University gazette

              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
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Make changes at: dir.unc.edu/dir/home
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The University Gazette is a University
publication. Its mission is to build a sense
of campus community by communicating
information relevant and vital to faculty and
staff and to advance the University’s overall
goals and messages. The editor reserves
the right to decide what information will
be published in the Gazette and to edit
submissions for consistency with Gazette
style, tone and content.
uni v e r s i t y
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