “I always say I did everything for my two youngest brothers except birth them,” Adamson said. “I didn’t birth them, but I was the mom. As soon as I got home from school, my mother went to work.” She graduated from high school in 1971 and joined the Navy on March 17, 1972, her youngest brother’s birthday. Looking back, she said, that was probably no accident. “I just thought I needed to get away and make something of my life.” She was a yeoman, the Navy’s term for paper pusher. But the job was never dull. It took her all over the world, doing all kinds of things from working in a Navy boot camp to chasing down deserters to working with the Navy SEALs, the elite Special Operations Forces. For 24 years, the Navy was her home, no matter where in the world she happened to be. She spent the last three years of her Navy career at the ROTC office on the UNC campus. She was one of eight people there, surrounded by thousands of people in the University commu-nity who did not know what to make of them or accept why they were there. “It was a huge change for me coming here,” Adamson said. “I was used to the network of the military community and when I came here I had to learn all over again how to meet people.” By working out every day at noon in Woollen Gym, she made new friends. And she landed her only job since she left the Navy as the office manager for Campus Recreation. Twelve years later, people still ask if she misses the Navy. And she unabashedly answers, “Yes. I do miss it. That was my family. “They bleed Carolina blue around here. I bleed Navy blue.” Loking out for others What she missed most about life in the military, she under-stands now, was being part of something bigger than herself that made her better by being a part of it. In the Navy, no mat-ter where she was, she felt surrounded by people who looked after each other. Maybe that is why, while walking her niece through Raleigh- Durham International Airport in January 2006, Adamson paid special notice to the USO sign they passed. After her niece was safely aboard the plane, Adamson headed straight for the USO office to see if they needed help. She spent the next week in volunteer training and a week after that she was on the schedule – and has been ever since. She works the first and third Sunday of the month, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and fills in once or twice a month during the week as needed. As part of their training, USO volunteers are expected to keep their opinions to themselves and not to pepper people with questions. But if a soldier wants to talk, they welcome the opportunity to listen. Adamson runs into kids in uniform barely out of high school and men and women in uniform old enough to be their mothers and fathers. The USO at RDU, for many Marines from Camp Lejeune and soldiers from Fort Bragg, has almost become a revolving door between home and their prolonged deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some barely unpack their bags before being sent back. “Their whole lives are uncertain,” Adamson said. “They don’t know if they are going to get home, or how long they are going to be home. Guys whose wives had babies while they are in Iraq or Afghanistan come back home to see the kid for a week before they have to go back. For some, the kid is walking by the time they get home again. It’s not right. “I know we have an all-volunteer force and we don’t want to go back to the draft, but I just think there has to be a better way.” Many of the 17- and 18-year-olds, she said, had never been away from home on their own before they went to boot camp, then to the eight-week advanced training that is supposed to prepare them for battle. “They have no idea where they are going or what they will be asked to do, but their attitude is like, ‘I’ve been trained. I’m going to do my job as best as I can and then I’m coming back home to start a life.’” A sense of gratitude These are kids who are grateful for the opportunity to serve their country, Adamson said. Their generosity of spirit has been enough to bring her to tears. She remembered the two 18-year-olds who came through the USO this past Valentine’s Day and took off saying they were going out for smokes. They came back with two bouquets of roses instead – one for Adamson, one for the other woman sharing the shift with her that night. “We were like, ‘You guys didn’t have to do that, save your money for your girlfriend.’ One of them said, ‘Well, you know, we are getting ready to go to Iraq and we really appreciate you ladies being here and we wanted you to know that.’ They are just the most grateful kids in the world. To me, that’s gold.” She was trained not to smother such kids with outward expressions of sympathy and concern. Even so, she has to fight the impulse. “Our director told us, ‘You are not their mother.’ We are not supposed to try to take their mother’s place. They have been to boot camp. They are men now. They are young, but they are men. Or women. I have met women on their way to Afghani-stan in sand fatigues and boots and ready to go.” She remains committed to doing all she can to make their lives a little bit easier in the narrow window of time their paths cross. “We are like the last piece of home they may see for six or eight months and they really appreciate us being there,” Adam-son said. “That’s the really rewarding part of it.” In the time she spends a couple of Sundays each month dish-ing out chili and cheer, it is almost as if she has found her way back home, too. “I love it. I’ll be there until they run me out, or better yet, they don’t need me anymore.” And she prays that day will come soon. October 29, 2008 7 Adamson finds family through USO service For nearly two years now, Diane Adamson, far right and bottom right, has served as a USO volunteer at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on the first and third Sundays of each month. contributed contributed 8 University Gazette News in b r i e f Stone Center lecture set for Oct. 30 Senior associate producer and researcher for the acclaimed “Eyes on the Prize” series, Judy Richardson delivers the 16th Annual Sonja Haynes Stone Memorial Lecture on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m.: “Will the Circle Be Unbroken: The Relevance of the Civil Rights Movement.” The unveiling of the center’s commemorative quilt follows the program. The quilt was made by Heather Williams, associate professor of history, and recognizes contributions by prominent African-Americans. snipurl.com/4l77c Latin American Film Festival “Afro and Youth Cultures in the Americas” – the 22nd Annual Latin American Film Festival – runs Nov. 2–21 at campuses in Durham, Greensboro, Raleigh and Chapel Hill. Perfor-mances at Carolina are in the Global Education Center’s Mandela Audi-torium on the following dates: n Nov. 6 – “Bajo el Tacaná. La Otra Frontera;” “Brother Town/Pueb-los Hermanos.” 7 p.m.; n Nov. 9 – “Gringoton.” 4 p.m.; fol-lowed by “A History of Commit-tee Cinema” and “Más Vampiros en la Habana.” n Nov. 21 – “Entre los muertos.” 7 p.m. (N.C. premiere) See latinfilmfestivalnc.com. ‘Trumbo’ movie producer speaks A film about a Hollywood screenwriter blacklisted by the movie industry after the 1940s witch hunts for American Communists is screened and discussed on Nov. 3 by one of “Trumbo’s” producers, Will Battersby, at 6 p.m. in the Hanes Art Center auditorium. On Nov. 4, Battersby gives two talks at UNC. He discusses the movie development and producing process and highlights an upcoming film in a brown-bag lunch talk at noon in Room 3413 of the FPG Student Union. The discussion continues at 6 p.m. with a question-and-answer session to follow in Room 116 of Murphey Hall. snipurl.com/4kjdv The Proces series The Office of the Executive Director for the Arts launched a series of new and still-developing performance works in September – all free, all beginning at 8 p.m. in Gerrard Hall. Next up in The Process Series is “The Secret Agent,” by Michael Dellaira and J.D. McClatchy, and directed by Joseph Megel on Nov. 14–15 (843-7067 or Megel@email.unc.edu). Talk examines Effect of Jim Crow on children University of Georgia history professor John Inscoe discusses “The Emotional Impact of Jim Crow” at 4 p.m. on Nov. 11 as one of the Hutchins lectures presented by the Center for the Study of the American South. The free public talk takes place at the Hill Alumni Center. snipurl.com/4klik award deadline to watch Nominations are accepted through Oct. 31 for the Training and Development Department’s first Excellence in Mentoring Award. The recipient receives 24 hours of paid leave, a plaque and nomination for a 2009 Chancellor’s Award. snipurl.com/4klnh Uhlman seminar examines Holocaust testimonies The Program in Humanities and Human Values presents a seminar Nov. 11–12, “Witnessing and Memory: What is Gained, What is Lost and What Remains from Holocaust Testimonies.” The meeting examines the idea of witnessing, and in par-ticular being a witness to atrocities, and considers what can be gained from such testimonies in terms of writing history, under-standing the past and coming to terms with that past in the present. Tuition is $120. See snipurl.com/4kpdf. ‘CE-Yo’ stirs it up Gary Hirshberg, the self-styled CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm, the world’s leading organic yogurt producer, discusses “Stir-ring it Up: How to Make Money and Save the World” in a free talk Nov. 11. Hirshberg delivers the 2008–09 Hillard Gold ’39 Lecture at 7:30 p.m. in Gerrard Hall, sponsored by the John-ston Center for Undergradu-ate Excellence. Hirshberg has won awards for both corporate and environmental leadership. snipurl.com/4koeu Free AIDS tests In honor of World AIDS Day, UNC offers free, walk-in HIV testing on Nov. 20 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the FPG Student Union. Testing is available to everyone on campus and the Carolina community and does not require a blood draw. campushealth.unc.edu 5K run honors Eve Carson Phi Delta Theta and Pi Beta Phi team up Nov. 15 to host a 5K walk and run to honor former Student Body President Eve Carson. The event begins at Polk Place at 10 a.m. Proceeds from the 5K benefit three organizations: two-thirds for the Eve Carson Memorial Junior-Year Merit Schol-arship, the remainder for First Book and Clyde Erwin Elementary School. www.educationforeve.com Multicultural fair set for Oct. 31 UNC Hospitals hosts a multicultural fair, free and open to the public, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 31 in the lobbies of the N.C. Children’s and N.C. Women’s Hospitals. The fair features salsa lessons, tango lessons, a clogging group and step team from the University, Merengue lessons, a Tai Chi demonstration and cultural food samples. Trafic watch An electrical duct bank project continues work on the eastern side of South Columbia Street through the end of the year. Two-way traffic is maintained during the project, but to ensure construction continues, one of the two northbound lanes on South Columbia Street will be blocked. Motorists driving north can expect delays and traffic congestion. In addition, the bus stop on South Columbia Street north of Mason Farm Road will be temporarily moved farther north as each segment of the project progresses. Call 962-3951. Lung cancer subject of symposium The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center plans a Lung Cancer Awareness Symposium on Nov. 17 in the Pagano Conference Room of the Lineberger Building at 4 p.m. UNC lung cancer specialists Mark Socinski and Benjamin GREEN DAYS Josh LeMere, left, of Coastal Geothermal, talks with Jim Ward, associate director for horticulture at the North Carolina Botanical Garden, about the installation of piping linking the 28,500-foot-deep geothermal wells at the garden. Part of the garden’s new Visitor Education Center, scheduled for comple-tion next spring, the alternative energy program was funded by the student Renewable Energy Special Projects Committee. Tours of the site were just one of the activities planned during Campus Sustainability Days, Oct. 22–24, sponsored by the UNC Sustainability Office. October 29, 2008 9 Haithcock are the featured speakers of the event. snipurl.com/4krmz Highlighting survival, human dignity during war The Justice Theater Project (JTP) opens its fourth season with “Mother Courage and Her Children,” by Bertolt Brecht, adapted by David Hare. “Mother Courage” is a collabora-tion between JTP and the Depart-ment of Communication Studies and combines music and dance. Set during Europe's 30-year war, the play was written in 1939 in response to Hitler's invasion of Poland. It became a classic and was frequently staged throughout Europe and the United States. It is in Swain Hall on Oct. 30, Nov. 1, Nov. 6–8 (8 p.m.); and Oct. 26 and Nov. 2 (2 p.m.). Call for reservations (264-7089); see thejusticetheater project.org. Celebrate 6 million boks The University library marks its 6 millionth volume on Nov. 20 with the dedication of a first edition of John Keats’ “Poems.” Carolina becomes the 29th North American university to achieve that milestone. The dedication takes place at 5:45 p.m. in Wilson Library followed by a discussion by Beth Lau, a pro-fessor at California State University-Long Beach, on “Keats and his Circle Reading Shakespeare.” The event marks the open-ing of a Keats exhibit in the Rare Book Collection on display through March 2009: “Presenting John Keats.” To celebrate the 6 millionth book, the library invites members of the campus community to share their thoughts by Nov. 7 about what Carolina’s libraries mean to them. See library. unc.edu/spotlight/2008/6millionbooks.html. Messages will be presented to the John Wesley and Anna Hodgin Hanes Foundation, the group that funded the milestone purchase. Focus is on eating disorders Nov. 8 The UNC Eating Disorders Program hosts its Fourth Annual Conference on Eating Disorders from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Friday Center. The conference, “From DNA to the Dinner Table: Couples and Families in the Treatment of Eating Disorders,” features guest speakers covering topics such as couple-based therapy for anorexia nervosa, involving the family in treatment, parent train-ing for childhood weight control, nutrition and brain chemistry in individuals with eating disorders and dialectical behavior therapy for eating disorders (962-2118; www.med.unc.edu/cme). Calendar snapshot NOVEMBER 5 14 18 17 6 12 Discusion “Intellectual Property and Copyright in Arts and Humanities.” Laura N. Gasaway, Deborah Gerhardt. Institute for the Arts and Humanities. University Rm, Hyde. 4–6 pm. snipurl. com/4kr7h performance “An Evening of John Cage and Others.” Music professor/ pianist Stefan Litwin, other faculty and students perform concert for piano and orchestra. Gerrard. 7 pm. $ reading Paul Austin reads from “Some-thing for the Pain: One Doctor’s Account of Life and Death in the ER.” Bull’s Head Bookshop. 3:30pm. conference Fourth Annual Conference on Eating Disorders: “From DNA to the Dinner Table: Couples and Families in the Treatment of Eating Disorders.” Eating Disorders Program. Friday Ctr. 8:30 am–4:45 pm. $ snipurl.com/4krti Lecture “The Memory of War and the Era-sure of Iraq.” Marita Sturken, NYU. Hyde Hall. 4 pm. snipurl.com/4kovt reading Robert Cantwell reads from “If Beale Street Could Talk: Music, Com-munity, Culture.” Bull’s Head Bookshop. 3:30 pm. www.unc.edu/ccjs reading Dick Vitale signs “Dick Vitale’s Fabulous 50 Players and Moments in Col-lege Basketball: From the Best Seat in the House During My 30 Years at ESPN.” Bull’s Head Bookshop. Noon. reading John and Dale Reed read from “Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue.” Bull’s Head Book-shop. 3:30 pm. Lecture “Folk Scare: The Resurrection of Tom Dooley.” Robert Cantwell. Ackland Art Museum. 1 pm. $ www.ackland.org reading Betsy Greer reads from “Knitting for Good! A guide to Creating Personal, Social and Political Change Stitch by Stitch.” Bull’s Head Bookshop. 3:30 pm. reading Joseph Flora reads from Reading Hemingway’s ‘Men Without Women’: Glossary and Commentary.” Bull’s Head Bookshop. 3:30 pm. tradeshow Material and Disbursement Services’ Information Technology Ven-dor Tradeshow. Great Hall, Union. 9 am–1 pm. Call 962-3477; e-mail dale_ poole@unc.edu. conference “Global Encounters: Legacies of Exchange and Conflict, 1000–1700.” Keynote: Karen Ordahl Kupperman, NYU; Alfred J. Andrea, U Vermont. Friday Ctr. (continues on 11/15) mems.unc.edu lecture “Communal Genocide: Personal Accounts of Eastern Galicia.” Omer Bartov, Brown U. Friday Ctr. 7:30 pm. Next calendar includes: Nov. 20 – Dec. 17 | Deadline for submissions: 5 p.m., Mon., Nov. 10 | E-mail: gazette@unc.edu | Fax: 843-5966: Clearly mark for the Gazette. | Campus Box: 6205. The Gazette calendar includes only items of general interest geared toward a broad audience. For complete listings of events, including athletics, see the Carolina Events Calendars at www.unc.edu/events. jon gardiner inovative, rulebreaking, jazz-on-the-edge, eclectic pioneer ornette coleman One of the great innovators in jazz, Pulitzer Prize-winning saxophonist/composer Ornette Coleman plays a seminal role in American music. Identified with the free jazz movement of the 1960s, his influence extends far beyond the realm of his chosen medium. He performs Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Memo-rial Hall. Call 843-3333. Click here (snipurl.com/4lp5a) for a National Public Radio story about Coleman – and to listen to samples of his music. 8 10 13 19 create state expenditure reductions when flexibility exists; n Be consistent with the role and mission of Carolina, the academic plan and the plans of the various units within the University; n Consider reductions in light of their impact on student learning, protecting to the extent possible the ability of stu-dents to graduate in a timely fashion; n Avoid reductions to the instructional budgets as much as possible; n Ensure that near-term budget deci-sions complement longer-term planning; n Consider how decisions about cost reductions could affect generative revenue by safeguarding revenue-producing activities such as new research, matching grant programs, summer school and public-private partnerships; n Avoid shifting costs to other areas except in unusual circumstances and only after such shifts are approved by the Budget Committee; n Maximize savings from current and upcoming position vacancies by scruti-nizing the need to fill those positions; n Eliminate or significantly reduce non-essential travel; n Streamline current processes to reduce expenditures and to mitigate impacts on staff workloads; n Conserve campus resources by adjust-ing thermostats, cutting off lights and other energy-saving initiatives; and n Consult broadly to determine the best routes to take to achieve reductions. All proposed budget cuts are due to be submitted to Bell by Nov. 15. 10 University Gazette What truly mattered was that other people on campus wanted to find a way to let her know that she mattered, too. Among them were Jones and Smither. “Gloria constantly goes out of her way to keep the area spotless and is always a pleas-ant person,” Smither wrote in her nominat-ing letter. Jones wrote, “Gloria has been a house-keeper in Dey Hall for many years. During this time she has performed her assigned tasks in an exemplary manner with her area always having a good appearance. She has an outstanding attendance record and can always be counted on to be in Dey Hall cleaning the fourth floor and helping with other floors when needed.” After raising and supporting her son, For-tune has grown accustomed to being on her own and taking care of herself. This spring, she was able to convince a former boyfriend to give her a ride to the Massey banquet, but could not talk him into attending the event with her. She could not convince her mother or son or any of her sisters to go with her, either. But on the night of the banquet, Fortune said she felt anything but alone. “I was in another world,” she said. “I met the Massey award people and they are real nice. They took all our pictures with the chancellor. People I didn’t even know came up to me to thank me for what I do. That felt real good.” When Fortune got up to speak, she thanked the chancellor and others pres-ent who had made that night possible and to tell them how much she appreci-ated being appreciated. Among those in the crowd cheering her on were Smither, her supervisor and another woman from housekeeping. At the end of the evening, then-Chancellor James Moeser encouraged them to take home the floral centerpieces on the tables. She kept the flowers as long as she could, and has even managed to hold onto a good chunk of the award money – money she knows may come in handy on a rainy day. As for the Massey plaque, it is propped against the wall on her dresser along with the other recognitions she has received through the years, including the one from Durham Draperies for 15 years of service and the one from the University for 10 years of service. In another year, she hopes, there will be another plaque for 20 years of University service. There is nothing glamorous about her job, she said, but she believes it is as impor-tant to the University in its own way as it is to her – and will be for as long as she has it. “We got a job to do. It might not be the best, but it is a job that needs to be done so other people can do theirs,” she said. Fortune from page 6 And it was – in 1972. Five years later, Fearing became the opera-tion’s director until 1986 when he went to work as a full-time pilot for then-UNC President C.D. Spangler Jr. Even so, he continued flying for AHEC on a part-time basis. In 1997, when Spangler retired and moved his aircraft to Charlotte, Fearing stayed here and was re-hired by Med Air full time once again. For more than three decades, Fearing and Benson have worked in what they said is regarded throughout the aviation community as one of the very best flying jobs. “You can make more money working for some commercial air-lines, but that’s a more lucrative flying job, not a better flying job,” Benson said. Med Air, part of the UNC School of Medicine as well as the AHEC Program, includes a fleet of six twin-engine Beechcraft Baron aircraft flown by seven licensed pilots. On site also at the University’s Horace Williams Airport are three Federal Aviation Administration-certified mechanics who keep the planes operating at peak performance. Med Air planes make anywhere from five to 10 trips a day on aver-age. Last year, pilots flew 538,757 passenger miles making 4,500 trips, and in the past 30 years, the program has logged 19.2 million passen-ger miles making 160,241 trips. Although Med Air began in 1968, its records date back only 30 years. And Fearing and Benson have been an integral part of Med Air for most of that time. Now, after a combined 70 years logging countless miles crisscrossing North Carolina, the pair will retire at the end of the year. Their service to the University and the state will be honored today (Oct. 29) during a celebration of UNC Medical Air Opera-tions’ 40th anniversary. “Medical Air Operations has been an essential part of AHEC since we were founded in 1972,” said Tom Bacon, AHEC Program direc-tor. “Alan and Mike established a standard of excellence, dedication to passenger service and commitment to the AHEC mission that has characterized Med Air through its entire history, and still holds true today. It is hard to imagine Med Air without them.” Unparalleled quality In its 40-year history, Med Air has had a total of 28 pilots. Pilots tend to stay in general – and Fearing and Benson in particular – largely because of Med Air’s top-quality management. “Our management has always been better than anyone else’s in aviation. It has always been appropriate for the time and a step ahead of other aviation management,” Benson said. “We are fully supported by the University, and our directors are pilots who are very familiar with our needs. “We really are a self-sustaining operation and perform all the basic maintenance except paint the airplanes.” This hands-on management also means placing a premium on the right people, equipment and training that leads to sound decision-making, he said. For example, Fearing added, Med Air has made good operations decisions. “We didn’t ask for the moon,” he said. “We didn’t ask for bigger, better, more expensive airplanes because we really didn’t need them. But we asked for what we needed – and got it – because we made that distinction.” The twin-engine planes Med Air operates are inexpensive, reliable people movers that can make the trip from Chapel Hill to Asheville or Manteo in an hour. “They’re reliable like a Lexus but without the cost,” Benson said. And the crew of on-site mechanics specializes in the operation of these aircraft to keep them performing optimally and safely. In fact, Med Air’s safety record is virtually unmatched in 40 years of aviation. “Flight departments come and go, but we come and stay. We can adapt to any environment,” Benson said. Flying for a higher purpose Beyond the sheer enjoyment of flying, Fearing and Benson remained at Med Air all these years because they believe in AHEC’s mission. “Watching the success of the AHEC Program meet the health-care needs of the people of North Carolina has been one of the most rewarding aspects of what we do,” Fearing said. “Our passengers are distinctive. Taking that one step further, they are people of distinction – in what they have accomplished and what they do on a daily basis.” Carolina’s health-care professionals, who willingly give their time and talent to something they believe in when they could make far more money in the private sector, are inspiring, both pilots said. “These people are truly the blacksmith that fell in love with the anvil,” Benson said. “That’s what makes them different from people in other organizations. They love what they do and don’t finish until they finish. That is truly special.” The same could be said for Fearing and Benson. They will finish their careers at the end of the year – and until that day will continue to fly with the same enthusiasm and enjoyment they found here more than three decades ago. AIR from page 1 budget from page 1 A job wel done Dawn Ray, who works in the McLendon Clinical Laboratories administrative office, received the 2008 Margaret O. Gulley Award for Secretarial Excellence in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Oct. 27. October 29, 2008 11 Carolina wo r k i n g at weighing more than two tons to troops overseas, also including wounded soldiers in military hospitals in Germany. He has led fundraising drives to collect money to cover shipping expenses and has supplemented the donations with his own money when necessary. And he has taken special care to include in his shipments the soldiers associated with the business school’s family of faculty, staff and students. Connolly has stayed in touch with many of them through letter after letter thanking him for the packages. Mon “Karen Moon saved my life.” With that heartfelt emotion, one of Moon’s co-workers nominated her for a chancellor’s award for the day in fall 2007 that Moon rescued the co-worker, who had passed out behind a locked door. An insulin-dependent diabetic who wears an insulin pump, Moon’s co-worker accidentally gave herself an insulin overdose while at work. Moon was sensitive enough to her co-worker’s medical condition that she quickly noticed when too much time had passed, and her co-worker hadn’t emerged. “Only Karen had the sixth sense to know that I was behind that door and in trouble,” her nominator said. Taking charge of the situation, Moon knocked and called out through the locked door. When she didn’t receive an answer, she got a master key, opened the door and ordered co-workers to call 911. Moon stayed by her co-worker’s side in the Emergency Department at UNC Hospitals that day, monitoring her condi-tion and relaying information to family and friends. Once she was released, Moon insisted on coming home with her so she could continue to check on her through the night. Summers Summers’ principal job is to manage and oversee the work of the Faculty Support Center at the School of Law. What that descrip-tion doesn’t include is more of an elusive responsibility, one whose chief requirement might better be termed “one of a kind.” Summers has been described as an “expert clerical support person, but much more.” In addition to doing her job, and going the extra mile to do it well, there are times when her ser-vice to her department, and its professors, falls into a whole different category. There are times, for example, that she typed the mysteriously handwritten arbitration decisions of one professor, often into the evening hours. And there is one retired professor who finds the computer a mystery. It is Summers who walks to his home dur-ing lunch breaks (because she does not have a car) and helps him solve his technological puzzles. Co-workers note that she “is ubiquitous and constant with her favors” and is “as kind, gentle and extremely competent in assisting the ‘old dogs’ as she is in helping the new staffers master the intricacies of a legal atmosphere.” Walker-Barnhardt Walker-Barnhardt needs a clear head and calm demeanor every day in her public safety position answering 911 calls and serving as a radio communicator. But her skills were never as critical as the day she handled an anonymous call last spring with information about the murder of Eve Carson, Carolina’s former student body president – and was ultimately instru-mental in the capture and arrest of two suspects. The caller, who put herself in great danger for revealing information about the two suspects, was understandably afraid. But over time, Walker-Barnhardt was able to calm her fears and convince the caller to meet with police investigators. As one example of the depth of her involvement in reassur-ing the caller, at one point the informant was so frightened that Walker-Barnhardt gave the caller her personal cell phone number as well as her work schedule, just to reassure her and to encourage her to call back with any additional information. “I honestly believe her heroism saved many more families from tragedy,” a nominator said. Excellence in Management Awards The Excellence in Management Awards were established in 1998. Winners were: Todd Owen, Center for Urban and Regional Studies; and Ed Phillips, Facilities Services. Owen A newcomer to Carolina just three years ago, Owen has, in the words of one nominator, “conquered pretty much all of the financial systems on campus” and learned everything he could about the human resources process here. His role as associate director requires a fine balance between research and admin-istration, and co-workers say he has taken on both roles with a calm guiding hand. “Todd knows how to work with people,” one commented. “He has a knack for pulling together diverse people with different perspectives. The work that he does is integrative and he always strives for consensus.” Detail-oriented, insightful, unafraid to tackle tough problems, awards from page 5 See Awards page 12 Winter Blod Drive Mark your calendars for the 10th annual Win-ter Blood Drive, 7:30 a.m.–1 p.m. in Fetzer Gym (be sure to note the new location for 2008). See www.unc.edu/blood. Benefits enrollment deadline The deadline to enroll for benefits this fall is Nov. 3. This is your opportunity to enroll or change existing benefit elections in the NCFlex and University benefit programs. Your new elec-tions will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2009. The following are some reminders for this year’s enrollment: n You do not need to enroll if you want to keep your 2008 benefits and coverage levels the same for 2009 and do not want to enroll in a flexible spending account; n You do need to enroll if you want to partici-pate in the flexible spending accounts or if you want to elect coverage, cancel coverage or make changes to your benefit and/or cov-erage levels; n For NCFlex benefits, you must enroll online at www.ncflexonline.org or by calling 888- 860-6118. The online enrollment tool is avail-able from any computer with Internet access; and n To enroll or make changes in your Uni-versity benefits (MetLife group life insur-ance, Assurant Dental or Reliance Standard accidental death and dismemberment), go to hr.unc.edu/Data/benefits/enroll. Select the link to the appropriate form, print and complete the form and submit it to Benefit Program Administration by 5 p.m. on Nov. 9. Forms can be brought to the Admin-istrative Office Building on 104 Airport Drive. For your convenience in dropping off forms after business hours, a green drop box marked “Benefit Programs” is located at the front doors of the building. mascot love Sheila Meadows gets a hug from Rameses at the annual Employee Appreciation Fair Oct. 16. Carolina employees gathered in the Pit on the sunny fall day to take part in the annual event, which included live music, food, games and other entertainment. human resources briefs hard working, understanding – and always cheerful: One nominator after another described Owen’s administrative style in those terms. “Todd’s low-key style to staff supervision is extremely effective. He demands a lot from those he supervises but he communicates that in a way that motivates, rather than intimi-dates,” a nominator said. And he gets results. Total research fund-ing for the center under Owen’s management increased from around $5 million several years ago to more than $10 million currently. Phillips For more than two decades, Phillips has directed the business operations for a host of University functions including mail services, waste reduction and recycling, cost accounting and billing, financial reporting and budgets, materials and logistics and the motor pool. With his calm demeanor, patience and pro-fessionalism, he brings out the best in the people who work with him, adapting his management style to find just the right motivation for each person. Co-workers praise Phillips’ ability to juggle what can sometimes be disparate goals: strong customer service and employee morale. Known as a champion for all employees in Facilities Services, he works to ensure that decisions and policies are implemented fairly throughout the division. “Ed would be one of the first people I would think of as a good men-tor,” one nominator said. Another called him a “model steward of the University’s – and therefore the public’s – money.” Phillips is rooted in traditional values but readily embraces using new technology as a way to improve campus services. He spear-headed creation of the division’s IT depart-ment and developed it into an expanded, much-sought- after group of IT professionals. 12 University Gazette One of the first things Michael Goy tried to do after joining the Carolina faculty in 1988 was get a cooking slot at the shelter for homeless men on Rosemary Street. It might have been easier to land tickets to a Carolina-Duke men’s basketball game. “Chapel Hill and Carrboro are so full of Good Samari-tans, it took me four years to ever get a chance,” said Goy, who is a professor in the Department of Cell and Molecu-lar Physiology in the School of Medicine. Maybe that is why, once Goy got his cooking slot in 1992, he still has it 16 years later. And it is not just any cooking slot. On the third Sunday of every month, Goy leads the production of a seven-course meal, prepared by hand and made from scratch except for the cakes that Harris Teeter sometimes donates. Early Saturday morning Goy and several other people lead ���a reconnaissance mission” to the shelter pantry to see what food items are available so that the next day’s feast will be a thrifty one. “I take it as a personal challenge to cook what’s there in the pantry,” Goy said. That said, he and two other volun-teers hit the grocery store to fill the gaps – most often to buy needed spices and fresh vegetables. The three split the costs, which usually do not exceed $30. They start cooking at 4 p.m. Sunday to have dinner ready for 100 people by 6:15 p.m. Optimally there are six to eight cooks, but many Sundays there are more. “There is that line about ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ and there is some truth to that,” Goy said. “We have never turned out a bad meal because we had too many cooks, but there is more fun when there are an appropriate number there because everybody stays busy with something to do.” Over the years, they have learned that the familiar beats the exotic and they try to cook to what Goy called “the common palate.” He recalled the disastrous goat-cheese tortellini cooking in a white sauce that tasted good, but looked weird. “That was the least successful meal we’ve made,” he said. In fact, local farmers hauled it away in buckets to slop their pigs. Faith in people What has kept him going all these years, in part, is a strong sense of obligation. “I do have a love for people and empathy for people, and I feel a lot of empathy for people who are down on their luck.” Goy said it is not religious faith that drives him, but a faith in people. “I just feel people deserve an equal foundation in life and I have faith if you give a person a strong foundation you will bring out the best in them," he said. "I am embarrassed to live in a society where people go without basic needs, which I see as food, shelter, health care and education.” Admittedly, he sometimes struggles with what it means to really help somebody. The fact that today he sees many of the same faces in the food line at the shelter that he saw 16 years ago sometimes gives him pause. He has heard the arguments that giving too much help can foster helplessness and cause people to lose the drive to take care of themselves. Goy, however, believes that most people are homeless because of social forces beyond their control rather than laziness or personal failings. “The worry I have is the degree to which the help we offer takes away a person’s sense of self-respect,” he said. “Even so, I just feel more comfortable living in a society where there is a safety net.” He has always been uncomfortable giving money to panhandlers, suspecting that the money they say they need for food is often used for the very things – alcohol or drugs – that led to their homelessness and perpetuates it. When someone holds out the tin cup to him, Goy instead offers to take the person to the homeless shelter for a meal. Creating a bond Another part of what keeps him going is the emotional reward and sense of purpose the workers share. Over the years, some 40 people have taken their turn with Goy on the serving line, which has led to a camaraderie. “This has been a remarkable group of people,” Goy said. “So many of them stick with it for so long because of what they get back from the experience. This is not just altruis-tic stuff. It is genuine fun and it always has been, no matter what the configuration of people. "We laugh, we joke, we troubleshoot to solve cooking problems and we become friends. We do not know each other outside the group, but during those two-and-a-half hours we are together each month, there is a bond and a friendship between us.” The people they serve are harder to get to know. They move through the line, and then head to a nearby table to eat while the volunteers continue serving. Afterward, they leave while the volunteers stay behind to clean up. “There are really two polar opposites among the people who eat there,” Goy said. “Some people take the trouble to say thank you for feeding us a great meal. Other people will say, ‘I don’t like that and I don’t want to eat it.’" While such comments test his sense of humility, Goy said, he has learned to hold back. “The people who walk in there to eat are about as far down in the power structure of this country as you can get,” he said. “If they don’t have the right to say they don’t like what they are eating, they would have no power at all. That’s why I let such comments slide. They should have power over something as personal as what they put in their mouths.” While he forgets about the complaints, he makes it a point to savor the compliments. “Somebody once told me that my cornbread was better than their mama’s,” Goy said. “I loved that. I consider that to be the highest praise I’ve gotten.” For Goy, the joy of cooking is more about the people served than the food Michael Goy surveys the pantry shelves at the homeless shelter for men in downtown Chapel Hill. He heads a cooking team that for the past 16 years has prepared meals each month at the shelter. awards from page 5
Object Description
Description
Title | University gazette |
Other Title | University gazette (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) |
Date | 2008-10-29 |
Description | Vol. 33, no. 18 (October 29, 2008) |
Digital Characteristics-A | 1 MB; 12 p. |
Digital Format | application/pdf |
Full Text | Few people choose a career in aviation by going to dental school. For Mike Benson, though, it was a natural progression. A School of Dentistry student in the late ’60s, Benson found himself drawn more to the Medical Air Operations planes flying daily over Brauer Hall than to the care of patients’ teeth. So when James Bawden, then dean of the school, asked Benson, who already had his pilot’s license, to fly his open-top two-seater plane to transport a visiting lecturer from Charlotte to Chapel Hill, Benson gladly obliged. With that trip, a career as a pilot supplanted one in dentistry. “I was a much better pilot than I was a dental student,” Benson said. In 1977, Alan Fearing hired Benson to fly health-care professionals, medical residents, faculty members and others conducting University business across the state for UNC Medical Air Operations (Med Air), known as the wings of Carolina’s successful AHEC Program. AHEC, the N.C. Area Health Education Centers Program, partners with academic and health-care institutions across the state to improve the health of the people of North Carolina. Since 1972, AHEC has brought medical expertise, patient care and consultation to rural areas of the state. Fearing, pictured at left above with Benson, has been actively involved with Medical Air for the past 38 years. Following a stint in the Navy, he joined the operation as a part-time pilot in 1970 and flew several times a week. There was no lack of work, he said – just no available full-time position at the time. Except for his weekend flying duty with the Navy Reserves, Med Air was Fearing’s only employment. “As a matter of fact, although there was no guarantee of future full-time employment with Med Air, the part-time work was so exciting and challenging that I decided I’d gamble on a future full-time position being added,” he said. exploring 403(b) options 4 massey finds fortune 6 12 the joy of cooking, serving Vol. 33, No. 18 gazette.unc.edu The University’s reduction in non-recurring state appropriations for this fiscal year is now 4 percent. The increase from 2 percent to 4 percent, which Gov. Michael Easley announced earlier this month, had been expected and was a topic Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Berna-dette Gray-Little discussed at the Oct. 10 Faculty Council meeting. State appropriations account for $574 million, or 22 percent, of the University’s total operat-ing budget of $2.38 billion. The amount the University will revert back to the state is $20.6 million, double the $10.3 million that would have been reverted under the original 2 percent cut that was announced at the beginning of this month, said McGregor Bell, the University’s budget director. Gray-Little and Richard Mann, vice chan-cellor for finance and administration, sent a memo Oct. 15 to vice chancellors and deans about the additional increase. They reiterated their belief that decisions about implementation of the cuts should rest with each vice chancellor or dean because they could limit the adverse effects the cuts would have on their departmental goals. To assist vice chancellors and deans, Gray-Little and Mann offered several principles, including the following: n Manage operations with available resources; n Weigh a broad array of factors in setting priorities and selecting programs that would be affected; n Move expenditures to non-state sources to Non-recurring state funding to be reduced 4 percent UNC Medical Air has been flying high for 40 years After a combined 70 years of service, two premier pilots choose to leave the cockpit uni v e r s i t y See AIR page 10 October 29, 2008 Carol ina Facul ty and Staff News See BUDGET page 10 2 University Gazette Editor Patty Courtright (962-7124) patty_courtright@unc.edu managing Editor Gary C. Moss (962-7125) gary_moss@unc.edu Assis tant editor Susan Phillips (962-8594) susan_phillips@unc.edu Photographer Dan Sears (962-8592) Design and Layout UNC Design Services Amanda Zettervall (843-4967) STUDENT ASSISTANT Alison Amoroso Contributor News Services Editorial Offices 210 Pittsboro St., Chapel Hill, NC 27599 FAX 962-2279 | CB 6205 | gazette@unc.edu change of adres Make changes at: dir.unc.edu/dir/home Read the gazete 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. uni v e r s i t y on the web snipurls save space When sharing an impossibly long Web link, try pasting the link into snipurl.com. It will dramatically shorten the link so it won’t span longer than a line in e-mails – and risk losing its link – and will be much easier to remember as well. The Gazette frequently uses snipurls to save space in layout. Supercomputer on the move Moving supercomputers from one location to another presents a host of challenges and risks. When Information Technology Services’ Topsail cluster underwent upgrades, it needed to be moved from ITS Franklin to ITS Manning. Planning for the tran-sition began in February and the actual move was done in two stages: snipurl.com/4lio8 TRANSPORTATION FORUM Commuters can provide feedback and ask ques-tions of the University’s transportation service pro-viders at the annual UNC Transportation Forum on Oct. 30 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Great Hall of the FPG Student Union. On hand will be representatives from transit agencies, the CAP Program, Zipcar and others. The magic touch of hugs The Herald-Sun in Melbourne, Australia, writes about embracing the healing power of hugs, citing as one source the UNC School of Nursing’s 2005 study that women had lower blood pressure after hugging their partners: snipurl.com/4jjrp snipurl.com All Hallows eve What with Halloween just around the corner, what better way to get in the spirit than to take a trip to ibiblio to visit Ghost Stories of North Carolina. Once there, click on the haunted house to enter … if you dare. For UNC fans, the Legend of Gimghoul ibiblio.org/ghosts is included. Find the best gas prices Think you know where to get the best bargain on gas in Chapel Hill and around the Triangle? This Web site offers a search by location and also has a form to use to report your own finds. snipurl.com/48vqo Heartfelt gifts Every year we give our readers an annual writing assignment – and the chance to be part of the December issue with their submissions of short essays on assigned topics. With an eye toward economy and ecology, this year’s theme is "When Less Is More: Gifts from the Heart." We’re looking for inspired gift ideas – holiday, birthday or other special occa-sion – that are homemade, budget-minded or that leave a small footprint in the lives of the recipients. Everyone who sends us a submis-sion will be included in a drawing for great prizes. E-mail your stories of no more than 200 words to gazette@unc.edu by Dec. 8. Be sure to tell us if you have a photo that might illustrate your idea, too. If your gift idea includes directions, keep your story to 200 words. But your directions can be as long as they need to be. We’ll include them online and send readers there for the lowdown. The Town of Chapel Hill aims to return Halloween on Franklin Street to a more manageable celebration this year with a campaign to control the crowds and make things safer for the local community. Mayor Kevin Foy said that Halloween on Franklin Street no longer reflects the char-acter of the community. The town’s Homegrown Halloween in Chapel Hill campaign is intended to return the annual event to the “family friendly, grassroots celebration that it once was,” he said. To do that, access to downtown will be limited. In addition, bars and restaurants will close at 1 a.m. to new patrons to slow alcohol sales. And downtown convenience stores that sell alcohol will either close or stop selling alcohol at 1 a.m. What this means for Carolina employees: n There will be no campus parking for the evening before 6 p.m. After that, parking will be available in specifically designated lots for $10; n Several campus parking lots and roads will be closed during the evening; n Some downtown streets will be closed around 8:30 p.m. (Franklin Street from Raleigh Town puts damper on annual event Note to ghoulies and ghosties from Brian Curran, Chapel Hill chief of police: ‘Find somewhere else to celebrate.’ When les is more to Robertson streets, Columbia Street from Rosemary Street to Cameron Avenue, Raleigh Street from East Franklin Street to Cameron Avenue, and Henderson Street from East Rosemary to East Franklin streets); n There will be no special park-and-ride bus shuttles and little or no parking downtown; n The Point-to-Point Express campus shuttles will run during normal hours but the routes will be modified; n Chapel Hill Transit will run its usual bus routes but some will be rerouted. Modified service will be available on the following evening routes: D, J, NS, NU and all Safe Rides. The weekend Safe Ride bus routes will be available to transport riders away from downtown. For information about the event, see www. townofchapelhill.org/halloween. For Carolina-spe-cific information, see www.dps.unc.edu/NewsLinks/ HalloweenWeb/Halloween2008.pdf. October 29, 2008 3 Do not Fold, Spindle or Chad Soapboxes and Tre Stumps A man from Burlington votes in the presiden-tial election of 1956 that featured a rematch between incumbent Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson. The photo is one of 250 piec-es from the North Carolina Collection Gallery’s exhibit on display in Wilson Library through Jan. 31, 2009, “Soapboxes and Tree Stumps: Political Campaigning in North Carolina.” The show focuses on the period from 1890 to 1990. See library.unc.edu/ncc/gallery.html. civic duty Chancellor Holden Thorp casts his ballot last Friday at the Morehead Building on campus, one of the early-voting sites in Orange County. Task force weighs raising revenue, keeping tuition affordable Tough times often lead to the kind of tough choices that members of the Tuition and Fees Task Force now face as they weigh possible tuition rates to recommend for the 2009–10 academic year. The task force met for a second time on Oct. 20 to begin plugging in possible numbers. It will hold its final meeting on Nov. 10 to vote on a range of tuition increases to forward to Chancellor Holden Thorp. Thorp, in turn, will consider the task force’s recommendations before presenting his rec-ommended tuition increases to University trustees next month. The UNC Board of Gov-ernors will vote on trustees’ recommendations early next year. Even when times are good, there is a natu-ral tension between two widely supported, yet opposing objectives – generating additional revenue to enhance academic programs and meet pressing needs while keeping tuition affordable for all students. In recent years, University trustees have focused on raising revenue enough to make steady, incremental progress in bringing fac-ulty salaries more in line with salaries paid by Carolina’s peers. Since most peer institutions continue to increase salaries for their faculty every year, the University must maintain a sustained pattern of substantial increases not only to close the existing disparities in faculty pay, but to keep the gap from widening, trustees have consis-tently argued. Keeping the best faculty by improving their salaries, they add, is one of the best ways to ensure that the quality of education for future Carolina students will be as good or better than it is now. For students, the focal point has been fairness and accessibility, coupled with an elusive goal to design a predictable tuition program so that parents and students will be able to anticipate tuition costs from the time students enter school until they graduate. The University cannot fully control predict-ability, said Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Bernadette Gray-Little, because the UNC Board of Governors and ultimately the General Assembly have the final say on total tuition increases. Some years, the BOG has denied campus-based tuition increases, while other times the BOG and the legislature have added increases on top of campus-based increases, Gray-Little said. In-state cap In recent years, the battleground has nar-rowed to out-of-state tuition because of guidelines set forth by General Administra-tion capping the size of campus-based tuition increases for in-state students. On Oct. 15, General Administration sent a memo to all UNC system campuses announc-ing a ceiling of 6.5 percent for all campus-based tuition increases, along with ceiling of 6.5 per-cent for fee increases at all but five campuses, including Carolina. For in-state undergraduate students now paying annual tuition of $3,705, a 6.5 percent increase would generate an additional $241 per student, for a total of about $3.35 million based on an enrollment of 13,933. Similarly, for out-of-state undergradu-ates now paying annual tuition of $20,603, a 6.5 percent increase would generate addi-tional revenues of $1,339 per student, or about $3.86 million based on an enrollment of 2,877. Student Body President J.J. Raynor said she would like to see increases for out-of-state undergraduates stay below the $1,000 psycho-logical threshold. “How about $999.99?” Gray-Little quipped and noted that a failure to keep up with the rate of inflation would mean diminished support for current programs. Inflation index At its final meeting, the task force will look at the Higher Education Price Index (HEPI), which is designed to track the rising costs associated with higher education in a more specific way than the more familiar Consumer Price Index. Following Gray-Little’s suggestion would mean the increase for out-of-state undergradu-ate tuition should be at least as high as the HEPI percentage increase. An increase below $1,000, as Raynor advocated, would mean a percentage increase below 4.9 percent. As for how the revenue will be used, Trustee John Ellison and Steve Farmer, associate pro-vost and director of admissions, proposed establishing a fund that would be used to pay for a new initiative, yet to be developed, geared toward attracting more of the best and brightest students to Carolina. Farmer, in an earlier conversation with Elli-son, said that the University would be well served in the future to ensure competition for the best students based on the quality of programs, not solely on low costs. “That made an awful lot of sense to me,” said Ellison, who in recent months has teamed with Raynor to gather ideas from a variety of people and groups about how to strengthen the Uni-versity. One of the topics raised was the need to develop new initiatives serving as a more pow-erful magnet to draw the most talented students here from across the state and the country. “We need to figure out a way to take care of quality, because it is not just cost that people pay attention to when they come to Carolina, or when they decide to stay after seeing if the education they are getting is worth what they are paying,” Farmer said. “Even as we are tightening our belts, I think we will be able to help ourselves if we can dem-onstrate that we are also moving forward with the quality of the experience we can offer the best students we can least afford to lose.” No dollar amount for such a fund was dis-cussed, although Farmer suggested it should be placed under the control of the provost’s office. Gray-Little pointed out that discretion-ary use for the revenue generated by tuition increases would be limited to 40 percent of total revenue. Historically, Carolina has reserved 35 percent for need-based student aid to protect accessibility, and General Adminis-tration policy requires that at least 25 percent be used to bring faculty salaries to the 80th percentile of its peers. Revenue generated by campus-based tuition increases since they were first instituted in 2000–01 now total more than $64 million, including nearly $34 million that has been devoted to faculty salaries and benefits. Need-based aid generated during this same period has amounted to slightly more than $24 million. In addition, $3.1 million has been earmarked to improve stipends for teaching assistants. Last year, for the first time, some money was earmarked to improve student advising. Gray-Little suggested that a smaller amount be devoted to student advising during the next few years in order to pay for the additional staff that will be needed for some of the new advising programs. 4 University Gazette On Jan. 1, TIAA-CREF and Fidelity Investments will become the only vendors for supplemental 403(b) contributions. The Office of Human Resources began communicating the change throughout the UNC system this summer and has continued efforts to keep people informed. Recently, the Gazette talked with Brian Usischon, senior director of benefits and employee services, about what this means for emloyees. Why is this happening now? The Internal Revenue Service created 403(b) plans for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations, public colleges and universities, and public schools in 1964 as a means for their employees to invest for their retirement on a tax-deferred basis. The IRS did not issue final regulations governing 403(b) plans until 2007 and these final regulations will go into effect on Jan. 1. What has Human Resources done to alert employees to this pending change? We sent an e-mail message to all 403(b) participants in July and another announcement at the beginning of this month. We also made presentations to both the Employee Forum and the Faculty Council. In the next few weeks we will send additional information to let employees know the various times and places they can meet with investment counselors from TIAA-CREF and Fidelity Investments. How did employees react at those meetings? With genuine interest about how all of this is going to affect them. There was concern about why this was happening, espe-cially now. Some were unhappy that they couldn’t keep the investment company they currently have. Some worried about losing an adviser with whom they have a relationship. Their anxieties no doubt have been compounded by the volatility in the stock market. We in Human Resources know that this man-datory change is happening at a difficult time. But the IRS set the timing two years ago, long before the current crisis in the global financial system occurred. Why is the number of vendors being reduced from seven to two? The UNC system made a decision to implement a system-wide 403(b) plan to provide more efficient and cost-effective plan administration and ensure compliance by all UNC insti-tutions. The current decentralized model with more than 50 authorized 403(b) vendors across the UNC system (seven at Carolina) was no longer prudent or practical. At the request of all UNC schools, General Administra-tion established a systemwide 403(b) steering committee to recommend a process to ensure compliance and to develop an implementation plan. That committee was assisted by a national benefits consulting firm and by outside legal counsel who were experts in tax regulations. The committee recom-mended offering TIAA-CREF and Fidelity as the vendors of the new systemwide 403(b) plan. In its final regulations, the IRS shifted many compliance responsibilities to the employer. The trend we are beginning to see in higher education to comply with these new regulations is to reduce the number of vendors. Although the final regula-tions do not state how many vendors an employer can offer, it is clear that complying with these regulations in a multi-vendor environment is extremely complex. State systems in Maryland, Georgia, Texas and California are all going through a similar process and reducing 403(b) vendors. The state’s 401(k) plan, like those in the private sector, has only one vendor. How did the selection process work? As part of the competitive bid process, the steering com-mittee reviewed each bidder’s proposed investment offerings, fee structure and service capabilities and education tools they could offer. Of the nine vendors that submitted proposals, five were selected to give presentations. I should add that the com-mittee also considered as part of the evaluation process each bidder’s financial stability along with the ability to grow market share across the entire UNC system. From this rigorous process TIAA-CREF and Fidelity emerged as the top two choices. Has the reduction in vendor choices been a major complaint? And is it a bad idea to limit employees’ investment choices? The reduction of vendors has been the biggest complaint. And, yes, it would be a bad idea for us to limit investment options for employees. Our biggest communication challenge is to explain to employees that the reduction of vendors will not equate to a major loss of investment choices. With the selected vendors, employees will continue to have the ability to invest in as many choices as they do now. In addition, the new systemwide 403(b) program will not offer products with excessive fees, surrender charges or loads, which has been very common in this market. As a matter of fact, there has been conversation about requiring vendors to dis-close fees on employee statements so they can see exactly what they are paying for when they purchase an annuity or mutual fund investment. How can you have as many choices with two vendors as with seven? The UNC System’s Voluntary 403(b) Retirement Program is offering a tiered investment structure. By that I mean we will offer employees options to tailor their plans to their investment style and goals. Some people want the freedom to make invest-ment choices of their own. Others want a simpler approach. The plan will feature four investment tiers that offer vary-ing degrees of choice. No one tier is right for everyone, but each person can find the investment choices that best meet individual financial goals. What tier would someone choose if they don’t want to make investment choices for themselves? That would be Tier I, which offers lifecycle funds that target investors in a certain age group, with a specific time horizon for investing based on their retirement date. Each lifecycle fund starts with investment mixes gener-ally considered appropriate for investors at different stages of retirement planning, with the goal of achieving the highest pos-sible returns while minimizing potential risks. (Keep in mind that there is no guarantee this objective will be met.) Then, the funds adjust periodically to maintain an appropriate asset allo-cation for the remaining time horizon. In this way, a lifecycle fund is a way to put your invest-ment strategy on auto-pilot because it adjusts from being more aggressive to less aggressive as you grow older. What about someone who wants to have more control over investments? The next three tiers would meet this need, starting with Tier II, which provides a menu of funds representing all the primary asset classes. A third-party consultant will monitor the performance of these funds, similar to the fund monitoring provided under the Optional Retirement Program. What about Tier I and Tier IV? These two tiers really answer the earlier question about how it is possible to have only two vendors and still maintain the wide array of investment choices that a sophisticated investor would demand. Tier III, for instance, would provide an expanded class of mutual fund offerings. In fact, Fidelity will offer through its platform all Fidelity funds not offered in Tiers I and II (more than 150 mutual funds) plus mutual funds from T. Rowe Price, American Funds and the Vanguard Group, all highly respected names in the mutual fund industry. TIAA-CREF will also offer additional funds in this tier. In Tier IV, both Fidelity and TIAA-CREF will provide a self-directed brokerage option through which more expe-rienced investors will have access to literally thousands of mutual funds. What if I want to maintain my relationship with an independent investment adviser from another company who charges fees? Fees for independent investment advisers can be paid from a 403(b) account with TIAA-CREF and/or Fidelity. You and your adviser may have to sign an agreement with these vendors to grant access to your account and to have these fees deducted from your account. What should employees with 403(b) accounts do now? If you are enrolled with Fidelity or TIAA-CREF, you do not need to do anything other than review your asset allocation in light of new funds being available. On the other hand, if you were enrolled with any of the other five vendors who will be discontin-ued, you must enroll with either Fidelity or TIAA-CREF before Jan. 1 to continue contributing to a 403(b) account after Jan. 1. Will an employee with any of these discontinued vendors have to transfer their funds to either Fidelity or TIAA-CREF? No. Employees can retain assets with these other vendors. But they will not be able to make future contributions to these companies. Employees who are thinking about transferring their funds to Fidelity or TIAA-CREF should contact their current vendor to discuss any surrender fees that may be associated with their accounts. Q&A Employees have different choices for investing in 403(b) plans October 29, 2008 5 Faculty/Staff n ews Seven Carolina employees were recognized for their outstanding con-tributions Oct. 10 at a luncheon at the Carolina Inn. Five people received the Chan-cellor’s Awards for Excellence and two received the Excellence in Management Awards. The Chancellor’s Awards were established in 1991 to recognize contributions made by University employees based on meritorious or distinguished accomplishments. Winners of Chancellor’s Awards were: Katrina Coble, Department of Computer Science; Robert A. Connolly, Kenan-Flagler Business School; Karen Moon, News Ser-vices; Bonita A. Summers, School of Law; and Kim Walker-Barnhardt, Department of Public Safety. Coble Nominators praise Coble for her compas-sion, dedication and work ethic. They describe her as a humanitarian who deftly applies technical knowledge, human resources skills and a genuine love for people in her daily responsibilities – even as she takes on some of the more stressful aspects of her job, including as one nominator said, her gentle handling of the dreaded parking allocation. As business manager for the past 15 years, Coble has oversight for the computer science department’s budgetary, human resources, student services and faculty support areas. While her job often requires a “tough love” approach, she is also known as someone who “always goes the extra mile, and does it with the extra smile!” She embraces roles outside the department with equal zeal and is perhaps best known across campus for her work with the Carolina Blood Drive, serving as campus chair since 1997. “Simply stated, UNC-Chapel Hill’s blood drive is widely recognized as one of the very best in America,” a nominator said. “Katrina’s tireless devotion to this wonderful cause has helped so many people and it has also brought well deserved praise to this university as a place of caring and involvement.” Conolly According to his nominating materials, it was four years ago that Connolly began a patriotic mission whose scope has contin-ued to expand: He sends care packages to American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. During this period, as one nominator wrote, he has contributed “substantial time, great personal expense and significant energy” to provide the troops with items that add to their comfort and ensure their well-being. In doing so, he has rallied the local community, as well Carolina���s faculty, staff and students, to support his project. In all, Connolly has personally coordinated the shipment of more than 800 packages University awards honor employee excellence Chancellor Holden Thorp (center, first row) and Dwayne Pinkney (center, third row) assistant vice chancellor for finance and administration, presented Chancellor's Awards and Excellence in Management Awards Oct. 10. Pictured are: (first row, from left) Karen Moon, Thorp, Kimberly Walker-Barnhardt; (second row) Bonita Summers, Katrina Coble; (third row) Ed Phillips, Pinkney, Robert Connolly. Not pictured: Todd Owen. For 12 years, Michelle Lynn Mayer battled scleroderma, a chronic autoimmune disease in which hardening of the skin is a major element. In the process, she suffered years of misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment. Not until she became a "difficult patient" did her physicians accurately diagnose the disease that was destroying her health. Even after the diagnosis was made, she had to continue to advocate for herself before she could get the best treatment for scleroderma. Mayer, a research fellow at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and a research assistant professor in the Gillings School of Global Public Health from 2001 to 2007, lost her battle with scleroderma on Oct. 11 at age 39. She spent much of her professional career focusing on health-care access and quality for underserved and special needs children. And she used her own health-care battle to provide insight and inspiration to others. In May, Mayer began sharing her experiences facing the challenge of terminal illness through a blog of essays on parenting, living and dying, www.diaryofadyingmom.blog-spot. com. Last month, she wrote about her experiences as a “difficult patient” and the importance of self-advocacy in the journal Health Affairs. "I wasn't interested in being told what to do and I expected my doctors to respect my right to make truly informed choices that were consistent with the way in which I wanted to intervene in my disease and live my life," she wrote. "But being a difficult patient is a tricky proposition. By advocating for myself, I risk incensing the person on whom I depend for care." The full text of the article is available at snipurl.com/4lhxk. Mayer received a master’s degree in health education and a Ph.D. in health policy and administration from Carolina. She taught several courses and seminars in the graduate program of the Department of Health Policy and Administration and served as a mentor to five doctoral and two master’s students, guiding their dissertations and theses. Before joining the Carolina faculty, she was a clinical research associate in the Depart-ment of Pediatrics at Stanford University and research director of the Children’s Health Initiative at the Lucile S. Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif. Memorial contributions may be made to the Scleroderma Foundation, 300 Rosewood Drive, Suite 105, Danvers, MA 01923 or to the Duke Hospice Inpatient Care Facility, 1001 Corporate Dr, Hillsborough, NC 27278. Mayer, Sheps Center research fellow and health-care advocate, dies Oct. 11 See Awards page 11 6 University Gazette At a time when most people are heading for bed, Gloria Fortune is hopping a bus for work. She works the midnight shift as a housekeeper on the fourth floor of Dey Hall, where she has worked the past 19 years. Over the years, she has come to know every crack and crevice of that floor, and the people have gotten to know her – if only through the quality of her work, and the fact that it always gets done night after night. She does not have a car, but she does have Triangle Transit. She catches the system’s last bus from Durham to Chapel Hill at 10:10 p.m. for the 40-minute ride and gets off on Franklin Street to grab what on her schedule is really breakfast. But it’s never bacon and eggs or cereal. Some nights it’s pizza, some nights a chicken wrap, some nights Chinese, other nights a sandwich from Subway. The routine at work is far more predictable. She dust mops every night. She cleans the bathrooms every night and stocks them with toilet paper, paper towels and soap. She empties the garbage cans on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The next week, she spends two full nights waxing and buffing the floors into a glimmering shine. Staying put As a young woman, Fortune knocked around at part-time jobs. When she landed a job at Durham Draperies, she kept it for 17 years before someone convinced her to take another job that paid a bit more money. She lost that job almost as quickly as she got it. Maybe that’s why after she started working with the University in 1989 she decided to hold on to her job as long as she could. “I really didn’t make any money when I first came over here and I‘m still not making all that much money now, but I enjoy the people I work around and I am thankful I have a job,” she said. It helps her cover the mortgage and keep the lights on in her two-bedroom house in Durham, where she has lived for the past 10 years. She doesn’t like the house much. It’s too small and sits on a piece of low-lying property that has experienced constant water problems. She can’t remember the last time she missed work, not because she is more dedicated than anybody else, she said, but because she needs every dime she makes. When she worked the afternoon shift, she got to work at 4 p.m. when the building was still filled with people. Some people spoke to her, some didn’t. It was all the same to Fortune. She believes her work speaks for itself. There are a handful of people she has gotten to know over the years, people who have become almost as important to her as her job. “Mary Jones was in the building when I came here and she is just as sweet as she can be,” Fortune said, adding that the same could be said for Thomas Smither, the graduate student ser-vices manager for Romance languages. Jones is the department manager for Romance languages. “I am just like family to them and they are just like family to me,” Fortune said. “I can go and talk to them about anything.” She doesn't make too much more than a beginning house-keeper makes, now that the University increased the minimum salary for SPA full-time permanent employees to $25,000 a year. But Fortune does not begrudge them the salary boost. Their raise helped get them a little bit ahead and did not put her any farther behind, she said. After all, they are all fighting the same battle of survival. “This day and time you really don’t know,” Fortune said. “The time is real bad. I have a house and you just have to pull your purse strings a little tighter.” She doesn’t have bad habits, largely because she never has been able to afford them, she said. Her only vice is playing the lotto. Each ticket she buys holds an elusive promise that it might be the chance for a better life. A winer This year, her biggest winning ticket came in the form of a 2008 C. Knox Massey Award. It paid $6,000 before taxes, but was worth more to her than the money, she said. With Massey Award, good fortune smiles on Gloria Fortune Housekeeper Gloria Fortune, winner of a 2008 C. Knox Massey Distinguished Service Award, stands in front of Dey Hall, the building that she has helped to clean for nearly 19 years. See Fortune page 10 The University will mark the opening of a new world-class center for develop-mental disabilities treatment tomorrow (Oct. 30) at an event in the George Watts Hill Alumni Center. The Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities will provide leading resources for children and adults in North Carolina with developmental disabilities and their families. Along with on-site clinical services, the institute will provide treatment and training for patients and service providers throughout the state. It will also carry out research on the causes, development, effects and treatment of these conditions. The research arm will work in conjunction with the clinical arm to translate such studies into practice. The institute, one of the largest programs for developmental disabilities in the country, brings together four existing programs within the School of Medicine: the TEACCH Pro-gram (Treatment and Education for Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children); the Clinical Center for Develop-ment and Learning; the Family Support Net-work of North Carolina; and the Neurode-velopmental Disorders Research Center. The institute’s founding director is Joseph Piven, Sarah Graham Kenan Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics in the medical school and in the psychology department. Speakers at the event include Piven, former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, UNC President Erskine Bowles and Chancellor Holden Thorp. Members of the developmentally disabled community and their families will also attend. Developmental disabilities include many conditions, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, dyslexia, fragile X syndrome, Down syndrome and autism. Their impact is widespread. For example, 15 percent of children in the United States have some form of developmental dis-ability and one in 150 school-age children has an autism spectrum disorder. For more information about the institute, see www.cidd.unc.edu. New Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities opens Diane Adamson doesn’t have any children of her own, but she knows a lot about being a mom. Growing up in the outskirts of Pittsburgh, she was the second oldest of eight children, and the oldest girl. When she was in high school, her two youngest brothers were born, and her only extracurricular activity was to care of them. Her father worked for a machinery plant, her mom at a snack bar during the day and as a waitress at night. Even so, some years the only Christmas presents they got came from the Salvation Army, along with powdered milk and cheese. “I always say I did everything for my two youngest brothers except birth them,” Adamson said. “I didn’t birth them, but I was the mom. As soon as I got home from school, my mother went to work.” She graduated from high school in 1971 and joined the Navy on March 17, 1972, her youngest brother’s birthday. Looking back, she said, that was probably no accident. “I just thought I needed to get away and make something of my life.” She was a yeoman, the Navy’s term for paper pusher. But the job was never dull. It took her all over the world, doing all kinds of things from working in a Navy boot camp to chasing down deserters to working with the Navy SEALs, the elite Special Operations Forces. For 24 years, the Navy was her home, no matter where in the world she happened to be. She spent the last three years of her Navy career at the ROTC office on the UNC campus. She was one of eight people there, surrounded by thousands of people in the University commu-nity who did not know what to make of them or accept why they were there. “It was a huge change for me coming here,” Adamson said. “I was used to the network of the military community and when I came here I had to learn all over again how to meet people.” By working out every day at noon in Woollen Gym, she made new friends. And she landed her only job since she left the Navy as the office manager for Campus Recreation. Twelve years later, people still ask if she misses the Navy. And she unabashedly answers, “Yes. I do miss it. That was my family. “They bleed Carolina blue around here. I bleed Navy blue.” Loking out for others What she missed most about life in the military, she under-stands now, was being part of something bigger than herself that made her better by being a part of it. In the Navy, no mat-ter where she was, she felt surrounded by people who looked after each other. Maybe that is why, while walking her niece through Raleigh- Durham International Airport in January 2006, Adamson paid special notice to the USO sign they passed. After her niece was safely aboard the plane, Adamson headed straight for the USO office to see if they needed help. She spent the next week in volunteer training and a week after that she was on the schedule – and has been ever since. She works the first and third Sunday of the month, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and fills in once or twice a month during the week as needed. As part of their training, USO volunteers are expected to keep their opinions to themselves and not to pepper people with questions. But if a soldier wants to talk, they welcome the opportunity to listen. Adamson runs into kids in uniform barely out of high school and men and women in uniform old enough to be their mothers and fathers. The USO at RDU, for many Marines from Camp Lejeune and soldiers from Fort Bragg, has almost become a revolving door between home and their prolonged deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some barely unpack their bags before being sent back. “Their whole lives are uncertain,” Adamson said. “They don’t know if they are going to get home, or how long they are going to be home. Guys whose wives had babies while they are in Iraq or Afghanistan come back home to see the kid for a week before they have to go back. For some, the kid is walking by the time they get home again. It’s not right. “I know we have an all-volunteer force and we don’t want to go back to the draft, but I just think there has to be a better way.” Many of the 17- and 18-year-olds, she said, had never been away from home on their own before they went to boot camp, then to the eight-week advanced training that is supposed to prepare them for battle. “They have no idea where they are going or what they will be asked to do, but their attitude is like, ‘I’ve been trained. I’m going to do my job as best as I can and then I’m coming back home to start a life.’” A sense of gratitude These are kids who are grateful for the opportunity to serve their country, Adamson said. Their generosity of spirit has been enough to bring her to tears. She remembered the two 18-year-olds who came through the USO this past Valentine’s Day and took off saying they were going out for smokes. They came back with two bouquets of roses instead – one for Adamson, one for the other woman sharing the shift with her that night. “We were like, ‘You guys didn’t have to do that, save your money for your girlfriend.’ One of them said, ‘Well, you know, we are getting ready to go to Iraq and we really appreciate you ladies being here and we wanted you to know that.’ They are just the most grateful kids in the world. To me, that’s gold.” She was trained not to smother such kids with outward expressions of sympathy and concern. Even so, she has to fight the impulse. “Our director told us, ‘You are not their mother.’ We are not supposed to try to take their mother’s place. They have been to boot camp. They are men now. They are young, but they are men. Or women. I have met women on their way to Afghani-stan in sand fatigues and boots and ready to go.” She remains committed to doing all she can to make their lives a little bit easier in the narrow window of time their paths cross. “We are like the last piece of home they may see for six or eight months and they really appreciate us being there,” Adam-son said. “That’s the really rewarding part of it.” In the time she spends a couple of Sundays each month dish-ing out chili and cheer, it is almost as if she has found her way back home, too. “I love it. I’ll be there until they run me out, or better yet, they don’t need me anymore.” And she prays that day will come soon. October 29, 2008 7 Adamson finds family through USO service For nearly two years now, Diane Adamson, far right and bottom right, has served as a USO volunteer at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on the first and third Sundays of each month. contributed contributed 8 University Gazette News in b r i e f Stone Center lecture set for Oct. 30 Senior associate producer and researcher for the acclaimed “Eyes on the Prize” series, Judy Richardson delivers the 16th Annual Sonja Haynes Stone Memorial Lecture on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m.: “Will the Circle Be Unbroken: The Relevance of the Civil Rights Movement.” The unveiling of the center’s commemorative quilt follows the program. The quilt was made by Heather Williams, associate professor of history, and recognizes contributions by prominent African-Americans. snipurl.com/4l77c Latin American Film Festival “Afro and Youth Cultures in the Americas” – the 22nd Annual Latin American Film Festival – runs Nov. 2–21 at campuses in Durham, Greensboro, Raleigh and Chapel Hill. Perfor-mances at Carolina are in the Global Education Center’s Mandela Audi-torium on the following dates: n Nov. 6 – “Bajo el Tacaná. La Otra Frontera;” “Brother Town/Pueb-los Hermanos.” 7 p.m.; n Nov. 9 – “Gringoton.” 4 p.m.; fol-lowed by “A History of Commit-tee Cinema” and “Más Vampiros en la Habana.” n Nov. 21 – “Entre los muertos.” 7 p.m. (N.C. premiere) See latinfilmfestivalnc.com. ‘Trumbo’ movie producer speaks A film about a Hollywood screenwriter blacklisted by the movie industry after the 1940s witch hunts for American Communists is screened and discussed on Nov. 3 by one of “Trumbo’s” producers, Will Battersby, at 6 p.m. in the Hanes Art Center auditorium. On Nov. 4, Battersby gives two talks at UNC. He discusses the movie development and producing process and highlights an upcoming film in a brown-bag lunch talk at noon in Room 3413 of the FPG Student Union. The discussion continues at 6 p.m. with a question-and-answer session to follow in Room 116 of Murphey Hall. snipurl.com/4kjdv The Proces series The Office of the Executive Director for the Arts launched a series of new and still-developing performance works in September – all free, all beginning at 8 p.m. in Gerrard Hall. Next up in The Process Series is “The Secret Agent,” by Michael Dellaira and J.D. McClatchy, and directed by Joseph Megel on Nov. 14–15 (843-7067 or Megel@email.unc.edu). Talk examines Effect of Jim Crow on children University of Georgia history professor John Inscoe discusses “The Emotional Impact of Jim Crow” at 4 p.m. on Nov. 11 as one of the Hutchins lectures presented by the Center for the Study of the American South. The free public talk takes place at the Hill Alumni Center. snipurl.com/4klik award deadline to watch Nominations are accepted through Oct. 31 for the Training and Development Department’s first Excellence in Mentoring Award. The recipient receives 24 hours of paid leave, a plaque and nomination for a 2009 Chancellor’s Award. snipurl.com/4klnh Uhlman seminar examines Holocaust testimonies The Program in Humanities and Human Values presents a seminar Nov. 11–12, “Witnessing and Memory: What is Gained, What is Lost and What Remains from Holocaust Testimonies.” The meeting examines the idea of witnessing, and in par-ticular being a witness to atrocities, and considers what can be gained from such testimonies in terms of writing history, under-standing the past and coming to terms with that past in the present. Tuition is $120. See snipurl.com/4kpdf. ‘CE-Yo’ stirs it up Gary Hirshberg, the self-styled CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm, the world’s leading organic yogurt producer, discusses “Stir-ring it Up: How to Make Money and Save the World” in a free talk Nov. 11. Hirshberg delivers the 2008–09 Hillard Gold ’39 Lecture at 7:30 p.m. in Gerrard Hall, sponsored by the John-ston Center for Undergradu-ate Excellence. Hirshberg has won awards for both corporate and environmental leadership. snipurl.com/4koeu Free AIDS tests In honor of World AIDS Day, UNC offers free, walk-in HIV testing on Nov. 20 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the FPG Student Union. Testing is available to everyone on campus and the Carolina community and does not require a blood draw. campushealth.unc.edu 5K run honors Eve Carson Phi Delta Theta and Pi Beta Phi team up Nov. 15 to host a 5K walk and run to honor former Student Body President Eve Carson. The event begins at Polk Place at 10 a.m. Proceeds from the 5K benefit three organizations: two-thirds for the Eve Carson Memorial Junior-Year Merit Schol-arship, the remainder for First Book and Clyde Erwin Elementary School. www.educationforeve.com Multicultural fair set for Oct. 31 UNC Hospitals hosts a multicultural fair, free and open to the public, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 31 in the lobbies of the N.C. Children’s and N.C. Women’s Hospitals. The fair features salsa lessons, tango lessons, a clogging group and step team from the University, Merengue lessons, a Tai Chi demonstration and cultural food samples. Trafic watch An electrical duct bank project continues work on the eastern side of South Columbia Street through the end of the year. Two-way traffic is maintained during the project, but to ensure construction continues, one of the two northbound lanes on South Columbia Street will be blocked. Motorists driving north can expect delays and traffic congestion. In addition, the bus stop on South Columbia Street north of Mason Farm Road will be temporarily moved farther north as each segment of the project progresses. Call 962-3951. Lung cancer subject of symposium The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center plans a Lung Cancer Awareness Symposium on Nov. 17 in the Pagano Conference Room of the Lineberger Building at 4 p.m. UNC lung cancer specialists Mark Socinski and Benjamin GREEN DAYS Josh LeMere, left, of Coastal Geothermal, talks with Jim Ward, associate director for horticulture at the North Carolina Botanical Garden, about the installation of piping linking the 28,500-foot-deep geothermal wells at the garden. Part of the garden’s new Visitor Education Center, scheduled for comple-tion next spring, the alternative energy program was funded by the student Renewable Energy Special Projects Committee. Tours of the site were just one of the activities planned during Campus Sustainability Days, Oct. 22–24, sponsored by the UNC Sustainability Office. October 29, 2008 9 Haithcock are the featured speakers of the event. snipurl.com/4krmz Highlighting survival, human dignity during war The Justice Theater Project (JTP) opens its fourth season with “Mother Courage and Her Children,” by Bertolt Brecht, adapted by David Hare. “Mother Courage” is a collabora-tion between JTP and the Depart-ment of Communication Studies and combines music and dance. Set during Europe's 30-year war, the play was written in 1939 in response to Hitler's invasion of Poland. It became a classic and was frequently staged throughout Europe and the United States. It is in Swain Hall on Oct. 30, Nov. 1, Nov. 6–8 (8 p.m.); and Oct. 26 and Nov. 2 (2 p.m.). Call for reservations (264-7089); see thejusticetheater project.org. Celebrate 6 million boks The University library marks its 6 millionth volume on Nov. 20 with the dedication of a first edition of John Keats’ “Poems.” Carolina becomes the 29th North American university to achieve that milestone. The dedication takes place at 5:45 p.m. in Wilson Library followed by a discussion by Beth Lau, a pro-fessor at California State University-Long Beach, on “Keats and his Circle Reading Shakespeare.” The event marks the open-ing of a Keats exhibit in the Rare Book Collection on display through March 2009: “Presenting John Keats.” To celebrate the 6 millionth book, the library invites members of the campus community to share their thoughts by Nov. 7 about what Carolina’s libraries mean to them. See library. unc.edu/spotlight/2008/6millionbooks.html. Messages will be presented to the John Wesley and Anna Hodgin Hanes Foundation, the group that funded the milestone purchase. Focus is on eating disorders Nov. 8 The UNC Eating Disorders Program hosts its Fourth Annual Conference on Eating Disorders from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Friday Center. The conference, “From DNA to the Dinner Table: Couples and Families in the Treatment of Eating Disorders,” features guest speakers covering topics such as couple-based therapy for anorexia nervosa, involving the family in treatment, parent train-ing for childhood weight control, nutrition and brain chemistry in individuals with eating disorders and dialectical behavior therapy for eating disorders (962-2118; www.med.unc.edu/cme). Calendar snapshot NOVEMBER 5 14 18 17 6 12 Discusion “Intellectual Property and Copyright in Arts and Humanities.” Laura N. Gasaway, Deborah Gerhardt. Institute for the Arts and Humanities. University Rm, Hyde. 4–6 pm. snipurl. com/4kr7h performance “An Evening of John Cage and Others.” Music professor/ pianist Stefan Litwin, other faculty and students perform concert for piano and orchestra. Gerrard. 7 pm. $ reading Paul Austin reads from “Some-thing for the Pain: One Doctor’s Account of Life and Death in the ER.” Bull’s Head Bookshop. 3:30pm. conference Fourth Annual Conference on Eating Disorders: “From DNA to the Dinner Table: Couples and Families in the Treatment of Eating Disorders.” Eating Disorders Program. Friday Ctr. 8:30 am–4:45 pm. $ snipurl.com/4krti Lecture “The Memory of War and the Era-sure of Iraq.” Marita Sturken, NYU. Hyde Hall. 4 pm. snipurl.com/4kovt reading Robert Cantwell reads from “If Beale Street Could Talk: Music, Com-munity, Culture.” Bull’s Head Bookshop. 3:30 pm. www.unc.edu/ccjs reading Dick Vitale signs “Dick Vitale’s Fabulous 50 Players and Moments in Col-lege Basketball: From the Best Seat in the House During My 30 Years at ESPN.” Bull’s Head Bookshop. Noon. reading John and Dale Reed read from “Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue.” Bull’s Head Book-shop. 3:30 pm. Lecture “Folk Scare: The Resurrection of Tom Dooley.” Robert Cantwell. Ackland Art Museum. 1 pm. $ www.ackland.org reading Betsy Greer reads from “Knitting for Good! A guide to Creating Personal, Social and Political Change Stitch by Stitch.” Bull’s Head Bookshop. 3:30 pm. reading Joseph Flora reads from Reading Hemingway’s ‘Men Without Women’: Glossary and Commentary.” Bull’s Head Bookshop. 3:30 pm. tradeshow Material and Disbursement Services’ Information Technology Ven-dor Tradeshow. Great Hall, Union. 9 am–1 pm. Call 962-3477; e-mail dale_ poole@unc.edu. conference “Global Encounters: Legacies of Exchange and Conflict, 1000–1700.” Keynote: Karen Ordahl Kupperman, NYU; Alfred J. Andrea, U Vermont. Friday Ctr. (continues on 11/15) mems.unc.edu lecture “Communal Genocide: Personal Accounts of Eastern Galicia.” Omer Bartov, Brown U. Friday Ctr. 7:30 pm. Next calendar includes: Nov. 20 – Dec. 17 | Deadline for submissions: 5 p.m., Mon., Nov. 10 | E-mail: gazette@unc.edu | Fax: 843-5966: Clearly mark for the Gazette. | Campus Box: 6205. The Gazette calendar includes only items of general interest geared toward a broad audience. For complete listings of events, including athletics, see the Carolina Events Calendars at www.unc.edu/events. jon gardiner inovative, rulebreaking, jazz-on-the-edge, eclectic pioneer ornette coleman One of the great innovators in jazz, Pulitzer Prize-winning saxophonist/composer Ornette Coleman plays a seminal role in American music. Identified with the free jazz movement of the 1960s, his influence extends far beyond the realm of his chosen medium. He performs Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Memo-rial Hall. Call 843-3333. Click here (snipurl.com/4lp5a) for a National Public Radio story about Coleman – and to listen to samples of his music. 8 10 13 19 create state expenditure reductions when flexibility exists; n Be consistent with the role and mission of Carolina, the academic plan and the plans of the various units within the University; n Consider reductions in light of their impact on student learning, protecting to the extent possible the ability of stu-dents to graduate in a timely fashion; n Avoid reductions to the instructional budgets as much as possible; n Ensure that near-term budget deci-sions complement longer-term planning; n Consider how decisions about cost reductions could affect generative revenue by safeguarding revenue-producing activities such as new research, matching grant programs, summer school and public-private partnerships; n Avoid shifting costs to other areas except in unusual circumstances and only after such shifts are approved by the Budget Committee; n Maximize savings from current and upcoming position vacancies by scruti-nizing the need to fill those positions; n Eliminate or significantly reduce non-essential travel; n Streamline current processes to reduce expenditures and to mitigate impacts on staff workloads; n Conserve campus resources by adjust-ing thermostats, cutting off lights and other energy-saving initiatives; and n Consult broadly to determine the best routes to take to achieve reductions. All proposed budget cuts are due to be submitted to Bell by Nov. 15. 10 University Gazette What truly mattered was that other people on campus wanted to find a way to let her know that she mattered, too. Among them were Jones and Smither. “Gloria constantly goes out of her way to keep the area spotless and is always a pleas-ant person,” Smither wrote in her nominat-ing letter. Jones wrote, “Gloria has been a house-keeper in Dey Hall for many years. During this time she has performed her assigned tasks in an exemplary manner with her area always having a good appearance. She has an outstanding attendance record and can always be counted on to be in Dey Hall cleaning the fourth floor and helping with other floors when needed.” After raising and supporting her son, For-tune has grown accustomed to being on her own and taking care of herself. This spring, she was able to convince a former boyfriend to give her a ride to the Massey banquet, but could not talk him into attending the event with her. She could not convince her mother or son or any of her sisters to go with her, either. But on the night of the banquet, Fortune said she felt anything but alone. “I was in another world,” she said. “I met the Massey award people and they are real nice. They took all our pictures with the chancellor. People I didn’t even know came up to me to thank me for what I do. That felt real good.” When Fortune got up to speak, she thanked the chancellor and others pres-ent who had made that night possible and to tell them how much she appreci-ated being appreciated. Among those in the crowd cheering her on were Smither, her supervisor and another woman from housekeeping. At the end of the evening, then-Chancellor James Moeser encouraged them to take home the floral centerpieces on the tables. She kept the flowers as long as she could, and has even managed to hold onto a good chunk of the award money – money she knows may come in handy on a rainy day. As for the Massey plaque, it is propped against the wall on her dresser along with the other recognitions she has received through the years, including the one from Durham Draperies for 15 years of service and the one from the University for 10 years of service. In another year, she hopes, there will be another plaque for 20 years of University service. There is nothing glamorous about her job, she said, but she believes it is as impor-tant to the University in its own way as it is to her – and will be for as long as she has it. “We got a job to do. It might not be the best, but it is a job that needs to be done so other people can do theirs,” she said. Fortune from page 6 And it was – in 1972. Five years later, Fearing became the opera-tion’s director until 1986 when he went to work as a full-time pilot for then-UNC President C.D. Spangler Jr. Even so, he continued flying for AHEC on a part-time basis. In 1997, when Spangler retired and moved his aircraft to Charlotte, Fearing stayed here and was re-hired by Med Air full time once again. For more than three decades, Fearing and Benson have worked in what they said is regarded throughout the aviation community as one of the very best flying jobs. “You can make more money working for some commercial air-lines, but that’s a more lucrative flying job, not a better flying job,” Benson said. Med Air, part of the UNC School of Medicine as well as the AHEC Program, includes a fleet of six twin-engine Beechcraft Baron aircraft flown by seven licensed pilots. On site also at the University’s Horace Williams Airport are three Federal Aviation Administration-certified mechanics who keep the planes operating at peak performance. Med Air planes make anywhere from five to 10 trips a day on aver-age. Last year, pilots flew 538,757 passenger miles making 4,500 trips, and in the past 30 years, the program has logged 19.2 million passen-ger miles making 160,241 trips. Although Med Air began in 1968, its records date back only 30 years. And Fearing and Benson have been an integral part of Med Air for most of that time. Now, after a combined 70 years logging countless miles crisscrossing North Carolina, the pair will retire at the end of the year. Their service to the University and the state will be honored today (Oct. 29) during a celebration of UNC Medical Air Opera-tions’ 40th anniversary. “Medical Air Operations has been an essential part of AHEC since we were founded in 1972,” said Tom Bacon, AHEC Program direc-tor. “Alan and Mike established a standard of excellence, dedication to passenger service and commitment to the AHEC mission that has characterized Med Air through its entire history, and still holds true today. It is hard to imagine Med Air without them.” Unparalleled quality In its 40-year history, Med Air has had a total of 28 pilots. Pilots tend to stay in general – and Fearing and Benson in particular – largely because of Med Air’s top-quality management. “Our management has always been better than anyone else’s in aviation. It has always been appropriate for the time and a step ahead of other aviation management,” Benson said. “We are fully supported by the University, and our directors are pilots who are very familiar with our needs. “We really are a self-sustaining operation and perform all the basic maintenance except paint the airplanes.” This hands-on management also means placing a premium on the right people, equipment and training that leads to sound decision-making, he said. For example, Fearing added, Med Air has made good operations decisions. “We didn’t ask for the moon,” he said. “We didn’t ask for bigger, better, more expensive airplanes because we really didn’t need them. But we asked for what we needed – and got it – because we made that distinction.” The twin-engine planes Med Air operates are inexpensive, reliable people movers that can make the trip from Chapel Hill to Asheville or Manteo in an hour. “They’re reliable like a Lexus but without the cost,” Benson said. And the crew of on-site mechanics specializes in the operation of these aircraft to keep them performing optimally and safely. In fact, Med Air’s safety record is virtually unmatched in 40 years of aviation. “Flight departments come and go, but we come and stay. We can adapt to any environment,” Benson said. Flying for a higher purpose Beyond the sheer enjoyment of flying, Fearing and Benson remained at Med Air all these years because they believe in AHEC’s mission. “Watching the success of the AHEC Program meet the health-care needs of the people of North Carolina has been one of the most rewarding aspects of what we do,” Fearing said. “Our passengers are distinctive. Taking that one step further, they are people of distinction – in what they have accomplished and what they do on a daily basis.” Carolina’s health-care professionals, who willingly give their time and talent to something they believe in when they could make far more money in the private sector, are inspiring, both pilots said. “These people are truly the blacksmith that fell in love with the anvil,” Benson said. “That’s what makes them different from people in other organizations. They love what they do and don’t finish until they finish. That is truly special.” The same could be said for Fearing and Benson. They will finish their careers at the end of the year – and until that day will continue to fly with the same enthusiasm and enjoyment they found here more than three decades ago. AIR from page 1 budget from page 1 A job wel done Dawn Ray, who works in the McLendon Clinical Laboratories administrative office, received the 2008 Margaret O. Gulley Award for Secretarial Excellence in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Oct. 27. October 29, 2008 11 Carolina wo r k i n g at weighing more than two tons to troops overseas, also including wounded soldiers in military hospitals in Germany. He has led fundraising drives to collect money to cover shipping expenses and has supplemented the donations with his own money when necessary. And he has taken special care to include in his shipments the soldiers associated with the business school’s family of faculty, staff and students. Connolly has stayed in touch with many of them through letter after letter thanking him for the packages. Mon “Karen Moon saved my life.” With that heartfelt emotion, one of Moon’s co-workers nominated her for a chancellor’s award for the day in fall 2007 that Moon rescued the co-worker, who had passed out behind a locked door. An insulin-dependent diabetic who wears an insulin pump, Moon’s co-worker accidentally gave herself an insulin overdose while at work. Moon was sensitive enough to her co-worker’s medical condition that she quickly noticed when too much time had passed, and her co-worker hadn’t emerged. “Only Karen had the sixth sense to know that I was behind that door and in trouble,” her nominator said. Taking charge of the situation, Moon knocked and called out through the locked door. When she didn’t receive an answer, she got a master key, opened the door and ordered co-workers to call 911. Moon stayed by her co-worker’s side in the Emergency Department at UNC Hospitals that day, monitoring her condi-tion and relaying information to family and friends. Once she was released, Moon insisted on coming home with her so she could continue to check on her through the night. Summers Summers’ principal job is to manage and oversee the work of the Faculty Support Center at the School of Law. What that descrip-tion doesn’t include is more of an elusive responsibility, one whose chief requirement might better be termed “one of a kind.” Summers has been described as an “expert clerical support person, but much more.” In addition to doing her job, and going the extra mile to do it well, there are times when her ser-vice to her department, and its professors, falls into a whole different category. There are times, for example, that she typed the mysteriously handwritten arbitration decisions of one professor, often into the evening hours. And there is one retired professor who finds the computer a mystery. It is Summers who walks to his home dur-ing lunch breaks (because she does not have a car) and helps him solve his technological puzzles. Co-workers note that she “is ubiquitous and constant with her favors” and is “as kind, gentle and extremely competent in assisting the ‘old dogs’ as she is in helping the new staffers master the intricacies of a legal atmosphere.” Walker-Barnhardt Walker-Barnhardt needs a clear head and calm demeanor every day in her public safety position answering 911 calls and serving as a radio communicator. But her skills were never as critical as the day she handled an anonymous call last spring with information about the murder of Eve Carson, Carolina’s former student body president – and was ultimately instru-mental in the capture and arrest of two suspects. The caller, who put herself in great danger for revealing information about the two suspects, was understandably afraid. But over time, Walker-Barnhardt was able to calm her fears and convince the caller to meet with police investigators. As one example of the depth of her involvement in reassur-ing the caller, at one point the informant was so frightened that Walker-Barnhardt gave the caller her personal cell phone number as well as her work schedule, just to reassure her and to encourage her to call back with any additional information. “I honestly believe her heroism saved many more families from tragedy,” a nominator said. Excellence in Management Awards The Excellence in Management Awards were established in 1998. Winners were: Todd Owen, Center for Urban and Regional Studies; and Ed Phillips, Facilities Services. Owen A newcomer to Carolina just three years ago, Owen has, in the words of one nominator, “conquered pretty much all of the financial systems on campus” and learned everything he could about the human resources process here. His role as associate director requires a fine balance between research and admin-istration, and co-workers say he has taken on both roles with a calm guiding hand. “Todd knows how to work with people,” one commented. “He has a knack for pulling together diverse people with different perspectives. The work that he does is integrative and he always strives for consensus.” Detail-oriented, insightful, unafraid to tackle tough problems, awards from page 5 See Awards page 12 Winter Blod Drive Mark your calendars for the 10th annual Win-ter Blood Drive, 7:30 a.m.–1 p.m. in Fetzer Gym (be sure to note the new location for 2008). See www.unc.edu/blood. Benefits enrollment deadline The deadline to enroll for benefits this fall is Nov. 3. This is your opportunity to enroll or change existing benefit elections in the NCFlex and University benefit programs. Your new elec-tions will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2009. The following are some reminders for this year’s enrollment: n You do not need to enroll if you want to keep your 2008 benefits and coverage levels the same for 2009 and do not want to enroll in a flexible spending account; n You do need to enroll if you want to partici-pate in the flexible spending accounts or if you want to elect coverage, cancel coverage or make changes to your benefit and/or cov-erage levels; n For NCFlex benefits, you must enroll online at www.ncflexonline.org or by calling 888- 860-6118. The online enrollment tool is avail-able from any computer with Internet access; and n To enroll or make changes in your Uni-versity benefits (MetLife group life insur-ance, Assurant Dental or Reliance Standard accidental death and dismemberment), go to hr.unc.edu/Data/benefits/enroll. Select the link to the appropriate form, print and complete the form and submit it to Benefit Program Administration by 5 p.m. on Nov. 9. Forms can be brought to the Admin-istrative Office Building on 104 Airport Drive. For your convenience in dropping off forms after business hours, a green drop box marked “Benefit Programs” is located at the front doors of the building. mascot love Sheila Meadows gets a hug from Rameses at the annual Employee Appreciation Fair Oct. 16. Carolina employees gathered in the Pit on the sunny fall day to take part in the annual event, which included live music, food, games and other entertainment. human resources briefs hard working, understanding – and always cheerful: One nominator after another described Owen’s administrative style in those terms. “Todd’s low-key style to staff supervision is extremely effective. He demands a lot from those he supervises but he communicates that in a way that motivates, rather than intimi-dates,” a nominator said. And he gets results. Total research fund-ing for the center under Owen’s management increased from around $5 million several years ago to more than $10 million currently. Phillips For more than two decades, Phillips has directed the business operations for a host of University functions including mail services, waste reduction and recycling, cost accounting and billing, financial reporting and budgets, materials and logistics and the motor pool. With his calm demeanor, patience and pro-fessionalism, he brings out the best in the people who work with him, adapting his management style to find just the right motivation for each person. Co-workers praise Phillips’ ability to juggle what can sometimes be disparate goals: strong customer service and employee morale. Known as a champion for all employees in Facilities Services, he works to ensure that decisions and policies are implemented fairly throughout the division. “Ed would be one of the first people I would think of as a good men-tor,” one nominator said. Another called him a “model steward of the University’s – and therefore the public’s – money.” Phillips is rooted in traditional values but readily embraces using new technology as a way to improve campus services. He spear-headed creation of the division’s IT depart-ment and developed it into an expanded, much-sought- after group of IT professionals. 12 University Gazette One of the first things Michael Goy tried to do after joining the Carolina faculty in 1988 was get a cooking slot at the shelter for homeless men on Rosemary Street. It might have been easier to land tickets to a Carolina-Duke men’s basketball game. “Chapel Hill and Carrboro are so full of Good Samari-tans, it took me four years to ever get a chance,” said Goy, who is a professor in the Department of Cell and Molecu-lar Physiology in the School of Medicine. Maybe that is why, once Goy got his cooking slot in 1992, he still has it 16 years later. And it is not just any cooking slot. On the third Sunday of every month, Goy leads the production of a seven-course meal, prepared by hand and made from scratch except for the cakes that Harris Teeter sometimes donates. Early Saturday morning Goy and several other people lead ���a reconnaissance mission” to the shelter pantry to see what food items are available so that the next day’s feast will be a thrifty one. “I take it as a personal challenge to cook what’s there in the pantry,” Goy said. That said, he and two other volun-teers hit the grocery store to fill the gaps – most often to buy needed spices and fresh vegetables. The three split the costs, which usually do not exceed $30. They start cooking at 4 p.m. Sunday to have dinner ready for 100 people by 6:15 p.m. Optimally there are six to eight cooks, but many Sundays there are more. “There is that line about ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ and there is some truth to that,” Goy said. “We have never turned out a bad meal because we had too many cooks, but there is more fun when there are an appropriate number there because everybody stays busy with something to do.” Over the years, they have learned that the familiar beats the exotic and they try to cook to what Goy called “the common palate.” He recalled the disastrous goat-cheese tortellini cooking in a white sauce that tasted good, but looked weird. “That was the least successful meal we’ve made,” he said. In fact, local farmers hauled it away in buckets to slop their pigs. Faith in people What has kept him going all these years, in part, is a strong sense of obligation. “I do have a love for people and empathy for people, and I feel a lot of empathy for people who are down on their luck.” Goy said it is not religious faith that drives him, but a faith in people. “I just feel people deserve an equal foundation in life and I have faith if you give a person a strong foundation you will bring out the best in them," he said. "I am embarrassed to live in a society where people go without basic needs, which I see as food, shelter, health care and education.” Admittedly, he sometimes struggles with what it means to really help somebody. The fact that today he sees many of the same faces in the food line at the shelter that he saw 16 years ago sometimes gives him pause. He has heard the arguments that giving too much help can foster helplessness and cause people to lose the drive to take care of themselves. Goy, however, believes that most people are homeless because of social forces beyond their control rather than laziness or personal failings. “The worry I have is the degree to which the help we offer takes away a person’s sense of self-respect,” he said. “Even so, I just feel more comfortable living in a society where there is a safety net.” He has always been uncomfortable giving money to panhandlers, suspecting that the money they say they need for food is often used for the very things – alcohol or drugs – that led to their homelessness and perpetuates it. When someone holds out the tin cup to him, Goy instead offers to take the person to the homeless shelter for a meal. Creating a bond Another part of what keeps him going is the emotional reward and sense of purpose the workers share. Over the years, some 40 people have taken their turn with Goy on the serving line, which has led to a camaraderie. “This has been a remarkable group of people,” Goy said. “So many of them stick with it for so long because of what they get back from the experience. This is not just altruis-tic stuff. It is genuine fun and it always has been, no matter what the configuration of people. "We laugh, we joke, we troubleshoot to solve cooking problems and we become friends. We do not know each other outside the group, but during those two-and-a-half hours we are together each month, there is a bond and a friendship between us.” The people they serve are harder to get to know. They move through the line, and then head to a nearby table to eat while the volunteers continue serving. Afterward, they leave while the volunteers stay behind to clean up. “There are really two polar opposites among the people who eat there,” Goy said. “Some people take the trouble to say thank you for feeding us a great meal. Other people will say, ‘I don’t like that and I don’t want to eat it.’" While such comments test his sense of humility, Goy said, he has learned to hold back. “The people who walk in there to eat are about as far down in the power structure of this country as you can get,” he said. “If they don’t have the right to say they don’t like what they are eating, they would have no power at all. That’s why I let such comments slide. They should have power over something as personal as what they put in their mouths.” While he forgets about the complaints, he makes it a point to savor the compliments. “Somebody once told me that my cornbread was better than their mama’s,” Goy said. “I loved that. I consider that to be the highest praise I’ve gotten.” For Goy, the joy of cooking is more about the people served than the food Michael Goy surveys the pantry shelves at the homeless shelter for men in downtown Chapel Hill. He heads a cooking team that for the past 16 years has prepared meals each month at the shelter. awards from page 5 |
OCLC number | 34812352 |