“They risked and persisted, sacrificed and saved,” TIME editor Nancy Gibbs wrote in her explanation for why the magazine chose Ebola Fighters as their Person of Year 2014.

“The rest of the world can sleep at night because a group of men and women are willing to stand and fight. For tireless acts of courage and mercy, for buying the world time to boost its defenses, for risking, for persisting, for sacrificing and saving, the Ebola fighters are TIME’s 2014 Person of the Year,” she concluded.

Dr. William A. Fischer II, a critical care expert in the UNC School of Medicine, was one of “the ones who answered the call,” to borrow TIME’S phrase, when the Ebola outbreak of 2014 turned into an epidemic.

Fischer arrived in Gueckedou, Guinea — the epicenter of the outbreak — in late May as part of a team from Doctors without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières/MSF) to try to help reduce mortality from Ebola virus disease in rural communities. Fischer was recruited by the World Health Organization (WHO) because of his critical care medicine expertise. He spent 12 days working to save lives at an Ebola clinic in Gueckedou and wrote movingly about the experience in a series of emails to friends, family and colleagues, which you can read here.

Then in December, Fischer returned to West Africa. He and another UNC School of Medicine physician, David Wohl, traveled to Monrovia, Liberia to assist in an Ebola treatment clinical trial. In the trial, which is run by ClinicalRM and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, plasma is taken from survivors of Ebola virus disease and given to patients who are actively sick in an effort to help them combat this disease.

See Fischer’s September presentation to the UNC Board of Trustees.

By Tom Hughes, UNC Health Care

Published December 19, 201

Two physicians from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine are participating in an Ebola treatment clinical trial now underway in Liberia — one of the West African nations hardest hit by the current Ebola outbreak.

William A. Fischer II and David Wohl, joined by faculty at Duke University, are working in Liberia for the duration of the clinical trial, in which plasma taken from survivors of Ebola virus disease (EVD) is given to patients who are actively sick in an effort to help them combat this disease.

The trial is being run by ClinicalRM of Hinckley, Ohio, and is being funded through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. For more information about the trial, see this press release from ClinicalRM.

“At a time when there is no specific therapy for Ebola, this trial is truly unique in that it serves to empower survivors of EVD with the ability to fight back through the donation of plasma that could potentially save someone’s life,” said Fischer, an assistant professor in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. Fischer previously treated Ebola patients in Guinea in May and June, as part of a team from Doctors without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières/MSF).

“As part of the trial, we have been able to enhance a range of lab capabilities within the hospital system allowing for real time electrolyte analysis,” said Wohl, an associate professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases. “Monitoring and responding to electrolyte abnormalities is a huge benefit in the effort to care for and support people battling Ebola and it greatly enhances the healthcare team’s ability to make informed and rapid treatment decisions.”

For more, see UNC School of Medicine.

Published: December 16, 2014

 

UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences has received a $5 million gift to provide the College with “say yes” funds that empower department chairs to be agile, responsive and innovative.

The gift, from an anonymous alumni couple, will create a new $4 million academic leadership endowment and provide an additional $1 million – $200,000 a year over five years – in immediate funds as the endowment builds.

“As a former department chair, I know the importance of having strategic funding, whether I needed to be able to recruit or retain a valuable faculty member, pay for summer research expenses or support faculty in their teaching or scholarly work – the list is as diverse as our academic departments,” said Dean Karen M. Gil.

In 2010, the donors committed $1 million for the same purpose.

“We could see a real difference in how department chairs were able to support faculty and students, as well as their own research,” said one of the donors. “For teaching and research-oriented faculty, serving as a department chair can be time-consuming and challenging. Our gift demonstrates our confidence in Carolina’s arts and sciences tradition by providing the dean with resources for the College’s leadership, particularly at the department level.”

The 2010 gift allowed the College to award grants ranging from $5,500 to $30,000 from the fund to 28 department chairs. Those chairs have, in turn, distributed the grants to more than 200 faculty members, from the fine arts and humanities to the social and natural sciences. One of every four tenure or tenure-track faculty members in the College has received support from the first gift. Many more undergraduate and graduate students also benefited through enhanced classroom and experiential learning opportunities.

Biology professor and former department chair Bill Kier, who received a grant from the first gift, said it “provided me with flexibility to support a diversity of needs, including undergraduate teaching, graduate training and postdoc support. The funding has had remarkable impact already on my teaching, my training of students, my research and even on my administrative and service duties here at UNC.”

History chair Fitzhugh Brundage used the funding to support projects beyond campus, including the inaugural North Carolina History Education Workshop in April 2014. The event brought together N.C. public school history teachers, university researchers and public historians.

“The original gift has already had a transformative effect on my ability to recruit and support effective faculty leaders and to enable these leaders to truly lead in their departments,” said Gil. “We are very grateful to the donors for this visionary gift that will benefit generations of faculty.”

Published December 15, 2015

The seed of an idea from one faculty member planted in the mind of one administrator blossomed Wednesday afternoon into a full-fledged celebration of faculty diversity.

In a first-of-its-kind event, the three multicultural faculty caucuses came together to recognize 76 faculty members who reached career milestones in the past five years.

“This is a really exciting occasion,” said the administrator, Taffye Benson Clayton, associate vice chancellor and chief diversity officer, in her opening remarks at the inaugural Celebration of Faculty Diversity, Achievement and Success.

Clayton thanked the faculty member who first proposed the idea of a celebration to her, Paul Cuadros, chair of the Latina/o Caucus and an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “With celebrations like this,” she said, “we underscore how integral a diverse faculty inclusive of the starkly under-represented minority population is to Carolina’s long-standing brand of academic excellence.”

The chairs of the American Indian Caucus, the Carolina Black Caucus and the Latina/o Caucus presented awards in three categories: faculty who became full professors, associate professors and faculty with 12 years of service and faculty with seven years of service.

The event was mostly a celebration, but also became a time to reflect on recent protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York, that have called attention to racial disparities that still exist in the nation.

“This is another tough time at our university,” said Chancellor Carol L. Folt, recalling many recent meetings she has had with students to discuss race-related issues. “You’re the people that those students talk about being their lifeline in this institution.”

James W. Dean Jr., executive vice chancellor and provost also commented on news events he called “disconcerting.”

“We have much work to do as a nation,” he said. “Clearly, we have a long way to go to achieve the ideals that we share – ideals of access, ideals of equality, ideals of mutual respect and even ideals of safety and security.”

Dean, whose office was a sponsor of the event, quoted 19^th century philosopher and economist John Stuart Mill for recognizing the value of “being in contact with people dissimilar to themselves.”

“Advancing diversity is a moral imperative as well as, Mill says, a practical one,” Dean said, calling the faculty members about to be recognized “essential members of our community.”

While celebrating diversity achieved so far, Felicia Washington, vice chancellor for workforce strategy, equity and engagement, also recognized the need for the University to do more. She asked the caucus members to help Carolina recruit more under-represented faculty members, pointing out that a more diverse faculty means a more diverse student body.

“We have as a goal to attract more students from under-represented groups,” she said. “I believe that having faculty who mirror whom we want to attract will be quite beneficial in doing that.”

Cuadros pointed out that this event spotlighting diversity actually led to the collaboration of the three multicultural faculty groups. “We’re really here to celebrate diversity, but the other side of that coin is unity,” he said. “And this was an event to bring our caucuses together.”

Clayton said she hoped the event would be held every three years.

By Susan Hudson, University Gazette

Published December 11, 2014

 

 

Carolina will stream its Winter Commencement ceremony at 2 p.m. on Sunday, December 14.

Chancellor Carol L. Folt will preside over the ceremony, and James H. Johnson, the William R. Kenan Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and Director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center in the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, will speak.

To date, 2,182 students have applied to graduate in December or were awarded degrees in August. Administrators expect to award degrees to 997 undergraduates, 790 master’s students, 354 doctoral students and 41 professional students.

To watch the live video stream beginning at approximately 1:45 p.m. Sunday, click here.

Highlights and the full ceremony will be on UNC’s YouTube channel.

Read more on the Commencement site.

Published December 11, 2014.

The UNC-Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science (SILS) has been awarded its largest contract ever to operate the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Research Triangle Park (RTP) Library over the next five years. The new award, of $25.3 million, significantly expands the scope of work to manage agency-wide subscriptions to journals and other information products.

SILS is one of the preeminent information schools in the nation with internationally recognized leadership in digital libraries, data curation, and health information services. SILS has operated the EPA-RTP Library since 1975 and more than 300 graduate students have served as interns in the program. Upon completing their master’s studies, those interns have gone on to become leaders in libraries and the information industry.

“This contract represents a highly effective and efficient partnership between a public university and a government research organization. SILS attracts experienced librarians to manage the library operations and the EPA library internships attract outstanding students to UNC-Chapel Hill. These interns not only gain practical experience in a full-service research library but also work with library professionals to create new kinds of services to support EPA scientists and staff,” SILS dean Gary Marchionini said.

The EPA-RTP Library serves EPA staff and contractors in the Research Triangle Park, providing access to information that supports the research mission and policy decisions of the EPA. The library is home to an extensive collection of information with a particular focus on air pollution with emphases on chemical toxicity, chemistry, meteorology, geophysics and related sciences. The Library hosts more than 1,000 journal titles, over 6,000 books, 150,000 microfiche documents, and paper copies of more than 13,000 EPA, trade association, international agency and other Federal agency documents. The library serves more than 2,000 EPA employees.

The EPA National Library Network is composed of libraries and repositories located in the agency’s offices, research centers and specialized laboratories, as well as web-based access to electronic collections. The combined network collections contain information in many scientific and policy areas, including:

• Environmental protection and management;
• Basic sciences such as biology and chemistry;
• Applied sciences such as engineering and toxicology;
• Extensive coverage of topics featured in legislative mandates such as hazardous waste, drinking water, pollution prevention, and toxic substances.

The EPA-RTP Library is one of only three EPA repository libraries, nationwide; EPA Headquarters Repository is located in Washington, D.C., and the Andrew W. Breidenbach Environmental Research Center Library (AWBERC) is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. The EPA additionally hosts 10 regional libraries, four specialty libraries, and eight research laboratory libraries across the United States.

Published December 10, 2014

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill juniors Michael Adams, Paige Nielsen and Nancy Smith have been named the 2015 Eve Carson Scholars. The scholarship will fund half of the cost of attendance in their senior year, plus $5,000 each for a summer experience they have proposed.

A 10-member selection committee composed of students, faculty, staff and alumni chose the three scholars from among 87 applicants. The selection committee looked for applicants that demonstrate leadership, service, character and transformative growth since matriculation at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Originally from Lincoln, Nebraska, Nielsen is a member of the Carolina women’s soccer team and is a double major in business administration and biology. With the scholarship, Nielsen hopes to start a half marathon race to raise funds for the college tuition of children of single parents with cancer.

Adams, a native of Pinehurst, is double majoring in public policy and political science with minors in politics, philosophy and economics. He is the founder of Carolina Association of Parliamentary Debate, which is designing a national debate tournament encompassing more than 15 schools. He serves as the vice president of Sigma Phi Society, a social fraternity at UNC-Chapel Hill. Adams hopes the scholarship funds will allow him to start a free debate camp for middle school students of low socioeconomic status.

Smith is a double major in Arab cultures and global studies. From Asheville, she serves as the operations officer of the UNC Navy ROTC Battalion, which is the third highest rank within the battalion structure. Smith is dedicated to spending her summer abroad, where she hopes to research oral history, culinary culture and personal space of Moroccan women.

The Eve Carson Scholarship was established in 2008 to celebrate junior-year students who have exhibited passion and transformative growth since matriculation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As the living legacy of former Student Body President Eve Carson, the scholarship fulfills the vision for a student-run merit scholarship that she included in her platform.

Published December 9, 2014

Although the year has not yet ended, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions reports that 72,311 people (prospective students and family members) registered for a visit to the University, an increase of 11.6 percent over the number of registrations from last year (64,805).

Prospective students who want to visit campus register online for a 30-minute information session led by an admissions staff member and an hour-long student-led tour. To accommodate the growing number of visitors, the office has recently begun scheduling more of their information sessions in buildings outside Jackson Hall, which can accommodate a maximum of 140 visitors. The office has also begun to receive more requests for group tours from high schools and has made provisions to accommodate these populations.

“When we became aware of the increased interest in visiting Carolina, we began taking steps to ensure that we could accommodate every person who wishes to visit us,” said Jazmin Garcia Smith, Senior Assistant Director of Admissions, who leads the office’s daily visit program. “It’s that important to us because a visit to our campus—rain or shine—is the number one reason why students apply and enroll. The combination of the intelligence of our students, the friendliness of our community, and the visual appeal of the quintessential college campus makes for an unforgettable experience.”

“We’re so grateful for an increase in visitors to UNC because it means more traffic for area hotels, restaurants, shops and other businesses,” said Laurie Paolicelli, Executive Director of the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau. “The economic impact is exponential as many of these visitors end up extending their stay beyond a campus tour because of the wealth of attractions in the area.”

Throughout the year, the office routinely partners with various academic departments to create specialized tours that highlight Carolina’s academics such as journalism, business and pharmacy. In spring 2015, the office hopes to be able to offer even more of these experiences and will offer again a series of Saturday information sessions and tours for families unable to visit during the week.

The office also partners with academic departments for its class visit program, which allows high school students the opportunity to attend a real class. Faculty across the disciplines—from the sciences to the humanities—offer a selection of classes open to students on a number of dates throughout each semester. Students are asked to register in advance so that faculty may greet them. Last year, 388 students registered for a class visit.

A selection of open-ended comments from prospective students who visited in the month of October included: “Tour was very enjoyable even in the rain”; “Probably the number one thing that made my visit to UNC amazing was the sense of community and UNC spirit that I felt in Chapel Hill”; “My student ambassador and admissions representative did an excellent job providing me with ample information about applying to and attending UNC”; and “My student ambassador was simply fantastic and we could all tell he was excited to be there with us and conveyed his happiness to the whole group. He definitely made me want to apply that much more.”

General visitors and students in middle school interested in a tour of campus may schedule visits through the UNC Visitors’ Center, which is located at 250 East Franklin Street and directed by Missy Julian-Fox. Guides provide a one-hour tour on landmarks, legends, campus life, and more, such as distinctive walking tours on various topics.

By Ashley Memory, Undergraduate Admissions

Published December 8, 2014

Officials are conducting maintenance on two of the Alert Carolina siren / PA towers on the evening of Thursday, Dec. 4. One is located near Hinton-James Resident Hall and the other is located off Mason Farm Road.

This maintenance will require separate activation of the towers that will produce chimes unlike the normal Alert Carolina siren. The chime will be accompanied by a PA announcement which will indicate that no emergency exists.

The tower activation may occur as early as 5 p.m. Thursday evening and activation of the second tower should be completed by mid-evening. Periodic maintenance ensures that the system will operate effectively in the event of a real campus emergency.

Published Dec. 4, 2014

UNC School of Medicine researchers have found for the first time a biochemical mechanism that could be a cause of “chemo brain” – the neurological side effects such as memory loss, confusion, difficulty thinking, and trouble concentrating that many cancer patients experience while on chemotherapy to treat tumors in other parts of the body

The research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows how the common chemotherapy drug topotecan can drastically suppress the expression of Topoisomerase-1, a gene that triggers the creation of proteins essential for normal brain function. Specifically, the drug tamps down the proteins that are necessary for neurons to communicate through synapses. However, the researchers found that the protein levels and synaptic communication return to normal when the drug is removed.

“There’s still a question in the cancer field about the degree to which some chemotherapies get into the brain,” said Mark Zylka, PhD, associate professor of cell biology and physiology and co-senior author of the PNAS paper. “But in our experiments, we show that if they do get in, they can have a dramatic effect on synaptic function. We think drug developers should be aware of this when testing their next generation of topoisomerase inhibitors.”

Read more at UNC Health Care.

Published Dec. 3, 2014