The Tar Heel field hockey team will play in the NCAA title game after a double-overtime 4-3 comeback win over Connecticut.

The #1-seeded Tar Heels will face Maryland in the championship at noon on November 19 at the University of Louisville’s Trager Stadium.

In the semifinal game, Connecticut scored three times in the first half, and Carolina didn’t get on the board until the 57th minute of play, after coach Karen Shelton had pulled freshman goalkeeper Sassi Ammer in favor of an additional field player. UNC got its first goal with 13:40 on the clock, when junior Jaclyn Gaudioso Radvany sent a ball to classmate Kelsey Kolojejchick, who shot from the left side of the cage to score her 22nd goal of the season.

UNC stayed without a goalie and continue to generate chances, but was unable to score again until the final minute of regulation. The Tar Heels drew a season-high 19 penalty corners in the game, but managed to score on only one with 54 seconds on the clock. Off the stick stop, senior Katelyn Falgowski sent the ball to junior Caitlin Van Sickle, who powered it past UConn keeper Sarah Mansfield to put the score at 3-2.

Carolina still trailed by one with less than a minute to play, but managed to quickly work the ball back into the circle and score again, with Gaudioso Radvany deflecting in a pass from Kolojejchick to tie the game at 3-3 with 23 seconds remaining. Ammer quickly subbed back into the game and the Tar Heels ran out the clock to send the game into overtime.

Carolina eventually scored in the 94th minute. Freshman Loren Shealy got a takeaway and passed the ball to Kolojejchick, who sent a reverse chip shot over UConn’s goalie for the gamewinner.

The Tar Heels are in the final four for the third year in a row and fourth time in the past five years. UNC won NCAA championships in 2007 and 2009 and finished as the runner-up in 2010. Carolina has won six titles in program history: 1989, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2007 and 2009.

Published November 17, 2011.

ROTC cadets and midshipmen will assemble in dress uniforms at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11 for the annual Veteran’s Day ceremony at UNC-Chapel Hill.

The free public ceremony will be outdoors at the Carolina Alumni Memorial in Memory of Those Lost in Military Service, located on Cameron Avenue between Phillips (120 E. Cameron) and Memorial halls. The rain site will be the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building at 325 Pittsboro St.

Members of the University and local communities, including veterans, are invited to attend. Limited parking is available in town pay lots off Rosemary Street. Attendees are invited to a reception after the ceremony.

A color guard representing all three UNC ROTC programs – Army, Air Force and Naval/Marine – will assemble at 10:40 a.m. before presenting the colors. Veterans will be asked to stand and be recognized as the conflict in which they served is named.

This year’s speaker will be retired Col. Bill Causey, a Greensboro native who graduated from Carolina in 1968. He later earned two master’s degrees, in business from Chapman University and in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College. He also completed the advanced management program in the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

By the end of 2012, Sakai will replace Blackboard as the University’s learning management system.

The move to Sakai provides an expanded set of tools for faculty and students, greater flexibility for collaboration and the exchange of ideas, and long-term sustainability, said Larry Conrad, vice chancellor for information technology and chief information officer.

Conrad and Charlie Green, assistant vice chancellor for teaching and learning, answer some questions about Sakai.

What led to the decision to switch to Sakai?
Green: We’ve used Blackboard as an online classroom tool for about 15 years, but its long-term adoption has remained relatively low. Only around 35 percent of our faculty members regularly use Blackboard.

A few years ago we started a pilot assessing alternative products and Sakai moved fairly quickly to the forefront as a favorite. We ran the pilot for two years to be sure faculty and students had an opportunity to examine the software thoroughly.

Conrad: The focus was to adopt something faculty members think will help them with their teaching and research. Those who participated in the pilot thought Sakai was a better way to go. Ultimately, the IT Executive Steering Committee, which is chaired by the provost, approved the change last fall

What features are built into Sakai?
Green: Overall, Sakai provides a tool that better meets our current needs, an improved interface for faculty and students, and an expanded feature set: portfolios, wikis, blogs, RSS feeds and tie-ins for social networking. Sakai was designed as a collaborative space, not simply as a course management tool.

What flexibility does Sakai offer?
Conrad: When Blackboard came out, it blazed a path. But it’s more of a Barbie doll type of marketing program, where you buy the doll but every time you want to get an accessory, you have to fork over more money.

Today, we want to consider extending our valid University constituency, whether it has international or distance learning or student education components. Blackboard has restrictions, which require signing an extension or buying another component. Sakai does not.

Green: Initially, learning management systems were about helping to manage course materials, providing access to the materials online and helping faculty members save time. But many instructors today want to use the system to encourage student engagement; researchers want to use it to facilitate collaboration with their colleagues; and committees, work groups and student organizations want it to provide a space for teams to work together online.

Can Sakai be adapted for future needs?
Green: Sakai is a community-sourced environment. That means it was designed by higher education for higher education. People who are interested in seeing improvements have an opportunity to become a member of the consortium and contribute code back to the community. So when one campus develops an interesting or useful feature, it’s made available for use by all.

Conrad: Sakai really has proven the concept of this community sourced development idea, where our colleagues around the country are making the decisions about development priorities.

It’s also important to look at who that community is. The challenges some universities face don’t compare with the challenges of places like Berkeley or Michigan, both of which run Sakai. The universities we see ourselves in the same league with use Sakai.

How easy is Sakai to use?
Conrad: One goal was to make the transition process as automated as possible. So we have a tool that will migrate most of the content – sort of “push a button” and it goes. Plus, we will provide ample training.

Green: We recently met with a faculty member who seemed a bit nervous about moving his materials over from Blackboard but wanted to get an early start on it. So he called us and we talked about what he wanted to accomplish.

Within an hour and 15 minutes, he had moved all of his Blackboard sites over to Sakai, and at the end he said, “This is the greatest thing. I could have done this myself. I’m loving it.” And we’re seeing this type of response from a number of our faculty.

Conrad: And to help with the pieces that don’t transition smoothly, we’re establishing a SWAT team approach to come in and work with a faculty member to figure out those issues. We’re trying to make this as painless and straightforward as we can.

When will faculty have to begin using Sakai?
Conrad: It will be a couple of years before we complete the move so we’re giving people plenty of time to transition. It’s up to each faculty member to decide when to move to Sakai, and we hope the early adopters will be so enthused, they’ll help spread the word.

Are there cost savings with Sakai?
Conrad: We know we’ll save $80,000 on the license, and we think there’s potential for other savings. But we think Sakai will be a better strategic platform for the University, and that’s the most important thing.

 

“Sueños Americanos/American Dreams,” an exhibition of works by painter Cornelio Campos, is on display through Oct. 15 in the FedEx Global Education Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Campos will speak about his work at a public reception and viewing at 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at the center.

The exhibit includes more than 30 paintings, primarily in acrylic on canvas, ranging from 5 inches by 7 inches to 48 inches by 96 inches. Many of the paintings juxtapose icons of American and Mexican culture to address such contemporary political issues as immigration, the U.S.-Mexico border and cultural identity.

In his artist’s statement, Campos notes that the pieces address a number of issues “faced by people from Central and South America – the lingering cultural significance of Spanish colonization and the experience of creating a life in a new country.”

Born in Mexico, Campos now lives in the United States. Using a folkloric art style, he presents such everyday scenes of Mexican life as selling handmade crafts, connecting with family and celebrating religious traditions.

This exhibition, with text in English and Spanish, is co-sponsored by the geography department with support from the North Carolina State University interdisciplinary studies department.

The center, at 301 Pittsboro Street, is at the corner of Pittsboro and McCauley streets. Parking may be available in the garage under the building weekdays after 5 p.m. and on Saturdays. Building hours are weekdays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. beginning Aug. 20. Before Aug. 20, the building is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The University has made some important changes in when and how you will be contacted about a campus safety issue.

The revised emergency communications plan reflects input from student leaders as part of a review of campus procedures that also drew from a process developed at Virginia Tech, Director of Public Safety Jeff McCracken wrote in a campus email message.

“The result is a clearer, more straightforward approach to letting you know what to expect up front,” he said.

Effective September 1, the University uses three types of alert conditions – emergency warning, timely warning and informational notification.

(Click here to view a downloadable color web poster explaining these categories.)

• Emergency warning is a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to health or safety. As with the previous plan, UNC will sound the sirens and send text messages to registered cell phones immediately after a threat is confirmed. Scenarios are an armed and dangerous person, a chemical hazard, a tornado warning issued for Orange County, or some other significant general threat to safety.

• Timely warning is a notification about certain crimes covered under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act when the information is available so people can protect themselves or their property from similar crimes. This notification will occur only if the Department of Public Safety determines there is a continuing danger to the campus AND if issuing the timely warning won’t compromise law enforcement efforts to address the crime. A general text message will be followed by updates on the Alert Carolina website, alertcarolina.unc.edu. The sirens will not sound. Timely warnings also cover a tornado watch issued for Orange County.

• Informational notification is for a less-urgent situation that involves health or safety issues, but doesn’t pose an immediate threat. The University will send an email and post information on the Alert Carolina website. Examples include a situation in which a perpetrator in a violent crime has been arrested or is no longer on campus or there is a major natural gas leak that doesn’t warrant evacuation.

The new plan is posted on the Alert Carolina website. The University’s YouTube Channel also features a video with McCracken explaining the plan.

More information

Published September 1, 2011.

Wade H. Hargrove of Raleigh, a corporate and national media lawyer and partner with Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard LLP, was elected chairman of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees on July 27.

Hargrove was appointed in 2009 to the Board of Trustees, a 13-member board responsible for governing the University. He has been a member of its Buildings and Grounds Committee.

“Serving the Board of Trustees as chair is an important responsibility and a great honor,” Hargrove said. “I look forward to working with the trustees, the administration, faculty, students and alumni to do all we can to assure that the University fulfills its mission of teaching, research and public service even as we – as do other public and private institutions – face significant economic challenges.”

Also taking the oath of office as new members were W. Lowry Caudill of Durham, co-founder of Magellan Laboratories and retired president of Pharmaceutical Development for Cardinal Health, and Steven J. Lerner of Chapel Hill, founder and chairman of the Board of Directors of both Capstrat and FGI and managing partner of the Blue Hill Group. Caudill was appointed by the 17-campus UNC system’s Board of Governors. Lerner was appointed by Gov. Beverly Perdue, who will make a second appointment to the board at a later date. Mary Cooper, a senior from Nashville, Tenn., was sworn in as a new trustee May 25 to fill the ex-officio seat held by the student body president.

UNC Board of Trustees members are sworn in July 27, 2011: left to right, Steven J. Lerner, Sallie Shuping-Russell, W. Lowry Caudill, Alston Gardner and Phillip L. Clay. Willis Whichard, associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and UNC alumnus, delivers the oath.

As a student at UNC, Hargrove was a Jefferson Standard Foundation and Alumni Scholar. He was active in student government and was initiated into the Order of the Golden Fleece. He earned his bachelor’s degree with honors in 1962 and a UNC law degree three years later. A former member of the University’s Board of Visitors and the School of Journalism and Mass Communications Board of Visitors, Hargrove served on the advisory committee of the Center for Media Law and Policy and the General Alumni Association Board of Directors. For the School of Law, he served as alumni association president.

Hargrove was the driving force behind the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy, a national forum for the media industry, legal scholars and practitioners to discuss emerging issues at the intersection of media and law. The center is a collaboration of the UNC journalism and law schools. In 2009, he was honored with the establishment of an annual media law colloquium at Carolina that was named for him.

Caudill earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at UNC in 1979 and a doctorate in analytical chemistry at Indiana University in 1983. He returned to North Carolina as one of the two scientists who created Magellan Laboratories, a pharmaceutical development company based in Research Triangle Park. An active entrepreneur and supporter of entrepreneurial endeavors, Caudill is chair of the Chancellor’s Innovation Circle. That group’s work resulted in the Innovate@Carolina Roadmap, a plan launched in 2010 to help Carolina become a world leader in launching university-born ideas for the good of society.

Read more.

Published July 27, 2011.

Its ambitious Build a Block project led to Carolina’s selection as Campus Chapter of the Year, Habitat for Humanity International. The award comes with a $4,500 grant from State Farm Insurance, the national corporate sponsor of Habitat’s youth programs, that can be used for a Habitat for Humanity school break volunteer trip or to aid in local affiliate homebuilding.

“We commend the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill campus chapter members for their commitment to help families in need of affordable housing,” said Cody Logsdon, volunteer engagement manager, Habitat for Humanity International. “Habitat’s more than 500 campus chapters play a significant role in our work to eliminate poverty housing.”

In the Build a Block project, students, faculty and staff came together to help families of employees at the University and UNC Health Care build 10 Habitat houses in the Phoenix Place neighborhood. The Habitat model of “sweat equity,” donations and nonprofit mortgages enables low-income families to “build community, one home at a time.”

But Build a Block’s slogan was “10 houses, 10 families, 1 Carolina.” Families have moved into five of the houses and the remaining five should be completed by the end of August, said Susan Bourner, development director for Habitat for Humanity Orange County. Donations are welcome for the project, as Build a Block closes in on its $350,000 fundraising goal.

“Carolina Collects: 150 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art,” on view through Dec. 4 at the Ackland Art Museum, showcases works from the private collections of 60 Carolina alumni whose degrees span more than 50 years.

The collection offers an overview of art from the past 150 years through paintings, drawings, prints, photographs and sculptures, many of which have rarely been exhibited. Works in “Carolina Collects” range from an oil painting by Claude Monet to an Alexander Calder standing mobile, and from a Pablo Picasso gouache to a suspended sculpture by Olafur Eliasson.

“When we initially conceived this exhibition, we knew that art plays an important role in the lives of Carolina alumni,” said museum director Emily Kass. “We’ve been overwhelmed by the breadth and quality of the alumni collections of modern and contemporary art that we’ve been able to discover. The works on view are a testament to the degree to which the University’s graduates have made art an important part of their lives.”

“Carolina Collects’ is a real tribute to the deep intellectualism and sharp visual sense that Carolina has nurtured in so many of its alumni, said Dr. Sheldon Peck of Newton, Mass., who earned bachelor’s and dental degrees at UNC. “I began collecting art seriously 12 years after graduation, always with a sense of quality that I learned from the precious humanities electives I fit into my busy pre-med curriculum at Carolina,” he said.

In conjunction with their Sept. 21 meetings, the University’s Board of Trustees saw the exhibit during a dinner at the museum. Three board members loaned eight artworks for the exhibition: Barbara Rosser Hyde, board vice chair, of Memphis, Tenn.; John G.B. Ellison Jr. of Greensboro; and John L. Townsend III of Greenwich, Conn.

Exhibition curator and Ackland chief curator Peter Nisbet said he knew of only one other public university that has exhibited art owned by alumni, and that was more than 40 years ago. Programs related to “Carolina Collects” are listed at www.ackland.org.

The third annual Butch and Tammy Davis Tailgate Golf Tournament and BBQ to benefit SECU Family House at UNC Hospitals will take place April 28-29, 2011.

All proceeds from the tournament and auction benefit SECU Family House at UNC Hospitals, a hospitality house providing comfortable, convenient and affordable housing and support services for patients undergoing treatment for critical illness or trauma. Over the last two years, the event has raised more than $250,000.

“Tammy and I are pleased to be a part of an event that has such a tremendous impact in the Chapel Hill community and the state of North Carolina,” said Davis, who is entering his fifth season as UNC’s head coach. “We have formed a great relationship with the SECU Family House since arriving in Chapel Hill.”

The tailgate barbeque will take place on the grounds of the SECU Family House (123 Old Mason Farm Rd, Chapel Hill, NC) on Thursday, April 28. Registration fee is $50 per person. The event includes a short program, live music, and a silent and live auction of donated gifts, including sports memorabilia and other prizes. UNC radio play-by-play man Woody Durham will serve as the emcee of the event and auctioneer Dan Basnight will conduct the live auction.

The Friday golf tournament is already sold out, but this year, the SECU Family House will auction off an additional golf opportunity with Coach Davis and Woody Durham (9 holes each) on Thursday at Old Chatham Golf Course at 10 a.m. This special golf event is limited to six slots and bids starting at $1,000. Bidding will close March 31st and winners will be notified on April 1st. The top six bidders will be offered a complimentary spot at Thursday evening’s BBQ and Auction. Go to secufamilyhouse.org to place your bid.

In Davis’ first year at UNC in 2007, he was diagnosed and treated for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. That same year, two of Tammy’s immediate family members were diagnosed with cancer and have since passed away. The Davises are mindful of need for lodging and long-term nurture and support of both critical care patients and their caregivers.

“Like many people, we have been touched by a critical medical issue or illness and we realize the importance of having available housing and support for family members,” said Davis. “This is one small way we could give back to the community and we encourage everyone to become involved.”

The Davises are the biggest financial sponsors of the tournament, and, in 2008, made a significant contribution to the SECU building campaign to underwrite one of the Family House bedrooms. Tammy regularly delivers in-kind gifts of kitchen supplies, children’s games, TVs, and more to the facility, and their son, Drew, has done some volunteer work for the Family House.

For more information on the Tailgate Golf Tournament and BBQ, or to bid on Thursday’s golf opportunity, go to secufamilyhouse.org or contact Yvonne Knutson at 919-932-8001.

Fraternity and sorority members at Carolina joined forces with the Chapel Hill Fire Department to conduct off-campus housing inspections and help install smoke alarms.

The service project is part of the national “Help Save a Life, Get on the Truck” campus fire safety campaign coordinated by the Michael H. Minger Foundation and funded by a Fire Prevention and Safety Grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Gov. Bev Perdue helped kick off the national campaign earlier this month at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house, site of a fatal fire in 1996.

The campaign will encourage student to participate in fire safety community service projects with their fire departments during September, National Campus Fire Safety Month. Carolina also conducted a Campus Fire Safety Fair Sept. 23 on Polk Place.

Watch the project in action.