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Oblinger named to top job at N.C. State
Chancellor-elect James OblingerWolfpack gets a new top dog
Chancellor-elect James OblingerJames Oblinger named NCSU's new chancellor
Chancellor-elect James OblingerNew Leader Of Pack: James Oblinger Becomes 13th NCSU Chancellor
Chancellor-elect James OblingerNCSU provost named chancellor
Chancellor-elect James OblingerN.C. State Names New Chancellor
Chancellor-elect James OblingerFollowing Fox at State
Chancellor-elect James OblingerNCSU lauds leader, uniter
Chancellor-elect James OblingerFootnotes: New James on the UNC block
Chancellor-elect James OblingerEditorial: On top at State
Chancellor-elect James OblingerFSU’s ‘Discover India’ Series Begins Wednesday
Tony Stewart, philosophy and religionNCSU geology class gets eyeful
Q&A with Ron Fodor, N.C. State University geology professorFarmers planning for possible buyout
Blake Brown, agricultural and resource economicsPeople
Cecil Brownie, College of Veterinary Medicine; Gerd Duscher, materials science and engineeringThe bard (up close and personal)
Marvin Hunt, EnglishCandidates express similar points of view
hog waste researchSchools mull the formerly unthinkable
College of DesignHappenings: Covekeepers will meet Wednesday
speaker from the soil science departmentRoanoke Island Festival Park wins NCCF Pelican Award
Trees were provided by the NC Division of Forest Resources and North Carolina State University.Estimate Shows UNC May Need Up To $4 Billion For Improvements
UNC systemUNC to seek billions
UNC system
N.C.
isn't pivotal on Nov. 2
Kerry/Edwards rally
Peterson
case still alive
Technician
Opinion:
Finances too artful
campus foundations
Research
continues into 'going organic'
Nancy Creamer, horticulture science
Jack-o’lanterns
began in Ireland
Everett Davis, Cooperative Extension
Farmers
express relief at buyout
frequently cited study by a North Carolina State University economist
Furniture
Springing Ahead
John Summey, industrial engineering
NCBIO
Equipment Conference for Biomanufacturing/Pharmaceutical Training Consortium
Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center
Radio
clip: Battle Is On for Edwards' Senate Seat
Andrew Taylor, political science
Price
of neglect adds up
Sami Rizkalla, civil, construction and anvironmental engineering
NCSU geology class gets eyeful
Oct. 11, 2004
News & Observer
By TIM SIMMONS
© Copyright 2004
The seismic activity that began a few weeks ago at Mount St. Helen's in Washington is a curiosity for most Americans. But for a small group of students and their teachers at N.C. State University, it's the chance of a lifetime.
Thirteen students, along with geology professors Ron Fodor and Skip Stoddard, spent the past four days touring various volcanoes in the Cascades area of Washington and Oregon. Although each area offered unique formations to study, it was clear before the group left Raleigh that Mount St. Helen's would be the most intriguing.
Fodor took time between excursions to talk about the class and what students were able to observe during the visit to one of the nation's most famous volcanoes.
Q. When did you decide to take the trip, and why was Mount St. Helen's included?
A. The university is in the middle of its four-day fall break right now, and our trip was set up as a fall break field geological experience. My expertise is in volcanoes and volcanic rock, and I thought it would be a good experience for the students. We called it a Cascade geology field course. We ended up with 13 students for the course.
It was set up months in advance, so it was just fortuitous that we ended up here at the time there was activity at Mount St. Helen's. The format for the course was to meet for seven evening sessions once the semester began, during which time each student presented a PowerPoint on volcanic geology that was appropriate for the Cascades.
Then, during our four-day trip, we were able to see up close four different volcanoes, among which was Mount St. Helen's, Mt. Hood and near Bend, Ore. We will visit the Newberry volcano, and also in that area is a threesome called the Three Sisters.
Q. Why did you choose to take the trip?
A. This is our second annual fall break field trip. Last year at this time, we were in the desert looking at volcanic rock in the Phoenix area. We'll be doing something next year, too, I'm sure.
Q. What did you think when you realized Mount St. Helen's might be active?
A. I had mixed feelings. I was excited because it was the chance of a lifetime, but I was afraid it would preclude us from walking around. And, indeed, we were restricted from having the full access. But it didn't disappoint the students too much because they were within seven miles of this monster mountain with a gaping amphitheater at the top. It's the kind of thing you can just stare at for a long time.
Q. What did you see?
A. One of the great insights we all got was the fallen trees that remain from 24 years ago. Even though there is much new growth within 10 miles, many of the trees and the tree stumps give one a sense of the energy that was involved in the eruption. The lateral force was tremendous. It just pushed down the trees like toothpicks. Many of those areas are still barren.
When we go to Newberry, one of the chances we will get is to see obsidian rock. There aren't many places where you can see such a large exposure to such formation. It's a dark black, and you can actually hike over parts of it. It's very unusual.
Q. Was there any additional danger in going at this time?
A. I felt confident that the reports coming from the U.S. Geologic Survey were fully accurate. I was confident in their reports that the seismic activity was a low enough level that no dangerous activity was imminent. That could change over time, of course, but we were in no danger.
Q. How many people were there?
A. At the Coldwater Ridge Observatory, it was just a matter of a few hundred people. Prior to that, I think there were thousands of people. There was great interest in the media, of course, but there was no sense of media to the tourists. They had set the media aside to a separate area. The fact that it does not seem to be as active probably had a lot to do with the smaller number of tourists. Also, the fact that it was a weekday.
Q. Have you seen a volcanic eruption before?
A. I've been to Hawaii many times, and I've seen Hawaiian eruptions. In comparison, those are rather tranquil. They are like fire-hose eruptions into the air. With such an eruption, it's easier to tell how close you can get. It's more of a hot liquid, not explosive like a Cascades volcano. Hawaii is probably one of the best places known for observing volcanic activity.
Q. What do you hope the students will take away from this trip?
A. I hope to enhance their enthusiasm for geology and cultivate an interest in volcanic rock. Beyond that, I want them to appreciate the field experience that so many students go into geology for -- the ability to get outdoors, study the geology and interpret it in the present day. The ability to understand what they see in the geologic record from millions of years ago.
Q. Where else would you like students to visit?
A. Within the range of volcanality, the Cascades provide a wide range of choices to observe. But there are other areas of interest, and I hope to take students to those places also. We may head to Central Ontario -- Sudbury -- next year, which is a well-established mining and economic geologic region. But for this group, our class is over now. The students presented their thoughts, and the trip is ending. They get two hours of credit, but that's almost secondary to the experience.
Oct. 10, 2004
News & Observer
By ROB CHRISTENSEN
© Copyright 2004
For a brief time this summer, when the tobacco was high and the tomatoes were ripe, North Carolina had the look of a presidential battleground state.
Thousands gathered under the sweltering Carolina sun at N.C. State University to greet the newly minted John/John ticket. The airwaves were filled with television commercials by both the Kerry/Edwards and the Bush/Cheney campaigns.
But step by step, as reality has set in, North Carolina's place on the two parties' presidential map has shrunk.
That is hardly surprising. North Carolina has been a red state for a generation. Jimmy Carter in 1976 was the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state. George W. Bush carried the state by 13 percentage points in 2000.
But the excitement over having native son John Edwards on the ticket gave the Democrats hope. And the Democrats have taken the state more seriously.
There are at least three ways to measure political effort: 1) money spent on TV advertising, 2) number of paid staff and 3) how often the national ticket campaigns here. By those measures, it is clear that the national tickets' investment in North Carolina is declining:
1) Shortly after Edwards was named Kerry's vice presidential candidate, the Kerry-Edwards campaign began running TV ads in North Carolina for the first time. Kerry-Edwards or the national Democratic Party spent $2.55 million in TV advertising here in July and August. The Bush-Cheney campaign countered with $800,000 in ads here.
But with public opinions polls showing Bush with a significant single-digit lead in North Carolina, both campaigns stopped their TV advertising here by September.
2) The Kerry/Edwards campaign and the Democratic Party hired 36 people to run their North Carolina campaign, while Bush/Cheney hired 11. But with Bush ahead in polls, Bush/Cheney moved about half its staff to more competitive states in late September. The Kerry campaign has not cut back.
3) Kerry has campaigned in North Carolina three times and Edwards seven times since being named to the ticket. President Bush has visited the state twice for fund-raisers since the Edwards selection. Vice President Dick Cheney has not visited the state during that time.
Morgan Jackson, the state Kerry-Edwards director, said there are no plans to pull back from North Carolina. In fact, the campaign may still run some TV ads here in the last week.
"We still think we have a reasonable shot a winning," Jackson said. "We feel the numbers are moving in our direction."
In truth, the Kerry-Edwards campaign risks looking foolish if it pulls out of Edwards' home state. And some of the hired Democratic troops are needed to help with get-out-the-vote efforts that will be needed if their party is to hang on to Edwards' Senate seat.
But it is pretty clear that the presidential race is being fought in the Rust Belt of Ohio, West Virginia, Michigan, western Pennsylvania and a few other states such as Florida and New Mexico.
In this presidential election, North Carolina has become what the battle of Bentonville was in the Civil War -- the site of a North Carolina skirmish rather than a crucial battle.
Oct. 10, 2004
News & Observer
By BENJAMIN NIOLET
© Copyright 2004
It was a year ago today that Mike Peterson exited, stage right.
The novelist, columnist and sometime politician wore a suit and handcuffs as he left a Durham courtroom after a five-month trial. He faced the rest of his life behind bars.
His wife, Kathleen, died in December 2001 at the bottom of a bloody staircase. Peterson maintained all along that she had fallen down stairs at their mansion in Forest Hills. From the start, authorities were dubious. There was just too much blood.
Investigators found things less than ideal in the idyllic image the Petersons projected. They owned a mansion, but lived beyond their means, prosecutors later told the jury. Mike Peterson led a secret life in which he had contacted a male escort to arrange an encounter.
Then there was the death of Elizabeth Ratliff. In November 1985, Ratliff, a Peterson family friend, had died at the bottom of a staircase in her home in Germany. She had dined at Peterson's house the night before, and he had taken her home. Investigators concluded that she had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and accidentally fallen; friends later whispered that they had cleaned up a lot of blood before authorities arrived.
Though the case was entirely circumstantial, prosecutors still won a conviction. The trial left Peterson penniless. His court-appointed appellate attorney said he will ask the appeals court to review whether evidence about Ratliff's death and Peterson's sexuality were properly admitted at trial, among other issues.
A year after the verdict, some of the trial's major players have moved on with their lives. Still, the story continues.
Mike Peterson
Sentenced to life without parole, Mike Peterson is inmate number 0816932 at Nash Correctional Institution in Nashville, N.C. He works as a teacher's assistant in a GED class and has no infractions on his record. Last October, an inmate walked into Peterson's cell while he was reading a book and assaulted him, sending him to the prison hospital. He was kept isolated while officials investigated the incident. He was also kept away from other prisoners for a brief period after a "misunderstanding" between Peterson and another inmate, a prison official said.
Peterson has denied requests for interviews. He is working on a book about the case, writing his sentences out on prison paper. Peterson turns 61 this month.
His trial lingered in the media imagination for months after the verdict. The NBC newsmagazine "Dateline" offered a two-hour recap of the case last winter. In July, ABC aired a two-hour documentary produced by the French film company that had been following Peterson and the defense team for two years. Peterson's lawyer, David Rudolf, says French TV has purchased an eight-hour version of the documentary, but no airdate has been scheduled. Two books came out of the trial: "A Perfect Husband," by true-crime veteran Aphrodite Jones and "Written in Blood," by Texas writer Dianne Fanning.
David Rudolf
Shortly after the verdict, David Rudolf, Peterson's main lawyer at trial, took a vacation in Belize. Today, at his Chapel Hill practice, he is working on federal white-collar cases and criminal work in state and federal court. His longtime partner, Thomas Maher, decided to strike out on his own, although Maher still works out of the firm's Franklin Street office. In an August interview, Rudolf would not say how much money he was paid to defend Peterson but said his fee was not the speculated sum of $1 million: "What I got paid didn't cover the expenses for my practice for the five months of the trial." The verdict shocked him, he said, and he remains convinced of Peterson's innocence. He is assisting Maher in preparing Peterson's appeal.
Jim Hardin
Durham County District Attorney Jim Hardin prosecuted Peterson assisted by Freda Black and David Saacks. In the year since the verdict, Hardin has spoken occasionally about the case to law groups or students. On a desk in his outer office, someone taped a wanted poster showing a sinister-looking owl; it's a joke, alluding to the two Peterson friends who lobbied Hardin after the verdict to reopen the case and investigate whether Kathleen Peterson actually died as a result of an owl attack. The theory has been worth a laugh at the courthouse but not an investigation.
In the months after the verdict, prosecutors tried to quickly clear cases that were years old. Hardin said his office has nearly cleared the backlog caused by Peterson. Meanwhile, in the clerk's office the Peterson case file, three folders thick, continues to grow as prosecutors continue to submit bills for their expenses. The cost of outside experts, travel and evidence rose to more than $118,000. Peterson has been declared indigent and taxpayers will foot the bill for his appeal.
Margaret Ratliff and Martha Ratliff
Margaret and Martha Ratliff, the daughters of Elizabeth Ratliff who were raised by Mike Peterson, stood by Peterson throughout the trial, even as prosecution witnesses testified that their biological mother, last seen by Mike Peterson, was the victim of a homicide. The sisters are back in school -- Margaret at Tulane University in New Orleans and Martha at the University of San Francisco. "They're studying, working, staying optimistic and fully support Mike," said Kerry Sutton, a Peterson family attorney.
Caitlin Atwater
Caitlin Atwater, Kathleen Peterson's only child, has filed several lawsuits seeking to deny Mike Peterson any benefits from the death of his wife. In January, Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson determined that Peterson was liable for his wife's death, given that a jury had already found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. A trial for damages may wait until Atwater has finished her studies at Cornell University, her attorney has said. Atwater has also sued Nortel, Kathleen Peterson's employer, which paid Mike Peterson her death benefits.
Brent Wolgamott
Brent Wolgamott, the prostitute turned prosecution witness, reveled in his short-lived fame. Wolgamott, a male escort who went by the nom de Internet "Brad from Raleigh," wrote a column for the N.C. State student newspaper, the Technician, about his testimony (in which he told the jury that he knew "diddly" about Kathleen Peterson's murder). His path turned muddy, though, when less than two weeks after the verdict he was arrested for allegedly passing a forged prescription for the narcotic hydrocodone. The day he got out of jail, he was arrested on the same charge. Those cases have yet to be resolved. Wolgamott dropped out of N.C. State and left Raleigh at the end of 2003 to return to his native Indiana. He was building a theatrical career, performing in June in an Indianapolis stage revue called "Naked Boys Singing."
Orlando Hudson
Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson, the senior resident Superior Court judge in Durham County, is running unopposed for re-election in November. In July, state Rep. Mickey Michaux had the legislature alter the boundaries of Hudson's judicial district to accommodate the judge's plans to move to a bigger house in the Chancellor's Ridge subdivision. Both Hudson and Michaux said there was nothing unusual about the process.
Since the Peterson trial ended, state appellate courts have overturned two of Hudson's cases. The state Supreme Court in August overturned the murder conviction and death sentence of Todd Boggess. Hudson was also reversed by the state Court of Appeals, which threw out a major component of sentencing in criminal cases statewide. In another ruling involving one of Hudson's trials, Timothy Blackwell was one of three men who got new sentences when the court ruled unconstitutional the practice of judges issuing longer prison sentences in egregious cases.
Saami Shaibani
Saami Shaibani, the prosecution injury expert who was found to have perjured himself as the case wound to a close, has denied requests for interviews. Shaibani's involvement in the case sent ripples throughout the country as lawyers appealed convictions won with Shaibani's help. In a Washington, D.C., murder case, Shaibani testified that a victim could not have died from a fall down the stairs -- the same testimony he gave in the Peterson case. Appeals in that case and others involving Shaibani are pending.
1810 Cedar St.
Kathleen Peterson was found dead at the bottom of a staircase inside the Colonial revival mansion in the Forest Hills neighborhood. The house became a curiosity. After Peterson's conviction, it went on the market and hundreds of people swarmed an estate sale, looking to buy a piece of the Durham lore.
The house was originally listed with an asking price of $1.175 million. The months dragged on with no buyers until July when Jason and Anastasia Balius bought the home for $640,000, according to Durham County property records. In the months after the sale, work crews were visible from Cedar Street, painting the exterior and renovating the interior.
(Staff writers Anne Saker and Demorris Lee and news researcher Brooke Cain contributed to this report.)
Happenings: Covekeepers will meet Wednesday
Oct. 10, 2004
Charlotte Observer
By ASHLEY BARRON
© Copyright 2004
Lake Wylie Covekeepers will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Red Fez Club in Lake Wylie to hear about erosion and sediment, major contributors to the lake's water quality degradation. The public is invited to the free program.
A speaker from the soil science department at N.C. State University will report on current research in managing erosion, including erosion management at current construction sites.
Details: (803) 802-5368.
Schools mull the formerly unthinkable
Oct. 9, 2004
Charlotte Observer
By PETER SMOLOWITZ
© Copyright 2004
For years, crowded school districts have added mobile classrooms and asked voters to approve bonds for new schools. But now, squeezed by rampant growth and tight budgets, they're weighing options that were once unthinkable.
This week, Wake County approved schools that will consist entirely of prefabricated, modular classrooms, which cost less but wear out faster. Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Iredell-Statesville are considering asking students to come to classes at staggered times or year-round to free up classroom space. And Union County is discussing cutting kindergarten to a half-day to free up classrooms at one or two crowded schools.
"We can't fund and build schools fast enough," said Steve Taynton, chief of school planning with the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. "In places like Mecklenburg and Wake County, they can't find the land at a reasonable price."
Other fast-growing states, such as Florida and California, have tried similar ideas, often discovering drawbacks -- politically and practically. Still, some of the suggestions will likely surface when the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board assesses its controversial student assignment plan in January.
One parents' group has already sparked debate by urging the school board to consider merging some low-enrollment center-city schools to pay for suburban construction.
"In times when we have limited economic resources, we need to look at the best ways to spend them," said Rhonda Lennon, organizer of a north Mecklenburg County group concerned about school crowding. "I don't know that the best way to spend them is to consolidate and merge schools, but I know we can't afford not to at least look at every option."
Modular schools
Since 1996, Charlotte-Mecklenburg has received permission from voters and county commissioners to spend almost $1.2 billion to build schools. The district's enrollment has grown by almost 16,000 students during that time, swelling to 118,600.Today, the district has mobile classrooms for most of the 18,700 students who can't squeeze inside permanent structures. That's enough to fill nine high schools and an elementary school, which would cost more than $350 million to build.
"We're in a heck of a situation," said school board Vice Chair Kit Cramer. "We're going to have to find some resources, and we're going to have to be creative."
Like CMS, Wake County's enrollment grew by 1,000 students more than expected this year. About five years ago, Wake leaders converted an old industrial plant into a middle school. Last week -- facing a nearly 6,000-seat shortage for next year -- the school board voted to use modular units rather than brick and mortar for two elementary schools and a ninth-grade center due to open in August.
The prefabricated schools will take half as long to build and cost half as much. But they will be twice as expensive to operate and will wear out in about 20 years instead of 40.
"I have the means to deliver a short-term solution," said Mike Burriss, Wake's assistant superintendent for facilities. "I don't have the funds to deliver a long-term solution."
The elementaries will each hold 500 students, but they'll be barely half the size of permanent schools. They will have kitchens, but no gymnasiums or larger meeting spaces with stages. And they'll be built alongside existing schools, on fields now used for recreation.
Nationally, schools in Florida and California have tried modular-only schools. Some have been successful, but questions about air quality have arisen. With some Carolinas educators believing they can't avoid modular schools, state education officials are working with N.C. State University's design school to build modulars that would provide better air quality, natural light and, perhaps, solar energy.
In CMS, even board members wary of how much short-term solutions will end up costing said they would at least consider modular schools. Some were already lobbying.
"I've looked at school districts across the country that use them very effectively," said board member Larry Gauvreau, who has sent his children to modulars at Lake Norman Charter School in Huntersville. "They're just financially smart. They go up much faster. And they can get a 20-year life out of them. That's a generation of kids."
Alternative schedules
For years, charter schools have found alternatives to stretch state money, which can be spent on operations but not construction. In Charlotte, for example, Community Charter uses a former church while Sugar Creek Charter meets in a remodeled Kmart.
But those ideas haven't been as popular in public schools. Wake's idea for modulars came only after the public rejected its initial suggestion: year-round schools.
Studies show year-round schools can boost student performance. But they also require unconventional scheduling, which can frustrate parents trying to arrange car pools or vacations. Another problem: year-round schools or staggered schedules add more strain to buildings and give staff less time for maintenance.
In Fort Mill, S.C., opposition to year-round schools helped prompt school board members to instead ask voters in March for money to build a second and third high school.
The community overwhelmingly approved the bond, 2,484-1,148.
At North Mecklenburg High School, one of the state's largest, school leaders are exploring alternative schedules. Superintendent James Pughsley said he's willing to explore such alternatives. But, he said, it won't eliminate the need for money for growth and to renovate existing schools.
"We will not eliminate the need for capital money," he said. "You may slow it down temporarily, but the need will continue to be there." -- STAFF WRITERS GAIL SMITH-ARRANTS AND SARA KLEMMER CONTRIBUTED TO THIS ARTICLE.
-- PETER SMOLOWITZ: (704) 358-5249; PSMOLOWITZ@CHARLOTTEOBSERVER.COM
Possible Schedules
With districts growing fast and falling further behind in meeting construction needs, some are starting to discuss controversial scheduling changes. A look at two:
YEAR-ROUND CLASSES
Can increase capacity by up to 25 percent. One version is the 45-15 plan, in which kids go to school for 45 days and are off for 15. To stagger schedules at the start of the year, some groups get their 15-day breaks right away, while others take theirs after 15, 30 or 45 days.Studies show year-round classes can boost performance because students forget less material during shorter vacations.
FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING
Students are split into two groups, with one starting and ending an hour or two earlier than the other. Both groups would be in school only at times like lunch, when only one group needs classrooms.
Oblinger named to top job at N.C. State
Oct. 9, 2004
Associated Press; Charlotte Observer; WCNC; Winston-Salem Journal; WTVD; WVEC, VA
By STEVE HARTSOE
© Copyright 2004
CHAPEL HILL - State officials on Friday promoted N.C. State University's No. 2 officer to the top spot at the state's largest public university.
Chancellor-elect James Oblinger, 58, vowed to continue developing the school's well-regarded research programs.
"It doesn't all change when a new chancellor comes in," said Oblinger following his unanimous approval by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.
Oblinger will earn $274,797 a year when he takes the helm at N.C. State on Jan. 1.
He has been provost and executive vice chancellor at the school, a position that gave him oversight over all academic programs at the 30,000-student university.
Oblinger succeeds Marye Anne Fox, who announced in April she was leaving to take the top job at the University of California at San Diego.
Robert Barnhardt, former dean of N.C. State's College of Textiles, has served as interim chancellor since Fox's departure.
Oblinger said the school's biggest challenge will be making a budget work in the midst of tough economic times. He plans to focus on scholarships, innovation, diversity, and continuing the momentum set by Fox in areas such as fund raising and research.
Oblinger was one of three people recommended by N.C. State trustees for the chancellor's post. System rules require that campus trustees provide three names for consideration.
Candidates express similar points of view
Oct. 9, 2004
New Bern Sun Journal
By Pat Coleman
© Copyright 2004
Voters had an opportunity on Thursday night to find out where their respective candidates stood on issues related to the environment at a forum conducted by the Neuse River Foundation.
The forum included N.C. House candidates -- Libertarian Herbert Sobel, Republican Michael Speciale and Democrat Alice Underhill. Senate candidates included Democratic incumbent Scott Thomas, Libertarian Richard Evey and Republican Chuck Tyson.
The candidates seemed to have more similar views than different ones on the environment. For example, all said they were not in favor of nutrient trading, which allows wastewater systems that have reduced that amount of nutrients it puts into the Neuse River basin to sell the extra amount to other systems.
"The program needs to be scrapped," Speciale said. "If one municipality stops putting these pollutants in the water, then I would like to think there's that much less going in the water."
Alice Underhill explained that the idea of nutrient trading came out under the Clean Air Act in the 1970s.
"That does not transfer well to water at all," she said. "What we need to do is be creative and find solutions to help the small communities where the credits are assets to them."
Evey recommended better cooperation between people, the government and industry in formulating a solution that would not return nutrients to the river.
Thomas said system operators should have to demonstrate they have no other alternatives but to buy nutrient credits.
"If we're reducing nutrients here on the coast, we shouldn't allow the nutrients to be reloaded up river," he said.
Tyson said he was "dead set against the nutrient trading program."
The candidates also agreed buffers that prevent certain development within 50 feet of the river were an asset.
Speciale said that, while the 50-foot buffer makes sense to him, it is important to balance the economic, privacy and environmental impact.
Underhill said buffers have helped the river.
"But, we do need to be careful that we implement these buffers fairly and make it possible for people to have variances that they can apply for to make their property more useful," she said.
Thomas, who said he has worked to protect the Neuse River buffer rules, agreed with Underhill that it was important to have a process in place so that people can apply for a variance on a case-by-case basis.
Thomas said increasing the number of inspectors would decrease the number of people ignoring the rules.
Underhill and Speciale said they believe fines of more than the current $200 were in order, while Sobel suggested another idea.
"When people violate the laws, if it goes unnoticed, it has a deleterious affect," Herbert Sobel said. "I'm a strong advocate of peer pressure, rather than having the government step in."
The candidates agreed that hog farms should be held to higher standards to reduce the potential of pollution from hog waste.
"We need to expedite using our technology," Speciale said. "Being the most industrialized country in the world, and we can't figure out how to get rid of hog waste."
Both Underhill and Thomas cited possible solutions from hog waste research at N.C. State University. Underhill said she hopes it will result in more choices for hog producers. She and Sobel advocate tax incentives to encourage more research into alternatives.
Tyson said that until the corporate hog industry finds a satisfactory way to manage its hog waste, he is not going to vote to remove the moratorium on more farms.
"I realize the technology is going to be expensive," he said. "Corporate swine producers are going to have to bite the bullet."
Fish kills also concerned all the candidates. Sobel advocated more funding for scientists studying the source of the kills. Thomas called the kills, "a concern."
"The state has not really given any good explanations," Speciale said. "You and I are eating fish out of those rivers and we need to know if that stuff can make us sick or not."
Oct. 8, 2004
Durham Herald-Sun
By ROB SHAPARD
© Copyright 2004
CHAPEL HILL -- The new chancellor at N.C. State says he wants a good balance between the many missions of his school, but certainly not in the final score when the Wolfpack football team faces off with Carolina.
The Wolfpack will win by 23 points, predicted James Oblinger, as he sat in enemy territory on Friday just a mile or so down the hill from Kenan Stadium, where the two teams play this evening.
It was a lighter moment on a day when Oblinger focused on the serious matter of how he plans to lead N.C. State University in the coming years. Oblinger was formerly elected chancellor of the Raleigh school during a regular monthly meeting of the UNC Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system.
Oblinger, who rose last year to provost and executive vice chancellor at N.C. State, will take over the top administrative job on Jan. 1, UNC President Molly Broad announced. He'll be paid $274,797 per year as chancellor of the school, which is the system's largest university with nearly 30,000 students.
"With his extensive experience, his profound appreciation of the land-grant mission and his demonstrated commitment to scholarship and public service, Jim Oblinger will be a forceful and effective leader for N.C. State," Broad said before the board's vote. "We are delighted to promote such an individual from within our own ranks."
University leaders said they looked far beyond Raleigh before picking Oblinger. The committee named to find a new chancellor started off with nearly 100 potential candidates, who either applied or were nominated, said Bob Jordan, an N.C. State trustee from Mount Gilead who chaired the search committee.
The committee ended up with about 40 résumés to consider out of that total, Jordan said.
"It became clear that one candidate was the best of the best," he said. "We're proud of our recommendation to the president, and we're excited about our future.
"We bumped [Oblinger] against the best, from across the nation," Jordan said, after the meeting. "He not only won, but it was unanimous. Every time we voted, it was unanimous. And he came in and did an interview that was so much better than anyone else."
The committee did its work relatively quickly, considering that Marye Anne Fox stepped down just this summer as chancellor. Robert Barnhardt has served as interim chancellor since Fox left.
Oblinger, 58, is an Ohio native who first came to N.C. State in 1986 as associate dean and director of academic programs in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Eleven years later, he became dean of that college and executive director for agricultural programs.
Oblinger, who had earned a bachelor's degree in bacteriology at DePauw University and master's and doctoral degrees in food technology at Iowa State University, started his teaching career at the University of Florida as a food microbiologist and assistant professor of food science and human nutrition.
Before he came to Raleigh, Oblinger was an associate dean in the College of Agriculture at the University of Missouri.
Broad, Jordan and trustees Chairwoman Peaches Blank touted him as having earned the respect and trust both of colleagues and students at N.C. State, as well as from people he's met in the state's 100 counties.
"He's always been willing to listen to your viewpoint," said Dennis Daley, an N.C. State professor of political science and public administration. "I think that's very important to all of us, that what you say is considered."
Daley is chairman of the Faculty Senate and served on the search committee. He said Oblinger has a good track record of working with people and trying to build consensus and he wouldn't try to simply "sit at the top of the university and give orders."
"He's very friendly, very open, cares about the job, and any task he's given, you really see his commitment to it," Daley said. "He just throws himself into it."
N.C. State student body President Tony Caravano sat on the search committee as well. He said university leaders knew there was a wide range of concerns among students, and the committee held public forums to get input on the qualities people wanted in the new chancellor.
Some students said they wanted to know more about what chancellors do, and Barnhardt, the interim chancellor, did a good job of spelling that out, Caravano said.
Caravano said he also heard students asking for a chancellor who was personable, willing to listen to students and who appreciated the balance between academics and athletics -- and he believed Oblinger had those qualities.
After the board's vote made things official, Oblinger talked briefly about four areas in which he hoped to put much of his focus, describing them as scholarship for the 21st century; a culture of innovation, from teaching to research; a campus committed to diversity, in people as well as programs; and "operational capability and organizational effectiveness."
He balanced that dense phrasing with a Native American saying, which he clearly felt was apropos:
The saying goes, "The strength of the pack is in the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is in the pack."
James Oblinger named NCSU's new chancellor
Oct. 8, 2004
News !4 Carolina
By Tim Boyum
© Copyright 2004
N.C. State has a new chancellor and he already knows the campus very well. UNC's board of governors unanimously picked James Oblinger Friday afternoon.
Since 2003 he's been second in command at the university. Oblinger's spent 18 years at N.C. State as a dean and administrator. He inherits a sprawling campus with an ambitious future.
The search committee spent five months looking over 45 resumes but in the end decided to promote within.
“Yes he's a candidate within but I would say he has broad national experience. He's highly respected as a teacher and as an educator generally,” Marvin Malecha, a search committee member, stated.
Oblinger replaces former Chancellor Marye Ann Fox who took the same job at the University of California at San Diego. She experienced extreme growth here on Centennial Campus, really campus wide, and Oblinger said during his first few months of tenure he'll continue that tradition.
“I've had a very good working relationship with here and as far as program practice; we will continue doing the great things we're doing. We're always looking for great opportunities, but we're not forgetting the past,” Oblinger explained.
After the UNC Board of Governor's named Oblinger the new chancellor in Chapel Hill, he quickly made the drive to Raleigh where he was greeted by faculty and students.
Mike Spears is a junior at NCSU. He said, “It does actually make me feel a lot better cause he already knows how things go here. We don't have to worry about a new person coming in here and changing the entire dynamic of N.C. State.”
With 18 years under his belt at NCSU just about everyone expects a smooth transition and very few changes initially.
Oblinger said he plans to spend a lot of time listening. “This is not about me. This is about us, we are N.C. State.”
Oblinger becomes N.C. State’s 13th chancellor. He begins January 1 and will make about $275,000 a year.
New Leader Of Pack: James Oblinger Becomes 13th NCSU Chancellor
Oct. 8, 2004
WRAL
By Valonda Calloway
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. -- On Friday, the UNC Board of Governors unanimously voted to select James Oblinger as the new chancellor at North Carolina State University.
"N.C. State has a unique place in the history, quality of life and economic development of North Carolina," Oblinger said. "N.C. State takes seriously the public's trust and our role in addressing the relevant needs of the state. Our university can and will continue to be one of North Carolina's greatest resources. I'm honored to be chosen to lead this great institution."
Oblinger replaces Marye Ann Fox, who left N.C. State to become the chancellor at the University of California at San Diego. Dr. Robert Barnhardt took over on a temporary basis following Fox's departure.
Oblinger has been at North Carolina State University for the last 18 years. In 2003, he was named provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.
"For one thing, he is a dedicated, hard worker. He has been with the university for a long time. He is a known quantity," said Wendell Murphy, of the N.C. State Board of Trustees. "I think, maybe the most important thing, is that he is what I would call a concensus builder. He brings people to the table and gets us all marching onto the same page."
The search committee said Oblinger's people skills is one reason he was selected as chancellor.
"This past year, we let him know which classes needed more sections offered and things like that, and he listened and really made sure he was able to do as much as possible," said N.C. State junior Jennifer Crutchfield.
"He came in and did an interview that was so much better than anybody else. He was just the perfect person at this time," said Bob Jordan, chairman of the search committee.
In recommending Oblinger, Broad said, "During nearly two decades of service to N.C. State University, Jim Oblinger has developed a deep understanding of the institution, its special relationship with the citizens of this state, and its vast potential for even greater service to the state and nation. While rising through the administrative ranks from associate dean to chief academic officer, he has proven himself to be a collaborative, consultative leader, one who has earned the trust and respect of his colleagues, the students, and other key campus constituencies."
Oblinger is N.C. State's 13th chancellor. He will be expected to keep the university's forward momentum going. Centennial Campus, the school's public and private research campus, is expected to double in size over the next five years. In 2005, N.C. State will announce the public portion of its capital campaign. Officials hope to raise $1 billion.
Oblinger made the announcement to his staff on Thursday. Staff members describe Oblinger as well-liked and well-connected within the community.
At $274,000, Oblinger's salary is higher than Marye Anne Fox's. It is also tied for the highest in the UNC system. UNC-CH Chancellor James Moeser also gets $274,000. By comparison, East Carolina University's newly named chancellor Steve Ballard makes $215,000. The lowest-paid chancellor in the state system is Elizabeth City State's Mickey Burnim, who makes $156,000.
Oct. 8, 2004
Associated Press; Charlotte Observer; News & Observer; WCNC; Wilmington Morning Star; Winston-Salem Journal; WSOCtv.com; WXii 12.com; Dateline Alabama, AL; Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL; WVEC, VA
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
CHAPEL HILL - The provost and executive vice chancellor at North Carolina State University was named chancellor Friday of the school, the state's largest public university.
Provost James L. Oblinger, who oversees all academic programs at N.C. State and was the school's second-highest ranking official, was named chancellor by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.
The board selected Oblinger to succeed Marye Anne Fox, who announced in April she would take over the top job at the University of California at San Diego.
Since Fox's departure, Robert Barnhardt, former dean of N.C. State's College of Textiles, has served as interim chancellor of NCSU, which has 30,000 students. Oblinger, 58, will take over as chancellor Jan. 1.
In recommending Oblinger to the board, UNC President Molly Broad said that Oblinger "has developed a deep understanding of the institution, its special relationship with the citizens of this state, and its vast potential for even greater service to the state and nation."
Oblinger was one of three people recommended by N.C. State trustees for the chancellor's post. System rules require that campus trustees provide three names for consideration. Broad then selects a nominee, whom she recommends to the board for a final decision.
Centennial Campus, the school's public and private research campus, is expected to double in size over the next five years. In 2005, N.C. State will announce the public portion of its capital campaign. Officials hope to raise $1 billion.
Oblinger, former dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was named provost in April 2003, after the previous provost quit in protest when Fox fired two top administrators.
He has been at N.C. State for 18 years and earned master's and doctorate degrees in food technology.
N.C. State Names New Chancellor
Oct. 8, 2004
NBC 17
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The provost and executive vice chancellor at North Carolina State University was named chancellor Friday of the school, the state's largest public university.
Provost James L. Oblinger, who oversees all academic programs at N.C. State and was the school's second-highest ranking official, was named chancellor by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.
"There is a Native American saying -- it may sound like a cliché, but it is what I believe -- 'The strength of the pack is in the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is in the pack,'" said Oblinger, who was surrounded by his wife, Diana, and their four sons. "That is why we are called the Wolfpack, and that is why I am so honored to have been chosen as chancellor."
The board selected Oblinger to succeed Marye Anne Fox, who announced in April she would take over the top job at the University of California at San Diego.
Since Fox's departure, Robert Barnhardt, former dean of N.C. State's College of Textiles, has served as interim chancellor of the university, which has 30,000 students. Oblinger, 58, will take over as chancellor Jan. 1 and will have an annual salary of $274,797.
In recommending Oblinger to the board, UNC President Molly Broad said that Oblinger "has developed a deep understanding of the institution, its special relationship with the citizens of this state, and its vast potential for even greater service to the state and nation."
"There is no greater personal satisfaction than when your colleagues of very long standing find you worthy to be their campus leader," Broad said.
Oblinger was one of three people recommended by N.C. State trustees for the chancellor's post. System rules require that campus trustees provide three names for consideration. Broad then selects a nominee, whom she recommends to the board for a final decision.
Oblinger, former dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was named provost in April 2003, after the previous provost quit in protest when Fox fired two top administrators. He has been at N.C. State for 18 years and earned master's and doctorate degrees in food technology from the university.
He says it's premature for him to lay out a long-term plan, but he expects to focus on increasing scholarships and gaining national recognition for N.C. State's science and technology programs.
Centennial Campus, the school's public and private research campus, is expected to double in size over the next five years. In 2005, N.C. State will announce the public portion of its next major capital campaign. Officials hope to raise $1 billion in the effort.
"I know I cannot do this alone," he said. "I know students, faculty, staff, as well as alumni, partners and friends will join me and Diana doing what it takes to reach these goals," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
FSU’s ‘Discover India’ Series Begins Wednesday
Oct. 10, 2004
Southern Pines Pilot
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
To increase student awareness of other cultures, the Office of the Chancellor at Fayetteville State University (FSU) will sponsor a four-part series titled “Discover India.” The series will focus on the people, economy, religions, and performing arts of this Asian country. The series is free and open to the public.
The series begins on Wednesday, Oct. 13, with a lecture by Dr. Tony Stewart, a professor of South Asian Religions at N.C. State University (NCSU). Stewart’s lecture will be at 5 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room of the Rudolph Jones Student Center (RJSC).
The series continues Tuesday, Oct. 26, and Wednesday, Oct. 27, with Dr. Amita Dutt, the Uday Shankar professor of dance at Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata, India. Dutt will perform traditional Indian dances and present a lecture. The dance, “From the Temple to the Stage: The Journey of Indian Classical Dance,” will occur on Oct. 26 in Capel Arena at 7 p.m. The lecture will be held Oct. 27 in the Multipurpose Room of the RJSC.
The series concludes Thursday, Nov. 4, with a panel on outsourcing that will include Dr. Amit Chandra Majumdar, a professor at the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management in Kolkata, India. Dr. Charles Davis, dean of the Harris School of Business and Economics, and Dr. Assad Tavakoli, director of FSU’s Master of Business Administration program, will also serve as panelists. The panel presentations will take place at 5 p.m. in the RJSC.
Stewart is a specialist in the Bengali language. He received his bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Western Kentucky University and master’s and doctoral degrees from The University of Chicago. He is founder and director of the North Carolina Center for South Asia Studies, a United States Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center.
Members of the center include NCSU, Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and N.C. Central University. Stewart is also founder and chairman of the board of the South Asia Summer Language Institute at the University of Wisconsin. He is the author of several books including “The Lover of God.” Part of his lecture Oct. 13 will focus on the book.
Dutt has extensive training in the Kathak dance form. She is also a choreographer and director of dance at Rabindra Bharati University. Dutt earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Calcutta University. She has danced in Hindi film features and at numerous festivals around the world including the American Dance Festival in Durham, and the North American Bengali Conference. Dutt has appeared at more than 30 colleges and universities around the world.
“I will be tracing the journey of our dance from the Hindu temples through the Muslim courts of emperors and Nawabs, its exposure to various folk influences and its final arrival at the modern proscenium stage,” Dutt said. “Each stage in its development helped to add a new dimension to the art form, and I will be doing representative pieces from the various traditions and then come to our modern style of presentation.”
Majumdar earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Regional Engineering College in Durgapur, India. He received a master of business administration and doctoral degrees from Calcutta University. He is currently a professor and head of the evening MBA program and Small Industries Management Assistant Program at the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management in Calcutta. Majumdar’s areas of expertise are in corporate management and management education and training.
For more information, please contact the Office of Public Relations at (910) 672-1474.
Roanoke Island Festival Park wins NCCF Pelican Award
Oct. 9, 2004
Outer Banks Sentinel
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
Roanoke Island Festival Park and the Army Corps of Engineers (Wilmington District) were awarded a Pelican Award for Best Restoration Project on the Northeast Coast on October 1.
The award, presented at the State of the Coast Summit in Morehead City and sponsored by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, is in recognition of the Park's shoreline restoration project. It recognizes excellence in protecting and restoring coastal resources.
The North Carolina Coastal Federation adopted the brown pelican as their logo in recognition of the organizations mission- Citizens Working Together for a Healthy Coast. The brown pelican was designated as a federally endangered species in 1970 but was removed from the list in 1985, following the banning of the pesticide DDT, making it a coastal success story!
NCCF is committed to improving shellfish waters throughout Coastal North Carolina. The organizations emphasis is on active restoration projects, encouraging responsible land use and addressing non-point source pollution affecting the coastal watersheds.
The Army Corps of Engineers established a project plan for Roanoke Island Festival Park whose components included construction of a 1,300 foot rock sill to buffer wave action, placement of 1,000 cubic yards of shoreline sand, planting of marsh and sea grass, creation of a one acre oyster reef and reforestation of 1.3 acres of wooded wetlands. Conducted over a three-year period, the environmental restoration project has been a cooperative partnership between Roanoke Island Festival Park, the Army Corps of Engineers, NCDENR-Division of Water Resources, federal, state and local agencies, conservation organizations and the local community.
Roanoke Island Festival Park's project team was led by Suzanne Godley and assisted by Carroll Williams. The Park's team took personal ownership of the project and many staff members enlisted their families and friends to work hand-in-hand with volunteers and practitioners to plant marsh grasses provided by NCCF and USDA Plant Materials Center, Cape May, NJ. Trees were provided by the NC Division of Forest Resources and North Carolina State University. The NC Division of Marine Fisheries contributed their expertise and equipment to the oyster restoration and seeding project.
The NCCF conducted their traditional role of cost share partner, volunteer organizer and environmental facilitator, in partnership with the Army Corps of Engineers, to achieve this common restoration goal.
The collaboration of agencies and organizations, sensitive to the environment,
yielded a positive solution to significant erosion at Roanoke Island Festival
Park. The project will serve as an educational model for stabilizing shorelines
with sills and marsh plantings, instead of hard-edged bulkheads.
For additional information about the project call 252-475-1500.
Oct. 9, 2004
News & Observer
By CHIP ALEXANDER
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH -- It didn't take long for Jim
Oblinger, N.C. State's newly named chancellor, to make a rather bold prediction.
After Oblinger's appointment was approved Friday by the UNC Board of
Governors in Chapel Hill, Peaches Gunter Blank was asked who would win today's State-Carolina
football game.
"State," said Blank, chairwoman of NCSU's board of trustees.
"State by 23," Oblinger confidently added.
Later, during a welcoming ceremony for Oblinger at NCSU's College of Textiles, Blank repeated the sporty dialogue from the Board of Governors meeting in Chapel Hill. The overflow crowd, which included Wolfpack football coach Chuck Amato, laughed and clapped.
But the Pack over the Tar Heels by 23 points?
"I probably learned the most important lesson I could learn when they said: Who's going to win?" a smiling Oblinger said in an interview. "Our board chair said State, and I felt I really needed to give them a number.
"I thought I was conservative. You know, 23."
Oblinger succeeds Marye Anne Fox, who came from Texas in August 1998 and soon talked of the Pack competing for a national championship in football. After the 1999 season, Fox fired football coach Mike O'Cain and brought in Amato with the mandate of building the Wolfpack program into a national contender.
Fox also stood behind basketball coach Herb Sendek in 2001 after the Pack slumped to 13-16 and some Wolfpack fans clamored for another coaching change. She hired Lee Fowler as athletics director and was attuned to all the workings of the athletics department.
Fox left in July to become chancellor at the University of California-San Diego. Oblinger, 58, was dean and executive director for agricultural programs of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences before Fox named him provost and executive vice chancellor in May 2003.
"I believe in balance in everything, and I believe in excellence in everything," Oblinger said Friday. "I think collegiate athletics are a very vital part of the university ... and I will be supportive of it."
Amato left soon after the ceremony and was unavailable for comment. After the Pack's practice Thursday, he said the selection of the new chancellor was "very important."
"A chancellor is the head of the university and ... I'm sure whoever it is, he's going to be a team player on all aspects: academia and athletics and everything in between," Amato said.
Amato said he had no input in the selection process. "That's over my head," he said.
Sendek, who also was at Friday's ceremony, said he was not consulted but approved the naming of Oblinger.
"I believe the university has a great deal of momentum right now," Sendek said. "Dr. Fox did a great job, and I think it makes perfect sense to hire from within. I like a chancellor who understands athletics, who believes it's an integral part of the university."
Oblinger was an undergraduate at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., in the mid-1960s, when quarterback Bruce Mackey was leading the Division III Tigers over big rival Wabash. He got a taste of college athletics on a broader scale in jobs at Missouri and Florida before coming to NCSU in 1986.
Attending Friday's welcoming function was former NCSU Chancellor Larry Monteith -- perhaps a reminder to Oblinger about the challenge big-time athletics can present. Monteith served during the Jim Valvano controversy, which ended with the popular Valvano stepping down as the Pack's athletics director and basketball coach in 1990.
"Jim Oblinger is going to look at the word 'student' before 'athlete,'" Blank said. "I think we can look for the same support [for athletics] we've had from all of our chancellors. He understands the value of exceptionally talented student-athletes and the value of athletics to the overall campus community. Athletics are important but not the only thing."
As provost, Oblinger had oversight of NCSU's academic support program for athletes. He was a part of the school's recent NCAA certification process.
"I think he's quite aware of the issues of intercollegiate athletics," said Donn Ward, the faculty athletics representative at NCSU.
Fowler noted that Oblinger often attends Wolfpack games.
"I wouldn't say he's a huge sports fan, but he does want our sports teams to do well," Fowler said. "He's like Marye Anne Fox in that he wants excellence in every area of the university.
"You want someone interested in what you're doing. I don't think he will micromanage athletics. Marye Anne Fox didn't. She wanted to be well-informed, but she trusted my decisions. I believe he will, too."
Estimate Shows UNC May Need Up To $4 Billion For Improvements
Oct. 9, 2004
Associated Press; WRAL; Charlotte Observer; Greensboro News & Record
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
CHAPEL HILL -- A preliminary estimate of construction needs for the University of North Carolina system shows a need for up to $4 billion over six years, according to a plan presented Friday to UNC leaders.
The estimate indicates what UNC campuses may seek from the state when $3.1 million in bond money approved in 2000 runs out in a few years. Voters overwhelmingly approved those bonds four years ago, but this package could be met with more skepticism after enormous manufacturing job losses since then.
UNC leaders have long planned to seek more state money for the system's second big phase of construction.
In 1999, a consultant told the UNC board that the 16 system campuses needed $6.9 billion worth of construction and renovation to prepare for an influx of students. UNC campuses received $2.5 billion from the 2000 bond referendum.
The campuses borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars more for dorms, parking decks and other projects financed by user fees. State campuses are dotted with major construction projects these days. At UNC-Chapel Hill, officials say they spend $1 million a day on construction.
But that won't be enough, say UNC system officials. By the end of the decade, the system will be serving 200,000 students or more.
"The projection for the number of North Carolina high school graduates is still up,'' said N.C. Central University Chancellor James Ammons Jr. ``We have an obligation to not only accommodate the students coming out of high school; we also have an obligation to have the best learning environment possible.''
UNC-Greensboro Chancellor Patricia Sullivan said she expects taxpayers will be surprised to hear such a large estimate for future UNC construction.
"I really believe when people on our campus see the (new) facilities, they're very proud and very pleased, and they know we've been good stewards,'' she said. "If we multiply that by 16, I hope people will listen to us.''
Brad Wilson, chairman of the UNC Board of Governors, said spending on the second phase of bond construction is still far into the future. He said the university is asked to provide six-year capital plans to the legislature every other year.
For now, the UNC system will request $250 million from the state in the next two years for repairs and renovations.
Farmers planning for possible buyout
Oct. 9, 2004
Greensboro News & Record
By Carla Bagley
© Copyright 2004
MAYFIELD -- Workers have stripped the tobacco stalks clean on Claude Pryor's farm in the Mayfield community of Rockingham County. The tobacco growing season has ended.
But a bill working its way through Congress likely will mean that a new season -- one filled with choices and possibilities -- has begun for Triad tobacco farmers like Pryor.
The bill ends the federal program that for decades has set prices and production controls for tobacco farmers. In return, it will pay $10 billion to growers and to allotment holders, those who rent out their right to grow tobacco.
The buyout will change the face of tobacco farming -- a mainstay of North Carolina's economy since the 1700s.
Some allotment holders will become millionaires. Some farmers will be able to retire, putting their land up for sale. And some will go into new ventures.
In all, 76,000 North Carolinians will split $3.8 billion over a 10-year period.
"If we decide to quit tobacco, we can convert the tobacco land to a cow pasture," Pryor, 61, said Friday. "It will take some money, but we can do it. Or we may cut back on tobacco and do both."
Pryor and his brother, Ronald, 57, farm 107 acres of tobacco near Ruffin. On Friday, he declined to say how much he will get from the buyout, but the payments will average $250,000 per person. Some will get a few thousand dollars, and some will get more than $1 million. North Carolina, with about 12,000 tobacco farms, produces nearly 40 percent of the U.S. crop, the most of any state. The buyout will allow farmers to grow as much tobacco as they want and sell it for the best price they can get.
Robert Smothers, who operates Smothers Warehouse in Reidsville, said the buyout means "a new start."
Tobacco prices have been kept artificially high by the system of quotas and price supports established in the 1930s, Smothers said. The high prices have made it difficult for farmers to compete with cheaper imported leaf. And each year the government has been further reducing the amount of tobacco it allows farmers to grow.
Steve Troxler, who once grew 120 acres of tobacco on his farm in Browns Summit, has seen his quota cut yearly since about 1997. He now grows only 55 acres. He's "ecstatic" about the buyout.
"We had gotten to the point there was no future left for us," he said. Troxler, a candidate for state agriculture commissioner, said he'll weigh whether he can make a profit before he decides to keep growing.
"If they will just step outside in Washington, they will hear the cheer in North Carolina" when the president signs the bill, Troxler said.
The buyout will pay allotment holders $7 for each pound of tobacco they had been allowed to grow. Farmers who leased their quota from an allotment holder will get $3 for each pound they grow. And farmers who own their own allotment and grow tobacco will get $10 per pound. A farmer who owns a 100,000-pound allotment and grows his own tobacco could receive $1 million. The money will be taxed.
In some families, the permits to grow tobacco have been handed down for generations to people still growing leaf. Others have inherited them from past generations but no longer grow tobacco, choosing instead to make money by leasing their allotments to farmers.
Andrew Brod, an economist at UNCG, said it is fair for the government to pay farmers for these assets since it created them by restricting farmers' ability to grow tobacco.
The payoff is extraordinary, said Blake Brown, a professor of agriculture economics at N.C. State in Raleigh who has worked on the tobacco issue for about eight years.
"I don't think many people thought we'd ever get this,'' Brown said. Farmers will use the buyout money to pay down debt and invest in new ventures such as growing flowers and ornamentals, Brown said. Others will use it to retire. That's just one of the decisions facing Claude Pryor, who is nearly eligible for Social Security.
"I'm going to handle it carefully," he said. "I'm not going to jump into just spending it because I've got it."
Neither will Matt Cardwell, 31, although he plans to continue farming. Cardwell and his father grow about 60 acres of tobacco under contract and hold a 120,000-pound allotment. Cardwell wants to use his share of the money to pay down debt and perhaps expand cattle and grape-growing operations on his farm in the Ayersville community in Rockingham County. They might continue growing tobacco if they can contract with a manufacturer for the right price.
"We'll have to see," he said. "We can't grow it for $1.35 (a pound) like the world market is. If it's not around $1.65 even after the buyout, I don't know that I'll fool with it."
Young farmers like Cardwell will benefit from the buyout because they won't have to buy or lease quota, Pryor said.
"It'll let the younger farmer reach out and grow tobacco and expand and compete with Brazil and Zimbabwe," he said. "With the system we've got, we could never get there."
Oct. 10, 2004
News & Observer
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
Provost James L. Oblinger is worthy of promotion to the job of chancellor at N.C. State University, a promotion announced Friday. It's a good move for the university in a number of ways, not the least of which is the fact that Oblinger has been on campus for 18 years, coming to Raleigh in 1986 as an associate dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
As a known and respected quantity, Oblinger whose doctorate is in food technology should provide a comfort level to faculty and staff as he moves up to the university's top job. Certainly he has shown loyalty to the institution that is his professional home. And he clearly has done a good job as provost after taking the position, the No. 2 job on campus. His predecessor quit in protest over the firing of a couple of other administrators by then-Chancellor Marye Anne Fox.
Fox, a no-nonsense boss with a penchant for quick and firm decisions, faced a number of roiling challenges during her six years in Raleigh (she left to become chancellor of the University of California at San Diego). NCSU now seems a campus weary of controversy and shakeup, and the appointment of a well-qualified in-house candidate to the top post was a smart move on the part of the search committee that chose Oblinger.
Certainly there are good reasons, sometimes, for going outside to find a leader in the case of Fox, for example, the choice reflected academic prestige because she was a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Often a fresh look is helpful. But under the administration of University of North Carolina system President Molly Broad, an inclination to go off-campus has seemed to dominate, prompting expensive national searches. Campuses within the system should also be growing their own leaders, and Oblinger, 58, is a good example of that.
His own challenges will include dealing with the politics of higher education, specifically the potential of interference in the university's priorities by lawmakers. He will need to keep in check the influence of athletics boosters, a problem not just at N.C. State but at most major universities.
Raising money will need attention (a $1 billion campaign is under way) while a focus is kept on NCSU's academic mission. Maintaining healthy connections with the public is always an important university concern. And yet another item on the agenda: continuing to build the quality of the faculty by seeking top talent from elsewhere while investing in scholars on campus with high potential.
Ideally, Oblinger also will devote energy to improving town-gown relations. The city of Raleigh and the campus have endured some mutual strains off and on over several years. (The controversy around the West Raleigh sports arena is one example of tension.) This is something that needs to be a priority for Oblinger, as it was for one of the university's legendary chancellors, the late John Tyler Caldwell.
There is much that is hopeful in Oblinger's selection, and that hope seems to be stirring on campus. This job is one of the most prominent, and important, in North Carolina, and one of N.C. State's own now has a glorious opportunity to build on what already has been accomplished and look to bigger horizons.
Oct. 9, 2004
News & Observer
By Jane Stancill
© Copyright 2004
CHAPEL HILL -- UNC system leaders are already thinking beyond their current campus construction boom. And the cost estimate for their next six-year building plan is an eye-popper -- up to $4 billion in state money.
The plan, presented Friday to the UNC Board of Governors, is preliminary, and there is no proposal yet for how to finance such an amount. But the estimate, which is $3.8 billion to $4 billion, gives an indication about what UNC campuses will seek from the state when the current state bond money runs out in a few years.
The large number could be met with skepticism by legislators and voters, who overwhelmingly approved $3.1 billion in borrowing for construction at UNC and the state's community colleges in 2000.
The economy was zipping along then, and the state had not experienced such enormous manufacturing job losses.
UNC leaders have long planned to seek more state money for the system's second big phase of construction. In 1999, a consultant told the UNC board that the 16 system campuses needed $6.9 billion worth of construction and renovation to prepare for an influx of students.
UNC campuses received $2.5 billion from the 2000 bond referendum. The campuses borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars more for dorms, parking decks and other projects financed by user fees.
State campuses are dotted with major construction projects these days. At UNC-Chapel Hill, officials say they're spending at the rate of $1 million a day on construction.
But that won't be enough, say UNC system officials. By the end of the decade, the system will be serving 200,000 students or more.
"The projection for the number of North Carolina high school graduates is still up," said James Ammons Jr., chancellor of N.C. Central University. "We have an obligation to not only accommodate the students coming out of high school; we also have an obligation to have the best learning environment possible."
Ammons said that the new buildings are wonderful but that the campuses still have outdated facilities.
Brad Wilson, chairman of the Board of Governors, said spending on the second phase of bond construction is still far into the future. He said the university is asked to provide six-year capital plans to the legislature every other year.
More immediately, the UNC system will request $250 million from the state in the next two years for repairs and renovations on its campuses.
All the building wouldn't be paid for by taxpayers. The six-year plan spells out an additional $2.5 billion in construction spending. That would be paid for with private gifts, research overhead and fee-financed borrowing.
UNC President Molly Broad said such borrowing would likely depend on the state's financial footing.
UNC-Greensboro Chancellor Patricia Sullivan said she expects taxpayers will be surprised to hear such a large estimate for future UNC construction.
"I really believe when people on our campus see the [new] facilities, they're very proud and very pleased, and they know we've been good stewards," she said. "If we multiply that by 16, I hope people will listen to us."
Oct. 9, 2004
News & Observer
By TIM SIMMONS
© Copyright 2004
James L. Oblinger came to Raleigh 18 years ago simply to be a part of the N.C. State University community.
On Friday, the professor of food technology was picked to lead that community for years to come.
"This is not about me. It is about us. We are N.C. State," he said repeatedly to about 300 faculty and staff members, students, and local dignitaries on the campus after the UNC system Board of Governors formally approved his selection as NCSU's 13th chancellor.
He will begin the job Jan. 1 at an annual salary of $274,797.
Oblinger, a popular provost who has particularly good rapport among the university's 10 college deans, stressed the importance of good relations throughout the day.
But it was the words that Oblinger used to open his speech that seemed to best summarize his feelings comments that were not prepared as he responded to a long cascade of applause from his peers.
"Wow. Thanks. Thank you for being here," Oblinger said, his voice faltering just a bit. "It means more to me than you will ever know."
It was a day filled with praise and celebration for the university's provost and former dean.
"It is a special honor to have your faculty embrace you and say they want to elevate you as their campus leader," UNC system President Molly Broad said shortly after announcing the selection. "This is what set him apart from other candidates."
Oblinger's selection capped a five-month search by trustees at the state's largest campus.
The son of a schoolteacher and utility worker who grew up in Ashland, Ohio, Oblinger will lead a school of 30,000 students with a budget of $865 million.
Search committee members said Friday that they were impressed from the start with the breadth and depth of Oblinger's understanding of NCSU's role in the state and nation.
He also got exceptionally high marks from the school's deans and faculty for his skills as a communicator who can build agreements among people with disparate interests.
"Our deans are very smart people, but they are mavericks of a sort," said Bob Jordan, an NCSU trustee and chairman of the search committee. "But he has brought them together as one. It's the best I've ever felt about a search committee decision in 43 years of being around education."
Ambitious goals
Oblinger will replace Marye Anne Fox, who said in April that she was leaving to become chancellor of the University of California at San Diego.
Fox is credited with pushing NCSU to new levels during her six years in office. She improved the school on a variety of fronts, from newly funded research to better athletic programs.
"Since Marye Anne Fox announced her departure, one of the most-often-asked questions has been 'Can we maintain our momentum?' I'm here to tell you the answer is an unequivocal yes," Oblinger said. "Absolutely yes."
"We aren't a university on the verge of achievement. We are already there," he said. "We have already achieved, and we will continue to achieve."
Although Oblinger said he would not make changes just to increase the school's national rankings, he said he does intend to improve them.
He also predicted an even larger increase in research grants and more national recognition for the private-public partnerships that are the backbone of the school's Centennial Campus.
The progress, he said, will be in addition to a strong sports program and not at its expense.
"Athletics is an important part of campus life," he said. "But it is one part of life. This is about balance."
People who hear such talk in the larger world of higher education will take note of Oblinger's words, said Claire Van Ummersen, vice president of the American Council on Education.
Even those who do not know Oblinger by name know him as the man who was able to bring stability to a faculty that was angered enough at one point in Fox's tenure to censure the former chancellor.
Other universities also see NCSU as a large and growing presence among research institutions, Van Ummersen said.
Oblinger outlined four themes that he said will guide all of his decisions in the coming weeks and years scholarship, innovation, diversity and organizational effectiveness.
"These four themes are not just elements of a vision. They are what N.C. State is about," he said. "I believe that vision without execution is an illusion."
Getting prepared
Oblinger will not start until Jan. 1, at his request, so he can better prepare for the job and pay special attention to selecting an interim provost to replace him.
Interim Chancellor Robert Barnhardt will continue in his position until that time.
Those who have worked with Oblinger in the past say they are certain he will use the time effectively.
"He not only talks to the faculty, he listens to the faculty," said Faculty Senate President Dennis Daley. "And when he wants to know something, he isn't afraid to ask the people who actually do the work."
Said Bill Friday, former long-time president of the UNC system and one of NCSU's most famous alumni: "This is a happy coincidence of the right man, in the right place, at the right time."
JAMES L. OBLINGER
AGE: 58
CURRENT POSITION: NCSU provost
NEW POSITION: 13th chancellor of NCSU, starting Jan. 1
CURRENT SALARY: $225,000
NEW SALARY: $274,797
EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree, DePauw University, 1967; master's degree, Iowa State University, 1970; doctorate in food technology, Iowa State University, 1972
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
1997-2003: Dean, NCSU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
1986-1997: Associate dean, NCSU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
1984-1986: Associate dean, University of Missouri-Columbia College of Agriculture
1972-1984: Assistant professor, associate professor and professor of food science and human nutrition, University of Florida
ACADEMIC SPECIALTIES: Expert in the microbiology of red meats and poultry, decontamination techniques and foodborne pathogens
FAMILY: Wife, Diana; four sons
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
"We look forward to enhancing our already strong academic collaborations with N.C. State. Working together, and with our sister UNC campuses, we can do even more in the future to benefit the people of North Carolina."
UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser
"Jim Oblinger will strive to reach out to all members of this university. Students should rest assured that he will always have our priorities and needs at the top of his agenda."
Tony Caravano, NCSU student body president, search committee member
"He has a rare ability to communicate to a broad array of constituents, from administrators to faculty to staff to students to alumni and to state legislators."
Marvin Malecha, dean of the NCSU College of Design
"Jim will tell N.C. State's story and vision like no one else can."
Todd Klaenhammer, distinguished professor, search committee member
The bard (up close and personal)
Oct. 10, 2004
News & Observer
By MARVIN HUNT
© Copyright 2004
Will in the World" seems doomed from the start. In his first trade book, America's premier Shakespearean, Stephen Greenblatt, offers what might be best described as a speculative literary biography. He combines the relatively few accepted facts of Shakespeare's life with Elizabethan-Jacobean history and then spins this mixture into Shakespeare's major plays and poetry. "If," "perhaps" and "might" are (perhaps) the most frequent words in this book, which reads the times into the plays and the plays into their times.
Greenblatt has, in short, written the sort of book that specialists might eagerly heap scorn upon.
In the hands of a lesser writer, "Will in the World" might well have been a disaster. But Greenblatt is no upstart scholar or run-of-the-mill professor, no neurasthenic freak obsessing over open arses in "Romeo and Juliet." Greenblatt, a Harvard professor whose extraordinary career includes the development of an entirely new critical approach to literary/cultural analysis, the so-called "new historicism," is a peerless guide to Shakespeare. Reading material culture into literature and literature back into material culture has been, after all, his life's work
"Will in the World" is a biography told through essays, each of which has its own internal logic. They plot Shakespeare's life from "Primal Scenes," which speculatively reconstructs the great man's childhood, to "The Triumph of the Everyday," the concluding chapter that wisely and affectionately attempts to recover Shakespeare's quotidian life, considering his final years, his sickness and dying. By offering us a vision of Shakespeare's life -- introducing us to the people he encountered, the things he experienced -- Greenblatt puts flesh and blood and bones on this enigmatic genius and his famous plays.
We follow Shakespeare growing up in Stratford (including the famous legends of impertinence and rebellion) culminating in his apparently forced and unhappy marriage -- to a pregnant Anne Hathaway who was eight years his senior -- and his subsequent move to London. What impact might Shakespeare's apparently loveless though companionable marriage have had in the plays, in which failed marriages are uncomfortably common? Among the few that work, Macbeth and his Lady's marriage is vicious.
What must have been the effect, Greenblatt goes on to ask, of that day in the late 1580s when young Shakespeare entered the city for the first time, walking beneath the gibbets on London Bridge? What image must piked heads have implanted in the young Shakespeare's incomparable imagination? Macbeth's, perched on a stake?
Within a few years after his arrival in London, Shakespeare was writing plays that threatened the status quo of Elizabethan drama, challenging a cadre of older writers typified by Robert Greene, drunken dean of the so-called University Wits, who dissed Shakespeare as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers" in his 1592 apologia, "A Groatsworth of Wit." Greene was sickly jealous of Shakespeare, and very sick. Shakespeare exacted a satisfying revenge in caricaturing Greene as the fat, drunken, garrulous Falstaff in the "Henry IV" plays and "The Merry Wives of Windsor." And he took the plot of his masterful "The Winter's Tale" from one of Greene's far lesser works.
At the same time that Shakespeare was contesting with Greene, he was stretching his dramatic muscles with the young genius Christopher "Kit" Marlowe. Born in the same year as Shakespeare (1564), he enjoyed success more quickly. Marlowe -- who was stabbed to death in a barroom brawl in 1593 -- wrote stupendous plays depicting the consequences of unchecked appetite and ambition. Marlowe's "Jew of Malta" -- Jews had been banished from England in the 13th century -- is of special importance to Shakespeare's career. It alone plausibly explains why a few years after Marlowe's death Shakespeare wrote his own magnificent and troubling play about a Jew, "The Merchant of Venice."
Shakespeare's rise to fame and greatness through the early comedies and tragedies took him to what Greenblatt sees as a turning point in the playwright's career -- when he conceived the plan of "Hamlet." In 1596, Shakespeare's son Hamnet died, and the pain of a dead son must have been great and expressed in complex, obscure ways. With "Hamlet," Shakespeare discovers what Greenblatt calls "strategic opacity" which, if there's a new idea in this book, is it. By strategic opacity, Greenblatt indicates a decision to forestall definitive answers to dramatic, emotional, psychological and philosophical questions such as: Is Hamlet truly mad? Is his father's ghost friend or foe? Why, after all, must Lear and Cordelia die as they do? What do we make of the childless Macbeths?
"Tearing away the structure of superficial meanings," Greenblatt writes, Shakespeare "fashioned an inner structure through the resonant echoing of key terms, the subtle development of images, the brilliant orchestration of scenes, the complex unfolding of ideas, the intertwining of parallel plots, the uncovering of psychological obsessions." Shakespeare's refusal "to provide himself or his audience with a familiar, comforting rationale that seems to make it all make sense" enables him to "get to something immeasurably deepe