University gazette

              John Grisham, author of 23 books including numerous best-selling
legal thrillers, will deliver the 2010 commencement address on
May 9. Chancellor Holden Thorp will preside at the ceremony, set
for 9:30 a.m. in Kenan Stadium.
Grisham’s last book, “Ford County,” was published last November
and is his first collection of short stories. The Mississippi setting was
also where his first novel, “A Time to Kill,” took place.
Before he became a best-selling author, Grisham was a successful
lawyer in Mississippi and served in the state’s House of Representa-tives.
Since “A Time to Kill” was published in 1988, Grisham has writ-ten
one novel a year.
Currently, more than 235 million Grisham books are in print world-wide,
and they have been translated into 29 languages. Nine of his nov-els
have been made into movies. “The Innocent Man,” published in
Carol ina Facul April 28, 2010 ty and Staff News
Emergency
Drill is
successful
2
A duty and
a burden
to write
10
12 Physician
turned
historian
Vol. 35, No.8
gazette.unc.edu
The state’s economic woes are not yet a thing
of the past, but the budget picture for the upcom-ing
fiscal year seems to be looking better than it
did last year at this time.
In addressing the Employee Forum com-munity
meeting earlier this month, Chancellor
Holden Thorp said that the continuing weak
economy will likely result in “a difficult summer
in Raleigh” for legislators hammering out a new
budget, but their task will be easier than it was a
year ago.
The University has already begun making
plans for state budget cuts for the new fiscal year
that begins July 1 on top of the total 10 percent
reduction taken last year.
During the annual Budget Committee delib-erations,
administrators submitted proposals that
assumed new cuts of 5 percent as well as continued
declines in funding from endowment earnings.
Last week, Gov. Beverly Perdue presented her
$19 billion budget proposal that would hold
spending close to current levels and not raise taxes.
The governor’s plan, which is the first step in
the budget deliberation process, would cut 600
jobs, most of which are vacant, and trim agency
State budget shortfall could affect the academic core
Best-selling author Grisham to speak at Commencement
uni v e r s i t y
See Budget page 3
See Commencement page 6
The morning sun highlights the water mist as Facilities employee Chris Moore pressure washes the Old Well in preparation for Commencement.
2 Universi ty Gazet te
Carolina’s Outdoor Education Center (OEC)
and its 20 acres of wooded green space give
University groups and outdoor enthusiasts the
opportunity to learn by doing.
It provided an ideal location to do just that
during the University’s April 21 emergency drill,
isolated as it is off Country Club Road but still
only a 10-minute walk from campus.
The drill, held between about 8:45 a.m. and
1:30 p.m., included the assistance of outside con-sultants
from Graham-based EnviroSafe Con-sulting
and Investigations Inc. Actors portrayed
shooters, hostages and victims to simulate the
University’s response to a shooter on campus.
Kevin Dull, EnviroSafe president and chief
executive officer, said the University’s emer-gency
exercise was a success. He complimented
the many law enforcement agencies from
Orange County that were involved for the seam-less
way they handled the exercise.
“This was a very important safety drill for our
campus,” Chancellor Holden Thorp said at a
media briefing after the drill. “What’s important
here is that we are going to protect the campus,
whether we’re having a drill or a real emergency.”
Director of Public Safety Jeff McCracken said
the drill began when campus police received
a 911 call from a callbox about incidents at the
center. Officers arriving on the scene found
several people lying on the ground, apparently
wounded by gunshots. The campus was then
notified that a drill had begun, as they would be
notified to take shelter in a real emergency.
In the drill, officers engaged in a firefight
with a shooter, who was killed in the exchange.
Police then found a radiological substance on
the shooter and summoned campus environ-mental
health and safety officials to neutralize
the substance.
As the scenario unfolded, four victims were
involved, including one who was fatally injured
and others who were sent to UNC Hospitals for
treatment. A second shooter barricaded him-self
in a building and took hostages. Eventually,
after negotiations led by Chapel Hill Police, the
shooter released the hostages and surrendered.
Carolina’s Department of Public Safety led
the response, which also included the Depart-ment
of Environment, Health and Safety, Cha-pel
Hill Police and Fire departments, Orange
County Emergency Services and the Orange
County Sheriff’s Department.
The University posted a message about the
drill by about 8:50 a.m. to the Alert Carolina
Web site (alertcarolina.unc.edu) and sent a text
message to people who had registered their cell
phones for emergency notices. The text message
was delivered to 80 percent of the more than
41,000 registered cell phone numbers within
three minutes, with 95 percent of the text mes-sages
delivered within four minutes.
Not all of the emergency sirens sounded,
however. Those near the Administrative Office
Building and Hill Hall sounded as planned, but
those near Hinton-James and Winston residence
halls and on Mason Farm Road did not.
“One reason we conduct a drill like this is
to test all our emergency communications,”
McCracken said, “so this helped us pinpoint
potential problem areas.”
The sirens have already been examined by the
vendor, and another test will take place soon to
ensure that they are working properly.
Overall, the drill went well, McCracken
said. “The response to the shooter and hostage
situations by all the law enforcement officials
involved went according to established protocol,
and all the agencies worked together very well.”
Most drills include an element of surprise –
either by plan or by accident – and last week’s
exercise was no different.
A student journalist with recording equip-ment
was walking on the perimeter of the drill
site and was stopped by a Chapel Hill Police offi-cer
participating in the drill.
Will Gorham, a senior majoring in journalism
Editor
Patty Courtright (962-7124)
patty_courtright@unc.edu
managing Editor
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gary_moss@unc.edu
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susan_phillips@unc.edu
Photographer
Dan Sears (962-8592)
Design and Layout
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The University Gazette is a University
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uni v e r s i t y
on the web
‘We Are the World’
The remaking of the “We Are the World” song and
video focusing on Haiti’s needs caught the attention of
chancellors Holden Thorp and James Moeser. In his
blog, Thorp wrote that he thought he “was the expert
chancellor” when it comes to the song, but Moeser
found a true-blue reason to be impressed snipurl.com/vmby7 by it, too.
Bain studies UC-Berkeley
A Bain & Co. study of the University of California-
Berkeley found potential savings of $75 million that
could be realized with a series of efficiency measures
– similar to Bain’s findings at Carolina. The Berkeley
report is seen as a potential model for the UC system
berkeley.deu/oe after severe cuts there in state support.
Protecting coral with parks?
The nationally syndicated NPR show “Science
Friday” aired a segment recently about a study and
accompanying video by Carolina marine scientists John
Bruno and Elizabeth Selig that analyzed worldwide
coral surveys to see if setting up protected areas would
snipurl.com/vmd6e make a difference for the health of coral.
See EMERGENCY DRILL page 11
Emergency drill drew a coordinated
response from UNC, local agencies
Scenes from the Drill  The April 21 emergency drill conducted at the Outdoor Education Center gave University and local law enforcement
agencies an opportunity to practice their joint response to a crisis. In the drill, officers engaged in a gunfight with one shooter and negotiated the
release of hostages with another. Actors portrayed the shooters, hostages and victims. Bottom left, Lt. Col. George Hare and Chief Jeff McCracken
from Carolina’s Department of Public Safety directed the University’s actions as the situation unfolded.
April 28, 2010 3
State employees in North Carolina
face some dramatic changes in the State
Health Plan.
On April 16, during a spring commu-nity
meeting organized by the Employee
Forum and held in the FPG Student Union,
employees heard details about how these
changes could affect them and what action
they should take by the end of this month to
remain in their current plan.
Brian Usischon, senior director for benefits
with the Office of Human Resources, began
his presentation by saying, “Health care is not
where we would like it to be in terms of the
benefits you get for your money.”
Insurance costs impose financial hard-ships
for many families, he said, and from
an institutional perspective put Carolina at
a competitive disadvantage with many of its
peer institutions to attract and keep faculty
and staff.
Of the 12,200 active University employ-ees
currently enrolled in a health plan, about
eight out of 10 are enrolled in employee-only
coverage, primarily because depen-dent
and family coverage is so expensive,
Usischon said. Employee-only coverage is
free to employees for both the PPO Stan-dard
(80/20) plan as well as the PPO Basic
(70/30) plan.
And of the total number enrolled, all
but 500 are enrolled in the PPO Standard
(80/20) plan. This month, the 11,700
employees who wish to remain in the 80/20
plan must go online and actively select it.
Usischon said he was pleased that 6,700
employees had already enrolled in the
first two weeks of April, but that left 5,000
employees who must act by April 30 to
avoid remaining in the 70/30 plan.
Both the requirement to enroll online –
and to re-enroll to stay in the 80/20 plan if
already in it – are firsts, Usischon said.
In past years, employees already in
the 80/20 plan who wanted to stay there
were required to do nothing. This year, in
response to last fall’s legislative action, all
employees with health insurance have auto-matically
been enrolled in the PPO Basic
(70/30) plan.
To be eligible for the 80/20 plan for the
2010–11 plan year, which begins July 1,
employees and covered spouses and family
members must either be non-smokers or
smokers actively participating in a smoking
cessation program, Usischon said.
People in the 80/20 plan will be subject
to random testing after July 1. Employees or
their spouses who are contacted for testing
will be asked to provide a sample of saliva
in a cup, with results provided immediately,
Usischon said. People who test positive for
nicotine have the right to retake the test
immediately or request a second test by sup-plying
a blood sample, he said. Dependent
children are not required to be tested.
If a person tests positive, he or she will be
moved back to the 70/30 plan, and any out-of-
pocket expenses applied to the deductible
balance will be forfeited.
Premiums for dependent and family cov-erage
will increase by 8.9 percent for the
new plan year, the same percentage increase
that went into effect this year.
For information about the State Health
Plan, refer to hr.unc.edu.
For the 2011–12 plan year, employ-ees
who are obese – those with a body
mass index (BMI) above 40 – also will be
excluded from the 80/20 plan, Usischon
said. BMI is a measurement of body fat
based on height and weight.
In the 2012–13 plan year, the BMI stan-dard
will become more stringent, with a
BMI of 35 or lower required to remain
eligible for the 80/20 plan.
State Health Plan changes are focus of community meeting
budgets by 5 percent to 7 percent. The
impact for higher education would be about
6 percent when coupled with the permanent
2 percent reduction from last year.
In an April 20 statement, UNC President
Erskine Bowles said he was grateful the gov-ernor
had recommended full funding for the
UNC system’s projected enrollment growth
and need-based financial aid for next year.
In addition, Perdue supported the Board of
Governors’ proposal to hold tuition increases
to 5.2 percent on average, with the funds
to remain on the campuses for need-based
financial aid, improvements to retention and
graduation, and other critical campus needs.
“On the other hand, we are deeply disap-pointed
in the magnitude of budget cuts
that the governor was forced by economic
circumstances to recommend for the univer-sity,
particularly since we have cut more than
our fair share throughout this budget crisis,”
Bowles said.
For 2009–10, the UNC system took per-manent
budget cuts totaling $162.5 million,
including the elimination of 935 positions,
Bowles said, and to protect universities’ aca-demic
core, nine of every 10 positions elimi-nated
were administrative jobs.
“But let me be clear,” he said. “The univer-sity
cannot continue to bear such a dispro-portionate
share of the budget shortfalls and
maintain its academic quality.”
Seventy percent of money appropriated
to the UNC system goes directly to the aca-demic
core, Bowles said.
At last week’s Faculty Council meet-ing,
Thorp said he fully supported Bowles’
response.
“He felt, as we do, that the governor’s
proposed cut would have implications on
the classroom experience for our students,”
Thorp said.
He outlined several things directly affect-ing
academics that could be in jeopardy,
including class size, University library
resources and the number of teaching assis-tants
available for classrooms.
“These are things our society needs right
now to produce the young people we need
to get the economy going again,” Thorp said.
“President Bowles and I are hopeful we can
encourage the Senate to have a more favor-able
budget.”
Now that the governor’s budget has been
released, the Senate and House each will
develop their budgets, and a final conference
report will work out a final budget proposal
for the governor to sign.
“Even though we’re slightly nervous about
the governor’s budget, we have absolute faith
in Erskine Bowles and the position he can put
us in representing our needs to the legisla-ture,”
Thorp said.
For current information, refer to universit-yrelations.
unc.edu/budget.
Budget from page 1
Jackie Overton, vice chair of the Employ-ee
Forum, introduces speakers at the
April 16 community meeting sponsored
by the forum and the Office of Human
Resources. Discussion focused on chang-es
in health care and the state budget.
If someone wielding a gun walks into your building, would you try
to: a) get out of the building right away; b) find a safe place to hide;
or c) confront the person?
The correct answer actually depends on the circumstances. And
key to quickly evaluating the situation and determining the best
response is a survival mindset – one in which you take responsibility
for your personal safety.
That was the message Officers Robert Moore and James Ellis
from the Department of Public Safety gave last week during a train-ing
session for a dozen people from the N.C. Institute for Public
Health, part of the Gillings School of Global Public Health.
The training, Shots Fired on Campus, is part of Carolina’s ongo-ing
campus safety efforts. It is based on a DVD called “Shots Fired:
When Lightning Strikes” that was produced by the Center for Per-sonal
Protection and Safety. The training is available for any campus
group that requests it.
Since April 2009, Public Safety has conducted about 20 sessions
for faculty, staff and students. The goal is to train 50 groups by the
end of this year, said Lt. Angela Carmon, Carolina’s crime preven-tion
officer.
“It is so important for people on our campus to think about safety
issues long before an incident occurs,” Carmon said. “That way,
everyone will know what to do in an emergency and avoid the panic
and confusion that often occurs when people are unprepared.”
Public Safety is not trying to turn the campus community into
Ninja warriors, Moore said. “We just want people to pay attention to
things that are out of the ordinary and have an idea about how they
would quickly get out of harm’s way in order to survive.”
That can be as basic as being observant when you walk into a
room or across campus.
“Typically, incidents are over in a very short time,” Moore said,
“so reaction time is very important.”
For instance, most people do not know how a gunshot actually
sounds, he said. “It isn’t like in the movies; it’s more of a popping
sound. And if you aren’t sure, it’s better to assume that what you
hear is a gunshot and act quickly,” Moore said.
What you should do
The first step is to assess what is happening and get out of the
room or area right away if you can, he said. If you are walking out-side,
keep walking and find protection.
Once out of harm’s way, call 911 to let the police know what is
going on.
If you are unable to get out, you should hide out – but not in a
place in which you could be trapped, Moore said. Lock the door, be
quiet and mute your cell phone.
See safety training page 11
’Shots Fired’ focuses on personal safety
4 Universi ty Gazet te
Giving urban youth a voice online, helping low-wage
employees achieve home ownership and promoting locally
grown foods are some of the public service efforts led by Uni-versity
faculty, staff, students and organizations this year.
The Carolina Center for Public Service recognized those and
other initiatives at its annual service awards ceremony April 16
when seven individuals and student organizations were hon-ored.
The center also announced that it has received an anony-mous
donation to endow this and future years’ Outward Bound
Scholarships through a scholarship fund named for a former
education dean.
The center’s highest honor, the eighth annual Ned Brooks
Award for Public Service, went to Eugene S. Sandler, profes-sor
emeritus in the School of Dentistry. Named for Brooks, a
faculty member and administrator at Carolina since 1972, this
award recognizes a faculty or staff member who has built a sus-tained
record of community service through individual efforts
and promoted the involvement and guidance of others.
Sandler joined the faculty in September 1979 as the den-tal
director of a new ambulatory care dental program funded
by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which continues
to serve as a national model of collaborative involvement in
community health services. He later served as director of the
Extramural Programs (renamed Dentistry in Service to Com-munities
or DISC) program and, once again, fashioned that
program into a national model. His support helped launch the
ENNEAD Society of Dental Volunteers, a student initiative
encouraging community service such as free dental clinics in
underserved areas.
The center also presented Office of the Provost Public
Service Awards honoring campus units for service to North
Carolina. Awards went to the School of Journalism and Mass
Communication Carolina Community Media Project and the
School of Law Pro Bono Program.
The Carolina Community Media Project was recognized for
the implementation of the Northeast Central Durham Com-munity
VOICE, a collaborative community-building project of
the journalism programs at Carolina and N.C.
Central.
The Pro Bono Program received the award
for its Wills Project, a partnership of the
UNC Center for Civil Rights and Legal Aid
of North Carolina. Students, on their fall and
spring breaks, assist in preparing wills and
advanced directives for poor clients in the
state’s rural counties.
The Robert E. Bryan Public Service Award
– recognizing individual students and faculty
for exemplary public service – went to one
faculty member and three undergraduates.
Karen Erickson, Yoder Distinguished Pro-fessor
in Allied Health Sciences and director
of the Center for Literacy and Disability Stud-ies,
translated reading research into a practi-cal
classroom application that allowed school
personnel to diagnose students’ needs. Three
seniors also were honored:
n Megan Jones was instrumental in work-ing
with the University chapter of Habitat
for Humanity to develop the concept for
Build-a-Block, a student-initiated grass-roots
movement to build a block of 10
houses for University or UNC Health Care
employees in the 2010-11 school year.
n Jordan Treakle was a founding member of
Free Local Organic Foods. He helped to
direct the organization’s work with Carolina Dining Services
and to build new supplier partnerships that promote local
food purchasing and consumption.
n Maggie West led the Campus Y’s Project HOPE (Home-less
Outreach Poverty Eradication) from a small committee
to a group of more than 100 students who have taken inno-vative
approaches to address homelessness and poverty in
Chapel Hill.
During the awards ceremony, the center surprised Thomas
James, former dean of the School of Education, by announcing
the creation of the Thomas James Scholarship Fund for Out-ward
Bound, funded by an anonymous donor.
For 10 years, the center has sponsored scholarships for Caro-lina
students to attend N.C. Outward Bound courses. James,
currently provost and dean of Teachers College of Columbia
University, was a longtime member of the N.C. Outward
Bound Board.
Center for Public Service honors service, establishes endowment
Eugene Sandler, left, winner of the Ned Brooks Award for Public Service,
poses with Ned Brooks, for whom the award is named.
Issues of academic quality and academic freedom took center
stage at the April 23 Faculty Council meeting.
Now that the legislative process has begun to determine next
year’s budget, Chancellor Holden Thorp talked about the impact
of significant cuts on academics (see related story on page 1).
He also discussed the new Academic Plan, the statement of Caro-lina’s
objectives and priorities that serves as a roadmap for the future.
“We’re excited to hear from the campus community what you
want us to work on and what you want our to-do list to be,” Thorp
said, referring to the 18-member steering committee for the new
plan, led by Bill Andrews from the College of Arts and Sciences and
Sue Estroff from the School of Medicine.
“I’m ready to get my marching orders,” Thorp said.
Estroff described the goals of the new Academic Plan, which aims
to balance “informed aspiration with the tyranny of pragmatism.”
The steering committee identified six main themes: creating
transformative educational experiences; recruiting and retaining
top faculty; finding new opportunities for multidisciplinary collab-oration;
promoting inclusivity and diversity; enhancing scholarship
with real-world applications; and extending a global presence.
“This is not your usual plan,” she said. “It isn’t like a term
paper; it will become a working document we use as the basis for
negotiation and discussion. What’s going to make this plan work
and not just be another report is you.”
The subcommittees examining the themes have been asked to
produce up to five concrete, feasibility-tested ideas by fall, she said.
Also in the fall, the campus will be engaged in broad discussion.
In the meantime, people can send ideas to academicplan@unc.edu.
Thorp recently recorded a video about the Academic Plan, which is
posted at www.youtube.com/user/UNCChapelHill.
Council members also approved the “On Enhanced Grade
Reporting” resolution in which the Educational Policy Committee
(EPC) proposed a new system for contextual reporting of under-graduate
grades.
The proposed system is intended to make it easier to interpret
grades on individual transcripts by providing specific information
about each course section and to provide ongoing information about
departmental and campuswide grading practices.
“We see this as a sunshine measure to get more information out
there about grading practices,” said Andrew Perrin, committee chair.
The EPC recommended the resolution as a first step toward
grade reform. In tracking grading practices at Carolina since 2000,
Faculty Council
endorses contextual
grade reporting
See Faculty Council page 11
Michal Grinstein-Weiss, School
of Social Work assistant professor, is leading a
new initiative to implement child development
accounts (CDAs) in Israel. She traveled to
Israel in March for three days of meetings with
Israeli government officials and U.S. experts
on asset building. She and her team presented
a proposal for an Israeli national CDA policy,
which was subsequently announced to the
public by Israeli Minister Isaac Herzog and
praised by The Marker, an Israeli newspaper.
The Friday Center held its annual instructor
appreciation event on April 14 to honor instruc-tors
for their work in continuing education and
distance learning. The 2010 Friday Center
Excellence in Teaching Award was presented
to Kimball King, professor emeritus of
English and adjunct professor of dramatic art, in
recognition of his dedication and commitment
to the highest standards in his work with the
Friday Center’s programs and students.
Students honored faculty members, teach-ing
assistants and a staff member April 14 in
recognition of outstanding undergraduate
instruction as part of the 2010 Chancellor’s
Awards ceremony.
Recipients of Student Undergradu-ate
Teaching Awards were: Brandon
Essary, teaching assistant in Romance
languages and literatures; David James
Frost, teaching assistant in philosophy;
Larry Goldberg, lecturer in English
and comparative literature; Kelly Hogan,
lecturer in biology; and Andrew Pen-nock,
teaching assistant in political science.
Also honored were Jill Peterfeso, teach-ing
assistant in religious studies; Daniel
Peterson, teaching assistant in psychol-ogy;
Della Pollock, professor of com-munication
studies; and Keith Schaefer,
teaching assistant in Romance languages
and literatures.
The recipient of the Student Undergradu-ate
Staff Award was Robert Pleasants,
interpersonal violence prevention coordinator
with Campus Health Services.
Daniel L. Clarke-Pearson, distin-guished
professor and chair of obstetrics and
gynecology, was elected the 42nd president
of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists at
the organization’s 41st annual meeting, held in
March in San Francisco.
Barry Popkin, Carla Smith Cham-blee
Distinguished Professor of Nutrition,
addressed the U.N. Commission on Popula-tion
and Development April 14 on the topic,
“Global Economic and Health Change: Prob-lems
and Solutions.” Popkin will receive the
U.K. Nutrition Society’s highest award, the
Rank Prize, and will present the Rank Lecture
at the society’s meeting on June 29 in Edin-burgh,
Scotland. His topic will be “Contem-porary
Nutritional Transition: Determinants
of Diet and its Impact on Body Composition.”
April 28, 2010 5
Faculty/Staff news
honors
The Carolina Women’s Leadership Coun-cil
honored professors Michael McFee
and Clyde Hodge for being great mentors
to students and colleagues during an April 26 cer-emony
at the Campus Y.
McFee, professor of English and director of the
Creative Writing Program in the College of Arts
and Sciences, received the council’s award for men-toring
students.
Hodge, professor of psychiatry and pharma-cology
in the School of Medicine and direc-tor
of the Skipper Bowles Center for Alco-hol
Studies, received the award for mentoring
faculty colleagues.
The Carolina Women’s Leadership Council,
a volunteer committee formed during the recent
Carolina First Campaign, sponsors the awards.
The council continues to be engaged with the Uni-versity,
and council members have raised close to
$300,000 to endow the mentoring awards.
The awards, which each carry a stipend of $5,000, have been
awarded since 2006 to recognize outstanding faculty members
who make extra efforts to guide, mentor and lead students or
junior faculty members as they make career decisions, embark
on research challenges and enrich their lives through public ser-vice,
teaching and educational opportunities.
“Professors McFee and Hodge have contributed so much to
their students and colleagues through their mentoring,” said
Carol P. Tresolini, associate provost for academic initiatives.
“I’m grateful to the Women’s Leadership Council for giving the
University a way to honor them for their dedication and effort.”
McFee, a poet, earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees
from Carolina.
“Since he arrived as a transfer from N.C. State to earn his
B.A. here in 1976, Michael McFee has been at the heart of the
literary community at UNC-Chapel Hill in every conceivable
way,” one nominator wrote, citing McFee’s 19 years as a profes-sor
and 18 years as faculty adviser for the undergraduate literary
magazine Cellar Door.
“Professor McFee’s care for and skill in the art of poetry
are surpassed only by his personal care for his students and
his skill in guiding them in their maturation as writers and
human beings.”
One colleague noted that students line up to hear McFee’s
counsel and are appreciative of the time he spends answering
each one’s questions and providing feedback.
“I have seen the excitement in their demeanor to have their
creative efforts taken so seriously,” this nominator wrote.
“Michael’s focused attention has now created generations of
word lovers, both for writing and reading.”
Hodge is an expert in animal models of alcohol-ism
and alcohol neuropharmacology who came to
Carolina in 2001.
Over and over, Hodge’s nominators called him
the consummate mentor for those whom he offi-cially
mentors as well as those who seek him out.
“Whenever I ask for advice or counsel he
responds,” a nominator wrote. “He has never put
me off or delayed responding to e-mails. He has
never failed to stop his work if I knocked on his
door. Such a person is hard to find.”
Another nominator said Hodge served as a role
model, showing that it is possible for a scientist to
balance work and family life. “I remember being
nervous about telling people at work when I was
pregnant with my first child,” she wrote.
“I came into Clyde’s office, sat down and told
him the news. I will never forget what he said: ‘You just made
my day!’”
Another described Hodge’s mentoring in numbers. “He has
had 17 direct, multi-year engagements with in-lab mentoring
and/or dissertation committees, eight postdoctoral students,
and numerous junior (and not so junior!) faculty,” this nomina-tor
wrote, concluding that Hodge is a living, breathing embodi-ment
of the University’s mission to guide faculty members.
“With each year, and each honoree, we elevate mentoring
on the Carolina campus,” said Julia Sprunt Grumbles, for-mer
council chair who served on the committee that chose
the winners.
“This was our intent when we created the award, and we
couldn’t be more pleased to recognize how professors Hodge
and McFee share their wisdom and talents with colleagues
and students.”
Hodge, McFee cited for outstanding mentoring
Bruce Carney, executive vice chancellor and provost, center, is flanked by award
winners Clyde Hodge, left, and Michael McFee.
6 Universi ty Gazet te
2006, was his first work
of nonfiction.
Grisham has spoken
at two North Carolina
Literary Festivals held
on campus, in 1998 and
the most recent festival
last fall. His daughter,
Shea, graduated from
Carolina in 2008 with
a degree in elementary education and teaches
in Raleigh.
Four distinguished guests will receive hon-orary
degrees during the ceremonies.
Rizzo
Paul Rizzo, chair emeritus of Franklin Street
Partners, a private investment management
firm and trust company in Chapel Hill, will
receive a doctor of laws degree.
Coach Carl Snavely recruited Rizzo, a native
of Clinton, N.Y., to Cornell on a football schol-arship.
When Snavely moved to Carolina in
1945, Rizzo followed. After a tour of duty in the
Army, Rizzo lettered in football in four seasons
on the legendary Carolina team that included
Charlie Justice and Art Weiner, and he was
inducted into the Order of the Golden Fleece.
After graduating with a degree in account-ing,
Rizzo embarked on a business career that
culminated in the position of vice chair of the
board and chief financial officer of IBM.
After he was named dean of the Kenan-Flag-ler
Business School in 1987, Rizzo initiated
an era of phenomenal growth that included a
push for a new building and an executive edu-cation
program that more than quadrupled in
funding during his tenure.
At the end of his five-year term as dean,
Rizzo had raised the Kenan-Flagler Business
School to national stature. Kenan-Flagler’s
Paul J. Rizzo Conference Center at Meadow-mont
was named in his honor.
He has received the prestigious 1994
William Richardson Davie Award and the
General Alumni Association’s Distinguished
Service Medal.
Roberts
Gene Roberts, known as a hard-nosed
journalist who in an era of great editors took
second place to none, will receive a doctor of
laws degree.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in jour-nalism
from Carolina in 1954, Roberts began
his lifelong love of journalism by helping with
the Goldsboro Herald, a weekly newspaper
published by his father.
He wrote for the Goldsboro News-Argus,
the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, The News &
Observer and the Detroit Free Press before he
joined the staff of The New York Times. There,
he became one of the first people to report in
depth about the effect of the civil rights revolu-tion
on the lives of ordinary people.
Roberts became national editor of the
Times in 1969 and left in 1972 to become
executive editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
During his 18-year tenure, Roberts turned the
Inquirer into a top-10 newspaper that won 17
Pulitzer Prizes, including two gold medals for
public service.
He then joined the faculty at the University
of Maryland’s College of Journalism, teaching
courses on writing complex stories, the press
and the civil rights movement, and newsroom
management. In 1994, Roberts returned to
The New York Times and retired in 1997 to
teach again at Maryland.
In 1990, the staff of the Philadelphia
Inquirer and Knight-Rider endowed the
Eugene L. Roberts Prize in Carolina’s School
of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Robinson
Fred Robinson, the Douglas Tracy Smith
Professor of English Emeritus at Yale Univer-sity
and the foremost North American scholar
of the earliest recorded period of English lan-guage
and literature, will receive a doctor of
humane letters degree.
Robinson earned his Ph.D. in English and
comparative linguistics from Carolina in 1961.
Within two decades of completing his doctor-ate,
Robinson had held faculty appointments
at Stanford, Cornell and Yale, and had been
elected a fellow of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences as well as a fellow of the
Medieval Academy of America.
Over the course of his career, Robinson has
been a philologist in its original sense – a lover
of words. His reputation is based not only on
his vast production of scholarly books and
articles, but also on the quality and originality
of his research.
His scholarship ranges from editions of
Old English works, a major literary reap-praisal
of “Beowulf,” philological notes and
an introductory grammar for students of
Old English.
Two of Robinson’s former graduate
students edited a book of essays in Rob-inson’s
honor in 1998. Its title, “Words
and Work,” aptly echoes a passage in
“Beowulf” explaining that one must
judge others both by their words and
their works.
In the preface, Robinson’s former stu-dents
said: “His achievements as a scholar
emanate from his love of words as the reso-nant
constituents of language and his love
of works as the larger forms into which
words cohere.”
Timmons-Goodson
Patricia Timmons-Goodson, an associ-ate
justice of the North Carolina Supreme
Court, will receive a doctor of laws degree.
A native of Florence, S.C., Timmons-
Goodson received her bachelor’s and law
degrees from Carolina in 1976 and 1979,
respectively. She began her legal career as a
prosecutor in the office of the Cumberland
County District Attorney.
In 1984, at age 29, she was appointed Dis-trict
Court judge, a position she held for 13
years until she was elevated to the North Caro-lina
Court of Appeals in 1997.
Timmons-Goodson retired from the Court
of Appeals in 2005, believing she had com-pleted
her service to North Carolina, but
within only a few months Gov. Mike Easley
asked her to accept an appointment to the
North Carolina Supreme Court.
She was the first African-American woman
to serve as a judge in her native Cumberland
County, the first to be elected to any state
appellate court and the first to serve on North
Carolina’s highest court.
At Timmons-Goodson’s induction cer-emony,
Chief Justice Sarah Parker said it was
the first time that the court had two women
among its seven justices.
As a Carolina undergraduate, Timmons-
Goodson was inducted into the Order of
the Valkyries and the Order of the Old
Well in recognition of her outstanding leader-ship
abilities.
On University Day 2008, she administered
the oath of office to Thorp when he became
Carolina’s 10th chancellor. Timmons-Good-son’s
many honors and awards include the
2007 William R. Davie Award and the Order
of the Long Leaf Pine.
Additional information
The doctoral hooding ceremony will be
held May 8 at 10 a.m. at the Dean E. Smith
Center.
The hooding ceremony speaker will be vet-eran
college professor and administrator Bar-bara
Gitenstein, the first woman president in
the 154-year history of The College of New
Jersey. Gitenstein received a bachelor’s degree
with honors in English from Duke University
and a doctorate in English and American lit-erature
from Carolina.
In case of inclement weather, the May 9 Com-mencement
ceremony will be moved to the
Smith Center. If that happens, attendance will
be limited and tickets will be required for entry.
Each graduate will be allocated five tickets –
one for himself or herself and four for guests.
Tickets can be downloaded from www.unc.
edu/commencement. Tickets are not needed
for the hooding ceremony. The Web site also
includes details about parking and other infor-mation
about the weekend’s events.
Commencement from page 1
Grisham
Rizzo Roberts
Robinson Timmons-
Goodson
In May, Rebeka Burns will graduate with the
rest of Carolina’s senior class, but the seeds she
planted will continue to grow.
“In my sophomore year, I was really frus-trated
with my art classes,” Burns said. “I felt like
I was doing things for all the wrong reasons.”
She began reading about art that gave peo-ple
control and helped them through diffi-cult
situations. “Art has always been there for
me,” Burns said. “I thought I was so lucky to
have that.”
She wanted to give others that opportunity,
so two years ago, Burns founded Artheels, a
student volunteer outlet at UNC Hospitals that
uses the arts as a holistic approach to healing.
She had volunteered in the pediatric play-room
and with Door to Door, a previously
established art program at the hospital, but
Burns said she saw a need for an organization
that used the students’ talents in the hospital.
So she did something about it.
“The fact that this program is run purely by
the students is amazing,” said Jodie Skoff, stu-dent
volunteer coordinator at UNC Hospitals.
“Rebeka empowers volunteers to do what they
do best, bring joy to the patients. I’m really
proud of this program and of Rebeka.”
Susan Harbage Page, a lecturer in the art
department and Burns’ mentor, commends
her student’s initiative.
“It takes a lot of courage to do what she did
and talk to people in the hospital and on the
bus and everywhere,” Page said. “She’s really
committed to Artheels and healing and art.
Students use the arts to help patients find bright side of hospital stays
See Artheels page 11
April 28, 2010 7
Michael Dirr visited campus April 22 to lead a walking tour
and to discuss the effort to protect and preserve the rich
array of trees that symbolize Carolina. But Dirr – professor
emeritus of horticulture at the University of Georgia – was the emcee.
The trees – and the rich stories behind them – were the real stars.
As a throng of some 150 tree lovers followed Dirr (at left) across
campus, he often turned his microphone over to University Forest
Manager Tom Bythell, who knew so many of the stories. And what
Bythell didn’t know, Ken Moore, the retired assistant director of the
North Carolina Botanical Garden, did.
The first stop was one of the two large, healthy Tilia cordata that
shade the right face of Wilson Library, a rare find for the Southeast
since it prefers a cooler climate, Dirr said.
After passing the pen and white oaks that frame Polk Place, Dirr
stopped under the lone, majestic American Elm between Peabody
and Phillips halls. Carolina is lucky to have it, Dirr said, considering
a burrowing beetle spread a disease about 80 years ago that nearly
wiped elms off the American landscape.
The Catalpa speciosa in front of Kenan Labs on South Road is
lucky to be standing, too. Dirr asked the crowd to imagine what the
building would look like without the tree. To many, Bythell said, that
picture was unimaginable, which led to the protest, and eventually the
plan to save it, by people like campus architect Anna Wu.
There is perhaps no better example on campus to explain the
lengths the University will go to save a tree – 20 feet, to be exact.
During the last decade of campus construction, the tree was in the
way of new utility lines that had to be dug, Bythell said. There was
not enough room to navigate the lines around the tree roots, so the
workers bored 20 feet down to go under the tree roots.
The tour inevitably got to the historic Davie Poplar on McCorkle
Place, where Carolina’s founders stopped more than 200 years ago to
plant the seeds for the country’s first public university campus.
Several years before the 1993 Bicentennial Observance, Moore
came up with the idea of producing 100 saplings from the Davie Pop-lar
so a little Davie could be planted in a schoolyard in every county in
North Carolina.
At the time, Moore said, someone suggested going to a nursery to
buy a bunch of tulip poplars since no one would know the difference.
But Moore said he and others would know, so it had to be done
right. They called upon Bus Hubbard, who has climbed the Univer-sity’s
trees for the past 58 years, to climb into the branches of Davie
Junior (a graft from the Davie Poplar planted March 16, 1918, by the
Class of 1918) to shake out the seeds needed to grow the saplings.
It was a beautiful cloudless day in October 1992, Moore said. Hub-bard
scurried up Davie Junior while volunteers stood below with
white bed sheets to collect the seeds.
There was just one problem: wind.
“The tulip poplar seeds are like maples – they are winged and are
sort of like little helicopters,” Moore said.
As Hubbard started shaking the tree, all those little helicopters took
off in the breeze, and everyone down below ran after them to catch
the seeds with their sheets, he said.
People caught enough for the University nursery to propagate
more than 300 seedlings. A year before the bicentennial event, the
Walking tour
traces the historic
roots of UNC’s
‘noble grove’
The colors of the fresh locally grown fruits
and vegetables bring the Carrboro Farmer’s
Market to life every Saturday, transforming the
drab gray concrete into a bright mosaic. Peo-ple
arrive at the market every weekend to buy
produce, from mustard greens to aged cheeses.
Among the weekly visitors is Alice Ammer-man,
a professor in the Department of Nutri-tion
at the Gillings School of Global Public
Health, who believes in buying locally grown
food. Ammerman won a grant to research the
relationship among public health issues, food
sustainability and environmental degradation.
“I go to the Carrboro Farmer’s Market
almost every week, participate in a CSA (Com-munity
Supported Agriculture) and grow let-tuce,
spinach and peas in my front yard in the
spring,” Ammerman said.
Growing up in a family that revolved around
farming and gardening led her to appreciate
the value of homegrown food and sparked her
interest in nutrition. “I love food – includ-ing
growing and preparing it,
and the important social and
cultural role it plays in our life,”
she said.
As an undergraduate at Duke
University, Ammerman majored
in comparative area studies with
a focus on Africa, which she said
first alerted her to global issues
related to food, nutrition and
agriculture. After graduating
magna cum laude in 1976, she
then earned her master’s degree
in public health at Carolina in
1981 and, after working in the
field of nutrition, her doctorate in
public health nutrition in 1990.
When Joan and Dennis Gill-ings
pledged $50 million to
the school of public health three years ago, it
enabled Ammerman and her team to explore
how the changing agricultural landscape in
North Carolina affects the environment and
food systems.
Part of the gift established Gillings Innova-tion
Labs that seek to accelerate solutions to
public health problems. Selected from dozens
of proposals, Ammerman’s project, “Linking
Local, Sustainable Farming and Health,” was
one of 14 funded in 2008.
Ammerman described her team’s research
as blending the public health and agricultural
perspectives, bringing an entrepreneurial
perspective to public health and studying the
impact at multiple levels. One focus of the
work is the link between obesity rates and peo-ple’s
access to locally grown food.
Ammerman said her research and that of
others suggests that children exposed to more
local or homegrown food and family meal
times are more willing to try new foods and
may be less likely to become overweight.
But many low-income families find it hard
to afford locally grown produce because of its
price. Organic produce from local farmers is
often expensive, particularly in communities
where the demand is high, she said, sometimes
giving farmer’s markets a boutique feel.
One of her team’s goals is to integrate food
stamps into farmer’s markets to make nutri-tious
food more available to poorer families.
“We need to facilitate more use of electronic
benefit transfer systems (like credit cards for
food stamps) in farmer’s markets, food co-ops
etc., involve low-income groups in community
gardens and distribute ‘gleaned food’ left over
from mechanical harvesting more effectively,”
Ammerman said.
She also hopes to educate children about
sustainable food systems through a “Seeds to
Sales” program, which will teach third- to fifth-graders
to grow and market produce.
Ammerman said her focus on childhood
obesity came from a sense that food habits
form early. “It’s much harder to reverse than
prevent obesity, but it requires a family and
societal approach,” she said.
The shifting agricultural landscape in North
Carolina could actually benefit the production
of locally grown food. With the elimination of
tobacco price supports, many tobacco farmers
are making the switch to food production on
a smaller scale for local markets. However, the
transition is not easy.
Ammerman’s research team hopes to use
this momentum to set up local food systems
in a number of rural counties. This “farm to
fork” system of local production, distribution
and consumption aims to help people suscep-tible
to chronic disease and obesity have easier
access to healthy food.
Although Ammerman and her team are pas-sionate
about their work, they keep a realistic
perspective. “This is not a not a time to be self-righteous,”
Ammerman said. “We can all do
the best we can to move things forward one
step at a time. Collaboration and understand-ing
diverse perspectives is essential.”
Editor’s Note: This article was written
by Rebecca Seawell, a junior who is double
majoring in history and journalism and mass
communication.
Food for thought
Ammerman researches impact of
local ly grown food on publ ic heal th
daniel coston for the carolina alumni review See Trees page 9
8 Universi ty Gazet te
News in b r i e f
Library provides A Commencement
glimpse at UNC’s past
In preparation for Commencement weekend, the Wilson
Special Collections Library has made plans to welcome visi-tors
on campus May 8 by holding an open house from 9 a.m. to
5 p.m. A selection of photographs, yearbooks and other materi-als
from UNC’s past and items from Wilson Library’s historic
collections will be on display. Special archival exhibits in the
lobby will include:
n Photographs from the 1959-60 academic year, in honor of
the class’s 50th reunion;
n Yearbooks, Daily Tar Heels, Commencement programs and
records from the Dialectic and Philanthropic societies;
n Archival items related to Tar Heels of yesteryear, including
President Frank Porter Gra-ham,
author Walker Percy,
bandleader Kay Kyser and
students from the early 19th
century;
n Treasures from the Rare Book
Collection, including early
printing and significant literary
editions; and
n Rare musical recordings,
including Dolly Parton’s first
recording, “Puppy Love,”
made in 1960 when she was 13
years old.
In addition to the lobby dis-play,
visitors are invited to
view the following exhibitions:
n “Noble Trees, Traveled Paths:
The Carolina Landscape Since
1793” – North Carolina Col-lection
Gallery;
n “Popular Culture in Print” –
Melba Remig Saltarelli Exhibit
Room; and
n “Jimmie Rodgers: The Father of Country Music” – 4th floor
(to 1 p.m. only).
For information, call 962-0104.
Apply now for BRIDGES Program
The BRIDGES Academic Leadership Program for Women is
accepting applications through May 3 for its fall 2010 program,
which will be conducted on four weekends between Sept. 10
and Nov. 13.
BRIDGES is an intensive professional development pro-gram
for women in higher education who seek to strengthen
their academic leadership capabilities. It is designed to help
women work on their development as leaders, explore ways to
create new relationships with colleagues and learn what actions
they can take to create innovative changes at their institutions.
www.fridaycenter.unc.edu/bridges
Dameron reads at Ackland,
hosts workshop
Poet DéLana R. A. Dameron, winner of the 2008 South
Carolina Poetry Book Prize and author of “How God Ends
Us,��� will read from her work at the Ackland Art Museum on
April 29 in response to the current Ackland exhibition, “Jacob
Lawrence and the Legend of John Brown.” The event will be
held at 6 p.m. Then, on May 1, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Dam-eron
will take part in a poetry writing workshop investigating
methods of writing in response to art.
Both events are free, but reservations are required for the
writing workshop. Contact Kyle Fitch (kyle_fitch@unc.edu).
snipurl.com/vo13s
Sit on the porch, listen to music
The Carolina Inn’s Fridays on the Front Porch series will
begin April 30 with music by the bluegrass band Big Fat Gap.
The celebration will take place every Friday from 5 to 8 p.m.
through Oct. 15 and will feature live music on the inn’s shady
front porch and lawn. There is no cover charge to attend.
‘Attributes of a Good Scientific
Founder’ discussion on april 29
A Carolina Innovations Seminar will be held April 29 from
5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in 014 Sitterson Hall with a panel discussion
based on the topic, “What Are the Attributes of a Good Scien-tific
Founder?” Members of the panel will be Bennett Love,
Synereca Pharmaceuticals; Robert Lindberg, North Carolina
Biotechnology Center; and William Wofford, Hutchison Law
Group. snipurl.com/eea30
Applications open for family
scholarships for unc campuses
The deadline is May 15 to apply for fall scholarships through
the Family Scholarship Fund. To apply, refer to www.unc.edu/
familyfund.
The need-based scholarship fund was created by Carolina
employees to provide financial support to the children of full-time
employees to attend school at any of the UNC system
campuses as well as any of the state’s accredited community
and technical colleges.
For information on making a donation to the fund and
helping the children of Carolina employees go to college,
refer to www.unc.edu/familyfund/download.html. For more
information on the scholarships, see gazette.unc.edu/
archives/09apr01/fundraising.html.
Volunteers sought to lead Summer
Reading Program discussions
Faculty and staff are invited to apply by April 30 to be discus-sion
leaders for the Carolina Summer Reading Program; ses-sions
will be held Aug. 23 from 1 to 3 p.m.
This year’s book is “Picking Cotton,” the true story of an
unlikely friendship between a woman and the innocent man
she sent to prison, written by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and
Ronald Cotton.
To learn more about the program and to sign up online, refer
to www.unc.edu/srp.
Research + Design
The Joint Department of Bio-medical
Engineering, co-located
at Carolina and N.C. State,
is hosting its Fourth Annual
Research + Design Symposium
May 4 at the N.C. Biotechnol-ogy
Center. The event will
include poster and oral presenta-tions
from graduate and senior
design students. www.bme.ncsu.
edu/symposium/2010
Farmers market
opens at hospital
A small farmers market will
offer seasonal produce in the
lobby of the N.C. Children’s
Hospital on Wednesdays begin-ning
May 5, from 11 a.m. to
2 p.m. The market will offer
seasonal produce – including
strawberries – and locally produced bread, scones, jam and
honey. It will run from May through October.
May 1 NAMI walk supports mental
health services
The UNC Center for Excellence in Community Mental
Health, a program in the Department of Psychiatry, will take
part in this year’s National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
Walk in Raleigh on May 1. The 2.3-mile walk will begin with
a check-in on the campus of Dorothea Dix State Hospital at
9 a.m.; the walk begins at 10 a.m.
To participate in the walk or to support the cause with a
donation, refer to snipurl.com/vngiu.
NC TraCS plans workshop, webinars
n The NC TraCS Institute Research Recruitment Office will
host a workshop, “The Do’s and Don’ts of Research Subject
Recruitment and Retention,” on April 29 from 2 to 4 p.m. in
Room 219 of the Brinkhous-Bullit Building. To learn more,
see snipurl.com/vngtx.
n A series of commercialization webinars offered by NC
TraCS Institute’s NC BioStart will provide information
From left, Lauren Russell, Jessica
Fifield and Philip Emanuel pose
with a brightly flowered rain barrel,
one of several painted as a project
by their Communications Studies
312 class to promote water conser-vation
during April 22 Earth Week
events on Polk Place.
The class partnered with YIKES!
– You(th) Involved in Keeping the
Earth Sustainable – all semester
and were at the fair to share their
work and recruit other students to
get involved.
Refer to their Web site to learn
more about Recyclique, the YIKES!
“upcycling” project: yikeslink.
blogspot.com
Earth Week 2010
April 28, 2010 9
to overcome barriers to commercialization for aspiring
entrepreneurs. The next two will be “Patient Strategies” on
April 29, to be facilitated by Ken Sibley, and “Been There,
Done That: Lessons Learned by Faculty Entrepreneurs,” to
be led by Chancellor Holden Thorp on May 20.
For more information about the webinars and to register,
refer to snipurl.com/vnh4d.
‘The Concept of Race in Science’
The Institute of African-American Research will hold its 15th
anniversary event on May 7 from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Trillium
Dining Room of the Friday Center. Troy Duster, professor of
sociology at New York University and Chancellor’s Professor
at the University of California-Berkeley, will be the keynote
speaker. The title of his talk will be “Buried Alive: The Concept
of Race in Science.” For information about tickets ($30 per per-son
or $50 per couple), call 962-6810. snipurl.com/vnfdz
School of Medicine to establish
neurosurgery department
The School of Medicine will establish a new Department of
Neurosurgery, effective July 1. It will be chaired by Matthew G.
Ewend, distinguished professor of surgery who currently serves
as chief of the Division of Neurosurgery.
Neurosurgery has been a division of the Department of
Surgery since its creation in 1952. However, recent growth in
neurosurgery at UNC has lead to a wider role in the health-care
system, and administrators felt those responsibilities would be
best served by making neurosurgery a department.
The creation of the neurosurgery department is closely
timed to the opening of the UNC Neuroscience Intensive Care
Unit, slated to open in mid May, and the completion of the
UNC Imaging and Spine Center Building.
Conference on early childhood
inclusion begins May 17
Two of the nation’s well-known education and inclusion
scholars, Barbara Bowman and Ann Turnbull, will headline the
annual National Early Childhood Inclusion Institute, a con-ference
sponsored by the FPG Child Development Institute
May 17–19. The Inclusion Institute will bring together the
many sectors that serve young children – especially chil-dren
with disabilities – to learn and problem solve. Bow-man
and Turnbull will both provide keynote addresses and
share their experience and insights in a panel discussion.
snipurl.com/vngpd
Nominations open for aging
research awards
Nominations are due by May 14 for the Institute on Aging’s
Gordon H. DeFriese Career Development in Aging Research
Awards. One $5,000 award will be available for a junior faculty/
staff member and two $2,500 awards will available for doctoral
students. The awards are in the form of accounts established
in the recipients’ home departments to support their research
activities. For complete information, see www.aging.unc.edu/
funding/ghd.
Health insurance required for
students in 2010-11
Carolina, as well as the other UNC system schools, will
require students to have health insurance beginning this
fall. Eligible students will be required to show evidence of an
existing health insurance policy or they will be automatically
enrolled – and billed – for the UNC system student health
insurance plan.
To learn more about waiving the insurance or enrolling in
the UNC system plan, see snipurl.com/vnhml or e-mail ques-tions
to unc-ch@studentinsurance.com.
U.S. News
grad school rankings
The University appeared on more than 15 lists of schools,
programs and specialty areas ranked by U.S. News and World
Report magazine for its 2011 edition of “America’s Best Gradu-ate
Schools.”
Among the ratings, the School of Medicine repeated its sec-ond
overall ranking for primary care. U.S. News first ranked
graduate programs in 1987 and has done so annually since
1990. To see a summary of the new rankings, as well as spe-cialty
areas listed in the top 10, refer to uncnews.unc.edu/con-tent/
view/3543/1.
NEWS IN BRIEF Submissions
Next issue includes events from May 13 to May 26.
Deadline for submissions is 5 p.m., Mon., May 3.
E-mail gazette@unc.edu. Fax: 962-2279; clearly mark
for the Gazette. Campus Box# 6205. The Gazette
events page includes only items of general interest
geared toward a broad audience. For complete list-ings
of events, including athletics, see the Carolina
Events Calendars at www.unc.edu/events.
More than eight tons of
abandoned furniture and
almost four tons of dis-carded
shoes and clothing
were part of the bounty
salvaged last spring after
students moved out of residence halls. The mountain of
goods was diverted and sold before it could be dumped
at the Orange County landfill.
Tar Heel Treasure, the University-sponsored com-munity
yard sale, raised $10,000 in its first year. The
program plans to do it again on May 15, but even bigger
and better this year.
To accomplish this, Tar Heel Treasure has secured a
larger venue: the Smith Center.
This year there will be more collections bins on
hand: 16 room-sized PODS bins, donated by Carolina
Portable Storage, to be placed in campus residential
communities.
Tar Heel Treasure is still enlisting an army of 600
volunteers to work at collecting, setting up and/or
selling. To date, more than 375
volunteers have signed on to the
project. To volunteer for Tar Heel
Treasure, faculty, staff and students
can sign up for a shift at tarheel
treasure.unc.edu/volunteer.
Net proceeds from this year’s sale will benefit
Build a Block, the campus partnership with Habitat
for Humanity that aims to build 10 homes for UNC
and hospital employees in Phoenix Place, an afford-able
green-certified subdivision under construction in
Chapel Hill.
And of course, buyers are needed for what promises to
be the biggest yard sale of the year. The sale will be held
May 15 from 7:30 a.m. to noon at the Smith Center.
Among the things to look for are carpets, micro-waves,
bookshelves, lamps, clothes, shoes, house-wares,
TVs, electronics, printers, mirrors, books,
toys and games. Anything left over will be donated to
local charities.
For more information, see tarheeltreasure.unc.edu.
May 15 sustainable ‘trash to cash’ venture
benefits campus and seeks volunteers
Trees from page 7
number was culled to 150 of the straightest and tallest.
“And on the day of the celebration we had 100 uniformly sized
Davie Poplars that the chancellor was able to give to the students,”
Moore said.
Landscape architect Jill Coleman said she was struck not only
by the size of the group that joined the tour, but the range of age
and interest.
One alumna told Coleman she returned to campus to find the tree
she had studied under when she was a student more than 40 years
ago. That tree, the woman said, was one of her strongest and fondest
memories of the campus.
“These are the stories that reveal the love we have for our campus
trees,” Coleman said. “Beyond any practical benefit of the trees is
their beauty, their nobility, their majesty – and our memories of them
– that bind us to this beautiful campus. The large crowd the tree tour
attracted reminds us of the importance of their legacy.”
Dirr helped craft “The University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill’s Noble Grove,” an 81-page walking guide of campus trees that is
available at the Bull’s Head Bookshop.
After the tour, Dirr delivered the Gladys Hall Coates lecture, sched-uled
to coordinate with the North Carolina Collection Gallery exhibi-tion,
“Noble Trees, Traveled Paths,” on display in Wilson Library
through May 31.
Katie Bowler knew she liked to write at an
age when most children learn to read.
“I started writing dialogue in the first grade,”
Bowler said. She got strong encouragement
from her mother, then a high school English
teacher who said Bowler’s writing was better
than most of her students.
This love of words led to a fascination with
the poetry of Emily Dickinson.
Bowler remembers, at the age of 10, pedal-ing
her bicycle to the public library after school
in her hometown of Harahan, La., to check out
one of Dickinson’s books, only to be turned
away at the checkout desk.
It was an adult book that she was told she
could not check out using her juvenile card.
Undaunted, Bowler sat for hours on the library
steps waiting for her mother to check out the
book for her.
Bowler, who is now the assistant dean for
communications at the School of Law, eventu-ally
figured out that she was much too young
at 10 to grasp the meaning behind Dickin-son’s
words. Understanding her at 35 remains
a challenge that Bowler said she continues
to pursue.
But she had not been too young to be mes-merized
by Dickinson’s odd-shaped lines –
from the extensive use of dashes to the way she
capitalized words in places Bowler’s teachers
would never have allowed.
That enduring fascination with unconven-tional
form appears in Bowler’s own book of
poetry, “State Street” by Bull City Press, which
is about the surreal landscape of post-Katrina
New Orleans.
The book chronicles how Bowler and pho-tographer
Donn Young led an “NBC Nightly
News” crew into the city
as the floodwaters began
to recede to reclaim what
could be salvaged from
more than 35 years of
Young’s historic New
Orleans photography.
At Young’s studio,
they found that nearly all
of the 1.5 million images
had been under 10 feet of
water. Even so, the Spe-cial
Collections staff and
graduate students at Lou-isiana
State University’s
Hill Memorial Library
salvaged 40,000 images.
At the time, Bowler
was a working wife and
mother, employed as
senior manager for com-munications
at Tulane
University and living in
Harahan.
Harahan was a flat,
2.5-square-mile patch
of suburbia, seven feet
above sea level, hunkered down in a crook
of the Mississippi River along New Orleans’
western fringe.
After Katrina, Bowler said, everything about
New Orleans and her town that had made
them familiar vanished overnight.
Many of the people in that area – from the
clerk who bagged groceries to the neighbors
down the street – disappeared, never to be
seen or heard from again.
Her marriage soon shattered and left her
in a state of shock. She wrote more than 50
poems in the first year after Katrina, but it was
not until 15 months after the storm that she
wrote “State Street.”
The torrent of words poured out in the
middle of the night – 4 a.m. to be exact – as if
pulled from a dream.
“I became aware through the process that I
was focused on something and I didn’t want to
let go,” Bowler said. “I was so focused I didn’t
physically move except for my fingers banging
away on the keyboard.”
Dear Friends,
May you please never know
what a book looks like
dissolving in your hands.
She felt so excited she was shaking, afraid to
break the spell, hunched in bed.
My mother says, Do you need some water?
My mother says that. My mother actually says,
Do you need some water?
Do you need some water? Do you need
some water?
Her fingers continued to bang for six hours
straight. She might well have gone longer, she
said, “but I got hungry.”
Did you know you really can find miles
of houses
where all the front doors are wide open?
That’s the closest to nothing
that nothing gets
unless it’s gone.
In that morning, she had she found a way of
capturing the experience of Katrina, and at the
same time freeing herself from its grip.
But the work of an artist goes beyond the
need for catharsis, Bowler said. The task of an
artist is to communicate experience through
the written word – and allow a reader to
inhabit and grasp a world they have not seen.
“Writing the book was both a duty and a
burden,” Bowler said. “We look back to the
poetry and writing and drama of the past to
reveal what the human experience was like. Art
is what conveys experience generation
after generation.”
10 Universi ty Gazet te
Carolina wor k ing at
Poet captures surreal landscape of post-Katrina New Orleans
The workplace literacy initiative for 2010, sponsored by the
Office of Human Resources, will start next month. The pro-gram
is designed to address gaps in general literacy and com-puter
literacy among University employees and will feature a
general literacy class and a computer skills class.
Both types of classes will be held on campus during work
hours, with specialized training personnel provided by the
Orange County Literacy Council.
To accommodate workers on all shifts, classes will be held
at a variety of times. Each class will last for six weeks, meeting
for 90 minutes twice weekly. Classes are considered work time.
Information about classes will be available 7 – 9 a.m. and
5 – 6 p.m. at the Cheek-Clark Building on May 4 and at the
Bull’s Head Bookshop noon – 2 p.m. on May 5. Information
about literacy programs sponsored by the Campus Y and books
for sale at the Bull’s Head will be available on May 5 as well.
The general literacy class, “Reading and Writing for Oppor-tunity,”
focuses on fundamental literacy skills and is geared for
employees with a wide range of skill levels, from the pre-literate
level to the beginning high school level.
The classes are learner-centered, based on the goals set by
the students. Some of the reading topics include reading com-prehension,
fluency, making sense of unfamiliar words and
phonics. Some of the writing topics include sentence and para-graph
structure, capitalization and punctuation, and creative
business writing.
The computer skills classes are designed for employees
with little or no computer experience and cover topics such
as using the mouse, typing on the keyboard, navigating and
searching the Internet, checking University pay stubs and using
University e-mail.
Basic computer classes will be offered first, and intermediate
classes will follow later in the year.
The first six-week class series will begin on May 18 at the
Cheek-Clark Building:
n “Reading and Writing for Opportunity” – one class during
the third shift, 6:30 – 8 a.m., and one class during the second
shift, 5 – 6:30 p.m.
n “Basic Computer Skills” – one class during the first shift, 8:30
– 10 a.m., and one class during the third shift, 6:30 – 8 a.m.
For information, call 962-2550 or e-mail training_develop-ment@
unc.edu.
Human Resources workplace literacy initiative starts in May
the EPC found that grade inflation, grade
compression and grade inequality have
made it difficult to interpret the meaning
of grades at UNC.
“Our concern as a committee is that this
reform doesn’t go far enough, but given the
resources the University is able to commit
and the wide range of opinions on grading
policy, our thinking is that this is a good
beginning to a long-term conversation and
strategy about grading,” Perrin said.
A committee will be appointed this fall
to work with the offices of the Registrar
and Provost in carefully planning and
implementing the reporting system pro-cess,
he said. “We take the view that this is
about the next century, not the next year.”
In other updates, Thorp said former
Congressman Tom Tancredo would be
on campus Monday evening (after the
Gazette went to press) to speak. He was
invited by the recognized student group
Youth for Western Civilization, and the
University has worked closely with the
YWC on the event. Tancredo was here
last spring but was unable to finish his talk
because of disruptive protesters.
“We are hopeful that Mr. Tancredo will
be able to give his talk and people who dis-agree
with him will be able to make their
voices known,” Thorp said. “This is com-patible
with the approach our campus has
taken to free speech over the years.”
April 28, 2010 11
Make sure you spread out so everyone is not gathered in a small
space. That makes it too easy for a shooter to target a lot of people,
he said.
And if you are in the same room as a shooter, you might have to
confront the person, Moore said.
“That’s a last resort, but if it’s what you decide to do, you’ll have
to become more aggressive than ever,” he said. “Throw things at
the shooter, yell, whatever it takes. The key is to have total com-mitment
when you act. Tell yourself, ‘I will survive.’”
When law enforcement officials arrive on the scene, be compli-ant
and calmly provide details, he said. “Police are trained to look
at a person’s hands,” Moore said. “Raise your hands, spread your
fingers and drop to the floor. Don’t run toward the police officers.”
If you are in a hostage situation, he said, you should not
be aggressive. Instead, be patient and compliant and let the
police negotiate.
Why training is important
The training is designed to help people be prepared, not fearful,
Carmon said.
It is analogous to airline passengers being told about emergency
exits and oxygen masks before the plane takes off – not because
the pilot expects to crash, but because people can react more
quickly when they know beforehand what to do.
To request training from Public Safety, contact Carmon at
966-3230 or angela_carmon@unc.edu. For information about
the DVD, refer to www.shotsfireddvd.com.
safety training from page 3
and mass communication and managing editor
of the campus radio program “Carolina Connec-tion,”
was briefly detained while the officer called
in the incident, and he was released.
Gorham maintained that the University’s
instructions about media coverage of the drill had
not been clear. McCracken said the officers acted
appropriately and did what they would do during
a real emergency.
University and EnviroSafe officials will analyze
how participating units fulfilled their roles to help
Carolina officials learn from the drill and improve
emergency plans. EnviroSafe is under contract
with UNC General Administration to conduct
drills on all UNC system campuses.
Emergency Drill from page 2
Gazebo dedicated to unc employee, community activist
A gazebo at the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery was dedicated April 24 in memory of Rebecca Clark. When she died in 2009
at 93, Archie Ervin, associate provost for diversity and multicultural affairs, said, “She was truly a tour de force in Chapel Hill
politics. ... She’s probably the grand dame matriarch for African-American politics.” In addition to her more than 70 years of
community service that included urging black residents to vote, Clark worked tirelessly to improve the town’s cemeteries. At the
University, Clark worked as a maid at the Carolina Inn in 1937 and later worked in the laundry building. She left and returned to
the University in 1953 as a nurse’s aide and eventually became the first African-American licensed practical nurse to work in the
campus infirmary. In 1998, the former laundry building that now houses Housekeeping Services was renamed in honor of Clark
and Kennon Cheek, both of whom advocated for better conditions for their fellow employees.
Rebeka is a determined, hard worker who takes
risks and asks really great questions.”
The history of Artheels can be traced to a Sum-mer
Undergraduate Research Fellowship Burns
received a couple of years ago. During her intern-ship
with Shands Arts in Medicine, part of Shands
Health Care in Gainesville, Fla., Burns saw how
the transformative experience of creative art could
be integrated into an environment of healing. She
wanted to bring that concept back to Carolina.
“I had never volunteered in a hospital,” Burns
said. But it wasn’t long before she began work-ing
in the pediatric playroom at UNC Hospi-tals,
where she met Joy Javits, the director of
Door to Door. From there, the path to Artheels
seemed natural.
“We do visual activities, coloring, painting, col-lage,
book-making and creating dream catchers
and paper-plate fish,” Burns said, ticking off some
of the Artheels activities “It’s a humanist approach
to healing. It’s complementary.”
Because the Artheels’ philosophy is to give
patients control, the patients choose whether
they want to participate, Burns said. If anything,
the program gives them a chance to say no to
something.
Although only three volunteers came to the first
Artheels meeting two years ago, the group now
has 30 volunteers who are at the hospital five days
a week.
Katy Heubel, a sophomore psychology major
who had visited the Florida hospital with Burns,
will take over as director of Artheels next year.
“One of the things I love about Artheels is
how what you put into it is given back tenfold,”
Heubel said.
While the responsibility to become director is a
little daunting, she said, she also sees Artheels’
potential. “I’m excited to see where fresh ideas and
enthusiastic volunteers can take the program,”
she said.
Editor’s Note: This article was written by Rebecca
Allison Smith, a senior who is majoring in journalism
and mass communication.
faculty council from page 4
Artheels from page 6
The Shots Fired on Campus training teaches that if you hear
something that even remotely sounds like it could be gunfire,
assume it is and act accordingly. At that point, the emergency
siren instructions to stay where you are do not apply. You should
adopt a survival mindset and follow the “get out, hide out or
fight it out” steps outlined in the training. See the story above for
details about the training.
12 Universi ty Gazet te
Who is the most fascinating founding father forgotten
by history?
The undisputable answer, for George Sheldon at least, is
Hugh Williamson. Sheldon, professor of surgery and social
medicine in the School of Medicine, produced a remedy for
the historic slight with his recently published biography, “Hugh
Williamson: Physician, Patriot and Founding Father.”
How Sheldon found out about Williamson – and ended
up spending a decade to research and write the book – is a
story of unfolding serendipity that dates back to Sheldon’s
undergraduate years at the University of Kansas more than a
half-century ago.
It began at the end of his first year when he received the high-est
test score for a course in Western Civilization that all stu-dents
in the liberal arts had to pass before they could graduate.
The next fall, Kansas made the decision to make the course a
requirement, which created an immediate shortage of instruc-tors
available to teach it. That led administrators to hire Shel-don,
then a sophomore, as an “assistant instructor” to teach
eight classes. That same year he served as student body presi-dent
while taking a full load of pre-med courses.
His experience teaching history not only paid his way
through college, but it also led to an offer during his first year of
medical school to work with medical historian L.R.C. Agnew to
explore the life of Philip Syng Physick, considered “the father of
American surgery.”
The article the two men co-authored, which appeared in
June 1960 in “The Journal of Medical Education,” remains the
authoritative source of information on Physick cited in the Dic-tionary
of American Biography.
Physician turned historian
Sheldon’s work as a medical historian – and his path to Wil-liamson
– might well have ended that summer.
After graduating from the University of Kansas School
of Medicine, Sheldon’s career as a surgeon took off, first as a
fellow in internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic, then as a resi-dent
in surgery at the University of California-San Francisco
(UCSF), followed by a fellowship in surgical biology at Har-vard
Medical School.
He returned to UCSF to serve as professor of surgery and
chief of the trauma service before coming to Chapel Hill in
1984 to serve as chair of the Department of Surgery, a position
he held for the next 17 years.
Over the course of his illustrious career, Sheldon served
as president of all major surgical organizations. It was in this
capacity that he managed to keep his interest in medical his-tory
alive, Sheldon said. As he was called upon to deliver major
lectures at annual meetings, he used them as an opportunity to
research topics he wanted to know more about.
Sheldon’s earlier scholarly work on the life of Physick led to
a lifelong fascination with John Hunter, a leading biologist and
surgeon of the 18th century whose anatomical school in Lon-don
became a destination point, not only for Physick but for
many other aspiring doctors from the colonies.
Hunter kept a register of all the students who worked with
him, and for one of his lectures, Sheldon decided to travel to
Philadelphia to search the archives and trace the life of each stu-dent
upon his return to America.
As Sheldon gathered his material, Hugh Williamson was first
just another name on the list. Then
it became the one name he could not
check off, primarily because the rich
trail of information about Williamson
abruptly ended at the start of the Revo-lutionary
War – almost as if William-son
had fallen off a cliff.
Two weeks before Sheldon’s lecture,
in a random visit to Davis Library, he
stumbled upon a lithograph of William-son
that showed the man had ended up
in North Carolina during the war.
That discovery led to another mystery Sheldon felt com-pelled
to reveal: Why?
A patriot accused
Williamson helped plan, and even witnessed, the Boston Tea
Party. Immediately afterward, John Hancock – the wealthy
ship owner and statesman from Massachusetts – put William-son
on one of his fastest ships to report news of the event to
King George III and the Privy Court.
Williamson stayed in London to spy for Benjamin Franklin,
with whom he corresponded regularly. Over the course of their
long lives, Williamson’s relationship with Franklin endured its
ups and downs, Sheldon said.
In a 1764 pamphlet, “What Is Sauce for a Goose Is Also Sauce
for a Gander,” Williamson indirectly accused Franklin of abet-ting
passage of the Stamp Act. Franklin responded by calling Wil-liamson
“one of the most detestable skunks in human history.”
Four years later, though, Williamson was elected to mem-bership
in the American Philosophical Society, which Franklin
founded.
In 1769, the society appointed Williamson to separate com-missions
to study the transits of Venus and Mercury around the
sun. In 1770, Williamson presented a paper to the society that
linked warmer weather to land that had been populated and
cleared of trees.
In 1774, Williamson co-wrote with Franklin and Hunter a
paper on the electric eel that was presented to the Royal Soci-ety
of London, a learned society for science founded in 1660 by
King Charles II.
Just two years later, Franklin endorsed the false charge that
Williamson was a British spy. The charge, leveled in a letter by
Silas Deane, the first official envoy to France from the Conti-nental
Congress, was made as Williamson returned to the colo-nies
that October.
Off the Delaware coast, Williamson’s ship was captured by
the British. Williamson managed to escape by rowboat and
make his way to the Continental Congress where he applied
for, but was denied, a military commission because of the
charge that he was a spy. Under this cloud of suspicion, Wil-liamson
left for Charleston, S.C., to join his brother in the busi-ness
of shipbuilding and commercial trading.
Williamson planned to center his commercial operations
in Philadelphia, but a British blockade in the Chesapeake Bay
forced him to dock his ship in the port of Edenton off the North
Carolina coast.
For whatever reason, Sheldon said, Williamson stayed in the
Tar Heel state – and remained loyal to the cause of indepen-dence.
In a 1778 letter, Williamson chafed at the question of his
loyalty: “There was not in America a man who served it more
faithfully or disinterestedly.”
In service to country and state
That service to country found deep and multifaceted expres-sion
in Williamson’s adopted home of North Carolina from
1777 to 1793, Sheldon said.
In 1779, a year after affirming his loyalty to the colonies by
signing the Book of Allegiance in Edenton, Williamson was
appointed surgeon general of the North Carolina Revolution-ary
War militia. As an army surgeon, he recommended inocu-lation
against smallpox for civilians and military troops before
they entered active service.
In 1782, Williamson returned to Edenton and was elected to
the N.C. House of Commons. In 1787, the governor appointed
Williamson to serve as a delegate to the Constitutional Con-vention.
And on Sept. 17, 1787, he was one of the 39 delegates
(out of the 55 delegates in attendance) who signed the United
States Constitution in the city where a decade earlier he had
been accused of being a Tory spy.
Williamson was also a member of the Fayetteville Conven-tion
where North Carolina ratified the U.S. Constitution and
became a state. He later represented North Carolina in the first
session of the U.S. House of Representatives, then moved to
New York City after his term expired.
Throughout his life, Williamson held faculty positions at
what became the University of Pennsylvania, the University of
Delaware, Princeton University and Columbia University. On
Feb. 6, 1795, when the bylaws of the University of North Caro-lina
were adopted, he took on a new role by serving as the first
secretary of the Board of Trustees, a position he held until 1798.
Like many of his contemporaries, Williamson was many
things: physician, surgeon, scientist, rebel, statesman and
accused spy.
Thanks to Sheldon’s diligent labors, UNC President Emer-itus
William Friday wrote in the foreword to the book, those
works can no longer be so easily forgotten.
“Hugh Williamson was different; he had a fine education and
he used that great asset fully in the service of the revolution in
his time,” Friday wrote. “Williamson came by his role as patriot
out of service as a university professor; a scholar of medicine
and science; colleague of Jefferson, Washington, Madison and
Franklin; and a molder of government in North Carolina in the
late eighteenth century.
“George Sheldon’s scholarly work clearly established the
vital relationship Hugh Williamson had to the emergence of the
fledgling democracy in the New World. In North Carolina, he
stands with William R. Davie and others who gave this state its
very proud role of builder of a new nation of free people.”
A surgeon examines the life
of forgotten founding father