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Nortel set to cut 350 jobs locally
Michael L. Walden, agricultural and resource economics
N.C.
Lawmakers See GOP Scheme To Kill Tobacco Buyout
Blake Brown, agricultural and resource economics
N.C.
Voters Eagerly Await Presidential Debates
Andrew Taylor, political science
NCSU
Study Under Way To Keep Deer Off Roads
Researchers at North Carolina State University hope data from a surveillance
camera helps reduce deer wrecks.
Program
to focus on nonprofits
Institute for Nonprofits
NCSU
tailgate shooting update
tailgate shooting
Some
N.C. voters look to presidential debate for guidance
students
Letter
to the editor: Poor planning for Dix
land
Point
of view: Rental problems
New ordinance would help with housing
Library
of Congress picks eight contractors for digital archiving
Libraries
Cotton
industry hosting CBI apparel makers
Research specialists from Cotton Incorporated, North Carolina State University
and TC(2) will conduct the seminar.
Nortel set to cut 350 jobs locally
Oct. 1, 2004
News & Observer
By JONATHAN B. COX
© Copyright 2004
Nortel Networks said Thursday that it will cut 350 Triangle jobs as the once-shining symbol of the region's tech economy dims amid an accounting scandal and increasing competition.
The telecommunications gear maker will pare 3,250 positions globally, 250 fewer than it predicted in August, to reduce expenses. Two-thirds of the workers affected by the layoffs will be notified by year's end. The rest will learn their fate by July.
Nortel cut 60,000 jobs, including 4,500 in the Triangle, in four years as it struggled to contend with an economic slowdown that sapped demand for networking equipment. It had previously announced the latest round of cuts, but didn't provide a geographic breakdown until Thursday.
The reductions at its Research Triangle Park campus will affect nearly 12 percent of its work force. Nortel employs 3,000 at the site.
"Anytime we lose jobs of this magnitude, it causes us to sit up and look," said Michael L. Walden, an economist at N.C. State University. "I don't think we should view this with panic."
Overall, the Triangle's economy is in better shape than in recent years. The unemployment rate in August, adjusted for seasonal factors, dropped one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.4 percent.
Companies including Cree, the Durham semiconductor maker, Red Hat, the Raleigh software company, and AW North Carolina, the transmission manufacturer, have been hiring. That means the economy likely can more easily absorb the laid-off workers than those dismissed from Nortel earlier this decade.
Nortel Chief Executive Bill Owens said in August that most of the cuts will be among managers as the company restructures into two business units from four. It will eliminate 1,400 jobs in the United States, 950 in Canada, 650 in the Middle East and Africa and 250 in other locations.
Owens is trying to right the business after improper bookkeeping masked its true condition. In April, Nortel fired Chief Executive Frank Dunn and two other senior executives after finding the faulty accounting. It later fired seven other executives.
Nortel is restating financial results from 2001 to 2003. The Canadian company is under review by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Ontario Securities Commission. It is the subject of separate U.S. and Canadian criminal probes.
The job reductions will help put the company back on track by "streamlining our business to drive more efficient operations," Owens said in a statement.
Nortel will cut fewer workers than earlier predicted because it is paring other expenses, including real estate. The company said it will vacate about 2 million square feet by the end of 2005.
The Triangle should not be affected, the company said. Nortel flooded the local real estate market with more than 1 million square feet of space during the economic downturn. It has consolidated operations in RTP.
The expense plan is geared to "disproportionately protect customer and sales" jobs, Owens said. The objective is to ensure Nortel has "the appropriate levels of investment in key growth businesses and markets."
Nortel is falling behind rivals. Competition is intensifying with large companies such as Cisco Systems and smaller ones in low-cost countries such as China. Nortel expects sales in 2004 to rise at a rate in the "mid-single digits," slower than the overall market.
The past few months have marked a setback for the company. Nortel appeared to be on the mend earlier this year, before the accounting woes came to light. Its stock had rebounded. Customers were ordering more gear. It was the best-performing company among the largest telephone-gear makers.
Shares of Nortel fell 11 cents to $3.40 Thursday. They have declined 20 percent this year.
Local leaders are hopeful that the company, a symbol of the region's successes and struggles during the dot-com boom and bust, will rise again.
"Nortel has been a huge part of this economy," said Thomas J. White, president of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce. "Hopefully, they can stabilize."
Oct. 1, 2004
Associated Press, Charlotte Observer; NBC-17; WCNC; Wilmington Morning Star; Winston-Salem Journal; Gainesville Sun, FL; The State, SC; WVEC.com, VA
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Democratic congressmen from the Carolinas' tobacco belt say they see a "cynical ploy'' by Republican leaders in the U.S. House to kill a proposed tobacco quota buyout rather than accept federal oversight for cigarette-makers.
The buyout is part of a larger bill on corporate taxes currently being debated by a House-Senate conference committee. In a teleconference Thursday, five lawmakers from North Carolina and South Carolina said they fear the buyout will be lost in a stalemate over giving the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate the tobacco industry.
"It'll sacrifice the buyout, it'll sacrifice our farmers,'' Rep. David Price said. "It's a cynical ploy. It'll close the window on the last best chance we have for a buyout, because we all know quotas are going down radically.''
A buyout would pay farmers to leave the quota system, a decades-old federal program that sets price and production controls on U.S. leaf.
The Senate voted 78-15 for its version of the buyout, which includes FDA oversight. Its $13 billion plan calls for making payments of $8 per pound for quota holders and $4 per pound for growers based on 2002 quota levels, funded by an annual assessment on tobacco companies based on their volume of domestic sales.
The $9.6 billion House plan, which doesn't include FDA oversight, would make payments of $7 per pound for quota holders and $3 per pound for growers based on 2002, using money from current tobacco excise taxes.
U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C., said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., "floated a draft conference report yesterday that didn't even include the buyout. That's absolutely unacceptable.''
Thomas, who is chairing the negotiations, said Wednesday that the 98-page document included only those parts of the corporate tax bill on which the House and Senate already agree, and the rest will be discussed in talks beginning next week.
But the Carolina Democrats _ North Carolina's Etheridge, Price, G.K. Butterfield and Brad Miller, and John Spratt of South Carolina _ said they fear the buyout is about to get dropped.
Miller said the House's Republican leaders know the corporate tax bill will never pass the Senate without the FDA's inclusion.
He and the others predicted the committee will forward a compromise bill that includes a buyout without the FDA. The Senate would reject it, and then the bill would be rewritten to remove the quota buyout entirely, they said.
"It's the worst kind of political gamesmanship. It is exactly what people do not like about Washington politics,'' Miller said. "What they want to do is blame someone else for the failure to pass a tobacco buyout.''
There's no chance the entire measure would fail, Spratt said, because of the number of companies that are affected by the primary part of the bill, which would replace an outlawed export subsidy program with alternative tax breaks.
"They will be pressing,'' he said.
Of the 18 House members of the committee, only two are from states that produce any significant amount of tobacco: Republicans Richard Burr of North Carolina and Bob Goodlatte of Virginia. Of the other 16, 10 are Republicans and six are Democrats.
Burr, now running for the Senate, has said he is willing to compromise on FDA regulation to get a buyout, but doesn't believe the FDA regulation is necessary for the buyout to survive, said Burr spokesman Chris Joyner.
"Congressman Burr's priority is, has been and remains enactment of the buyout and we are at too critical a point to be playing politics with it,'' Joyner said.
Etheridge noted that many House buyout supporters members initially opposed the FDA's inclusion, but most came to accept it as a necessary evil or even a good thing.
Tobacco farmers faced with dwindling quotas "don't think a prolonged fight over FDA is important,'' he said.
He referred to a report in April by N.C. State agricultural economist Blake Brown, who predicted that increases in the Brazilian tobacco crop and a growing crop in China will lead the United States to cut the amount of tobacco that domestic growers can produce. He forecast a 33 percent cut in the quota for 2005, which would cause a loss of $200 million in income in North Carolina alone.
"I don't think there's anything contrived at all about the sense of urgency we're conveying,'' Price said. "The tobacco program is dying before our eyes as the quotas get cut back each year, as more and more leaf goes under contract. This is something we need to do now.''
Sept. 30, 2004
News 14 Carolina
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
Brothers charged with murdering two people tailgating at an NC State football game face additional charges.
The News and Observer reports Timothy and Tony Johnson also face robbery with a dangerous weapon and first degree burglary charges.
These stem from a Raleigh armed robbery in August, involving money drugs and guns.
Investigators said one of those guns was used to shoot Kevin McCann and Brett Harman at a tailgating party September 4.
Three other men were charged in the home invasion along with the Johnson brothers.
The brothers are in jail and were indicted on first degree murder charges earlier this week.
NCSU Study Under Way To Keep Deer Off Roads
Sept. 30, 2004
WRAL
By Mark Roberts
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Researchers at North Carolina State University hope data from a surveillance camera helps reduce deer wrecks.
The camera is trained on an underpass at the Highway 15-501 bridge over New Hope Creek.
When the bridge is widened next summer, engineers will spend $1.2 million to add additional wildlife underpasses. Researchers are trying to show how fencing can guide animals to underpasses, keeping them off the roads and away from our cars.
"There are millions and millions of dollars at least in property damage and medical bills from vehicle accidents," student Andrea Kleist said. "Anything to reduce those effects and make the roads safer for humans and wildlife is a step in the right direction."
Officials said one of the worst years for deer-related crashes was in 2002, with 14,000 in North Carolina alone. Wake County had the most deer-related wrecks in the state. The wrecks caused $13 million in damages.
Some N.C. voters look to presidential debate for guidance
Oct. 1, 2004
Associated Press; Charlotte Observer; Durham Herald-Sun; Greensboro News & Record; NBC 17; WCNC; Winston-Salem Journal; Kansas.com, KS; Miami Herald; Nuevo Mundo; philly.com; San Jose Mercury News, CA; The State, SC; WVEC
By Aaron Beard
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH (AP) — For many North Carolinians, the presidential debate Thursday night debate offered the first chance to hear President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry face off and clearly state their positions on everything from the war in Iraq to health care.
For many students at North Carolina State University, it was their first time of listening to a debate in preparation to vote in a presidential election.
"I'm just kind of taking it in, and learning right now and doing more research," said 19-year-old Kelly Gilliam, a sophomore from Burlington who was holding a Bush-Cheney sign and said she was leaning toward voting for the incumbent.
Gilliam was one of about 250 students who gathered in the campus movie theater to watch the debate from Coral Gables, Fla. Party volunteers staffed tables in the lobby offering bumper stickers for the candidates and voter registration forms.
The debates could be key in swaying undecided voters in what many polls consider to be a close race. They could be especially important for Kerry's hopes in North Carolina, which hasn't voted for a Democratic president since 1976.
In the theater, however, it appeared many people had already settled on a favorite. They cheered some of the remarks of the candidates and waved signs in support of some of their remarks.
Stephanie Canady, a sophomore from Clayton, said younger voters are more aware of the importance of voting in this election. Republicans and Democrats on campus were pushing hard to register voters this year, she said.
"To me, it's disturbing to see how few people in this age group really do care with these issues that do truly affect our future," said Canady, who said she would probably vote for Kerry. "I do think our age group is going to be crucial in deciding this election, and it gives me hope to see turnouts like this and see people are coming to hear both sides of the issue."
Their views could be representative of a key voting demographic, a Duke University lecturer said Thursday. Alma Blount, director of the Hart Leadership Program at Duke's Terry Sanford Institute for Public Policy, said young voters could decide the election though it was unclear which way they lean.
In a news release, Blount said many college-age voters identify themselves as independents, making it difficult to predict how they'll vote.
"This group is the wild card," Blount said.
"We tend to think that young people are a bit more liberal, iconoclastic, more prone to buck authority," she said, "but many analysts think that this generation is more conservative than the last."
Many Democrats hoped the addition of North Carolina senator John Edwards, a Robbins native and former Raleigh trial lawyer, would provide a boost in the state. But polls continue to show the ticket of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney leading Kerry-Edwards in North Carolina.
Several likely voters interviewed by The Associated Press before the debate said the addition of Edwards probably wouldn't affect their vote.
But in one case, the addition of Edwards to the ticket hurt Kerry in this state. Matthew Young, an emergency room physician from Raleigh, said he would vote for Bush. The independent voter said Edwards' time pursuing lawsuits against the medical industry cost the Democrat his support.
"I don't like John Edwards," Young said. "Most physicians don't like him."
Susan Gardner of Cary said she would vote for Kerry, and that she was most concerned with the environment and women's issues.
Gardner said she would watch the debate with her family, which included her 13-year-old son, Ben. She said Ben was more interested in politics because several students at school were beginning to debate who they wanted to win next month's election.
"I feel like if people were more educated or willing to go beyond these blurbs you see on TV or the headlines you see in the newspaper, and actually read about what the issues are, they wouldn't be supporting this idiot who's in the White House," Gardner said.
Brandon Horne, 24, of Chapel Hill, said he was more likely to vote for Kerry simply to vote against Bush.
"This is the only president that I've ever been uncomfortable with, like uncomfortable with feeling that he's not telling the truth," Horne said, adding that he still planned to watch the debate.
Dave Heeter, a retired attorney, said he planned to vote for Kerry, but that he was prepared for a series of "fairly acrimonious" exchanges by the candidates.
"Hopefully, they will talk to the issues," Heeter said. "I am getting tired of (political attacks), but it seems to go on."
N.C. Voters Eagerly Await Presidential Debates
Sept. 30, 2004
NBC-17
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina is no longer considered a battleground state, but many local voters plan to watch Thursday night's debate between President George W. Bush and U.S. Sen. John Kerry with great interest.
The Miami debate is expected to be the most watched of the three face-offs between the Republican president and his Democratic challenger over the next two weeks. Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina will debate once next Tuesday.
Voters agree that it's important to learn the positions of the candidates by watching the debates, but some said the war of words likely wouldn't change their votes.
"I will watch it," Anthony Carmanica said. "It may sway my opinion, (but) I don't think so."
North Carolina State University political science professor Andy Taylor said debates generally don't change voters' minds. Although this is a close election, he said North Carolina most likely would remain a red-hot Republican state -- even with Edwards on the ticket.
"The big question is whether it will go from a strong Bush state to a battleground state," Taylor said. "At the moment, it's going from a strong Bush state to a weak Bush state."
Patrick O'Boyle is among the small pool of undecided local voters. He said the debates would help him make his choice for president.
"I don't understand what John Kerry is saying. Every time I hear him, he doesn't clarify his point," O'Boyle said. "If he can answer and clarify points, then he can sway my vote."
Duke University debate expert Richard O'Dor said the most decisive candidate would win the debates.
"If Kerry changes strategy -- shorter sentences, not long explanations -- that might throw Bush off."
But the Kerry team is well aware that Bush has never lost a debate, and with this first debate focusing on foreign policy, Bush backers in North Carolina are confident the president can hold his own.
The Kerry-Edwards team is expected to make a late advertising push in North Carolina, but much of the campaigning will continue to center on battleground states in the Midwest.
Letter to the editor: Poor planning for Dix
Oct. 1, 2004
News & Observer
© Copyright 2004
On Sept. 28, Raleigh took a step backwards at the Dorothea Dix property. Having recently acquired the most choice property of the campus, N.C. State University won a significant vote at the Raleigh Planning Commission to develop the Spring Hill Precinct without regards to normal zoning restrictions.
This type of special status is normally subject to approval by adjacent property owners. However, contrary to the Comprehensive Plan, the commission staff labeled the Pullen Park Terrace (Kirby-Bilyeu) neighborhood as "insignificant" and thought an increase in setback was generous enough.
What the Planning Commission failed to realize is that the rest of Raleigh does not regard careful development of the Dix property as "insignificant." Earlier this year, both the city and the state pooled together $200,000 to create a master plan of the entire campus. Although the Spring Hill Precinct is enveloped by, and a principal part of this land, N.C. State prefers their "island" to be beyond this process.
Further isolating itself, the university refuses to abide by the Urban Design Guidelines enacted just two years ago. More important, it refuses to even attach a joint design guidelines agreement reached with adjacent property owners after two years of intensive meetings.
So having bypassed the Dix Master Plan, the Urban Design Guidelines, the Joint Design Guidelines, the Open Space Guidelines and even the Raleigh Comprehensive Plan, N.C. State could now take the top of Dix Hill, kill its great view to downtown, clear-cut an impressive stand of old oak trees and erect massive "Centennial-style" R&D buildings without answering to any oversight. City staff may consider objections as "insignificant," but how significant is a Planning Commission that disregards careful development of Dix and won't even enforce its own guidelines?
Aly Khalifa
Raleigh
Oct. 1, 2004
News & Observer
By Bob Mulder
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH -- Ignoring the needs of older, more affordable neighborhoods makes about as much sense as filling in flood plains: it's just plain stupid. I hear people talk about the difficulty of building affordable housing in today's market. What about preventing the deterioration of our existing, affordable older neighborhoods?
I wonder if the Raleigh City Council as a whole has come to a complete understanding of the extreme frustration felt by many responsible homeowners at the incremental damage done to neighborhoods by those landlords who pay little or no attention to their properties. Responsible tenants who live next door to a problem can simply move to a better location. Homeowners with a mortgage don't always have that option.
The vast majority of problems stem from landlords who simply do not see the need to visit, inspect and maintain their properties frequently. Yet it is the landlord's primary responsibility to monitor tenant behavior. It is not the responsibility of the inspections department, the police -- and most certainly not the neighbors.
• • •
I once told a neighbor that parking his car in the front yard didn't look very good, that it left a bad impression on visitors or potential homebuyers, and that it was ruining his lawn. I said that he would never see cars parked in front yards in subdivisions such as Country Club Hills, Stonebridge or Brookhaven, and why should we tolerate it here?
He exploded in rage, and told me in very colorful language that he could park his car anywhere he "colorfully" pleased. So much for "neighborly" discussion.
Anyway, not every property owner is inclined to speak directly to his or her neighbor about a problem. They may fear retribution, or an in-your-face response. Most people think that moving is their only option. So they move, an investor purchases their home -- and there is another potential nail in the neighborhood's coffin.
If landlords think that current laws are tilted towards the tenant, they should work to make the playing field more level. A sound argument could be made that inaction over many years on this issue is to some degree responsible for the situation in which we now find ourselves.
• • •
Some people seem to think that a proposed city ordinance now under consideration to help correct some of these problems -- the Probationary Rental Occupancy Permit (PROP) -- is unnecessary because the problems are not as great as others think. Then why do some real estate agents steer people away from the neighborhoods around N.C. State University because "there are too many students" in those areas? And why do they steer people away from some of our older 1960s subdivisions because "there are too many rentals?"
While this activity may not be a violation of the Fair Housing Act, it is in a sense discriminatory. Real estate agents need to realize the damage they are doing. Would any agent steer people away from neighborhoods such as Drewry Hills, Country Life Estates, Evans Mill, Hayes Barton, Country Club Hills or Quail Hollow because there are students or rental properties in these neighborhoods?
Some cite "unintended consequences" as a reason not to pass the PROP proposal. If fear of unintended consequences becomes the sole reason for denying proposed ordinances, then none of our current rules and regulations should ever have been passed.
Not passing PROP would have serious repercussions for neighborhoods that far outweigh any consequences to landlords. There will always be tenants who are vindictive and refuse to pay rent, but are we going to allow our affordable neighborhoods to hit rock bottom because PROP might cause some unintended consequences?
If landlords are allowed to opt out of PROP if they could show a violation was out of their control, then the ordinance would be severely weakened. Most violations by tenants are unpredictable and are generally out of a landlord's control, but this is not the issue. The issue is how a landlord responds to these violations. If, for example, a lease specifies that the tenant mow the lawn weekly, the landlord needs to enforce the lease.
PROP boils down to a simple formula: regularly occurring tenant problems + no action by the landlord + the threat of suspension or revocation of license + the possible threat or interruption of cash flow = immediate action to address the problem.
Are older, affordable neighborhoods important? We will soon find out.
(Bob Mulder is a former chairman of the Raleigh Planning Commission.)
Program to focus on nonprofits
Oct. 1, 2004
News & Observer
By SAMANTHA THOMPSON SMITH
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH -- This is a tough time to be a nonprofit.
But Dennis Young, the founder and president of the Arlington, Va.,-based National Center on Nonprofit Enterprise, is hoping he can help make life a little easier for them.
Young will speak Monday on "Social Enterprise: A Strategy for Nonprofit Mission and Sustainability" at N.C. State University's Institute for Nonprofits, a year-old program operated through State's College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The institute is funded through the A.J. Fletcher Foundation in Raleigh.
Young will be at State for two days to talk to faculty and students involved in nonprofit work. They will meet during workshops and seminars to discuss the state of nonprofits and how to best manage them.
The top of his agenda during Monday's seminar -- which will be open to the public -- will be social entrepreneurship. He wants to teach nonprofits about how they can create profit-making entities that can help fund new programs and services. Part of the talk will focus on the various risks that nonprofits face when considering entering a business ventures and how best to measure success. He also will discuss the importance of business acumen and mission focus.
"What nonprofits have been trying to do more and more of in the last decade is to build their resources by creating enterprises and creating services and finding new ways of doing things," he said.
The need for nonprofits to get smarter about funding is greater than ever. Donations have declined in recent years because of tougher economic times. At the same time, demand for many nonprofits' services is stronger.
Managing their programs with fewer resources has been a challenge for nonprofit directors and their boards.
"We're entering a period where things are better for nonprofits, but there still is a lot of worry," Young said. "It's still a difficult time to manage in that sector."
WHAT: A talk by Dennis Young, a professor of nonprofit management and leadership at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
WHEN: 9 to 11:30 a.m.
WHERE: Jane S. McKimmon Center at Gorman Street and Western Boulevard, Raleigh.
COST: $25.
TO REGISTER: Call 515-2261 or go to www.continuingeducation.ncsu.edu
New UCSD leader seen as efficient, demanding and deadline-driven
Oct. 1, 2004
San Diego Union Tribune, CA
By Eleanor Yang
© Copyright 2004
Marye Anne Fox, the newly appointed chancellor at UC San Diego, says her greatest flaw is her impatience.
"I tend to rush things," Fox said. "You don't succeed as an academic unless you're aggressive."
Years of quick decisions and self-imposed deadlines have yielded results for Fox – and occasional criticism – as a university leader, renowned scientist, and a mother who raised five boys.
As a young mother, Fox finished her Ph.D. in chemistry in three years. Then she became the third female chemist elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences.
In her six years leading North Carolina State University in Raleigh, Fox set a new tone and wasn't afraid to fire popular administrators and even a football coach whose work she found unsatisfactory.
"She was generally seen as a hard manager, someone who really pushed time limits," said Dennis Daley, head of the faculty senate at North Carolina State. "Things that used to take one year to get done took six months under Marye Anne."
Since arriving on campus at UC San Diego last month, Fox, 56, has been characteristically efficient. With the help of administrators, she established, even before the recent start of the fall term, five goals for the university:
If her past performance is any indication, colleagues say to expect great things at UCSD.
"She'll do extremely well," said longtime friend Richard Atkinson, the former UCSD chancellor and former UC president. "She's really ideal for UCSD because there's such a strong emphasis on academics and graduate education and quality of instruction."
No small talk
Fox's tenure at North Carolina State was bumpy at times, but productive.
"
With some administrators, I had a lot of small talk, but not with Chancellor
Fox," said Tony Caravano, student body president at NC State. "When
we met, I had to be at the top of my game and time was of the essence."
Fox proved to be an adept fund-raiser and lobbyist for the university, working to raise the university's profile by focusing on increasing business collaborations on campus.
Under her leadership, research spending on campus jumped from $380 million to $480 million. The university's endowment grew by nearly $80 million, or 37 percent.
"When Chancellor Fox came here, we were a happy and good institution, but she woke us up to a whole other level that we could aspire to," said Katharine Perry, NC State's senior vice provost for academic affairs.
Under Fox, things started changing. For instance, for more than 20 years the university had conducted faculty salary studies to measure the differences in salaries between comparably experienced male, minority male and female professors. In 2000, for the first time since the university started conducting the studies, Fox designated a considerable amount – $720,000 – to close those gaps. Women at the time were being paid about $1,200 less and minority male professors about $2,400 less.
"It was the first time the university had put its money where its mouth was," said Joanne Woodard, NC State's vice provost for equal opportunity and equity.
One of the dark moments in her tenure occurred about two years ago, when she fired two of the provost's top officers, and the provost retired in protest. In a rare move, the faculty senate voted 29-6 to censure her, saying her actions damaged the relationship between the faculty and administration and showed a lack of judgment.
"It definitely wasn't a very Southern way of handling the situation," said NC State Vice Provost Sam Averitt.
Afterward, Fox spent months embarking on a self-improvement campaign of sorts, working with a management coach and spending time at a leadership institute.
With students, Fox has kept up a rapport.
One of her fondest memories from campus was about three years ago, when more than 200 students showed up at her house after midnight to protest a reduction in library hours.
"We had a grand time," Fox recalled. "I was so proud of them for being there about an academic issue."
Research on a lark
As Fox's mother, Lucille Payne, tells it, she tried to send a message to the
world early on that her daughter is unique.
"
I wanted a Mary Anne, but I wanted her to be distinctive, so I added an extra
'e' on the end," said Payne, 83, who lives in Canton, Ohio, where Fox
was born.
Payne said she and her husband tried to instill the values of honesty, respect and faith into their daughter by making sure she was responsible for her actions and attended good schools.
Fox excelled in school and, after receiving her master's degree, felt she had a duty to teach in public schools. She started teaching math in what she described as a "very rough" Cleveland school.
"After that experience, I was so motivated to teach," she said. "No one was spending any time with these kids."
But after one year, she followed her then-husband to Dartmouth, where he did his medical school residency. She had no luck finding a teaching position, she said, so, on a lark, she pursued her Ph.D.
Fox gets excited when discussing science. Her eyes light up and her arms move in circles as she describes molecule formations.
"Chemistry is so elegant," Fox said. "I made a molecule once that was tetrahedral, so it looked like a pyramid. When we made the crystals, it was sort of the same sensation I had giving birth – that I had brought something new into the world with unlimited possibility."
Fox's three sons and two stepsons talk of being raised to think.
Her youngest son, Matthew, 23, who is now a medical student in Texas, recalls his mother reading cultural history to him, instead of traditional nursery books. Dinners were filled with lively discussions on daily headlines, politics and historical events.
"She was very guiding," Matthew Fox recalled. "She always wanted all sides of an issue discussed."
Before starting down the administrative track, Fox established a name for herself as a physical organic chemist. She has written about 400 scientific articles and several books.
Even now, although she spends just a few hours in her lab every week, colleagues say she's at the forefront of the field of photochemistry.
"She continues to be one of the important people in the field," said John Brauman, a chemistry professor at Stanford University who also is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Since 1994, Fox has worked in management, first as head of research at the University of Texas at Austin, then as chancellor at NC State. She's been sought for many positions, including chancellor for the 15-campus University of Texas system, chancellor of Texas A&M University and head of the Office of Science and Technology for President Bush.
Little free time
Since Fox arrived in San Diego in mid-August, she has met with faculty and
administrators across campus, has read histories of UC and UC San Diego and
attended numerous community events. Her golf clubs are getting dusty, and she
rarely gets out for a swim. She estimates that she has eaten dinner at home
just three times in the past month.
Fox, as usual, has her eye on her work.
One of her ideas is to improve students' UCSD experience.
"We find that students respect the quality of education here, and they like the interactions they have with professors, but there are things we can do to improve their lives," she said.
Fox hopes to offer more recreational sports and arts programming, such as showing more films and including lecture series with mass appeal.
"It's going to require us to adjust our priorities and how investments are made," she said.
Some at NC State predict Fox will not shy away from eliminating weaker programs.
"She demanded that programs prove their worth," said Daley, who noted that in North Carolina, Fox shifted resources to leading-edge disciplines, including biotechnology and nanotechnology, the manipulation of materials on an atomic or molecular scale.
Juggling the university's financial needs will be difficult, especially with the doubts some have that the state's budget crisis will improve anytime soon.
"Her biggest challenge will be the budget," said Atkinson, the former UCSD chancellor. "It'll be extremely tough. She'll do as well as anyone can possibly do."
Marye Anne Fox
Age: 56
Birthplace: Canton, Ohio
Personal: Married, three sons, two stepsons.
Husband: Jim Whitesell, professor of chemistry at UCSD.
Education: Bachelor's degree, Notre Dame College in Ohio; master's degree, Cleveland State University; Ph.D., Dartmouth College.
Noteworthy: Physical organic chemist, third female chemist elected to the National Academy of Sciences, member of President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Administrative experience: Vice president of research at University of Texas at Austin; chancellor and distinguished professor of chemistry at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.
Library of Congress picks eight contractors for digital archiving
Sept. 30, 2004
Government Computer News; International Herald Tribune, France
By Joab Jackson
© Copyright 2004
The Library of Congress has chosen eight teams to participate in its digital preservation program, awarding almost $15 million to the groups. The institutions will help the library identify, collect and preserve materials that only exist electronically.
The awards are part of the $100 million appropriation made to the Library of Congress in 2000 to preserve digital materials. (See GCN coverage here.) The National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program will archive electronic materials such as Web pages, satellite maps and aerial photography, television shows, opinion polls and voting records.
The teams that won awards are led by:
The participating teams will match the amounts they received from the library.
Cotton industry hosting CBI apparel makers
Sept. 30, 2004
Delta Farm Press, NE
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
"This is an excellent opportunity for the U.S. cotton textile industry to highlight its commitment to quality and efficiency and to boost its exports into a very important market," said CCI President Robert W. Norris, a Bakersfield, Calif., cooperative official.
U.S. cotton industry hosting key CBI apparel makers
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Leaders from 30 apparel manufacturing companies in six CBI region countries are visiting U.S. textile operations to learn how to source U.S. yarns and fabrics.
Cotton Council International, in cooperation with Cotton Incorporated, is hosting the COTTON USA CBI Manufacturers Tour, one that involves participants from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Haiti.
This COTTON USA Sourcing Program is one of many activities of CCI, the overseas market promotion arm of the Memphis-based National Cotton Council. U.S. textile mills hosting the CBI participants on the Tour Include:
Alice Mills, Inc., Easley, S.C.; NY; American & Efird, Inc., Mount Holly, N.C.; Ameritex Yarn, LLC, Burlington, N.C.; Arca Knitting, Inc., Hialeah, Fla.; Buhler Quality Yarns Corp., Jefferson, Ga.; Carolina Cotton Works, Inc., Gaffney, S.C.; Cheraw Yarn Mills, Inc., Cheraw, S.C.; Four Leaf Textiles, LLC, Shelby, N.C.; Frontier Spinning Mills, Sanford, N.C.; National Textiles, LLC, Winston-Salem, N.C.; Parkdale Mills, Inc., Gastonia, N.C.; R.L. Stowe Mills, Inc., Belmont, N.C.; Ramtex, Inc., Ramseur, N.C.; Spectrum Dyed Yarns, Inc., Kings Mountain, N.C.; Swift Spinning Mills, Inc., Columbus, Ga; Tuscarora Yarns, Inc., Gastonia, N.C.; and Wellstone Mills, Greenville, S.C.
"This is an excellent opportunity for the U.S. cotton textile industry to highlight its commitment to quality and efficiency and to boost its exports into a very important market," said CCI President Robert W. Norris, a Bakersfield, Calif., cooperative official. "On the eve of the removal of textile quotas (Jan. 1), all of these host U.S. textile firms are committed to surviving and thriving as they supply high quality competitive raw materials quickly to the CBI region."
Norris said the CBI participants – some of the largest knitters and apparel makers in that region – attended a seminar in Atlanta Sept. 28 and were to divide up and visit the 17 U.S. textile manufacturing operations in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia Sept. 29-Oct. 1.
Research specialists from Cotton Incorporated, North Carolina State University and TC(2) will conduct the seminar, which will cover: producing better knit fabrics; producing better knit apparel; and innovations in dyeing and finishing. Participants also will hear an outlook on U.S. textile and apparel trade policy.