carolina’s Faculty and staFF newspaper ■ gazette.unc.edu

march 12, 2008

At age 22, Eve Carson had already estab-lished an impressive resume.

She was a Morehead-Cain Scholar, student body president, member of the Uni-versity’s Board of Trustees and Chancellor Search Committee, North Carolina Fellow and co-president of the Honors Program Student Executive Board.

The things she did, though, were only a small part of who she was.

It was the way she embraced life and reveled in every aspect of being a Carolina

student that touched so many people. “Eve Carson personified the Carolina spirit.

She did it perhaps more profoundly than anyone I have ever known in my whole time here,” Chancellor James Moeser told the thousands of people who came together in Polk Place March 6 in remembrance of Eve.

A Phi Beta Kappa member, she was majoring in biology and political science, with an interest in medicine. Outside the classroom, Eve worked with elementary school children, pre-teens and middle

schoolers, sparking their love of science and belief in themselves.

She served not only the campus, but also local and global communities in many different capacities, devoting the past three summers to volunteer work in Ecuador, Egypt and Ghana. Eve had also studied abroad in Cuba.

Through her dedication to others, to the University’s commitment to access and

See Carson, page 7

‘Excellence with a heartEve Marie Carson, 1985-2008

‘

in memoriam A memorial service for Eve Carson will be held on March 18 at 4 p.m. in the Dean E. Smith Center. The doors to the Smith Center will open at 3 p.m.

universit y Gazet te2

Vol. 33, No. 5

the university gazette is published for the faculty and staff of the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Publication is twice a month except

in June, July, November and December when it is published once. Deadline

for all submissions — calendar and editorial — is 5 p.m. Monday nine days

before the publication date. March 26 is the next publication date.

EditorPatty Courtright (962-7124)patty_courtright@unc.edu

managing EditorGary C. Moss (962-7125)gary_moss@unc.edu

assistant EditorSusan Phillips (962-8594)susan_phillips@unc.edu

PhotograPhErDan Sears (962-8592)

dEsign and LayoutUNC Design Services Amanda ZettervallstudEnt assistantAlison AmorosoContributorNews ServicesEditoriaL offiCEs210 Pittsboro St., Chapel Hill, NC 27599

FAX 962-2279 / CB# 6205gazette@unc.edu

ChangE of addrEss Make changes online: dir.unc.edu/dir/home.If information is correct but you still are not receiving your Gazette, e-mail gazette@unc.edu.

rEad thE gazEttE onLinE at gazette.unc.eduDownload photos, browse back issues, search the archives and more.

Chancellor Search Committee to complete ‘phase one’

Call it the end of the beginning.When the Chancellor Search

Committee met on Feb. 28, chair Nelson Schwab said the committee had interviewed about 20 candidates and that “phase one” of the process was nearing completion.

The committee seeks to replace James Moeser who will step down as chancellor at the end of June. Moeser became chancellor of Carolina in summer 2000.

“We’re very pleased with that pool, and I think it bodes well for the rest of the process,” Schwab said.

Bill Funk, who heads the Dallas-based R. William Funk and Associates and is working with the search committee, commended committee members for their willingness to go out in groups of two or three to meet informally with candidates.

“This is the way all searches should be done,” Funk said.

Funk has also said that the pool of candidates seeking to be Carolina’s 10th chancellor is the best he has seen in five years, which he attributed to the quality of the University.

The Chancellor Search Committee met again on March 11 and 12, after the Gazette went to press.

It is chaired by Nelson Schwab, immediate past chair of the Board of Trustees.

Roger Perry, the current board chair, and Karol Mason, the trustees’ vice chair, both serve as vice chairs of the search committee, which includes students, faculty, staff and alumni.

The search committee, which held forums last fall to gather public input, will eventually recommend finalists to the full Board of Trustees. University trustees, in turn, will vote on recommending finalists to UNC President Erskine Bowles. Bowles will recommend one candidate to the UNC Board of Governors, which elects the new chancellor.

Other search committee members include trustees Russell “Rusty” Carter, John Ellison Jr. and Don Stallings; faculty members Kenneth Broun, Lisa Carey, Bruce Carney, James Johnson and Joseph Templeton, the faculty chair; and staff members Ernie Patterson, chair of the Employee Forum, and Anna Wu, director of Facilities Planning.

Ongoing drought effects lingerThere are many different ways to tell that

North Carolina is in the middle of one of the worst droughts on record. Strolling the Carolina campus, however, is not yet one of them.

Kirk Pelland, director of Grounds Services, said campus grounds have retained enough surface water to keep grass and vegetation relatively green.

“If it continues, the effects of the drought on grounds will be felt in the summer — and you will see it in the grass first,” Pelland said.

On March 1, when Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) imposed Stage Three restrictions on water use, Pelland feared that his crews could be forced to stop plantings altogether this spring. Recent rains, however, may have staved off that possibility, at least for a while.

Since March 4, rain has added 600 million gallons to OWASA’s reservoir supply, said Ed Holland, director of planning. Water levels in Cane Creek Reservoir have risen 52 and one-half inches. With a capacity of 3 billion gallons,

Cane Creek is the largest supply source for the system. University Lake, which is now overflow-ing, is the second-largest source with a capacity of 450 million gallons. Rock Quarry, which is now full, has a capacity of 200 million gallons.

Water is currently being drawn only from University Lake, which has contributed to the dramatic rise in water levels at Cane Creek.

With the recent rains, the once-feared scenario of getting no significant rain through summer has been avoided, but the drought continues. Even with the recent rain, the res-ervoir levels remain below what they have been previously at this time of year, Holland said. And that is why the Stage Three restrictions remain necessary.

The new restrictions prohibit any irrigation except with hand-held hoses or watering cans, and then only three times a week with a weekly limit of half an inch.

The goal of Stage Three restrictions is to reduce overall water use by 20 percent.

Prohibitions include no OWASA water

to refill ornamental fountains or ponds; no washing of vehicles; no pressure cleaning of building exteriors and no OWASA water for flushing or testing new water lines unless recycled water is used.

Another way OWASA users will feel the drought is in their pocketbooks. Water rates will increase to $7.31 per 1000 gallons, compared to the winter rate of $3.08 that had been in effect since last October.

OWASA said the rate surcharge, when it goes into effect March 17, will create a “substantial incentive” for customers to conserve.

The University has already forged a partner-ship with OWASA to develop by February 2009 a reclaimed water system that would give the University the capability of using 600,000 gallons of recycled water a day for non-drinking uses.

During the drought, the University has also instituted a series of conservation measures enabling it to use less water now than in 2001, even with the addition of 2.5 million square feet of building space.

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WATEr WATCH

march 12, 2008 3

For a second time this year, the Employee Forum considered the implications of a not-yet-approved proposal developed by a human resources task force.

The 21-member task force, which was formed by UNC President Erskine Bowles, has explored possible changes that would allow the UNC system to stay within the state personnel system but with greater flexibility in the way employees are hired, classified and paid.

The task force issued its final report to Bowles on Jan. 15. The report called on inserting Article 16 into the State Personnel Act in order to grant the UNC system greater direct control over positions classified as SPA — that is, positions currently governed by the State Personnel Act.

Leading voices on the Employee Forum, however, are concerned about the loss of job security if University employment is removed from protections in the State Personnel Act.

In an effort to present both sides of the issue, forum Chair Ernie Patterson invited two women representing diverse perspectives to lead a panel discussion at the March 5 forum meeting.

Ann Lemmon, UNC General Adminis-tration associate vice president for human resources, spoke from the perspective of a task force member.

Ardis Watkins, director of the Legislative Affairs Department of the State Employee’s Association of North Carolina (SEANC), outlined concerns that could be boiled down to the dictum: Be careful what you ask for.

Lemmon said the task force began its work a little more than a year ago with Bowles’ charge of asking what people wanted to

see changed in the current personnel system. The task force was formed, Lemmon said, after Bowles and the UNC Board of Governors rejected the idea of seeking to separate the UNC system from the state system.

Instead, the task force sought ways to gain more flexibility to tailor special programs within the state personnel system, a flexibility similar to that which is already exercised by state and local governments.

That flexibility, Lemmon said, could trans-late into a greater ability to attract, reward and retain high-quality employees, and at the same time, improve the efficiency within personnel operations.

Watkins said this was not the first time nor would it be the last that a state entity sought greater flexibility based on a claim of being unique in some way.

On the last day of the last session, she said, the state Department of Transportation (DOT) included, in a license plate bill, a pro-posal that would have removed 5,000 DOT employees from what SEANC considers their state protections.

Watkins said the changes called for by the task force might offer greater flexibility and discretion as Lemmon suggested, but it would not offer a guarantee from the General Assembly about any additional funding to take advantage of that flexibility.

Lemmon countered by saying that there was no guarantee for additional funding for the current job classification system or the new career banding program that is about to be implemented within the UNC system.

But the lack of fund-ing was not a good argument for discount-ing a good idea.

For instance, Lemmon said, the UNC system, unlike other state agencies, retains control over lapsed salary funds that can be used for an array of needs including stipends for graduate students.

Lemmon said greater flexibility could possibly allow some of the lapsed salaries to fund a performance bonus plan that could offer extra pay for performance beyond the call of duty.

The money is now used for salary adjust-ments, but the task force proposes that the funds be made available for bonus pay as well.

But Watkins warned that the greater flexibility to respond to market conditions would be of little value if the General Assembly did not provide the money.

She also argued that programs that offer new employees greater pay or benefits end up being divisive because the response to the market penalizes the loyal employee who has worked for the University for years.

Watkins also put forth the “strength in numbers” argument that having one organi-zation lobbying state legislators for better pay and benefits for all state employees would be more effective than having separate lobbyists advocating for their own agencies.

Lemmon said she had only been in her position three years, but there was a file cabinet in her office filled with reports from other attempts by the UNC system to gain more freedom in dealing with personnel issues than the SPA allows. Those reports go back 15 years, she said.

concerns about leverageSome forum members expressed concern

that they would lose the leverage they have as individual voters to call legislators to express concerns about personnel issues and to threaten not to vote for them if necessary.

But Lemmon said that staff members have wielded greater power by having input in the development of the proposal from the start.

Of the 21 members on the task force, Lemmon said, five are representatives of the Staff Assembly, the organization Bowles created shortly after he took office that is comprised of staff representatives from all 16 campuses in the UNC system.

Lemmon said that Bowles had been “very upfront” and “transparent” about what he hoped to achieve.

In terms of legislative priorities, he had made it clear that faculty pay was his highest priority, and the legislature has responded, she said.

Lemmon added, “But everybody agrees state employees have been underpaid and underappreciated.” She also said employees within the University system faced unique circumstances that differentiated them from other state employees.

“If you think Chapel Hill is unique within the UNC system, then how can you not say that the UNC system is unique within state government?”

Watkins also suggested the dangers of seeking better pay and greater flexibility based on the argument that state employees working within the UNC system are not only differ-ent from other state employees but somehow

employee Forum

UNC launches Alert Carolina safety awareness campaignFor several months, the University has

been working on a new safety awareness campaign called Alert Carolina. Later this month, officials will launch the campaign with a test of the new sirens that warn of a life-threatening situation.

The campus community will be notified about the test ahead of time. It will mark the first time that students and many faculty and staff will have heard the sirens.

The test will include text messages. A key goal of Alert Carolina is to urge students, faculty and staff with cell phones that have text-message capability to sign up to receive emergency alerts.

“We will inform the campus as quickly as possible when an emergency happens or we learn of a threat,” said Jeff McCracken, police chief and director of public safety. “Alert Carolina will better prepare everyone to know what to do, who to contact for help and where to find information and resources.”

The sirens and text messaging are new capabilities the University has added recently to share information quickly.

The sirens are designed primarily to reach people on or near campus who are outside, not in buildings or cars. Text messaging is a way to reach people inside.

In addition, the University will use alertcarolina.unc.edu, a new Web site, as the go-to place for information before, during and after an emergency.

alert carolina materialsThe University is communi-

cating this information in mate-rials now appearing on campus and in the community as part of Alert Carolina.

Posters have started going up in key buildings and residence halls, along with placards in Chapel Hill Transit buses. (A downloadable version of the poster is on the Alert Carolina Web site.)

Beginning this week, every student, faculty member and staff member will receive by mail a full-color brochure and a reusable sticker to put on a computer, desk or other flat space. Parents of under-graduates will receive a tailored version of the brochure.

About 12,000 undergraduate parents on an

e-mail listserv maintained by the Carolina Parent Program have already received a message from Chancellor James Moeser

asking them to encourage students to

Forum weighs possible HR changes to UNC system

See Forum, page 11

See Alert Carolina, page 10

faculty and staff who would like to receive emergency text messages should provide their cell phone numbers in the campus directory by going to alertcarolina.unc.edu and clicking on “register Your Cell Phone.”

universit y Gazet te4

Beginning April 28, all University SPA positions (those subject to the State Personnel Act) will become part of the career banding classification and com-pensation system. The Gazette recently spoke with Vicki Bradley, senior director of Human

Resources programs, about career banding and how it differs from the current classification and compensation system.

Why is the University moving SPA positions to career banding?

It is the state’s new classification and com-pensation system. During the past few years state agencies and universities have begun converting to the new system in phases. While a moratorium had been placed on such activity, last year the General Assembly passed leg-islation that removed the moratorium on implementing career banding for the UNC system. So, the universities are continuing to convert to the new system.

There are advantages to the career banding system. It should help make us better able to recruit, retain and develop a qualified, motivated workforce.

What is the basic concept?Where the current system uses narrowly

defined classes with many levels, the career

banding system collapses many jobs performing similar functions into a wider pay band.

Because it is a competency-based system, we are able to identify what competencies — which are knowledge, skills and abilities — are required on the job. We can then select employees who have those competencies.

And since there are defined levels of required competencies for positions, employees are better able to determine how to develop their skills and knowledge in order to grow within their position or to advance to other positions.

We are also able to reward employees based on their demonstration of competencies required for the position. The system is really tied to market rates. So, for a particular position, we know what level of competency is required and we know the market rate that is paid, on average, for employees in that kind of position who demonstrate that level of competency.

That lets us do a better job of determining where employees’ salaries should be compared to the market rate. Instead of employees’ jobs being tied to narrow pay grades, where the emphasis is on getting to the maximum of the grade or being promoted to the next grade, the jobs are linked to wider bands. This provides more flexibility.

How is career banding different from the current system?

Under the old classification system, which has been in place for several decades, pay was primarily related to how many years of education and experience an employee had. There were very narrow classification ranges that constrained our ability to reward employees.

But the new classification and compensa-tion system is based on what competencies employees actually demonstrate on the job. So if a manager has someone who is learning a lot and picking up skills that they are able to perform on the job, the employee can be rewarded for it.

Will career banding change an employee’s job responsibilities or require employees to learn new skills?

The job responsibilities stay the same. If the requirements of the job change, perhaps because the technology has changed, for example, then the employee will have to develop new skills. This same thing happens today (in the old system).

Also, if an employee develops new skills that are required in the job, and if the business has a need for those skills, the employee could be compensated for the new skills.

Will employees’ salaries change when their jobs have been reclassified under career banding?

Employees’ salaries are not affected by the career banding implementation. It is really just a new classification and com-pensation system within which we will be working. There is no state money that comes with the implementation, so people will not be getting money or losing money because of the implementation.

Management will continue to use existing funding resources in the career banding world. It is just a different system.

Will employees still have performance reviews?

We will still have the performance manage-ment process. It is totally separate from career banding. Career banding looks at classification and compensation; it is not a performance management system.

With career banding, we will look at the performance review process the same way we do now. An employee’s level of skill affects job performance, but skills and performance are two totally different concepts. How well

you do in your job falls under performance management; the competencies associated with your job fall under career banding. There are other things besides competencies, such as attendance, effort and so on, which affect an employee’s job performance.

How is career banding more flexible than the old system?

In general, people have more control over their career development. They can engage with their managers and talk about what is necessary to develop certain skills. It is much more focused on the employee.

An employee knows what competencies need to be developed to move to a different level because that is all spelled out. Of course, this is always based on the business need, but the process certainly helps create a dialogue between managers and employees. And managers have more flexibility to compensate employees based on how they demonstrate competencies required of the position.

What is the University doing to help with the transition?

We are going to provide information sessions across campus. The new employment classification and compensation specialists are going to go to the schools or units they support and hold sessions for managers and facilitators in mid- to late March. Then they will provide information sessions for all employees in April. The effective date for implementation is April 28.

How are jobs transferred to the new system?

Cross-agency teams led by the Office of State Personnel (OSP) are developing all

Brown and Earp honored for commitment to mentoringProfessors Jane Brown and Jo Anne Earp

have been honored with the Faculty Mentoring Award, presented last month by the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council.

Brown, the James L. Knight Professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communica-tion, received the award for faculty-to-faculty mentoring. Earp, a professor of health behavior and health education at the School of Public Health, received the award for faculty-to- student mentoring.

The awards, which carry a stipend of $5,000 each, recognize outstanding faculty members who go the extra mile 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 service, teaching and educational opportunities.

“We are deeply grateful to the Women’s Leadership Council for honoring and rewarding our faculty for their attention to nurturing the careers of students and colleagues,” said Bernadette Gray-Little, executive vice chancellor and provost.

“The nominations provided eloquent testimony of the critically important role that mentoring has played in the lives of those who nominated faculty for these awards.

Congratulations to professors Brown and Earp for meriting this recognition, and to the many faculty who were nominated.”

The awards are funded by an endowment established by the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council, a volunteer committee formed during the Carolina First Campaign. Council members have raised more than $260,000 to endow the mentoring awards in an effort to bolster

faculty support.Brown, who teaches

courses in health com-munication and com-munication research and theory and is respon-sible for the journalism school’s undergraduate honors program, was cited by many nominators for her role as an official or unofficial mentor for

most of the female faculty in the school.“Jane is a successful scientist who has made

significant contributions to media studies and our knowledge of adolescent development,” said one nominator. “However, she also has the more rare quality of really caring about junior faculty, being inclusive in her interactions with

students and faculty, and providing sound advice and guidance.”

Another nominator recalled this story: “I have known Jane Brown since 1986 when I first came to the University as a new assistant professor ... there were no women in my department, and it would have been a more difficult role to be in had it not been for Jane. Jane was the first person to call me once I arrived; she introduced herself to me and invited me to lunch. ... That lunch was so critical to my feeling more comfortable and welcome, and since that first lunch in 1986, Jane has continued to mentor me.”

Earp is a medical sociologist whose research interests focus on the role of social and attitu-dinal factors in explaining variation in health behaviors. A past recipient of the John E. Lar-sh Jr. Award for Mentorship at the School of Public Health, Earp was cited for making mentoring a regular part of every interaction.

One nominator said Earp “makes no distinction in people’s rank or position. Instead, what she sees is the potential in people, and then she sees it as her job to help them see — and realize — that potential as well.”

Another nominator wrote that dozens of people find themselves “caught up in Jo Anne’s

orbit. ... I imagine that they almost always conclude an interchange with Jo Anne knowing that now they have a good road map to go

forward, that they are capable of facing the often daunting challenges before them and that they have the absolute best ally in their corner.”

This same nominator concluded, “One of the most refreshing attributes about Jo Anne’s mentoring style is that, for her, it is a way of life.”

Julia Sprunt Grumbles, co-chair of the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council, said the awards focus attention not only on Carolina’s excellent faculty but on the continuing need to support that excellence.

First awarded in 2006, the mentoring awards will be an ongoing recognition program, open to tenured and tenure-track faculty, as well as fixed-term faculty who have taught at UNC for at least three years. Nominations may be submitted by anyone from the UNC community, including current and former faculty, staff and students.

Career banding gives employees more control over career development

See Career banding, page 9

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march 12, 2008 5

News Briefsearly voting returns to morehead

The University will once again offer a site for early one-stop voting on its campus, just in time for this year’s presidential primaries and general election.

Construction for a new exhibit at Morehead Planetarium and Science Center made that voting site unavailable for the 2007 elections, and the downtown post office on Franklin Street served as an alternative. The new voting site is the Faculty Lounge on the second floor of the Morehead Building, at 250 E. Franklin St.

The schedule for early one-stop voting at Morehead for the primaries is:

■ April 17–18, April 21–25 and April 28– May 2 — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and

■ May 3 — 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. For the general election, early voting will be

available Oct. 16–17, Oct. 20–24, Oct. 27–31 and Nov. 1 (hours to be determined).

“We are delighted to be able to welcome back early voting to Morehead as a convenience to the broader Chapel Hill community as well as to our students, faculty and staff,” said Steve Allred, executive associate provost. “We have worked with the Orange County Board of Elections and with our students to offer a site that we hope will encourage widespread voter turn-out in what may be a very important election.”

Any voter registered in Orange County may vote early at an early one-stop site. In North Carolina, a resident who is qualified to vote but who misses the 25-day deadline for voter regis-tration may also register and vote on the same day at an approved site during the One-Stop Absentee Voting period, but not on an election day.

The other three early voting sites in Orange County are the Orange County Public Library in Hillsborough, the Carrboro Town Hall and the Robert and Pearl Seymour Center in Chapel Hill.

north indian classical musician to perform at the ackland

The Ackland Art Museum presents a concert with K. Sridhar, the internationally celebrated performer of North Indian classical music, on March 16 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Sridhar is a descendent of 14 generations of temple musicians from Tanjore in Southern India. At age 5, he began his studies under Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, an internationally known proponent of the traditional classical and devotional Dhrupad style of Hindustani music, and at 12 he became the youngest mem-ber of Ravi Shankar’s orchestral group. Sridhar performs on the sarod, one of the world’s most complex and difficult instruments to master.

Tickets are $20 and seating is limited. For tickets, call 966-5736.

‘paper trail’ leads to wilson library opening

The Southern Folklife Collection will mount the work of two local poster artists in an exhibit in the Manuscripts Department on the fourth floor of Wilson Library. “Paper Trail: The Poster Art of Casey Burns and Ron Liberti” opens March 17 with a reception at 5 p.m.

At 5:45 p.m., Burns and Liberti will discuss their work in the library’s Pleasants Family Assembly Room, along with Frank Heath, owner of Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro. Performances by

‘ turning private collections into publ ic resources’

Billy Sugarfix, Lud and Regina Hexaphone will follow.

For information, see www.lib.unc.edu/mss/sfc1.

custom regalia on sale march 17–19Student Stores will be conducting a custom

regalia sale March 17–19 on the third floor of the Daniels Building next to the textbook department. A representative from Oak Hall Cap and Gown will be on hand from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day to personally fit custom-made academic regalia.

Orders placed on these days will be given a 10 percent discount. Samples will be on display.

For information, contact Eve Bradshaw (ebradsha@email.unc.edu, 962-2427).

‘change comes Knocking’ premieres march 25

“Change Comes Knocking,” the story of the North Carolina Fund (NCF), will be shown for the first time in the state March 25 at 7 p.m. in the Carolina Union Auditorium.

The film tells the story of the North Carolina Fund, a biracial, antipoverty organi-zation that confronted issues of race, class and politics during the 1960s.

A panel discussion will follow the screening. Participants will include Billy Barnes, photog-rapher and NCF participant; Rebecca Cerese, filmmaker; Rubye Gattis, community activist and NCF participant; and Jim Leloudis, associate professor of history.

The screening is free and sponsored by the

Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, the Campus Y’s Hunger and Homelessness Outreach Project, Poverty Awareness Week and Video Dialog.

For information, refer to www.law.unc.edu/centers/poverty.

one session remains in mini-medical school

The Office of Continuing Medical Education in the School of Medicine offers the last session in its lecture series that presents the science behind good medicine.

On March 18, the subject will be “The Embattled Brain,” with talks about stroke prevention, dementia and stroke therapy clinical trials given by professors in the Department of Neurology.

It will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Friday Center. Cost of the session is $10. Register online at www.med.unc.edu/cme.

women in business conference to be held march 25–26

The Carolina Women in Business Club is hosting the third annual Women in Business Conference in collaboration with the Duke Association of Women in Business, March 25–26 at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.

The theme of the conference is “Game Changers of the 21st Century.” The keynote speakers are Ping Fu, president and chief executive officer of Geomagic and Inc. magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year, and Kellie McElhaney, executive director and

adjunct assistant professor at the Center for Responsible Business, Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley.

For information and to register for the conference, see mbaa.fuqua.duke.edu/awib/conference.html.

doctorow visits as Frey professorE.L. Doctorow, one of America’s great

masters of the novel, will give a free public lecture, “Notes on the History of Fiction,” at 6:30 p.m. March 27 in the auditorium of Hanes Art Center. The talk will be preceded by a book sale and signing at 5:30 p.m. in the center lobby.

Doctorow’s novel “The March” is set during Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s Civil War march through Georgia and the Carolinas in 1864-1865. The book won the National Book Critics’ Circle Award for fiction (Doctorow’s second) and the PEN/Faulkner Award (his second). It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and a nominee for the National Book Award.

“The March to the Sea and Beyond,” by UNC historian Joseph Glatthaar, gave Doctorow the idea for the novel. Glatthaar, acknowledged in the book, is the Stephenson Distinguished Professor in American Civil War Studies and chair of the curriculum in peace, war and defense.

Doctorow will be a Frey Foundation Distin-guished Visiting Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences. While at Carolina, he will speak to Glatthaar’s U.S. history class.

book sale set for march 27–29Friends of the Library will host a book

sale March 27–29 at the American Legion Building, 1714 Legion Rd., in Chapel Hill.

Sales benefit the University Library Endowment. Thousands of books will be available for purchase, with large offerings in art, biography, fiction, history and classical music CDs.

The book sale schedule is as follows:■ March 27 — preview sale for Friends of

the Library only, but visitors may join at the door. 5–8 p.m.;

■ March 28 — public sale. 9 a.m.–8 p.m.;■ March 29 — all books $3 per bag. 9 a.m.–

noon.For information, contact Liza Terll

(962-4207 or liza_terll@unc.edu). For a map, see www.lib.unc.edu/spotlight/2008/BookSale.html.

nominations open for 2008 it awards

Recognize outstanding Information Technology (IT) individuals or teams by nominating them for a 2008 IT Award.

This award honors any type of information technology support on campus, from individuals who provide PC support, write code or administer a network, to teams working together to provide specific technology services for a department or the University.

Submit nominations by March 28 using nomination forms online (itawards.unc.edu) or by campus mail (Kevin Morgan, 2008 IT Awards Nominations, CB# 7590).

Refer to the Web site for complete informa-tion. Winners will be announced at the April 22 awards banquet at the Carolina Club.

Henry Popple’s 1733 Map of the British Empire in America is displayed in google Earth. it demonstrates taking an old map and using new technology to make it useful once again. Many people collect objects such as baseball cards, dolls and coins, but unlike many private collectors, David rumsey transformed his private maps collection, which is one of the country’s largest (and that includes Popple’s 1733 map), into a public resource. The historical map collector and scholar will share the story of this transformation at 2 p.m. March 19 in a free public lecture in the auditorium of the fPg Student Union, “Turning Private Collections into Public resources Using Digital Technologies and the internet.” The event will be the second annual Online Computer Library Center and frederick g. Kilgore Lecture in information and Library Science, sponsored by the School of information and Library Science. Seating is limited; advance registration is requested by calling 962-8366. for information, refer to sils.unc.edu/news/releases/2008/02_rumsey.htm.

universit y Gazet te6

Library worker inspires co-workers to get fit, eat healthierSusan Linn could not help but see the irony. Every day as she went to work as stacks

manager at the University’s Health Sciences Library, she was surrounded by informa-tion about what it takes for people to lead healthy lives.

Eat less. Exercise more. And when stressed, turn to exercise rather than “comfort” food to relieve it.

The irony was that she wasn’t doing any of those things. Or more precisely, she wasn’t doing all of those things enough. And when she looked around, she could tell that many of her co-workers were not doing them, either.

The irony, at first, made her laugh. Then, two years ago, it spurred her to act.

Maybe, she thought, if workers at the library had a way to face their challenges together, they could offer each other the kind of emotional support they needed to first take — and then sustain — the steps necessary to achieve healthier living.

Linn shared the idea with co-workers who teamed together to develop a program that offered a comprehensive, holistic approach to better health.

The “Health at HSL” team, which included staff members, student employees and administrators, approached deputy director Wallace McLendon with the idea, and later, Fran Allegri, the head of the Users Services Department where Linn has worked the past eight years.

It was an easy sell, Linn said. They agreed with the team’s argument that healthier, happier workers would lead to a more produc-tive, creative workplace with less absenteeism, higher retention and as an added bonus, more smiles.

The program kicked off in March 2006 with a “You Can Do It” nutrition workshop led by a team of doctoral students from the

School of Public Health. The workshop presented information about nutritional Web sites, interactive tracking tools and proper portion sizes.

To Linn’s surprise and delight, 27 of her co-workers participated. Later the same month, 29 employees showed up when the graduate students returned for a taste-testing workshop that allowed employees to sample healthy recipes they could use.

More programs followed throughout the year, including a yoga workshop in April, a fall health fair and a Thanksgiving luncheon featuring healthy tips to use during the holidays.

In February 2007, 42 employees joined in “Love Your Heart Month” featuring informa-tion about healthy food and recipes for heart health and healthier living.

The most demanding event took place in March and April of last year, Linn said, when 59 of the library’s 90 staff members and student employees participated in the “Pedometer Challenge.”

A pedometer is a small device that measures the distance a person has walked by recording the number of steps taken. The library found money to buy pedometers for the entire staff. And to make it more interesting, the library engaged in a two-month interdepartmental competition to see which department had the highest average distance walked per employee.

Those two months marked a high point for the program, and for Linn, they represented a turning point in her own personal struggle to achieve better health.

During that time, Linn ended up losing 10 pounds from daily 45-minute walks, adding another 2,000 steps to the 8,000 she was already taking each day.

That spring, she dropped 27 more

pounds during UNC’s 12-week “Biggest Loser Challenge.”

true inspirationHer real inspiration, she will tell you, is

her husband, John, a diabetic who in 2003 suffered a massive stroke that left half of his body paralyzed and flipped both their lives upside down.

John’s stroke turned Linn into a fulltime caregiver.

She works 10-hour days from Monday through Thursday so that she can take John to his doctor and therapy appointments on Fridays. She gets to work between noon and 1 p.m., gets home a half hour before midnight

Conversation explores religion as an instrument in fiction writingAccording to Doris

Betts, it was once thought to be the kiss of death for a writer to be called a religious novelist.

On the one hand, Betts said, many secular people would be turned off in advance. On the other hand,

religious people would “turn to page one expecting a message novel — something so clear that it could be cross-stitched and hung up on the wall.”

Betts, a writer and Carolina creative writing professor emerita, along with Ruel Tyson, professor of religious studies, joined 2008 Morgan Writer-in-Residence Alice McDermott for “A Conversation on Fiction and Religion.” The hour-long discussion took place Feb. 27 in Wilson Library.

Betts began with the admonition that the two are not easily mixed in making literature that rises to the level of great art. Difficult, she said, but not impossible.

John Updike writes novels that contain elements of religion but are literary rather than evangelical, as does Gail Godwin, a writer raised in Asheville who earned a journalism degree from Carolina.

Betts said that McDermott also belonged in this select group.

“She writes literature and not catechism,” Betts said. “But among her characters, many of them really do conduct their lives within a framework of Catholic tradition and practice. Her characters and her complicated families do go to mass, but they are not thereby immunized against ordinary, day-to-day sufferings and losses and temptations any more than folks who don’t.”

Betts said that McDermott was one of the few writers who used “souls” to refer to people. “They don’t have souls,” Betts said. “They are souls.”

a richness of characters McDermott, like many of the characters

in her novels, is Irish Catholic. Born in Brooklyn, she attended St. Boniface School in Elmont, Long Island, N.Y., and Sacred

Heath Academy in Hempstead, N.Y., before earning her bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Oswego and her master’s degree from the University of New Hampshire. Her latest book, “After This,” was a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize.

Religion, she said, is an instrument in her writing, but her books are not intended to be a tool for religion. She seizes the line, “These things, these things were here and but the beholder wanting,” to explain the vital but limited role that religion plays in her novels.

The purpose is not to promote any particular faith, or even Christianity, but to fulfill that obligation “to be the beholder who is wanting.” (The line comes from “Hurrahing in Harvest,” a poem written by 19th century English poet Gerald Manley Hopkins that captures the near transcendent experience of walking through a hayfield in late summer and contemplating the sky.)

Put another way, McDermott said, the idea of religion operates not as the subject matter of her novels, but as a means to evoke what she called the sacramental principle,

or “the idea of the ordinary involving the holy.”

Betts called McDermott a fine fiction writer whose violent events often took place off stage as they did in Greek tragedy. “But her luminous prose continues to reveal what may be the secret some nuns whispered to her as a child and that is that every ordinary soul is infinitely precious,” Betts said.

Betts compared McDermott’s prose style to that of a painter who “layers the colors in so there is a density from inside out rather than from left to right.”

In his 1948 novel “Time Will Darken It,” William Maxwell, longtime fiction editor of The New Yorker magazine, wrote how the old masters, as they painted their landscapes, “used paler colors than they really desired knowing time would darken the color.

“I think that is what happens in much of Alice’s fiction,” Betts said. “Time does slowly darken the lives of some of the characters, not from some hokey, melodramatic way, but just by the cumulative progression of

Susan Linn developed a healthy living program along with her Health Sciences Library co-workers.

See Linn, page 11

See McDermott, page 10

mcdermott

march 12, 2008 7

affordability and its outreach to the state and beyond, Moeser said, Eve was an ambassador for the Carolina way.

He recounted a recent experience at the camp for first-year students in which he was asked to sum up in a phrase this University and what makes it so special. “I thought for a moment and I said, ‘excellence with a heart.’ Eve particularly resonated to that and I heard her use that expression many times afterward,” Moeser said.

While the tragedy and injustice of losing someone like Eve, especially to such a senseless act of violence, is difficult to comprehend, Moeser said, it is times like this that test a community.

“Let us be the University that Eve Carson envisioned. Let us show the Carolina way that she lived, that she talked about, but more importantly that she lived in her life,” he said. “And we do that by caring for each other. If we want to respect and remember Eve Carson, we will do it by embracing each other and demonstrating the true love that exists on this campus that embodies this great University.”

A campus memorial service will be held on March 18 at 4 p.m. in the Smith Center; doors will open at 3 p.m. A memorial fund has been established in Eve’s honor.

People who would like to send a message of condolence to Eve’s parents or find details about the memorial fund can do so from the link about Eve on the University’s home page, www.unc.edu.

Updated information and resources to help the campus community begin the healing process are also available from the same link.

Top, students gather for a March 6 candlelight vigil in the Pit in remembrance of Eve Carson. right, students com-fort one another following the afternoon gathering earlier that day on Polk Place. Bot-tom right, Chancellor James Moeser, flanked by student government representatives, talks about the need for the campus community to embrace one other and demonstrate the Carolina way that Eve lived and believed in. Bottom left, students place flowers on the impromptu memorial to Eve’s memory during the afternoon gathering. Eve was murdered about a mile from campus on March 5.

Carson from page 1

■

universit y Gazet te8

Faculty/Staff News & Notes‘ extraordinary commitment to the ideals embodied in the constitution of the united states’

John Sanders, right, former director of the institute of government, receives a North Carolina Bar Association award feb. 21 presented by Michael Crowell, professor of public law and government in the School of government. Crowell nominated Sanders for the 2008 John McNeill Smith Jr. Constitutional rights and responsi-bilities Section Award, established to honor ex-traordinary commitment to the ideals embodied in the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of North Carolina. Sanders served as director of the institute of government from 1962 to 1973 and from 1979 to 1992. Upon his retire-ment in 1995, William friday, president emeritus of the UNC system, said, “When you speak about John Sanders, you speak about the most ster-ling example of public service of anyone i know. Thomas Jefferson said every American owed something to his country, and John is the finest example of the Jeffersonian mandate.”

Bull’s Head’s Eisdorfer in top 10 of writing competitionErica Eisdorfer, manager of the Bull’s Head Bookshop, has been

tapped as a finalist from among nearly 5,000 qualified writers in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA), for her book “The Wet Nurse’s Tale.”

Excerpts of submissions by the finalists are posted at amazon.com/abna. Site visitors can vote for their favorite works through March 31 by reading, rating and reviewing them. Amazon describes the promotion as a “contest in search of the next popular novel.”

But what, eager readers and potential voters might ask, is Eisdorfer’s book about?

In her own words, Eisdorfer describes her work: “This novel, which is set in England

in 1847, is the story of Susan Rose, a street-smart wet nurse who

manipulates her employer’s foibles to get what she wants. What she wants most is her baby, who was adopted against her will by a wealthy, but unbalanced London lady.

“Susan, who has made herself a trusted servant, guides her mistress further into madness so that it becomes apparent to those in power, that the baby must go lest it fall into harm. Susan offers to take him, if they’ll pay, and they do and she does.

“This is no bodice-buster, no romance, no saccharine historical novel. The well-researched ‘The Wet Nurse’s Tale’ boasts a smart, witty, unreliable narrator and is illuminated by ‘between chapters’ in which characters as diverse as a high-class prostitute, a cheery matron and a dead girl tell their own short stories.”

The winner will be announced April 7 and will receive a publishing contract with Penguin Group, one of the contest sponsors, along with amazon.com and HP (Hewlett-Packard).

eisdorFer

Rosenberg, professor of philosophy, dies at 65

Jay F. Rosenberg, 65, retired professor of philosophy, died Feb. 21 at his home in

Chapel Hill. He joined the philosophy depart-ment in 1966, served as department chair from 1984 to 1989 and was appointed as the Taylor Grandy professor of philosophy in 1987. He retired in 2007.

During his career Rosenberg earned a number of fellowships,

including awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He was twice a research fellow of the Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung in Bielefeld, Germany.

He published more than 80 articles and 10 books and is best known for his widely used textbook “The Practice of Philosophy,” and “Thinking Clearly about Death.”

Rosenberg earned his bachelor’s degree from Reed College and his master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Pittsburgh.

He was an active member of Chapel Hill’s weekly International Folk Dance Club for 40 years. And he became well known as a champion on Jeopardy! and made repeat per-formances as a returning champion — most recently in 2005.

A memorial service will be held March 15 at 1 p.m. at Extraordinary Ventures, at 200 South Elliott Rd. Memorial contributions may be made to the Jay Rosenberg Cook-book Scholarship, Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., Portland, OR 97202.

rosenberG

Appointments made to endowed professorshipsjane smith

Administrative officer in University Advancement, Smith has been named presi-

dent-elect of the North American Association of Commencement Officers (NAACO).

She was selected at the group’s annual conference in Boston in February and will begin her three-year term as president-elect, presi-dent and past president in July.

Founded in 2001, NAACO is a profes-sional association of commencement officers representing more than 300 colleges and universities.

The association offers continuing educa-tion, professional development, networking and leadership opportunities to commence-ment and graduation professionals. Smith is a NAACO charter member.

smith

decorations & distinctions

Paolo Antonio FulghieriWillard J. Graham Scholar in Business Ad-ministration, Kenan-Flagler Business School

Matthew HowardFrank A. Daniels Professor, School of Social Work

Jane GreenbergFrances Carroll McColl Associate Professor, School of Information and Library Science

Gary HenryMacRae Professor, Department of Public Policy

Barry PopkinCarla Smith Chamblee Distinguished Profes-sor of Global Nutrition, Department of Nutrition

David Scott LawrenceFred N. Eshelman Distinguished Professor, School of Pharmacy

George S. Lensing Jr.Mann Family Distinguished Professor, Department of English and Comparative Literature

Mathew MauroErnest H. Wood Distinguished Professor of Radiology, Department of Radiology

Michael ReiterLawrence Slifkin Distinguished Professor, Department of Computer Science

Paul SolomonFrances Carroll McColl Term Professor, School of Information and Library Science

Patrick SullivanRay M. Hayworth and Family Distinguished Professor of Mood and Anxiety Disorders, Department of Genetics and Psychiatry

John RiordanMichael Hooker Distinguished Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics

Bryan RothMichael Hooker Distinguished Professor, Department of Pharmacology

John SheehanMichael Hooker Distinguished Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics

John Timothy WrightJames Bawden Professor of Pediatric Den-tistry, Department of Pediatric Dentistry

Editor’s note: Through the Carolina First campaign, 208 new endowed professorships were created. The preceding appointments took effect in 2007.

march 12, 2008 9

Human Resourcesmaterials for career banding, which must be approved by the State Personnel Commis-sion. We have been on many of the teams to make sure the materials developed for career banding are relevant for the job families we have at the University.

Most of our jobs have already been approved by the State Personnel Commis-sion, and now we are working on smaller job families that are unique to the University. We hope they will be developed in time for the April 28 implementation, but there is a possibility that some small groups of jobs may not be developed and approved by that time.

OSP has a mapping of where positions are in the old classification and compensation system and where they will fall in the new system. Again, the job duties are not changing, so it is strictly a mapping process. And in most cases, it is just a matter of saying, “You were in Job A in the old classification and compen-sation system, and your title will now be Job B in the career banding system.”

Career banding from page 4

OHR introduces communication improvementsAs part of its structural reorganization,

the Office of Human Resources (OHR) is introducing new ways to contact its staff to enhance the ways service is provided to the campus community.

Starting March 17, there are new options that employees can use to get the infor-mation they need — by phone, in person and online.

The OHR Service Center will be available for employees who are calling or visiting the Administrative Office Building (AOB). It offers immediate assistance for visitors and will also centralize phone support.

The service center is located inside the left-hand door on the AOB’s first floor. Visitors should stop by the reception area. Reception staff will contact the appropriate OHR staff person. Visitors can also drop off benefits or other forms, get a parking pass

and find out the name of the appropriate OHR contact for a variety of questions.

Those attending a class can go directly to the classrooms by entering the right-hand door at the AOB.

Calls to OHR’s main number (843-2300) will go to the service center. When calling an OHR staff member directly, the caller will have an option not to leave a voice mail but to press 0 instead to be routed to a receptionist or the service center for personal assistance.

A new Web-based tool, HR Connect, will also be available on March 17. Site visitors can enter their department numbers or select their department names, then choose from more than 150 OHR topics. By clicking Search, they will immediately receive the name, phone number and e-mail address of the appropriate OHR staff

member, as well as a link to online informa-tion about that topic.

Visitors who need general contact information — not a specific person — do not have to enter department information. Instead, they can choose a topic and depart-mental contact information will be posted.

HR Connect will be available from the front page of the OHR Web site, hr.unc.edu. Parts of the Web site will also change to reflect the new organizational structure. Each new workgroup will have its own page, which will include links to popular topics.

Employees who do not have computer access can call the OHR Service Center at 843-2300 during office hours; service center staff will look up the contact information for callers.

For questions about the new organization or about contacting OHR, e-mail hr@unc.edu or call 843-2300, beginning March 17.

march 31 deadline for Flexible spending account claims

According to irS regulations, any balances remaining in Health Care or Dependent Day Care flexible spending accounts must be forfeited. Employees have until March 31 to submit claims for eligible expenses incurred in 2007 to Aon Consulting, the spending account plan administrator.

Check balances online at www.nc-flex.selfservicenow.com, or call Aon Consulting at 877-371-2926. Claims can be faxed to 866-887-3212.

Health enrollment information sessions setThe State Health Plan annual enrollment for health-care plan

changes will be from March 1 to 28. During this enrollment period, employees can change plans

or choose to add, change or drop coverage for their spouse and/or dependent(s). Changes made during the annual enrollment will be effective July 1.

The Comprehensive Major Medical Plan (CMMP) will be eliminated effective July 1. Employees enrolled in this plan will need to select one of the PPO options currently offered during this annual enrollment period. Effective immediately, no new enrollments will be accepted into the CMMP plan. Coverage changes that are a result of a qualifying status change (for example, marriage, birth or adoption of a child) will continue to be accepted through June 30 for the CMMP plan.

Unless a different election is made during the annual enrollment period, the state will automatically default any employee currently enrolled in the CMMP plan to the PPO Standard (80/20) plan. The PPO Standard Plan is the replacement plan for the CMMP plan. If an employee currently in the CMMP wants to change to the PPO Standard Plan and has no other changes to make concerning coverage and/or dependents, he or she is encouraged not to return a form.

There will be two information sessions for employees to learn more about available options:

■ March 17 — 10:30 a.m. to noon, Training Room A, Administrative Office Building; and

■ March 25 — 2-3 p.m., Hitchcock Room, Stone Center.For questions about the enrollment, contact the Benefits Office at

962-3071 or e-mail benefits@unc.edu.

■

Board of Governors endorses medical education expansionIn an effort to address an expected short-

age of doctors in North Carolina, the Board of Governors last Friday endorsed a plan to expand medical education at the state’s public medical schools.

The plan is based on a collaborative effort between Carolina’s School of Medicine and the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. In addition, Carolina will develop facilities in Charlotte and Asheville to accom-modate students in the last two years of their medical education.

The expansion in Charlotte will involve a partnership with Carolinas Medical Center (CMC), as well as collaboration with UNC-Charlotte in expanding research and related initiatives. The expansion in Asheville will involve Mission Hospital, the Mountain Area Health Education Center and the Western North Carolina Health Network.

ECU’s Brody School of Medicine will work with AHEC to expand opportunities for its students to spend much of their third and fourth years in clinical placement in underserved areas.

As planning for the expansion goes forward, the Board of Governors will consider future requests for funding from the General Assem-bly. The cumulative cost of the plan is expected to be in the vicinity of $450 million — the bulk of which would provide new and/or renovated facilities — and would be phased in during the next 10 years.

“This is a milestone for our medical schools, as well as the people of North Carolina,” said UNC President Erskine Bowles. “We have recognized for some time the threat of a physician shortage in our state. This coordi-nated plan for expansion positions us to better fulfill our mission to serve the medical needs of

North Carolinians. I also applaud the leader-ship shown by our chancellors and the way our campuses have worked together to develop this joint plan.”

Carolina’s medical school enrollment will expand from 160 to 230 first-year students on a phased basis, starting in 2009. The additional 70 students will complete their third- and fourth-year rotations at either the CMC Charlotte campus (50) or Asheville campus (20), starting their regional placements in 2011.

ECU will expand its first-year medical school enrollment from the current 73 to 120 students in a phased process. The timeline for increasing enrollment will be determined by fall 2008. The additional students will complete their third- and fourth-year clinical education at satellite training centers located in eastern North Carolina. Those sites will be identified by early 2009.

The plan also calls for a task force representing both public and private medical schools in the state, as well as the Carolinas Medical Center, AHEC and the Sheps Center at Carolina, to develop a plan for expanding the number of residencies or slots for graduate medical education in North Carolina and to seek more federal funding to support these residencies. Where a physi-cian eventually decides to practice is highly correlated with where he or she completed a medical residency.

The North Carolina Institute of Medicine, the National Institute of Medicine and the Association of American Medical Colleges all predict a deficit of physicians by 2020, particularly in primary care. The predicted shortage is of particular concern in North Carolina, where the population is expected to grow 52 percent by 2030.

bog addresses state’s physic ian shortage

universit y Gazet te10

Civil rights center helps community get water, sewer serviceThe 50-year-old Waynor Road community,

surrounded by an affluent area of Moore County, will finally receive much-needed municipal water and sewer service, thanks to nearly one and one-half years of organizing and petitioning coordinated by the Center for Civil Rights at the School of Law.

The $1.1 million Waynor Road project will connect 75 residents, mostly African- Americans, to basic municipal utilities for the first time. The Town of Southern Pines, which has committed more than $300,000 toward the project, was awarded a $750,000 Community Development Block Grant to pay for the balance. The project is expected to be completed within two years.

The center helped Waynor Road residents test neighborhood wells, conduct neigh-borhood needs assessments, evaluate their options, build influence with the town

council, obtain tax-exempt status for their community association and facilitate trainings for other similarly situated communities across the state.

The center has been a pioneer in identifying and fighting against municipal underbounding, a modern form of residential segregation that occurs when cities and towns expand around communities without including them in the city limits where municipal services are provided.

“It demonstrates that success can be attained with a strategic combination of grassroots efforts in which citizens work together, engage in informed advocacy, stay diligent to monitor public bodies and exert influence for the benefit of their previously neglected communities,” said Diane Standaert, a center fellow who led efforts in Moore County for the past 18 months.

The Waynor Road community is one of three historically black neighborhoods in Moore County that the center has helped with legal and advocacy support over the last four years. The other communities are Jackson Hamlet and Midway. Combined, these communities have received $3 million in local and federal funding to extend water and sewer to their residents’ homes.

Until the water and sewer lines are connected, Waynor Road residents will continue to rely on deteriorating private wells and failing septic tanks. The next step for the community is to petition for voluntary annexa-tion into the Town of Southern Pines. This will give residents the right to vote in Southern Pines elections and access to other essential city services, such as police and sanitation services.

The center is also providing legal support in this effort.

innocence to knowledge, birth to death.”She said this darkening of color was

particularly evident in McDermott’s fourth novel, “Charming Billy,” a New York Times bestseller that won the 1998 National Book Award for fiction as well as the American Book Award.

The story unfolds as mourners gather around roast beef and green bean alman-dine at the wake for Billy Lynch, a gentle Irish-Catholic man who died after years of alcohol abuse. The family members ruminate on Billy’s struggle for happi-ness after he lost his first love Eva, an Irish immigrant girl he fell in love with one sun-swept week on Long Island.

“I share with Alice a Christian up-bringing that underlies both my love of language and my view of human nature,” Betts said. “And when her Irish Catholics are gathering at Charming Billy Lynch’s funeral, I feel pretty much at home. It is not all that different than a southern Protestant post-funeral meal, certainly not for the women.”

transforming the familiarTyson said that fiction and religion

could have the capacity to transform the familiar into “you fill in the blank.”

To illustrate the point, Tyson read a passage from “The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade,” the last major novel by Herman Melville, published in 1857. Written as cultural satire and allegory, the novel deals with themes of sincerity, identity, morality and religiosity.

The passage reads: “And as, in real life, the proprieties will now allow people to act out themselves with that unreserve permitted to the stage; so, in books of fiction, they look not only for more en-tertainment, but, at bottom, even for more reality, than real life itself can show. Thus, though they want novelty, they want nature, too; but nature unfet-tered, exhilarated, in effect transformed. In this way of thinking, the people in a fiction, like people in a play, must dress as nobody exactly dresses, talk as nobody exactly talks, act as nobody exactly acts. It is with fiction as with religion: It should present another world, and yet one to which we feel the tie.”

Tyson cited a definition in Webster’s Dictionary for fiction, “an assumption of a possibility as a fact irrespective of the question of its truth.”

And yet, he said, in much the same way as religion, fiction allows people “to get at things” that cannot be reached by any other means.

Tyson suggested that religion and fic-tion could be discussed as antithetical to each other, but it would be more difficult, and rewarding, to see them through the prism of analogy.

“There is in the space of an analogy a sort of slippery dance between differ-ence and similarity,” Tyson said. “That’s where all the action is. And all the action between fiction and religion occurs in that alley where there is a kind of uneven, on-again-off-again conversation between these two voices.”

McDermott from page 6

■

register their cell phone number for emergency text messages.

Moving ahead with the mailing was a difficult decision because the campus is still so deeply affected by last week’s tragedy of

Eve Carson’s death, Moeser said in an e-mail message to campus last Friday.

“Even though there is no information right now to indicate a link between her death and campus security issues, her senseless murder reminds us that we must be vigilant about safety,” he said. “For that reason, we felt we needed to move forward with this mailing.”

text messagesFor text messaging to be effective, students,

faculty and staff need to sign up by registering their cell phone numbers, McCracken said.

“It’s easy to do, and we hope people who use this form of communication will respond to our appeal. It could make a difference in an actual emergency.”

At the end of February, about 3,700 of the registered cell phone numbers in the campus directory belonged to students, with another approximately 2,600 numbers registered to faculty and staff, according to Information Technology Services officials.

The University has more than 28,000 students and 11,500 full- and part-time faculty and staff.

The University accelerated plans to use text messages for the first time on March 5 to help Chapel Hill Police notify the community about the shooting and investigation. Text messages were sent to around 5,000 people who had listed their cell numbers in the campus directory by mid-January.

“We can send emergency messages to anyone with cell phones with text capability and for whom we have cell numbers in the campus directory,” Moeser said. “The number can be kept private. And we will not send such a message except as a test or in an emergency.”

To register for the alerts, go to alertcaroli-na.unc.edu and click on “Register Your Cell

Phone.” Unless the cell phone is provided and paid for by the Univer-sity, the number will be treated as confidential infor-mation. Providing the number does not mean it will become public — unless the owner marks the entry

public and has it displayed in the online campus directory.

siren systemThe sirens will sound during an immediate

life-threatening situation such as an armed and dangerous person in the area, a major chemical spill or hazard, or a tornado. The siren warning will be accompanied by brief recorded public address announcements with instructions such as “Go inside now.” When the threat has passed, a second siren sound and announcement will signal “All clear. Resume normal activities.”

During the test, people outside on or near campus may hear the sirens, which are at four locations: Hinton James Residence Hall off Manning Drive; the Gary R. Tomkins Chilled Water Operations Center behind the Dogwood Parking Deck; Winston Residence Hall at the corner of Raleigh Street and South Road; and off Airport Drive near UNC buildings and support facilities north of main campus off Martin Luther King Boulevard. (A fifth siren location on north campus is also being explored.)

During the test, no action is required. The training exercise is designed to ensure the sirens work properly. The system was first tested last December after the fall semester ended. Details about the sirens are avail-able at universityrelations.unc.edu/alert/ sirenfacts.php.

multiple ways to communicateIn conjunction with the sirens and text

messages, the University will post safety-related announcements at alertcarolina.unc.edu, along with any other updates and resource information. The Web site will help provide any new details as quickly as possible.

Officials will also continue to use a com-bination of other means to communicate about safety issues or emergencies including campus e-mail and telephone voice mail, the Adverse Weather and Emergency Phone Line (834-1234) for recorded information, the University Access Channel (Chapel Hill Time Warner Cable Channel 4), and campus or local media.

The Alert Carolina campaign was devel-oped by the University’s Emergency Warning Committee, which works with campus police and other emergency responders to inform the campus about threats to personal safety or other events that might have a significant impact on the safety and welfare of students, faculty and staff.

McCracken said UNC officials want to test every method of communication available.

“We can better pinpoint delivery of messages by testing the sirens and text messaging at the same time,” he said. “For text messaging to work, we need more cell phone numbers in the campus directory. All of these efforts are intended to reach everyone. It’s the best approach we have using the emerging technology currently available.”

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University officials are encour-aging faculty, staff and students to sign up to receive emergency text messages.

The University can send the emer-gency messages to anyone with cell phones with text capability as long as the cell number is listed in the campus directory. The number can be kept private.

To register for emergency alerts, go to alertcarolina.unc.edu and click on “register Your Cell Phone.” Unless the cell phone is provided and paid for by the University, the number will be treated as confiden-tial information.

march 12, 2008 11

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McCoys honor Moeser with lead gifts to the arts William and Sara McCoy will honor

Chancellor James Moeser with lead gifts establishing the James Moeser Fund for Excellence in the Arts at UNC.

The McCoys made the announcement last month following a performance by cellist Yo-Yo Ma as part of the Carolina Performing Arts Series. The two gifts ultimately will total $1.1 million, with one being an immediate commitment of $100,000 and the second coming to UNC as part of the McCoys’ estate.

They will create a new endowed fund that will go toward visiting artists’ fees of the world’s most acclaimed performers at Carolina.

The new fund will create a permanent source of income for the Office of Executive Director for the Arts to ensure that artists at the highest level of excellence will teach students in master classes, engage with faculty through symposia and research, and perform. Additional private support will be sought to increase the fund’s value.

“James Moeser was our first artist-chan-cellor,” said McCoy, who served as interim chancellor from 1999 until Moeser took office in August 2000. “That’s why Sara and I wanted to create this fund in his name. Just as his many efforts toward the arts will resonate into the future, so will recipients of the fund. We hope this will be the first of many gifts to his fund in the coming years, and we encourage others to join us in honoring James in this way.”

A concert organist, Moeser has made improving the arts at Carolina a major priority. He convened a campus committee to evaluate the arts here, and in 2005 he created the position of executive director for the arts. That led to the hiring of Emil Kang, a former president and executive director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

“I am enormously grateful to Bill and Sara McCoy,” Moeser said. “Bill preceded me in this office, and both he and Sara have continued to be among the University’s most

steadfast supporters. I am honored to have my name on their gift.”

Sara McCoy serves on the Carolina Performing Arts Society National Advisory Board. She also has served on the boards of Friends of Playmakers, the Ackland Art Museum and the School of Information and Library Science.

William McCoy graduated from Carolina in 1955 with a degree in business adminis-tration. In addition to serving as Carolina’s interim chancellor, he has served on the board of visitors, the Bicentennial and Carolina First campaign steering committees and as chair of the board of visitors of Kenan-Flagler Business School, the National Development Council and the UNC Health Care System.

From 1995 to 1998, he worked at UNC General Administration as vice president for finance. That came after a 35-year career with the BellSouth Corp., where he retired as vice chair of the board.

and sometimes doesn’t get to sleep until a couple hours later.

At first, doctors told them John would never walk again, but he refused to believe it. After hours of therapy, John is now able to get out of his wheelchair and take a few steps with the help of his cane.

Late last spring, Linn had her husband accompany her to the “HSL Pedometer Challenge” award ceremony. He arrived in his wheelchair, but got up and walked 20 feet to demonstrate what stubborn determination can sometimes overcome.

At that moment, she felt more proud of him than she ever had of herself, Linn said.

She tells this story not in complaint or an appeal for pity, but as the facts she had learned to live with and circumstances that have strained her capacity to take care of herself.

Last fall, the death of her father and a dear friend in rapid succession turned up the stress level even more — and she made the mistake

of eating too much and spending too much time on the couch. In the process, she gained back some of the weight she had worked so hard to lose earlier in the year.

Then in January she experienced chest pains severe enough to be rushed to the hospital. At the time, they feared it was a heart attack. Doctors are still not sure, but they believe the episode was caused by severe muscle spasms. A similar episode happened again several weeks later.

“Everybody says you have to take care of yourself, but that’s easier said then done,” Linn said.

work in progressStill, she is trying. Every day, she works on

breathing and relaxing exercises and is doing everything she can to get more sleep than the four to five hours she was getting before.

Even when she is exercising at the level she should be and eating all the right things, in the right proportions, her body still fights against her because of a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) that doctors found

out she had some 20 years ago.The syndrome can affect a woman’s men-

strual cycle and the ability to have children. It can affect hormones, the heart and blood vessels, and cause excessive weight gain, especially around the waist.

PCOS is not an excuse, but another condi-tion of life working against her that she must work to overcome.

Being able to laugh helps, she said, along with a philosophical bent tilted toward optimism.

For her whole life, the quest for good health has been what she calls a roller coaster ride filled with twists and turns, highs and lows and unforeseen pitfalls. Getting off that roller coaster, she knows, will mean summoning the courage to take that first step all over again.

“We never know what is going to happen,” Linn said, but she faces each day with the hope it will be better than the one before, and the understanding that how much better it gets is up to her.

And already, she is organizing the library’s second annual “Pedometer Challenge” this spring.

Linn from page 6

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bell tower toastmastersContact Doug Strong: 843-9377, strongd@med.unc.edu. www.unc.edu/bellttmi/ btmaster.htm. every tuesday Practice formal and informal

presentations with feedback. 5th floor conf room, Health Sciences Library. 11:45 a.m. -1 pm.

FedeX Global education centerwww.global.unc.edu. Call Laura griest, 962-0318; e-mail lauragriest@unc.edu. All events take place at the center.Language at LunchSecond week of month grab lunch and practice language skills. Mon, Spanish; Tue, french; Wed, Portuguese; Thu, Chinese; fri, Arabic. global Cup Café. 11:30 am-1:30 pm.

saFe zone ally proGramCall Danny DePuy, 843-5376; e-mail depuy@email.unc.edu. lgbt.unc.edu/allies/safezone.html.3/25 Safe Zone Training. 4-8 pm.

sonja haynes stone center For blacK culture and historyCall 962-9001. www.ibiblio.org/shscbch.

Diaspora FestivaL oF BLack anD

inDepenDent F iLm: a Luta continua:

cinemas oF resistance3/19 Triple feature: “American red and

Black: Stories of Afro-Native identity,” “Unfinished,” “Some Kind of funny Porto rican.” Hitchcock rm. 7-9 pm.

university manaGers associationE-mail duval@mail.fpg.unc.edu. uma.unc.edu. 3/19 Third Wednesday Conversations –

brown bag lunch. Campus Y. 11:45 am.

Fitness | recreation | wellness

campus recreation203 Woollen gym. Call 843-PLAY.pomerant@email.unc.edu, www.campusrec.unc.edu/events.html. gym/pool privilege card required.for complete listings of campus recreation facilities and links to each program, refer to www.campusrec.unc.edu/Facilities.htm.

Kids rocK (recreational opportunities For carolina Kids)www.campusrec.unc.edu/heels.html#family_fun. rSvP to tleighc@email.unc.edu at least two days before scheduled event.

3/22 Orienteering. Lizzie Lange, Challenge Course staff teach compass reading skills and lead scavenger/Easter egg hunt. Outdoor Education Center. 10 am-noon. free.

walK For wellnessE-mail lmangili@email.unc.edu. www.campusrec.unc.edu/heels.html.Walks held through the week from various locations on campus. refer to Web site for routes and more info.

employee recreationContact Lauren Mangili, lmangili@email.unc.edu, 962-7348. www. campusrec.unc.edu/heels.html. Employee fitness program. for complete listings of services, see Web site.

traininG

inFormation technoloGy servicesE-mail learnit@unc.edu. learnit.unc.edu.refer to Web site for current schedule of workshops that include information technology topics for faculty, staff, students.

Calendar from page 12

h a a l e

New York-born artist Haale crafts a genre-defying performance that is equal parts musical journey and spiritual awakening. She appears at Memorial Hall March 19 at 7:30 p.m. www.carolinaperformingarts.org.

distinctive or special or better.At one level, Watkins said, the UNC

system is unique because of what it contributes to the state “sociologically, morally and economically.”

That argument works well when the UNC system is held in high regard, she said, but it could fail if that high regard should ever fall.

needs and goalsWatkins sees another danger of inad-

vertently entering into something akin to class warfare. For example, she has a law degree, but she said she doubts that what she does is any more valuable to society than what a state prison guard or state highway patrol officer does under great personal risk.

From the top management to the lowest pay grades, Watkins said, state employees have mutual needs and goals. And that is why SEANC believes in the idea that political strength that can translate into better pay and benefits can best be achieved through “strength and unity.”

Given the uncertainties, Patterson said, many staff members at Carolina would feel better about these potential changes if they had the right to organize a union and to enter into collective bargaining with the state. He said a union would give staff members “a second voice” from which to be heard.

Lemmon offered a cautionary note. “In this state, politics being what it is, the ability to unionize (public employees) is probably not something that is going to happen,” she said.

At the end of the meeting, the forum first read and then referred to committee a proposed resolution that would oppose adding Article 16 to the State Personnel Act.

In light of the discussion at the forum meeting, Patterson said, that resolution was likely to be heavily revised.

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universit y Gazet te12

Calendar march 13 – march 26

neXt calendar includes: MArCH 27 – APriL 9 deadline For submissions: 5 P.M., MON., MArCH 17

e-mail: gazette@unc.eduFaX: 962-2279: Clearly mark for the gazette.

campus boX: 6205

form/shtml.

wednesday, march 26interdisciplinary obesity center “The Method-ological Challenges of Whole-of-Community in-tervention Projects for Obesity Prevention.” Boyd Swinburn. Deakin U. Aud, rosenau. 11 am-noon.

wednesday, march 26 – thursday, march 27world view “Understanding Contemporary Africa” seminar. friday Ctr. www.unc.edu/world/regform/shtml.

noteworthy

apples service-learninG proGramwww.unc.edu/apples. register by e-mail: apples@unc.edu.3/18 Cultivating and Sustaining Meaningful

Community Partnerships. 3209 Union. 3-4:30 pm.

■ “Perspectives on Public Justice.” Through 5/4.■ “The Pursuit of Learning: images of Study, Scholarship and Education.” Through 5/18. ■ “glorifying Patronage: Art in Service of family, fame and fortune.” Through 8/16.

FedeX Global education centerinternational.unc.edu/Gec.html. Contact Laura griest, lauragriest@unc.edu.■ “The Pursuit of Learning: images of Study, Scholarship and Education.” Through 5/18.■ “form in Translation: The Art of Judith Ernst.”

health sciences librarywww.hsl.unc.edu.■ “great Minds/great finds.”■ “Physician’s role in the Death Penalty.” Exhibit of photos by Scott Langley.

robert and sallie brown Gallery and museum Stone Ctr, 150 South rd. 962-9001. gallery hours 10 am-7 pm, Mon-fri, closed University holidays.■ “PepperPot: Multimedia installation, Meaning and the Medium in Contemporary African Diasporic Art.” Through 5/11.

n.c. women’s hospitalCall 843-1759. E-mail jsweedle@unch.unc.edu.■ “Big City and other Places.” Acrylic paintings by valerie Tan. Women’s Health information Ctr. Through 3/28.

wilson libraryExhibit areas open Mon-fri, 8 am-5 pm (NC Collection gallery opens at 9 am.). Weekend hours vary by exhibit; call 962-0114 for details. NC Collection gallery offers guided tours Wednesdays at 2 pm, other times by appoint-ment. Call 962-1172. seconD (main) FLoor■ The History of the North Carolina Collection. Hall.■ “Lines of Humor, Shades of Controversy: A Century of Student Cartooning at UNC.” Through 5/31. Also, exhibits on Sir Walter raleigh, UNC history, rare bird prints, Eng and Chang, plus historic rooms. NC Collection gallery.■ recent Acquisitions, NC Collection reading room.thirD FLoor■ “The ABC of Collecting Everyman’s Library: Archives, Books, Collections.” Melba remig Saltarelli Exhibit rm. Through 3/31. Fourth FLoor■ “Paper Trail: The Poster Art of Casey Burns and ron Liberti.” Exhibit opening reception, 3/17, 5 pm. Manuscripts Dept. Panel discussion follows, 5:45 pm, Pleasants family Assembly rm. Live music. Through 5/21.

lectures | seminars | colloQuia

wednesday, march 12 – thursday, march 13health sciences library, national center for biotechnology information “field guide to gen-Bank and NCBi Molecular Biology resources.” www.hsl.unc.edu/collections/bioinformatics.

monday, march 17school of public health Michael Neidorff, CEO of Centene, will speak as part of the school’s Distinguished visitors Program. Aud, Hooker Ctr. 4 pm. free, registration requested: 966-0198.

tuesday, march 18apples service-learning program “Cultivating and Sustaining Meaningful Community Partner-ships.” 3209 Union. 3-4:30 pm. rSvP to apples@unc.edu.college of arts and sciences “The first Atlantic Slaves, 1350-1520: Conquest, Slavery and the Opening of the Atlantic.” David Abulafia, U Cam-bridge. Mandela Aud, fedEx global Ctr. 5:30 pm.

wednesday, march 19school of information and library science Turning Private Collections into Public resources Using Digital Technologies and the internet.” David rumsey, president, Cartography Associates; chair, Luna imaging inc. Union. 2 pm. registration requested: 962-8366.

north carolina botanical Garden, morehead planetarium and science center, carolina women’s center, General alumni association “What a Book Can Do: 40 Years after Silent Spring.” Priscilla Coit Murphy, author of the book by the same title. 5 pm. $ Call 962-0522, 962-1236, 843-5115.school of nursing 2008 Ethnic Minority visiting Scholar Lecture, “Nurse Educators: Essential to the future of Health Care.” Beverly Malone, chief executive officer, National League for Nursing. Alumni Hall, Carolina Club. 3 pm.

monday, march 24classics, political science, english departments “Political Psychology and American Myth: Who Cares Who Shot Liberty valence?” robert Pippin, U Chicago. 116 Murphey. 4-5 pm.

tuesday, march 25Kenan-Flagler business school Dean’s Speaker Series: Sallie Krawcheck, chair, CEO, Citi global Wealth Management. Aud, 5:30 pm. reception follows. rSvP: kfbsrsvp@unc.edu; 843-7787.

tuesday, march 25 – wednesday, march 26world view “Latin America and North Carolina” seminar. friday Ctr. www.unc.edu/world/reg-

readinGs | Films | perFormances

bull’s head booKshopCall 962-5060, bullshead@store.unc.edu.3/18 Scott Huler will read from his new book

“No Man’s Land.” 3:30 pm.3/20 Event to launch release of “Our Bodies,

Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth.” includes book signing, reading, presenta-tion. 1:30 pm.

3/26 Alan Shapiro reads from “Old War: Poems.” 3:30 pm.

carolina perForminG artsCall 843-3333. performingarts@unc.edu. www.carolinaperformingarts.org. $ Unless noted, all performances in Memorial Hall.3/18 “Love Lived on Death row.” Aud, Hanes. 7 pm.3/19 Haale. 7:30 pm.

center on poverty, worK and opportunitywww.law.unc.edu/centers/poverty. Call 843-9032.3/25 “Change Comes Knocking – The Story

of the NC fund.” NC premiere. Panel discussion follows. Aud, Union. 7 pm.

FedeX Global education centerglobal.unc.edu.3/20 “War/Dance” film screening. Winner

of 2007 Sundance Best Documentary Director Award. Aud, fedEx global. 7 pm.

attractions

morehead planetarium Call 549-6863 for show times or 962-1236, mhplanet@unc.edu. www.moreheadplanetari-um.org. $ cLasses3/19 Starry Spring Nights. 7:30-9 pm.3/19 Paddling Under the Stars.

north carolina botanical Gardenwww.ncbg.unc.edu. hoursMon-fri, 8 am-5 pm; Sat, 9 am-6 pm; Sun, 1-6 pm. Piedmont Nature Trails: Dawn to dusk daily. Call 962-0522.art at the garDen ■ “flora, friend and foe.” Dale A. Morgan and Claire Alderks Miller exhibit paintings of plants and animals. Through 4/29cLasses/workshops3/15 Botanical illustration: Capturing Plant

Characteristics. $tours/waLks/hikes3/15, 22 Saturday morning tours of the plant dis-

plays. Meet in front of Totten Ctr. 10 am.3/15 Tour of Coker Arboretum. Meet inside

arboretum at Cameron Ave. arbor. 11 am.

Galleries | eXhibits

acKland art museumWed-Sat, 10 am-5 pm; Sun, 1-5 pm. Call 843-1611 (tape), 966-5736 (voice), 962-0837 (TTY); ackland@email.unc.edu, www.ackland.org.speciaL events3/14 Art after Dark. galleries open till 9 pm.3/16 K. Sridhar concert. 2-4 pm. $3/18 Curators Clinic. 1-4 pm. $3/19 Lunch with One: One Work of Art, One

Expert, One Hour. 1-2 pm.3/19 Art and Literature in the galleries. Winter

book discussion series. 7-8:30 pm.3/25 Yoga in the galleries. Noon-1 pm.exhiBit ions■ “Picturing the World: Carolina’s Celebrated Photojournalists.” Through 4/6.

‘ P a P e R T R a I l ’

ron Liberti’s poster promotes a 2004 event at the Cat’s Cradle. Posters by Liberti and Casey Burns will be on display in the Manuscripts Department of Wilson Library beginning March 17. The opening reception begins at 5 p.m. See details at www.lib.unc.edu/mss/sfc1.

The gazette calendar is geared only toward items of general interest. for complete listings of Carolina events, see the Carolina Calendar at www.unc.edu/calendar for complete listings on Carolina athletics, see tarheelblue.com.

I T ’ s a l l o n l I n e

See Calendar, page 11