December 1993

3"^ :.*.;

u*.;.-'v

f,.?:.

L\r. $..}1:r:

VANTAGE POINT

The Next Two Hundred Yearc years ago, the first public university in the country laid the cornerstone of its first building, [two hundred qreat I and the tradition of teaching and research at the University of North Carolina was born. Since I tnu, timel the University, the nation, and indeecl the world, have seen an unprecedented outpouring of research and discovery. As we look back over the rich traditions of the University, we can see that stunning changes have taken place. Students no longer study by candlelight, but are trained in the use of the most

sophisticated electronic devices which aid them in their work. Classrooms no longer generally hold only a few students, but may engage hundreds of eager minds and may even reach out acros the state through the C0NCERT telecommunications network.

As the Unrversity faces the next millennium, we must seek a new vision of ounelves two hundred years

from now. Surely, that world will be as different from modern day society as today is hom the 18th century.

That vision

will lay the foundation for creative efforts that will be fostered and which will find fertile soil in

which to grow. The past several centuries have been characterized by individual creative endeavon that have Ied to new insights into the nature of matter, into the structure of the earth and into the sociological forces shaping society. Today, the loundation of knowledge is far greater than in the past. It has become increasingly

difficult for individuals to work alone in the quiet of their offices or laboratories. The exploration for new knowledge, the development of new materials and the evolution of our understanding of people, nature and society will increasingly require group endeavors. The individual as creator will always be important, but the final creations of the future will become the products of many individuals working together.

As this

proces widens, the banien between traditional disciplines will be eroded. Divisions of knowl-

edge that have been used for hundreds of years

will no longer be appropriate, Major scientific, educational

and societal problems cannot be solved by individuals within the narrow traditional disciplines that have seryed us so well in the past. II the Univenity of North Carolina is to remain a major center for teaching and research in the future, it must find within itself the vision and the courage to set aside classical ways of solving

problems and of engaging in the educational proces. Structural changes will be esential in the organization of the institution. rn the way new knowledge

is

created and taught and in the relationship of the University to

the state and to the country.

The esence of a maior university such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is to create new

scholanhip through research, and to teach the next generation both the knowledge gained and the process through which new understanding is developed. At this level of sophistication, research and teaching are so intricately woven together

as

to be inseparable enterprises. The research and teaching activities of the

University today reach outside the boundaries of Chapel Hill into the greater world. Through outreach programs, continuing education activities and collaborative projects, faculty and students at the institution work

with others to further knowledge and to improve the human condition. The next 200 years will find those cre ative collaborative interactions entering a new dimension. The state, the nation and eventually the world will be united by electronic connections that will add a new dimension to the creative process. We see the beginnings of this transition in the development of the Internet and in the idea for an Information Highway within the state of North Carolina itself. The process

will continue until almost every office and home in the country

is

connected electronically. It is as if humanity is becoming one giant organism that is in the proces of evolving its own nervous system. As the

world becomes more fully integrated through these electronic connections, the

University community must recognize that the classroom and the laboratory are no longer bound by traditional physical space. The next 200 years can be a time of unprecedented discovery on the University campus if we, as an academic community, have the courage to meet the future and the changes it

-*i Linda L.

-

r t

Spremulli

A,

//

Y

Profesor of Chemistry Interim Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies and Research

will require.

B

icente nnial

Research and Graduate Education at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill/ December 1993 / Volume XI, Number I

COVER STORY

Endeavors Research and Graduate Education at The University of

cDfl

North Carolina at Chapel Hill

r)Z

December 1993 Volume X[, Number

EXPTORINGTIME

Uapping the History of Research at Carolina (Commemorative Poster Enclosed')

1

Endeavors is a magazine published three times year by the Office of Research Services at The

a

DEPARTMENTS

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Each issue of Endeavon describes only a few of the many research projects undertaken by faculty

2

NEWSMAKERS: Carolina Faculty in the Headlines From Headlines to History

and students of the University.

Requests for permission to reprint material, readers' comments and requests for extra copies should be sent to Editor, Endeavors, Ollice of Research Services,

ExploringTime, page 32

CB #4100, 300 Bynum Hall,

4

MARKETPIACE:Universitylnnovations Technology Development by Dauid E. Broome Jr.

6

The University ol North Carolina at Chapel Hill,

DIALOGUE: Issues in Research Improving the Balance: Teaching and Research

Chapel Hill, NC 275994100 (919/96e5625).

at Carolina by lomes Peococh Choncellor Paul Hardin

Inteim

8

CAROLINA 0PINION: Tar Heels Speak Our

Vice Chancellor for Groduate Studies

Benefits of Research at UNC-CH by Beuerly Wieuins

and Research

27

Linda L. Spremulli

Diector, Office

VITA: A Profile Kenneth Brinkhous

of Research Seruices

Robert P. Lowman

Philip Carl Katherine High

SCHOIARLY PURSUITS: Student Research

28

Aduisory Board for 1RS fublications

A Really Remarkable Light; Determining Zirc0nium; Rural Education; A Richer Record

Symphonic Drama, page 16

Douglas Kelly

3l

Carol Reuss

WHERE

IS. . . the First in the Nation

UNC-CH of Course

Editor Brenda Powell Assistant Editots

FEATURES

Lisa Blansett

Kristen Eberiein

t

Dottie Horn Scott Lowry

Ashley Singleton

0

O I r)

1

Christine Sneed

#,:y.X',i,

j#:I

J$,);,"

I'31"-

OUT OF HARM'S WAY e New Awarenes of Children's Needs

by Kristen Eberlein

bv Ashley Singleton

Bicentennial Researcher Kristen Eberlein

16 i},L,f,'I*il.,

Director of Bicentennial Publicotions

Rich Beckman

by Dottie Horn

Virtual Worldq page 24

Designers

Southem Media Design & Production

,n rw

A

,, r I

FROM BRASS TO STUCON

socrAr

wrTH University by Christine

FORCE TO BE RICKONED

Social Scientists Affect Life Beyond the

Sneed

Couer Photos. /llustrators: Jane Filer, Robert You Photogra p her. W ill Ow ens

ln honor of the Bicentennial Obseruance, this issue

of

Endeavors includes a comO1993 by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the United States.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of The University ol North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Evolving Instrumentation in the Biological Sciences at UNC

CH

by

Scott

Lowry

memoratiue poste4, Research at Carolina: 1793-1993.

?"he

front and back couers reproduce the poster in miniature.

25

POOTING RESOURCES Physicists and Chemists Share Equipment

and

Ideas

by

Ashley Singleton

The poster is enclosed in a

pocket on the inside of the bach couer.

2

6

HUMANTTTES

Sflil:ff.rN-rHE

by George A. Kennedy

Our accounts of past research at the University use deparlment names current at the time of the event described. Similarly, we refer to the pre-1963 University as the University of North Carolina (UNC); in 1963 the University was renamed and accordingly we refer to it thereafter as the University of North barolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). Sometimes, the University is simply called Carolina.

Carolino Faculty in the Heodlines

NEWSMAKERS ,h

From Headlines to History

-r,r.."-,"r,"r***"b'

COLLIER COBB EXPLORES MYSTENOUS TUNNEL AND HOTVIE OF CLIFF DWELLEN

Dr, lVlacnider Honored For Results Of Research Worh University Professor Secures Valuable Data on Bright's Disease

Result

Chapel

bicaril the kidney poison

in large measure by the use of sodium

bonate. Furthermore.

,

was used without the sodium bicarbonate

Recoqnition

and an acute Brights induced the use then

24-Following

the

recent announcement that the board of trustees had elected Dr. William

de B.

MacNider Kenan Research Professor

of

Pharmacology, President Chase of the made public

here a summary of the more important results

recently obtained by Dr. MacNider in his pharmacological laboratory. ...

Dr. MacNider's branch of medicine, pharmacology, concems the action of drugs upon animal organisms. and he has specialized upon diseases of the kidney. The results of his expenments. made known through

contributions to medical journals, have won him recognition all over the world.

Dr. MacNider's laboratory reached conclusions regarding Bright's disease that

probably saved thousands of soldiers in France during the war.

ASHEVILLE, Jan.

lt was found that

there could be produced in the dog an acute nephritis which could be controlled and

oi'

I

the atkali nould enable the kidney to repitir

ln

itself and in measure return to the normal. animals that did not receive the alkali recovery was

no

possible."

At the same time animals were exposed

,

use of the same measures

here

were very greatly beneficial or reheved

the

fur-

of years ago and split asunder by terrific

upheavals . ...

It was stated that at one point of van-

posible

the University of Norlh Carolina, is at the

tage on a high eminence it was

Kenilworth Inn, having anived yesterday

to look across a deep ravine into the

from Chimney Rock, where he has been

very face of the sheer cliffs, which from

engaged in making some observations of rock formations in that section of the

the valley never attracted any attention.

state. From here he wiil return to his home in Chapel Hill and compile scien-

lar walls of granite. With the limited

tific material from the data gathered on

the exploring party to get a close range

this journey,

view io definitely establish facts, but

',,

During his stay in this region Mr.

They appeared to be sheer perpendicu-

facilities at hand, it was impossible for

from this new angle it was determined

i

Cobb made explorations which may

that lhe walls have recesses of varied

I

result in establishing new information standards regarding some of the granite

depths, umbrella like shelves and roof

outcroppings, ...

a cliff dwelling age in times past. Mr.

to cold and dampness and developed an acutel

Brights. The

30.-Collier Cobb,

head of the Department of Geology, of

l

and in the kidney. Following this thought

Hill Given International

Univenity of North Carolina

blood

DISEASE

oi Studies at

Chapel Hill, May

Special to the Observer. was not due to kidney poison employed but to an increase in acid bodies in the

PROVES OF GREAT AID

IN TBEATING

accurately studied. The fact was established

:

Yesterday Mr. Cobb, accompanied

,

gardens, and other features indicating Cobb is corning back very shortly with

by two guides familiar with trails and

proper instruments and cameras, and

nished the basis for the use b1 the British and

passages in these pafts, ascended

French armies of an alkali in the treatment of

:

Chimney Rock mountain to make cer-

year

:

facilities for scaling the ciiffs to definitely establish all facts concerning this interesting phase of geological formation.

or more ago the British published a report on

:

the

,

condition. These two pieces of work

French Nephritis (Brights Disease). A

the value of such a measure and recently

French published a similar report, giving the

Univenity laboratory

:

tain observations. Dizzy heights and perilous positions were negotiated, thus

permitting him to scan the peculiar

Excerpted from article in

rocks and boulders thrown up hundreds

The Charlotte Observer lan.

3l,

1926

due credit for the work.

e 7tt e d.ft' om artic le in The News & Observer Ma

E.rt

.t

24, 1921

U

niversity S cientist F inds Fresh Insight on Growth

By HOWARD W. BLAKESLEE. Associated Press Science Editor.

Chapel Hill, Dec. i8-Bubbles discovered in the "cells" which form animal tissues give science a new picture of the mechanism of growth. which was reported today at the Unrversrty of North Carolina.

The bubbles appear, like ghosts from seemingly nowhere, while a cell is dividing to fom two cells. This division is the main step in growth, but how the cells divide has been one ol the mysteries.

Until now one phase of the division has been known. Under a microscope, a zone around the equator of a cell could be seen to tighten like a belt.

Part of the equator became a canyon, and the division occurred along this

equator begins to sink, a sheet of bubbles fbrms. The sheet spreads in the plane where the cell is going to divide.

The bubbles are called vacuoles.

They contain a clear, watery substance. There are always one or more ofthem in an undivided cell. But those which show up before diviiion are newcomers.

Dr. Wilson found them by studYing the eggs of shad, sea bass, and worms.

Betbre and during cell "fission," he cut the eggs into thin slices and stained them to bring out details

of

structure.

The slicing showed that the bubbles ultimately fused. Their walls. like shingles laid side by side, became the wall between the two halves of the

crack. For this reason division was ascribed to "activity" of the cell surlace. uhich i: a dense laler ofproto-

ce1l. These living shingles, however. enlarged themselves before joining up.

It remains for future research to decide how universal in animals are

plasm.

these leatures ol'cell tlivision.

At the University of North Carolina. Dr. H. V. Wilson has dis-

Exerpted Jiom urticle in

covered that inside the cell, betbre the

The News & Obser"ver Dec. 19,19-18 ,7.;ar r +d/.

Tar Heel Blue Collars

In The Raw

By WALTER SPEARMAN

ing-and

has a recurring nightmare

in which his mother wades out into Not manl' noyelists explore the world of the North Carolina support-

the river and kills his father with an

ers of Ceorge Wallace and the high

ters desperately in his sleep, Both

school dropouts who go to work

axe. "Don't do it this time," he mut-

as

Bebe and Jack once lived in

waitresses in Durham, run laundro

Creenway, in Stone County, where

mats in Angier and drive cars with

their families worked in the Allen

squinel tails on the radiator or work

Cotton Mills.

as a

milkman by daJ'and a cab dri-

This raw material is fresher to

ver b1,night. But in her new novel. .The Riler to Pickle Beach, Doris Betts does just that (Harper and Row,390

pp

the reader than to Doris Betts. who grew up in the mill town of Statesville, attended Woman's

$7.95).

College in Greensboro and now

Her characters are uneducated.

teaches creative writing at Chapel

almost illiterate, inarticulate, resl

Hill. While in college

less. dissatisfied and unable to work

Mademoiselle prize for fiction and has written two novels, "Tall Houses

toward a more satisfying life. Bebe

she won the

Sellars spurns books. enjovs mor ie

in Winter' and "The Scarlet Thread"

magazines, imagines she looks a lit-

and two highly praised collections

tle like Alice Faye and constantly

of shortstories. She has won a

dreams about sentimental old

Guggenheim Award and twice won

movies with Jennifer jones, Tyrone

the Sir Walter Raleigh Prize for fic-

Power and Paul Newman.

tion.

For I 8 vears she has been mar-

She lives with her husband

and three children in Sanford.

ried to Ceorqe Sellars, who came from a mountain background. now has a job with a nursery to work

with plants,

is eager for

ffi

book learn-

Exceryted t'rom article in

Doris Betts

Chapet HillWeekly April 30, 1972

Author of "The Road to Pickle Beach"

Kenon Discovered Corbide ln Gos Of Aluminum Slog CHAPEL HILL

(AP)-

"How did you happen to discover carbide?" a reporter once asked

William Rand Kenan

Jr.

"More or less by accident," Kenan replied quickly and frankly.

This is the way Kenan

explained it: "While at the University of North Carolina Iwas working with Dr. F. P. Venable in 1893. I was ma.ioring in chemistry and engineering and naturally took great interest in the process of producing aluminum, which was connected with both.

"A genuine graphite paint was much needed,

and this was the problem I was working on. To attack it from a practical angle, it had to be made from some product, and the slag dumped out after the making of aluminum suggested itself, as it contained carbon, which, you know, is graphite. "[n working with it I came across a peculiar fact. People had noted that when this slag, which was perfectly inert when dry, was rained on it gave off a sort of gas, or steam.

I got some of it into the

laboratory, and being interested in the gas, wet the slag to see what it was all about. I tested it in r iir:i.ll it,

NC Collection. UNC-CH

.

I

r-..

:::=..-

various ways, and finally applied a match to it.

"The result was a per-

fectly splendid explosion.

But I got to thinking that if it would explode it would burn, and set out to work on the problem. In the end I found oxygen had to be mixed with it-the gas was too rich by itself.

But that was the essential of the thing."

Excerpted from orticle in the

Durham Morning Herald July 29, 1965 This article appeared as a tribute to Kenon shortly after his deoth

I

j; .-,ji

Uniu ersity I nno u otio ns

U.S. Patents Received

MARKETPLACE 14

12 10 8

Technology Development

t)

Transfening Technology from

4

Research l-ab to the Community

2

by

Jr.

David E. Bmome

ft H I

rom

antiuncer

0

druqs to ozone'friendly

products, researchel at the University of North barolina at Chapel Hill are continually inventing new ways to deal with old problems.

in geographic proximity to the University, and then other U.S. companies (or at least U.S.-based companies). As new technologies are developed at those

Under the University's Patent and Copyright Policy, all inventions made by Univenity personnel

economic growth and development.

on University time or through the use of University

is often a long and intense

resources are owned by

UNC{H.

In Thousands

companies, successfuI products result, creating Taking University inventions to the marketplace

proces. Many barriers to

succes exist and overcoming those baniers requires

Because of this

policy the University has a responsibility to manage this intellectual property for the benelit of the inventor and those who support UNC{H.

strong collaboration among the company, the

Uni

ffiil

versity, and the inventor. This necesary interaction between industry scientists and the inventor explains another reason for encouraging UNC-CH's technology

This program, known as technology transfer, functions to (1) identify inventions made by UNC{H

transfer effort. Such interactions give scientists at both

personnel that have potential for development as new commercial products, and (2) transfer these inven'

institutions new insights and "cros-fertilizes" the field.

tions and the underlying technology to the private sector so that products incorporating the inventions

funds for the university researcher/inventor to carry on further research leading to more innovation and

Number of

can be made and sold.

refinement of knowledge.

Agreements

accountable to the public to see that Universityowned inventions have a chance to succeed in the marketis generally accomplished by transfer

of

FY

In addition, industrial contacts often lead to additional

Finally, the real bottom line for any program of

As a statesupported institution, UNC-CH is

place. This

university technology transfer is the desire to see the introduction into the marketplace of new products

which serve to meet the needs of society. Some of the

certain rights in the new technology to private industry in a way that will promote the development of new

innovations generated through the efforts of UNC-CH researchers include a new drug that destroys cancer-

products to meet the needs of our society.

ous tumors, new computer graphics that can image

10 5

inventions patented by the University, has been used

0

worldwide to safely and effectively sterilize millions

University researchers have created a new process for synthesizing polymers that eliminates the need

of women. The University has licensed the use of the clip, which is the most reversible form of sterilization, 18 years.

When companies that develop and sell products

Licenses and Options En

15

attacking disease through gene therapy. Other

For instance, the Hulka Clip, one of the first

for old methods which pollute earth and air. All of of researchers at the University of North Carolina at

Hill.

As we see products based on these

Chapel

CIip, become succesful in the marketplace, the

innovations making a difference in our world, we

University and the inventor share in that success through financial return. The inventor receives a

can pause for a moment and reioice.

personal share of such income while the University's

innovations of the University's third century ate

share of the income is used to support further

being made now, and they deserve their chance,

research.

too. O

100

604020-

0-

While the desire for income is not to be Dauid E. Broome Jr. is an Associote Uniuersity

obligations to societal benefits.

Research Seruices. Broome administers the UNC'CH

One such purpose and benefit of technology

-

B0-

The pause can only be momentary. The

overlooked, there are other reasons for undertaking a program of technology transfer, ranging from legal

Counsel and

FY

an Associote Director of the Office of

intellectual property program, uhich receiues inuention

transfer is the bolstering of national and regional

disclosures, pursues patents and cooperates with the

economic competitivenes. As innovative technologies are transfened, it is natural Ior the primary

Tiangle Uniuersities Licensing Consortium, through which UNC-CH licenses rls technology for deuelopment

industrial targets of such transfer to be companies

in the morketplace.

!

In

these are innovations generated through the efforts

based on innovative inventions, such as the Hulka

1983

302520-

and diagnose such tumon, and new methods of

to several companies over the past

Ne

U.S. Patent

302015 10tr

FY

1983

.1984

1984

Applications

Licensing Technologt

1987

19BB

1

989

UNC-CH is

so companies

uorking to preserue

uill

its

potent rights

be interested in obtoining o

license to our technology. But unlike industry, our

alties Received

motiuotion for obtoining patents is not the desire for monetory profit. While ue certainly belieue that the Uniuersity is entitled t0 a fair return on any profits made

through use of our inuentions, thot is not why we identit'y, protect and license intellectual property.

)ne

oduontage of a licensing progrom

not based on o "bottom line" philosophy is thot it con serue the inuentor uhose inuention may houe o morket potential for belou that uhich uould justify full expenditure of effort by a for profit entig. Lihewise, UNC-CH's licensing agent, Triangle Uniuersities'

Licensing Consoftium (TULC)), has been estoblished as a non-profit corporation ond operotes

aith the same philosophy. If there for o uniuersity inuention, there

is arry market

uill

be o full effort

to identif the company that can carry the project forward.

What, then, is our motiue? We belieue the discoueries and inuentions mode by our faculty, stoff and students deserue a chance to make o difference in the

uorld.

We

uant to giue the marketploce an

opportunity to distribute the huits of Uniuersity

rn Disclosures Received

research

to

those

uhose liues can be touched and

improued through products incorporating those inuentions.

As technology deueloped at UNC-CH moues forword, there

aillbe

profit and benefit-profit for our industrial licensee and monetary benefit to both the Uniuersity ond the inuentor.

Howeuer, ue belieue the greotest

profit ond greatest beneftt 1

991

the people of

uillbe

to

our society whose liues

and health are made better becouse of the insight, inuentiueness and hord worh

of

o researcher at UNC-CH ond becouse the Uniuersiv

had the foresight to protect its ights in that researcher's work.

N@ 1

991

-DEB

Ls.sues

in Reseorch

DIALOGUE

Improving the Balance Teaching ond Research ot Carolina

by James Peacock

itself rvould cease to have value. To be blunt, the UNC

deans. directors on campus-raising and administer-

CH degree lvould cease to mean n,ha[ i[ does now.

ing millions of dollais and directing numerous actit i-

Do the research and senice agendas hinder

ties UNC-CH faculty are presidents of the nattonal

us from investing quality time in undergraduate teach-

oiganizations for chemistry, hrstory, anthropology,

inq so that students are laught bv assistants and not

medicine and pubiic health. Othen serre state. nation-

facultv? Stephen Birdsall, dean of the College of Arts

al and international government. Associate Professor

Strikrng o balonce betueerr teoching ond reseurclr

and Sciences, concludes that this is a mvth. Eightytwo

hris o/urors been a mojor issue for pnfessors und o

percent of tenure and tenure{rack laculti,teach under'

nujor source

of tlebote for the publtc. .lomes Peucc,tch

graduates. An underqraduate lvould have to try very

Kenut professrtr of antluopologv and toculh' clutir,

lrurd to ar,,rd lakin{ couiser raughl l,r a proiessor. and

drscusses thr.s r.ssue rn the follott'ing remarks odupted

Birdsall is nol convinced that it woLrld be possible

fiont lis speech hefore the UNC-CH Faculn Council

rlal

on Dec. I

l.

Thoipe rras nam('d to then President-elect

Bill Clinton a sen

icr

s transition team to der elop a health plan,

he is also perlurming Jor the state.

Faculty members struggle to synthesize teaching, research and service. Research refreshes teaching, teaching humanizes research and service grounds

Does reseaich hindei teachinq? The Center for

1992.

lgnlarr

both in practicality. We nust work constantll'at

ubiic critique of our Unilersity with respect to

Teaching and Learning and the Lilt,Fellowships now

impioving the balance, rvhich UNC CH has a reputa-

teaching and research is again pen,asive, In

at the lnstitute for the Arls and Humanities are among

tion for achieving better than most other

response. I offer three sets of comments: first,

our manv efforls to bring research directly into teach-

Lrniversities-especrally

to the public: secondlv. to the

facul.t_v:

third, to both.

TO THE PUBTIC Faculty teaching-specif

ical11"

teaching Lrnder-

graduates*must be seen in conlext. Teaching

U.S. research

in undergraduate education.

ing, to refresh and enlil'en Lrndeistanding of the sub-

It is ironic that UNC CH is being criticized locally for

ject and to teach at the cutting edge. At a research

problems, which. in a national perspective, it solves

universi[. undergraduates harre the opportunity to

better than most. Still, we can do better.

actually work with researchers, and many do.

A closely related and controversial topic is

firstrlas research univenity

Teaching also enlivens research and writing. My

tenure. Tenure in a

essentjal. but it is onh' part of the University's mission.

Iatest anthiopolog)' text, n0w translated into several

is not easy to get. It is not, as at least one columnist

North Carolina students want to attend UNC-CH

languages, begins by quoting a question asked by

says, 'a smooth rail for the graqr

because of its national reputation, which is enhanced

an undergraduate in my introductory course. That

and challenging road.

by both teaching and research. If all we did was teach

question stimulated the entire book,

Tenure is'the result of a series of achievements and cr aluations ,,r'er a period of lifteen years or more

is

undergraduates, Carolina would cease to be what it is for the state and nation, and underqraduate education

ln addition to teaching and research commilments. though. facultv sen'e as deparlment chairs,

Research refreshes teaching, teaching humanizes research and seruice grounds both in practicality.

train

lt

is a long

Faculry members have cumpleted eight yean or more

Carolina is a miracle, a truly great institution, built against great odds with louing support and real sacrifice by North Carolinions, faculg, administrators and others.

,.

"::,:;:;+: -l

= .*_:qA

-.'-*Zr{7 of demandi

for high

of tenure is to preserve freedom people to do their best work and to

protect

(

The earnlng vanced degree or completing

lurther training, they compete with hundreds of other applicants nationally and internationally for jobs. If

Who

inappropriate political pressure.

CrEor Mendel experimented

with peas

a

Ithat one outcome would be

hired, they are on probation for seven years. Then they

genetie

cures for cystic fibrosis a

are exhaustively evaluated for their contributions in

century

was a monk; his monastery

research, teaching and service. Finally, they either are

gave

not reappointed or are offered a tenured position.

by tenure.

of the kind of security provided today

considered. This collective achievement is enormous, in research, teaching and service. Much of it stems from tenured faculty; they head large organ-

izations, direct important research projects, and feed their broad experience and mature wisdom into teaching.

If all this sounds self<ongratulatory, it is.

Carolina is a miracle, a truly great institution, built against great odds with loving support and real sacrifice by North Carolinians, faculty, administrators and others. In noting our weakneses, be sure to recognize the strengths.

TO THE FACULTY The public is speaking; the faculty must listen.

Faculty feel frustrated that many citizens center on

one thing-teaching undergraduates-seemingly

ignorant of all the other things that UNC-CH accomplishes. Remember that this thing is their children and that their concem is for the education of these future citizens. The research university is indeed formidable, but we must remember the point of human contact: teaching, especially undergraduate teaching.

Faculty should take the lead in asesment of their work. Such evaluation can be constructive if it is comprehensive and systematic-not seizing on this or that statistic or case out of context. Instead, we should grasp the place of each aspect-teaching, research and service-as part of the whole life and work of the faculty within the institution, the state, nation and

world. We will soon initiate Evaluation of tenure candidates is serious and

Do faculty members, once tenured, cease

thorough. Hours and days are spent reading and

producing-teaching, researching, serving? Without

reviewing research contributions. Teaching is studied

question, most faculty achieve more recognition after

extensively; evaluations by students are analyzed,

tenure than before, locally and nationally. Nor do they

Ietters from students are solicited, clases by the

stop teaching. At Chapel Hill, perhaps more than at

a self-study; other evalua-

tions will also likely be underway. Undergraduate teaching must be emphasized in these assessments.

We should also consider our tenure and post-tenure

review proces. What we have is excellent, but no

doubt could be still better.

candidate are observed. Considerable attenti0n to

most other public research universities, profesors at

evaluating teaching goes into tenure decisions at

the highest levels teach both undergraduate and grad-

TO FACULTYAND PUBUC

UNC{H.

uate students. 0ne world-renowned chemist at UNCCH, for example, regularly teaches introductory

build the University so

versus research in a tenure decision? Colleagues note

classes for undergraduates. Evaluation does not cease

to the state and the world. We must be critical but also

that the public hears only about the extreme cases-

with tenure. Tenured faculty, for example, are

celebratory. As Chancellor Paul Hardin has said, there

the excellent teacher who does not excel in research,

reviewed at mandated intervals and also annually to

is danger from both uncritical lovers and unloving crit-

or viceversa. Most faculty do both very well, and are

determine what kind of raise, if any, they will receive.

ics. Let us build what we lack while celebrating what

What about the relative emphasis on teaching

given tenure on the basis of both. Typical cases are not publicized.

Finally, aside from individual faculty, the achievements of the institution as a whole must be

We must agree on a coDenant to susforn and build the Uniuersity so as to enhance its contribution to the

state and the world.

We must agree on a covenant to sustain and as to enhance its

contribution

we have, and do both informed of the University's mission and work in its entirety. O

Tar Heels Speak Out

CAROTINA OPINION This column features information from the Carolina Poll conducted by

the UNC-CH School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Institute for Research in Social Science.

Benefrts of Research at UNC-CH

by Beverly Wig$ns profesors' teaching better. The rest weren't sule.

Most recently, the spring 1993 Catolina Poll

W#i;i;;+#*'i"'iil;ili,"r',-"i#

asked respondents whether UNC-CH's research

Carolinians were asked this question in the 1987

program benefits the state a great deal, somewhat

said they or someone they know attended UNC-CH and got a better education because of research. The rest couldn't think of specific examples (30 percent) or gave other answers

Great Deal 573%

Carolina Poll, 38 percent said athletics, 24 percent said undergraduate education and 20 percent

mentioned research. When the same respondents were asked which of

Doesn't Matter Much

several activities they would like

4.5%

(1

i

percent), including

making people aware of issues, environmental improvements and

public television.

These poll results

to see the Universily emphasize

tell us that, although

more, 48 percent said undergraduate education, 37

Somewhat

percent said research

23.2%

and only 3 percent said

most North Carolinians are convinced that the

research conducted at

athletics. Apparently

UNC-CH benefits the

folls around the

state, they are

state think there's

about how it benefits

nothing wrong with

them personally and

excelling in athletics,

people they know.

les sure

but do have their pri-

Medical research pro-

orities straight when

vides the most clear,

it comes to what the

easy-torelate-to exam-

University is all about.

ples. We've all experienced illnes or known

That undergraduate education is

someone who has. But

ranked so highly by

what about the many

North Carolinians is

other kinds of research

notsurprising. The

Don't Know/ No Answer

state has long put a

priority on making high quality under-

14.3"/"

young people of North Carolina. But for those of us at

UNC{H whose work

University? Here's a sampling of research projects going on at IJNC.CH:

graduate education

accesible to the

conducted at the

o

MarkSobsey,

Nofth Carolinians'responses to the suruey question: As you may know, the Uniuersity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is considered to be one of the top research uniuersities in the country. Do you think that UNCthapel Hill's research program benefits the state of North Carolina as a whole a great deal, somewhat, or doesn't matter much? (Carolina Poll,

Department of

Spring 1993)

Environmental Sciences

a profesor in the

and Engineering, is

involves research, it was gratitying to find that the University is also recog-

or doesn't matter much. Sixty percent of those

nized for its research achievements and that over a

third of North Carolinians think research should be

questioned answered "a great deal." Another23 percent said "somewhat," while 5 percent said it

emphasized even more.

"doesn't matter much" and 14 percent weren't sure.

Another Carolina Poll showed that North

Over 50 percent of those questioned said

Carolinians believe that research contributes to the

that research at UNC-Chapel Hill has benefited them

know. When these respondents

studying shellfish contamination produced by disease causing bacteria and viruses contained in the sewage

dumped into coastal North Carolina waters every day.

Sobsey is studying new methods to identify infected

shellfish, since current methods ate unreliable. [n

addition to protecting consumer health, his research

will preserve the vitality of North Carolina's shellfish

quality of undergraduate education. The spring 1990

or someone they

poll asked respondents if they believed that research

were asked about the nature of the benefits, most

improves or detracts from profesors'teaching. Only

(44 percent) mentioned receiving better health

23 percent believed that research detracts from teach-

care because of the medical research done at the

O

ing, and 64 percent believed that research makes

University. Another, much smaller, group (14 percent)

istry, has devised a means to replace Freon with

industry and contribute to the preservation of bivalve mollusks as a seafood resource.

Joseph DeSimone, asistant professor of chem-

That undergraduate education is ranked so highly by North Carolinians is not a

surprising The state

has long

put

priorig on mahinghigh qualig

undergraduate education access ible to the young people of North Carolina.

But

for those of us at UNC-CH whose

uorh inuolues research, it was gratifying to find that the Uniuersig is also recognized for its research achieuements and that ouer a third of North Carolinians

they say, siting of waste facilities should be a national

the public opinion information with f0llow-up inter

concem and should focus on providing incentives to get local communities to volunteer.

views with public officials. This research effort not only provides the town govemments with useful infor-

O

Joanne Harell, associate profesor in the UNC{H

Schoolof Nursing,

is the

principal invutigator of a

mation, but also contributes to the training of North Carolina's next generation of journalists.

based exercise and health lesons can reduce heart

O Francois Nielsen, asociate profesor of sociology, and graduate student Arthur Alderson have been

disease risk factors among third- and fourth-graders in

studying income inequality in North Carolina counties

research team that has been studying how school-

the state. Their research indicates that

Makes

although

Better

the

64%

thinh research should be

emphaized euen more.

Takes

carbon dioxide to create fluoropolymen, the

Away

substances used to make such products as nonstick

23o/"

coating for cooking surfaces, carpet and fumiture stain-guards, computer diskdrive lubricants and many protective synthetic coatings. Why is the replacement for Freon so important? Because Freon has been blamed as a major culprit in the

thinning of the ozone layer and it's use will be banned bytheyear2000. An intemational treaty signed by more than 70 nations, including the United States, will force chemical companies to cease production of fluoropolymers if they cannot

devise an environmentally sound way of making

them. DeSimone's altemative method for creating fluoropolymen will not only protect the earth's environment, but also allow companies whose products

Don't Know/No Answer

depend on these substances to stay in business.

o

Politicalscience profesor David Lowery has

13%

been studying what happens when city and county govemments are consolidated-a question relevant to more and more North Carolina communities.

Critics of consolidation argue that it makes citizens less aware of what is going on with their local govem-

North Carolinians' responses to the suruey question: Some people say that when professors are inuolued in research, their teaching is better. )thers say that research tahes away the professor's time and enag from teaching Which opinion is closest to yours? (Carolina Poll, Spnng N90)

ment and less likely to participate. Lowery, however, has found that citizens whose local govemments have

consolidated know more, find it easier to hold govemment responsible and are more satisfied.

manifestations of heart disease usually do not appear

O Assistant profesors Dennis Coates (economics) and Michael Munger (political science) have under-

until midlife, the behaviors that can lead to heart disease can begin at a very young age. Children in rural

and 1990. They have found that inequality in poorer counties, counties with a larger proportion of femaleheaded families, counties with

areas had the worst risk profiles and benefited most

greater educational disparities and counties that

from the interventions introduced by the study. The

have experienced'deindustrialization"-the decline

will affect local and statewide policy to improve the fitnes of North

of manufacturing and increase in service sector jobs.

taken a number of studies of the Southeast Interstate Low-Level Waste Management Compact, of which

North Carolina is a part. Their findings suggest that the decision proces by which North Carolina was

researchers hope that their results

in

1970

is greater

Nielsen and Alderson found that in 1970, overall

Carolina's children.

income inequality was predicted by average income

was fraught with political maneuvering and not based

O

differences between blacks and whites. However,

on criteria such as safety, which should be the main

faculty memben Dulcie Straughan and Jan Elliott have

chosen as the next state to host a lowlevel waste site

concem. They have concluded that the whole compacting proces was a mistake. These profeson

School of Joumalism and Mas Communication

conducted two Public Pulse Polls, surveys of Chapel Hill and Canboro residents'opinions on local govern-

in

1990, this was no longer the case, suggesting that

the sources of inequality may have become more

complex and varied over time. Nielsen notes that research into the predictors of inequality can help

believe that the compact is destined to fall apart

ment isues. Straughan and Elliott work closely with

before the other seven states in the Southeast compact are asked to do their share. Coates and Munger think

the town managers and town boards of the two communities to identify questions they will find uselul.

that North Carolina should consider withdrawing from

Undergraduates in journalism classes are trained to

about change.

the compact and abandoning its efforts to site a waste

carry out the interviews. The students write newspa-

Beuerly Wiggins is the Associate Director for Reseorch

faciliff in a community which opposes it. lnstead,

per stories from the poll results, often supplementing

Deuelopment at INS.

us understand its causes and identify the factors that policymakers might target in order to bring

o

E.N.D.E.A.V.O.R.S

10

From Recitation to Investigation Research Deuelops at UNC, 1793-1893

by Kristen Eberlein

ry to imagine profesors doing research only in their spare time, paying the costs out of their

uNtYEnsIT{ Or N(mECAmLrNA.

own pockets. Imposible, you say? Maybe now

Ifi.EI(BEBS OT

it is, but that was once the case. Modem research is a development whose origins lie in the historical terrain of America's latel9th century universities. During its first hundred years, UNC changed from an antebellum

college at which research was largely an extracur-

ricular activity to a modem, researchoriented university with an academic ethos that valorizes critical

thought and investigation.

TE

E&ST5LTI"

PBorEHqBE.

Itov. troeep\ Seliltcllr

t.

D.

rnitr

Eltsts Jlltchr]lr Itof- &Ioth, "p Ilouleon $lmctrir PtoL shslm,flftL

Prof. trf,or.Tbfl"

r

C'hil Oootogy.

Wl\Itrmf,ooprlhol. Inn6.

Bev. Ehcluil f,. f,oltroslrr trotfhot. rnilIAS. 'IUI$86.-Xabcrt f,lngr rnill$lnol tdnn, :1

<-ielF-

The classical cuniculum dominated the antebellum University. An all-male, all-white student body pursued a fixed course of study which heavily emphasized Greek, Latin and mathematics. Although English

was included, it and the natural sciences and philoso phy made up only a small portion of the program. The methods of instruction were memorization and recita-

tion. Several times daily, the members of an entire class-sophomores, or example-would meet with

t.

Cordcrirr.

9. .&roptr lrblol 9!. .L Scleoi* s Vsttrir or ehe Srcn Blrbrir.

!.

6.

Goracliur Ncpor, or Ytrifiorno, llriCt lotrodsetioo.

f

d:1.1--+

a professor for instruction. The professor would call

upon individual students who would rise to their feet and recite material they had previously translated and memorized.

A method of leaming based upon the transmission of received wisdom, this ritual of recitation was not designed to teach students to ask critical questions or analyze data. According to James Leloudis, an

asistant profesor who specializes in the history of North Carolina, "[f you were a student, you studied the ancients; you studied these texts as timeles, enduring texts filled with timeless and enduring truths. They weren't open to question and exploration; you didn't read Plato and ask'How is Plato a product of his time

orculture orsociety?' Instead, you read Plato forthe truths discovered by Plato that were true then and were true thousands of years later."

The cuniculum fit the University's mision to train North Carolina and indeed the South's social and political leaders. The curriculum's clasical emphasis was designed to teach students the fine arts of rhetoric and oration. The young men studied the great speeches and orations of the ancient philosophers so that they could develop the same capacity to

capture men's hearts and move them to action. "They were t0 go back and stake claims to authority in their local communities, as lawyers, judges and perhaps

hometown merchants," states Leloudis. "Sitting on the court, arguing in court, preaching, speaking at political

dTEE

PLAIS Otr EDUCATTOIT

UilTYSBSTTYI

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I 57. lliB6rrlogjr. tO. Ciccrdr Oniioar rk ll. OracrMrlorr. fiiltvoll!.. i 3a Geolorr. '' ac, Algrbru cp;Drirocd. se. Pt$tc6'6y of Nrford Bir0ory' .' .lo, Mool Ptihtopby. r3. Aatiqritler. l4. &ogirrh Onanrr, Cooooitioa. tLch- l {1. Pmtrcrr of lildtrghyricrl, Btlkd nrtirq l'bcrcr I Politisl Philceopbt.

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rallies-that's really what they were being trained for."

Overseeing the education of these young men were the Universily's early

profeson-white men

selected more for the merits of their character and

Printed on a single side of one sheet of paper, the Uniuersig catalogue of 1819 managed to list all the faculty and all the courses offered by the Uniuersity. Note the preparatory courses, which underscore the centrality of the c/cssics to the antebellum cuniculum.

-o o zl i ,9

I o O z

E.N.D.E.A.V.0.R.S

11

social standing than scholastic 0r research excellence.

a more formal fashion. In 1854, the short-lived School

At other places-Harvard, Yale, Princeton-it's slow

"They were ministers," Leloudis explains, "men of the

for the Application of Science to the Arts opened its

and incremental, but here in 1875 there's a sharp and

Word who had the responsibility of maintaining the

door, with Charles Phillips and Benjamin Sherwood

order and propriety of social life. They were educated

Hedrick appointed as professors of civil engineering

dramatic break, in a large part because of the Civil War. Many of the people involved looked back and

broadly, with a knowledge of Greek, Latin, mathemat

and agricultunl chemistry. Driving this enterprise

saw the war and the South's

ics and moral philosophy, which was a

was a desire to modemize the state's economy; to its

older approach to education, which produced great

hodgepodge of theologr, political science and poli-

embarrasment, North Carolina had been unable to

orators and statesmen but didn't do anything to

tical economy.'

provide any of the surveyon and engineen needed

develop the South industrially and commercially.

by the newly formed North Carolina Railroad. In 1856,

This new cuniculum was not only about creating a

l9thcentury

For the most part, the antebellum faculty

did not engage in what we would now describe

los

as a result of the

however, Hedrick was driven from campus after he

new University, but also about creating a new kind of

research. Much of their published work was text-

admitted his opposition to slavery and his support

society and new kinds of men to lead it, a new middle

boola, which was not surprising since their primary function was teaching and supervising

for the Republican presidential candidate.

class of profesionals who claimed authority on the

as

basis of expert knowledge."

undergraduates. The experience of

The events at UNC mirrored a

Elisha Mitchell, the antebellum

national upheaval in higher education.

was probably

University's most preeminent scientist, typical. "He hadn't any

forces intersected and began the proces

time for research," Michael McVaugh, a

of transforming American colleges into

profesor whose speciality is the history of science, explains. 'He would have

modern research universities. In 1862, Congres pased the Morrill Act, which

liked to, I'm sure, but he was the

established state land grant colleges and

During the 1860s, political and social

University bursar, gave the University

mandated that such schools offer instruc-

lectures and sermons, was often basically

tion in practical areas such

acting president-he had lots of responsi-

mechanic arts, pharmacy, medicine and

as agriculture,

bilities. And he had to keep control of

education. Throughout the decade,

unruly young undergraduates who were

Americans retumed from study abroad

like as not to throw stones at the faculty

singing the praises of the German universi-

or set off gunpowder under their doors."

ty system and its academic specialization,

Research was simply not a central

academic freedom and emphasis on

part of the antebellum University's mis-

research. Consequently, American univer-

sion. The antebellum professor, explains James Leloudis, "would find research a

sities began to reshape themselves to meet

very alien concept." He continues, "lf

technological society.

the needs of an increasingly industrial and

you believe that you have inherited a

The structure of the reorganized

body of wisdom and truth pased down

University would seem familiar today.

through the ages and that your job is to

lt was composed of six colleges, each of which contained what we would now call departments. They were Agriculture

pas it down to the next generation, why would you ever imagine doing research?'

The fledgling work in natural sci-

(scientif ic agriculture, practical agriculture

ences accomplished by Univenity faculty

and horticulture); Engineering and

was done on their own time and often

Mechanic Arts (mechanical engineering,

funded out of their own pockets. In addi-

civil engineering, and military science

tion to his work teaching languages and his hobby painting miniatures, Nicholas

zoology and botany, and geology and

and tactics); Natural Science (chemistry,

Hentz studied American insects and pub-

lished two articles in lhe Tranmctions the

mineralogy); Literature (English language

of

and literature, ancient languages and

Ameican Philonphical Society, one

of the leading scholarly journals of the

modern languages); Mathematics (pure

day. Financed by the state legislature,

Trained in theolog at Yale Uniuersity, hofessor Elisha Mitchell (1793-1857) wos a uersotile jackofall4isciplines. )rdained by the }range County hesbytery, he

Denison 0lmsted spent two summer

preached in Chapel Hill throughout his residence here.

vacations conducting a survey of North Carolina's exploitable mineral resources.

mathematics, physics and commercial sciences); and Philosophy (metaphysics and logic, political economy, intemational and constitutional law, moral science

The Civil War and its aftermath dramatically

and history). The Universiff offered four

Joseph Caldwell, who in 1824 travelled to Europe at

changed the University of North Carolina. While the

degrees-Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science,

his own expense to purchase bools and equipment,

Univenity remained open during the war, it closed its doors in 187i. When it reopened fouryears later, it

Bachelor of Agriculture and Master of

erected an astronomical building where he made observations on celestial phenomena. And Elisha

was vastly different. No longer a sleepy antebellum

new degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Mitchell spent his vacations on botanical and geologi-

college dominated by a clasical curriculum and

cal excursions, publishing his findings in letters to

oriented entirely towards undergraduate education,

area newspapers and articles in lhe Ameican

1877 it announced that it

Arts-and in

would begin conferring the

Beginning in 1880 with Francis Preston Venable (Ph.D, Cottingen), the University began slowly to

the University now began to develop the contours of

build up a faculty of profesionally trained academi-

loumal of kience, such as'The Geology of Gold Regions of North Carolina' (1830) and "Observations

a modem university, including a graduate student

body, a profesoriate with Ph.D.s and a nascent

cians. These men, especially those trained at the German universities, initiated laboratory and field

on the Black Mountains of North Carolina' (1839).

research mision.

"What's interesting,' Leloudis comments, "is

work and began lecturing. They also engaged increas ingly in research. In 1883, the scientilic faculty found-

how dramatically and suddenly this shift comes.

ed the Elisha Mitchell Society

For a brief moment before the Civil War, the

Univemity supported science and scientific research in

-to

encourage the spirit

E.N.D.E.A.V.O.R.S

t2

Hill.

Rather than examining ancient worls as

a

profesion (law, medicine or the church) for three

of research" at UNC. It sponsored a iournal, which

Chapel

was exchanged for the transactions, proceedings

timeles and authoritarian texts. these new philologi-

years. Finally, in

and pubiications of othet scientific societies, giving UNC profesors and gladuate students contact with

cal scholars began to examine the classics as historical products shaped by the particular social, cultural and

scientific research going on elsewhere. Finally, faculty

biographical circumstances of their origin. In

stonewhen it awarded its first Ph.D. to William Battle Phillips, who, under the direction of Venable, wrote a disertation on the production of superphosphate

such

as Joseph

A. Holmes (Geology), Ralph H. Graves

(Mathematics), and Henry Van Peters Wilson

1893

they established the Philological Club, out of which the renowned S/udies in Philology would grow.

The curriculum reform and new scholarship

1883 the University reached a

mile

fertilizer from red Navasa rock.

These changes did not go unnoticed. As early as 1884, the president of the College of Charleston

(Biology) began to publish their research findings in the newly founded specialized journals of their fields,

also had a profound effect on the methods of instruc-

such as the ,ngm eeing ond Mining lournol, Annals

tion and the behavior and attitudes of the students.

wrote to the editor of the Raleigh Cironrcle, stating "The University fof North Carolina] is beginning to

of Mathematics, and Journal of Morphology.

The elective system put an end to the clas system

asume

The most distinguished scientific work in

and recitation. Students began to choose their own

ante-bellum era. Its teaching is imbued with the criti-

this period was done by Francis Preston Venable.

Continuing his work begun in Germany, he published

c0urses, construcltheir own degree programs, and

calspirlt of modern science and philology. Original

compete with their fellow students for academic

investigation is at last obtaining a recognized place in its scheme of work." He concluded that the marked

several organic chemistry studies concerning halogen derivatives of heptane. Perhaps due to difficulties in

honors. For the fint time, the University's educational

a scholarly air, for the most part alien

to its

prdivil War University and the University of the late-lgth century "is one of the

goal became the teaching of methods rather than the transmision of age-old truths. "Modem teaching is

contrast between the

getting materials, Venable then turned his attention to inorganic and analytical chemistry, emphasizing

no Ionger a matter of dictionaries and gammar

notable and distinctive features in the intellectual

descriptive chemistry of elements abundant in North

grind," explained late-19thcentury student Edwin

development ol North Carolina.'o

Carolina. He and his students began a series of studies focusing on zirconium. an ore plentiful in the western

Alderman, "The key words of the new education are

part of the state; this topic of research was to engage

In this new intellectual environment, graduate work began to flourish. rGraduate students uqdertook

Venable's interest for the rest of his long career, This new critical approach to scholarship could also be seen in the work of faculty in the humanities.

methodical courses of study in speci{ic disciplines and received degrees that signified original thought and

Professors Ceorge Winston (Latin and German),

research. This stood in sharp contrast to earlier prac-

Eben Alexander (Greek) and Karl Pomeroy Harrington

tices; during the antebellum period, an M.A, was

(Latin) brousht the methods of German philology to

awarded to any graduate who succesfully punued

I

o o z l iq 6 o O O

z

In

1884,

the lJniuersit,v faculty were photographed in the yard of Widow Puckett's rooming

house.

hofessor Francis Preston Venable

stands second from the right in the back row.

E.N.D.E.A.Y.O.R.S

l3

Out of Harm'sWay A New Awareness of Children's Needs

by Ashley Singleton

f I I

-A

n the beginning of the century, child health care

first year of

workersstruggled to keep children alive-children

program for prematures is necesary . . , since prema-

to intravenously modify nutrition-made such intervention posible. "lt became clear then," Siegel says,

who suffered from a host of infectious diseases

such as diphtheria, polio and hookworm. But since

turity accounts for approximately half of the neonatal deaths," the Academy reported in 1945. "A program

sionals-neonatologists, perinatologists, intensive care

then, as improved living conditions and antibiotics

which would include designing premature centers in

nurses, social workers,

have lowered the incidences of infectious diseases,

various sections of the state . . . would greatly aid in

hospital equipment t0 care for very sick and very small

child health researchers at the School of Public Health

decreasing the death rate."

babies. It led to the realization that we needed to

have broadened their definition of health to include the socalled new morbidities-problems like low-

birthweight babies, child abuse and neglect, in.iuries and failing in school. Though these problems have

life.

well developed and coordinated

Earl Siegel, profesor emeritus of maternal and

child health, led the studies documenting the value of such centers in saving the lives of low birthweight and

always existed, research into ways to prevent and

seriously ill babies. The strategy was to regionalize perinatal care in North Carolina so that high risk moth-

ameliorate them is new.

ers and new babies would be transfened to special-

'We're just facing a newer set of problems,

"that you needed to have highly trained health profes-

nutritionists-and sophisticated

have a tiered system."

Under the tiered system, mothers and babies

who have experienced normal pregnancies, labor, deliveries and newborn periods are cared for in Level I (community) hospitals. The mothers or infants with major problems, however, are treated in Level III

ized hospitals in the state.

"When I first came into pediatria in 1950, new-

hospitals which have more sophisticated resources.

perhaps a deeper level of problems," says Milton Kotelchuck, chair of the department of maternal

born infants-particularly premature infants-were

special care from obstetricians and pediatricians are

and child health in the School of Public Health at

managed in a 'hands off' way," Siegel says. "The thinking was that the les you disturbed the infant and just

treated in Level II hospitals.

UNC-CH. "These are problems that do cause death and do cause long{erm harm to the child. The topics

maintained his body temperature, the better off the

have always existed, but now people are trying to

infant would be. Towards the mid- to late-60s, though,

intervene.'

we established that low-birthweight infants needed

Nearly 50 years ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics called attention to an area in desperate

aggressive treatment."

Technological advances of the 1960s-more

Finally, mothers and babies requiring more limited

"The way to hnow how to preuent

child abuse and neglect is to hnow more about how it's caused. The causes are a

need of intervention-infant mortality. 0f every 1,000

sophisticated incubators, new antibiotics, new

combinotion of a lot of circumstances

babies bom alive in North Carolina, 43 died during the

methods to asist infants' breathing and new ways

that come cruhing in on a family, and

probably the most important cause is polerty."

-Jonathan

Kotch

Regionalization improved birth 0utc0mes

dramatically. Now about

75 percent to 80 percent

of babies born at 28-32 weels of pregnancy survive, whereas before almost all of them would have died.

In addition, during the last decade research has

repeatedly shown that early and comprehensive pre-natal care prevents the binh of a significant

proportion of low birthweight babies.

Siegel now worries about what will happen after an infant is discharged from the hospital. "Giving pills

or using machines is easy because you have the baby

in an intensive care nursery and you can do whatever you want with its skin, its heart, its eyes, its blood

vesels or anything," Siegel adds. "When a baby gets out and you have to deal with improving the kind of nurturing, the kind of stimulation and the kind of early care a baby gets-all those things aren't managed

easily. Human development

is a

lifetime process,'

he says.

This eight-yearold child suffered from hoohworm, a parasitic infection rampant

in North Carolina in 1910. Now, such

contagious maladies haue largely been uanguished by improued sanitatbn and antibiotics, leauing researchers free to address more deeply rooted public health problems.

An astounding number of children are not having these developmental and health needs

t4

to do with the cither person supporting voLrr lval' oi

an engineering or design problem in car seats," he aclcis. "The

oi Longitudinal Studies in Child Abusc and )'leqlect

thinking. piovidrng guidance and girring vou the opportrrnity lor growth and development in addition

(L0NGSCAN), 30 percent have been repoiled to lhe

to iust being there, the motheis tell us."

car seat lhat parents can use easill,and that kids lvill

met. The statistics are sobering. 0l 788 children parlicipatlng in the UNC-CH studi, for The Consortium

Deparlment of Social Senices as suspected of being abused or neglected during the first fourr,ears of the fivc'vear collaborative study.

sa1's

Jonathan Kotch.

Kotch and Dorothr,Browne, both associate professors ol materna] and child heaith. are looking

Despite their headline status. abuse and neglect

simpler. If r,ou

enjoy using? All oi the education and all of the TV ads ma.v not have much oi an effect on a piece

tr'. In \orth Caro[na. iniuries are thc krading cause of death amonq children uler the aqe of one, most

equipment that s basicallv complicated."

Ler,vis l\'largolis. associate prt.rlessor of matonral

and child health. lound that althouqh even'state has

tlo

oi

Other Unir,ersitv researchers concerned rvith the nelv murbidities have focused upon how to plelent

of which are incurred in motoi vehicle crashes.

know

is to

is to make things

take a back seat to injuries in lhe aiea of child mortali-

bevond the statlstics ior causes. The tvar to knou'

hou,to prevent child abuse and neglect

ansler

can sencl a rnan to the noon, ivhy can t 1'ou build a

children from failing in school. From its beginning in

19i2 the Frank Poner Craharn Child Development

i

more aboul horv it s caused. Kotch savs. "The causes

child safety restraint lalvs. onlv

are a cornbination of a lot of circumstarrces that come

clrcn Lrnder the age of four wete at:tuall,u-- in car seats.

from lon"income families to determine the extent kr

crashing in on a familr,. and probably the rnost impor

''And ioLrghlv half of those childrcn were incorrectly

which their acaclemic perfurmance coLrld be

lant cause is poverlv. But also lorv levels of a mother's

in those seals. markedlv decreasinq theii cficctir,e-

educatjonal achievemenl, having other siblings in the

ness,'' he says. Margolis found that income and level

improved thiough preschool education. "\\ie ivanted to see if you began in early infancy'

home having inadequate ler,els of social support and

oi parents education rere good predictors of who

and gave the child the best intellectrralll"stimulating

possiblv having a lot of stiess in one s life also can

would use a car seat and u,ho ivould not. "But inter-

envircnment you could prol,ide. hou much oi

cause abuse and neglecl.'

estinglv enough. it was very difficult to predict ivho irould usc one correctlv." he savs. "lf 1,'orr have a Ph.D

diilerence lou could make," says Frances Campbeli, a senior inlestiqatoi at the Center. The curriculum involved working indiviclualll,'lvith cach child even'

Interestinglv. Kotch has found that personal supporl ior parents. especralh single paients, can ple-

you re almost

rrent abuse and neglecl. "The signilicant

didn't graduate from high school,'

other-ruho-

ever the person is that the mother designates as being

lhat special person in her

lile-is

more important than

supporl from gioups, aqcncies or r-rrganizatlons. Il has

as

out ol three chil-

iikclv to use it irtcoirectlv

as if r,'oLt

sa1,s, is

infants

a

dav, Instead of leaving children lying in ciibs staring

The ker,to making child safetl,.restraints efiective, [,{argolis

Centcr's Abecedarian Project follolved I I

not to atte]npt lo change individ-

ual behavior. "What we are probably clealing rvith

is

blankli'at crib mobiles, dal.care providers rvere taught t0 pxrvide the babies r,vilh activities that mel

theii der elopmental abilities.

9 I O z

-6 6

;L 9

9

o

.,,'i,:::tliti:t.,

i'.,.:,,r',r.::rltl

g d

o Medicul uorhers care lor o bw birthu:eiqht baby in UNC Hospitals' ner,tnutal intensir:e care unit

E.N.D.E.A.V.0.R.S .Nothing

15

was involved that any parent couldn't

do at home or that any day care provider couldn't do,' Campbell says. 'Parents need t0 realize that it's not en0ugh to keep a baby clean and dry. You must also

provide for its cognitive needs. If a baby signals bv crying or cooing that it wants to interact with an adult, it should be interacted with. Babies that are immediately attended to when they cry as infans will cry

les i[you

pick them up. That's an important leson that parents need to know: holding, talking to, playing with and responding to your infant does not spoil

it.

It sets the

foundation for later learning."

The results of the Abecedarian Project showed that the children in the systematic educational envir0nment could do standardized activities at an earlier weren't. "Once they got to

ill

age than the children who

school." Campbell adds, 'that translated into better academic performance. And that better academic performance has held up through the age of 15, which is extremely

exciting information. You can't guarantee

success for somebody because they make it through

school-a lot

else has to go

right. But you can guaran-

{; -#i*t.'

-'1ffi .'. n

do to give children a good early start in school will continue to help them through their school careers."

u,i

:

=

'*

cf-â&#x201A;Ź\ r.

k.."-,

L.

tee failure if they don't. and so everything that we can

'6 4

&

A nurse practitioner with the Carolina Otitis Media hoject looks for

*,

{il

= o

*a

o* i, lL --,

signs of ear infection, a common childhood ailment

which is often undiagnosed and untreated.

Helping children through school also means making sure they are physically able to undentand what is being taught. ln the first year of life. 75 percent of children have an ear infection: most have multiple

them hearing tests at least every three months.

episodes in the following two years, making ear infec-

those children, 80 percent have had ear infections for at least six months of their first two years of life.

tions (otitis media) the most common

illnes in early

childhood next to the common cold. Researchers at

0f

this demonstrates a new approach to child health and

ln an earlier study of 61 children attending the

development.

Mindful of the longterm sociai effects, UNC-CH's child health researchers seek creative ways to inter-

the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center

Frank Porter Graham Child Care Center, researchers

vene and check the new morbidities. "There is a

have been studying whether ear infections during the

fint four years of life have lasting effects on children's

found that the children who had more ear infections were the children rated by their teachen as more dis-

moral imperative for society to help those who are defenseles and more vulnerable," says Cynthia

speech, Ianguage and learning.

"When children hat,e ear infections, they

tractible, Roberts says. This inattention could come from a history ol tuning out the frequent changes in

typically have fluid in their ears which causes

auditory signals, including language, that children -Obviously, experience when fluid clogs their ears. a

a

disinclination to pay attention to spoken language

is a

serious handicap in a classroom," Robefis says.

"There is o moral imperatiue for

Yet, parents and caretakers can act t0 prevent or

and more uulnerable. The deleteious

failing

in school are long lasting and significant.

temporary hearing

"

los,'

-

Cynthia Freund

Support for the L)NGSCAN Project

included a gront for $7,686 hom the Centers for

Roberts says, "and it's important t0 give a child a bot-

Disease Control. The Abecedaion Project is receiuing

$572,044 ouer fiue yeorc hom the Mental Retardation Deuelopmental Disabilities Bronch of the NICHD. The

face to face, talking clearly, loudly and checking in with the child to make sure he understands. Working with the child in a small group setting and ananging

deuelopment is supported by a fiueTtear gront for

TV on in the background, ior example-could help cess in school.'

foster language leaming, which is important for sucNo longer simply struggling to combat infectious

years of life, which are very important for the develop-

diseases, modern child health researchers have tumed

ment of language. that this child may have later lan-

their attention to moving children out of harm's way.

guage difficulty and leaming problems."

Investigators are foliowinq 80 infants from nine

local childrare centen through the age of eight,

1989

having a hearing loss, you can try to talk to the child

principal investigator of the Carolina 0titis Media Project. "The concern is that if a child is having ear tvvo

in

tle when he's in an upright position. But if a child is

associate profesor of speech and hearing science and

examining their ears every other week and giving

t

"Breast feeding during the first two months of life

the environment so that it's quieter-not having the

los during the first

new morbidities will just continue to recycle themselves unless they're interrupted."

decreases a child's risk of developing otitis media,"

says Joanne Roberts, research

infections and chronic hearing

over abuse as one gets over a cold, and that results in a domino effect on future generations. Some of the

ameliorate the difficulties caused by ear infections.

society to help those uho are defenseless effects of child abuse, neglect and

Freund, dean of the nursing school. "The deleterious

effech of child abuse, neglect and failing in school are long lasting and significant. A child just doesn't get

Preventing infant mortality, looking for the causes of

child abuse and neglect, reducing child injuries, averting school failure and examining the effects of common childhood health problems-research such as

study' of the effects of ear infections

on infants' longuage

$998,098 from the Maternal ond Child Health Bureou.

E.N.Dof,oIrV.O.R.S

16

Profiles in Art

by Dottie Horn

ELE

RATIN(

Many UNC-CH faculg haue been arttsfs. In the profiles that follow we call attention to a few examples drawn from a wide range of artistic endeouors in which faculty members haue created art and nurtured the imagination and abilities of students.

Frederick "Proff'Koch (1877-r944) Came to UNC: l9l8

f f Then Frederick Koch came to UNC in 1918, he founded the Carolina Playmakers, a theatrical organilru zation, made up mainly of students and faculty, which staged plays students had written. Koch also Y Y createA a series of couises in dramatic composition at UNC. Koch emphasized writing plays using folk subject matter,

which he described as "the legends, supenti-

tions, customs, environmental differences, and the vernacular of the common people."

The main distinguishing element of a folk drama, according to Koch, was its concern with "man's

conflict with the forces of nature and his simple pleasure in being alive."

The editor of eight books of plays written by his students, Koch, along with the Carolina Playmakers, nurtured many budding writers,

including Thomas Wolfe, Betty Smith and Paul Green.

Frederick

"hoff"

Koch's readings of Charles Dickens'A Christmas Carol

in Chapel Hill and other communities uere so popular that a national radio netuork broadcast them for seueral years. )uer the course of 39 years, Koch qat)e more than 200 readings

ofA Christmas Carol.

I

O

o z l

i

.s

p

E

o o z

1587

lio*,

f,ollfoD.E.A.v.0.R.s

17

CREATIVITY Paul Green (1894-1981) Came to UNC: 1924

p il,:?:: ;J:l

I

I

3:

''

ffi:t [?.T fl Iili [::1ll

iH,t

l,^l3

J[:ffi ,

deparlmenr in 1924, he was still writing plals At UNC, Creen studied under Frederick "Proff" Koch. and his plays grew out of Koch's concept of the folk drama. One of his play,s, ln Abrahon's Bctsom, is the story of Abe, the illegitimate son of a white male landlord and one of his black hrm tenants. Abe trjes to stan a school for black children in his neighborhood. His efforts fail.

15 years later, he tries again. the Klu KIux Klan inten,enes. In a fit of rage, the holtempered Abe kills his wh jte half brother. The Klan retaliates by killing Abe. and when

The play. which opened on Broadway in 1926, won the Pulitzer prize in 1g27. Green rvon a Cuggenheim Fellowship in 1928, which was extended for a second vear,

In

1936. Green became professor of dramatic ar1 at UNC. Creen by this time was

writing movie scripts as well as plays. dil iding his time between Hol)ywood and Chapel Hill. wheie he taught classes in playwriting. One of Green's contributions to American theater u,'as a new genre: the symphonic drama. an outcloor historical play including music, dance and pageantry. Creen's symphonic drama The Lost Colony, the story of the first English settlement in Amenca. r,vas first staged near the spot of

that settlement, rn l\,tanteo. NC in 1937.

And as characters auailable to art putposes, to repeat, those uho liue as it were with their feet in the earth and their heads bare to the storms, the lightning and the gale-those uho labor with their hands wresting from cryptic nature her goods and stores of

sustenance-these deuelop a wisdom of liuing uhich seems to me more real and beoutiful thon those who deuelop their ualues and ambitions from rubbing shoulders in a crowded city.

u *o' .6

-Paul

Green, "Presence bv the Rii,er'

Creen s humanitarian interests were evident in his plays and life. In the racialll,segregated South of 1940, Green collaborated r,vith African-American novelist Richard Wright on the Chapel Hill campus to wrjte a stage version of Wright's novel i\htrL,e Son. The plav reached Broadway on March 24, 1941, where it rvas performed near11, 200 tjmes, An activist, Creen served as President of the Nonh Carolina Societl,' for the Abolition of Capital Punishment and lrequentlv visited death row in Raleigh to talk with inmates and keep vigils. His community involvemenl was recognized b1,the Frank Porter Graham Award from the Norlh Carolina Civil Liberties Union in 19i2, Today. about 50 outdoor historical dramas are staged rn this countrv every vear Five ol those, including The Lctst Colonv. were r,vritten b1,Creen.

tiluta,U

&**rtW

ReuieuingThe Lost Colony in a

1937

1937 edition of The New York Times, Brook.s Atkinson praised the capabilities of Paul Green's new genre-the symphonic drama; "The dances translate the freshness and wildness of the neu world more eloquently

than words

oT scenery could. The glory of the ancient English hymns, carols and ballads, sung to an organ accompaniment, pulls the lost colonrsfs into the great stream of human nobility."

E.N.D.E.A.V.O.R.S

18

William Meade Prince (1893-1951) Came to UNC: 1939 any of William Meade Prince's illustrations accompanied short stories published in magazines including

-The

Saturday Evening Post"

and "Collier's." Prince's illustrations also appeared in magazines as part of national advertising campaigns

for products including Luclry Strike cigarettes, Ivory soap and Prince Albert tobacco. Prince's illustrating

I

o o zl i -9

o O z Lamar Stringfield, a natiue North Carolinian, composed more than 150 worhs during his lifetime, many hauing folk themes, and founded the North Carolina Symphony, the nation's first state symphony.

career spanned more than 35 years, from his first freelance illustration in "Harper's" in 1915 to his death in 1951. In the midst of allthiswork, Prince began teaching rnagazine illustration at UNC in 1939. "The students seem to like [my course]," Prince said

-because

in

1940,

they know ['m telling them the truth about

magazine illustrating lrom my present experience.'

While teaching at UNC, Prince produced about

two magazine or ad illustrations per week. He usually made oil paintings, which were photographed for the

lamar Stringfreld

magazines, and typically worked from models. He

(1897-1959) Came to UNC: 1930

also drew a comic strip, "Aladdin, Jr."

In amar Stringfield admired folk music, founding an Institute of Folk Music at UNC in 1931 and writing music with folk subjects and sounds, music with titles including, "The Ole Swimmin' Hole," "Dance of the Frogs,"

1950, Prince

published

The Southem Port

of

Hequen,a book of memories of his life in Chapel Hill as a

boy. Thanks to the title of Prince's book, Chapel

"Carolina Charcoal" and "Moods of a Moonshiner." (I'his last piece, a symphonic suite, had three movements: .At a Still,' "On the Cliff'and "A Moonshiner Laughs.") Wanting not only to preserve American folk music, including children's singing games, folk hymns and square dance figures, but to share music widely, Stringlield founded the North Carolina Symphony, the first state symphony, in 1932. Through concerts, Stringfield sought to unite

Hill

is now

people from all clases in a common love of music.

exhibit of Prince's work, called "The Southern Part of

Stringfield's own musical ability won him a Pulitzer traveling scholarship in music for his orchestral piece,

commonly referred to

as "the southern part

of heaven."

Prince continued teaching at the University until his death. The Ackland Art Museum will have an Heaven," from May 8 to July 15, 1994.

"From the Southern Mountains," in 1928.

Earl Wynn

(l9ll-1986) Came to UNC:

1938

ounder of the University's Department of Radio (1947), Earl Wynn taught popular courses in performance for the media and speech, acted in Carolina Playmakers productions and three motion pictures, and gave annual readinqs of Charles Dickens',4 Chistmas Corol. Head of the Department of Radio for 16 years, Wynn was also producer for "American Adventure.'

A series of nationally broadcast halthour radio shows, "American Adventure" dramatized "typically American"

incidents such as a community pulling together to find a family who has gone to the beach, but must be located because of an emergency. Wntten by faculty member John Ehle, and funded by grants from the Ford Foundation, "American Adventure" was made on campus by students and faculty. After NBC's 1955-56 broadcast of the first two

"HOW

5 T$is, I}lrN

?

9E CAREFUI,YOUNG FELIOY. I DO*? LIKE

\OIJ 50

MUCH. ETTHER

NOT YET, A}*YVAY I "

"American Adventure" series (i3 shows perseries), the network received about 50,000 pieces of fan mail. One listener wrote: "We were dumbfounded by its originali[i, presentation and effectiveness, and wonder how many of our friends with TV sets were seeing anl,thing that could compare with it." Scripts for the third "American Adventure" series were written by l3 different notable American authon, including Carl Sandburg, Arthur Miller and Robert Frost.

Wynn had come to UNC in 1938 to teach in the dramatic art department. Other radio shows produced under his direction included the "Carolina Playmakers of the Ail broadcasts (1939), and the "University Hour' series (1948), which dramatized incidents in the lives of people asociated

with

t o b -9

UNC.

As a Naly Lieutenant during World War II, Wynn made training films

-e

in Hollywood, and conceived of the idea of using communications media

E

to take knowledge from North Carolina universities to the people of the state. When he retumed to UNC after the war, he founded not only the

q

Department of Radio, but also the Communications Center (1946), which brought numerous media into Swain Hall: radio and film producing factlities and graphic design and photography facilities.

Wynn retired from the Radio, Television and Motion Pictures depart' ment in 1977.

and faculty in the llnit)ersity's Department of Radio, founded and headed broadcast radio programs in the 1950s.

Students

by

Earl Wynn, produced nationally

=

In 1942, Willism Meade tuince, working with Les Forgraues, began drawing ond publishing a weehly comic strip called "Aladdin, Jr." The strip was nationally syndicated by King Fisher Syndicate.

E.N.D.E.A.V.O.R.S

Kenneth Ness (b. 1903) Came to UNC:

fll I!J

19

James Seay O. 1939) Came to UNC-CH: 1974

l94l

ainter Kenneth Nes came to the University's art

delartment

as Camegie Resident Artisr

in

eacher of creative writing at UNC-CH since 1974 and cunent director of the creative writing program, poet James Seay won an Award in Literature from the

1941. ln

1942-1943, he directed the UNC War Arr Center. By

American Academy and Institute of Arts and l-etters in 1988. ln 1990, William

1944, art students had designed and produced about 2,500

Monow and Company published his third book of poetry,

The Light os

Thq Found It

pieces of war art, distributed to war-related agencies

throughout North Carolina and as far away as Atlanta, including the Red Cros, the War Loan Drives and the National Munitions Corporation plant in Canboro.

Since the war,

Nes has exhibited his paintings

in oneman shows and in many national exhibitions

including the Pennsylvania Academy Annuals in 1953r954.

From 1941-1973, Nes taught courses in UNC-CH's art department including graduate painting and undergraduate c0urses in drawing, design, composition, graphic design and advertising art. Nes lives in Chapel Hill.

Gorham Kindem

(b. 1948) Came to UNC{H: 1977 teacher of documentary production and documentary and nanative film history at UNC{H since 197i, Gorham Kindem directed, filmed, edited and co produced a 3Gminute documentary film, Chuck Dauis: Dancing through West Africa in 1985 and 1986. His coproducer was Jane Desmond, a former M.A. student in the Department of Radio, Television and Motion Pictures at UNC-CH. The film examines traditional West African dance as taught and promoted by dancer Chuck Davis, who directs the Durham-based African American Dance Ensemble. Kindem's work included five week in Senegal and the Gambia spent filming the dances of three different

African ethnic groups

as

witnesed by the participants on one of Chuck

Davis'dance study tours. In 1987, the film received a Golden Eagle Award from the Council on lntemational Nontheatrical Events. Chuck Douis: Dancing through West Africowu broadcast nationally on public television

in

1988

and

1989 and has also been broadcast several times

in lg93 on the

Discovery channel.

Gorham Kindem during filming of the nationally broadcast 30-minute documentary fllm, Chuck Davis: Dancing through West Africa.

Elizabeth Spencer O. l92l) Came to UNC{H: 1986

f ! /

hen Elizabeth Spencer came to UNC-CH in 1986 to teach creative

WHxtfl

:i:It1tt'i'J.xi:iT#.;ffi i,:#:il1*lT;;iiH.

told interviewer Josephine Haley she wrote 'as a sort of an amusement in six weela," made into a motion picture by MGM Studios; won a Guggenheim Fellowship (1953); and been elected into the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, Department of Literature (1985). While at UNC-CH, Spencer published another novel, The Night Trauellers (1991), and two short

)ther Stones (1988) and On the Gulf won a Senior Arts Award Grant in Literature, worth $40,000, from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1989, her first play, For kase orScle, was produced by PlayMakers Repertory Company. story collections , Jock of Diamonds ond

(1991). In

1988, she

Spencer stopped teaching at UNC-CH in 1992 and lives in Chapel Hill.

o

In 1993, Kindem finished production of the 58-minute documentary film, Hungers of the Soul: Be Gardiner, Stone Caruer, about UNC-CH alumnus and marble sculptor Be Gardiner, who lives in the North Carolina mountains.

f,otlfoD.E.A.V.O.R.S

20

A Social Force to Be Reckoned With Socialscienfisfs Affect Life Beyond the Uniuersity

by Christine Sneed

f I I

In

1924 Odum created the

Institute for Research in Social Science (IRSS). Under

tnan unyifling etse ls tne willingnes to face the

Odum's directorship, IRSS researchers engaged in

truth, through social study and interpretation, with

studies directed at solving some of the South's most

the corresponding ability and willingness to make the

pernicious problems. For example, Harriet Herring

necesary adjustments." Over the years Chapel Hill

revealed the pattern of paternalism dominating the lives of impoverished laborers in textile mill villages

social scientists have met that challenge in a variety of ways. Some researchers have engaged in purely

chised the Southern black population economically,

have offered their expertise as consultants on policy

politically and socially.

disciplinary research institutes. AII in all, UNC-CH social scientists have had an illustrious history of influencing social policies.

Howard 0dum was a

whitlwind of sociological

activily. "At times the area around him seemed charged with ozone," Daniel Singal inThe War Within quotes one colleague's description of the scientist who anived at Chapel Hill in 1920 with an irrepressible

optimism in the abiliry of sociological research to implement reforms.

public officials. Perhaps Odum's impresionistic portraits of Southern black folk culture didn't ever influence the shape of civil rights policies, Reed says.

However, the recommendations of a penology study Odum directed in 1929 resulted in the state's abolition of the racially biased chain gangs.

and Guy Johnson explored how policies disenfran-

academic studies of various social problems; some decisions; still others have united theit forces in multi-

consultants, they translate academic research into policy recommendations and put them directly in front of

multidisciplinary

n 1920 Howard Odum founded sociology at UNC with the ohilosonhv that. What we need more

More recently, in response to a 1986 proposal request from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), William Rohe and Michael

0f course, in focusing attention on the South's

Stegman, profesors of city and regional planning,

social ills, researchers sometimes met with an obstinate backlash. During the course of IRSS researchers'

researched the impact of home ownership on the selfimage of low income families. Their research results

work on mill villages, editorials in the Southern Textile Bul/edn lambasted the University's "meddling depart-

were influential in shaping the public housing sales

ments." Current IRSS director John Shelton Reed

program, HOPE-1. "lf you look at H0PE-1,' Rohe says, "what they

explains, "0dum had a sort of naive faith that il you documented the problems and if you spelled out the

did is take the recommendations that we made in that study and act on them. You'll see a provision in H0PE-l that addresses almost every recommendation

facts, people would see the problems and want to

do the obvious things to solve them."

we made." For example, HUD now agrees to fund

Odum was not alone; many of the early social scientists' studies were detached from the pragmatics

counseling for individuals on the responsibilities of

department of sociology and the School of Public Welfare (now Social Work) and fashioned the innova-

of policy-making. These scientists presented the research lacts relating to a problem and mapped

home ownership, and to increase funding for revitaliz-

live Joumol of Sociol Forces, a potpourri of scholarly theoretical treatises from leading social scientists side

out the terrain, faithfully believing that policy-makers

0dum virtually designed from scratch the

by side with editorial assaults on workaday problems

like illiteracy and the abuses of sharecroppers.

ing housing units before turning them over to tenants.

In Profesor of Social Work Andrew Dobelstein's

would discover and use these documentary maps.

However, many social scientists have had a more obvious and immediate impact on policy-making, As

view, the most effective policies result from direct collaboration between researchers and policy-makers.

Academicians offer extensive knowledge of a subject

With the rallytng exhartation to "hnow your community, hnow your state, through study and discussion" and see

what you ffin do to make thirqs better," Eugene C. Branson, professor of rural social economics, organized students into

the North Carolina Club in 1914. Swden* diuided into smaller clubs (like the Henderson County Club pictured) and conducted suraeys of their home tounties' public and gauemmental seruices.

Branson's students' amateur efforts I

o

o zf -9

o o z

preceded the official institution of social science research in 1920 under Howard )dum.

E.N.D.E.A.V.O.R.S

21

KEY IN-(IOMING

SHIP]UENTS

O

Immedi:rte

I

Ottt.GOING SHIP]IIEN'IS Immediate

l,--rn"., S rm*irent F\'F"L

(\'+ir* \\u*lfl

t'o"**

,"*"{.#

F

AIRCARGO

t ! o O z

F,ACILITY-

Artist's rendition of one section of Global Transpark

and officials provide the means for implementing

to particular areas of social problems. These multi-

policv recommendations.

disciplinary institutes are giant banks of research information available for policy-makers to consuit.

"M1,'work is paft of a vast repefioire of rvork that

Often the effects of social science research, even that which leads to policy recommendations, are apparent only to the few directly involved. However,

help[s] people get information." Dobelstein remarks

0ften working with governmental agencies

on the quantitv of information stored in IRSS iiles; "but what I see as ve[, important is the ability to trans-

researchers can pool resources to conduct extensive

lions of dollars and thousands of acres of land, and

projects.

have an immediately obvious impact on the state.

developed into policy products that are useful in the

The nationally top-ranking Carolina Population Center (CPC) brings together the research expertise

took on the directorship of the Research Triangle

rvorld." Public officials must do their part by referring

of

to that information to make fully informed policy

also collaborate with governmental agencies across

which turned a plot of worn-out farmland with

decisions. he adds.

the globe. For example, Amy Tsui, associate professor

two-lane highway into the Research Triangle Park,

fer this information through the technologies we've

One of Dobelstein's on-going projects is a study of the increasing phenomenon of female-headed, single-parent families in Durham county. Upon

as well,

sometimes the results of UNC-CH research involve mil-

ln

1956, IRSS staff member George Simpson

Foundation. This was the progenitive organization

18 departments across campus, and CPC fellows

of maternal and child health, is currently heading a five-year project, funded by the U. S. Agency for Inter-

a single

now a 6800-acre complex employing 34,000 people whose combined annual salaries exceed $1 billion.

Today, Director of the Kenan Institute and former

hearing about Dobeistein's findings, a policy director

national Development (AID), that is working in conjunction with the governments of five different nations.

in the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human

The goals of the project. she explains, are to evaluate

implementation of his brainchild, Global Transpark,

Resources immediately contacted Dobelstein. "He

and improve the use of AID resources in shaping fami-

15.00Gacre combination manufacturing complex and

told me, 'You get me that data from Durham; I need

ly planning programs in these countries and to help

all-cargo airport to be built in Kinston, NC. Kasarda is

to get that information; we're working on that right now because we're going to have a new program

their governments determine how best to provide family planning services with their own resources.

Senior Advisor for the NC Global Transpark Authority (GTA) and principal investigator of a $1 million study

Iof welfare services],"' Dobelstein recalls.

Occasionally, the roles of consultant and

by Professor of Law Albert Coates and Gladys Coates

Sughrue, GTA vice-president for communications,

public official merge. For example, Stegman, in city

(husband and wife) with the objective olresearching,

says, "Global Transpark has the potential to have an

and regional planning, presently serves as Asistant

teaching and consulting solely for state and local

effect on North Carolina as strong and positive as the

Secretary for Policy Development and Research at

govemments. "We don't initiate proposals," Asistant Director John Sanders explains. "Rather we respond

Research Triangle Park.' The park will add tens of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of doilars

HUD. As

IRSS

Associate Director Angel Beza explains,

The Institute for Government was established

sociology chair John Kasarda is overseeing the state's a

on aviation and industry funded by the FAA. Jim

'Stegman's research gained some recognition, he

to requests for information from officials or agencies,

to the state economy, Sughrue says.

became a consultant, and now he goes to Washington

and do research and prepare materials. Then il's up

in an official position. He can directly influence how

to the agency to decide what to do in the way of

From early studies on Southern cotton farms and mill villages to the economics of global air freight, the

policy gets made." Profesor of Economics Stanley

policy change."

Black served on the President's Council ol Economic

In

big question remaining is, where will research in social sciences go from here? As UNC-CH social sciences'

1955 the North Carolina Bar Association's

Advisors in 1965-1966. President Clinton appointed

Committee for Court Reform called upon the institute

history of shaping and influencing our world indicates,

Associate Professor of Health Policy Administration

to research the constitution and workings of the state

the sky's the limit. o

Kenneth Thorpe to his national health policy transition

court system. The committee then drafted a state con-

team in 1993.

stitutional amendment to modernize the courts based

Tsui's research is funded by o fioe-yeor grant for

on the institute's findings of inefficiencies and redun-

$14,175,385 hom the Agenq for lnternational

Academic iesearch and collaboration come together at the several specialized institutes that have

dancies. The amendment pased in

sprung up over the years at UNC-CH as direct reactions

uniform court system that

1962 resulting

in

a

is a model among the states.

Deuelopment.

E.N.D.E.A.V.O.R.S

22

From Brass to Silicon Euoluing lnstrumentation ln the Biological kiences at UNC-CH by ftott Lovrry

f I I

n I 662, the newly appointed Curator of Experiments for the Royal Society of London focused his homemade microscope onto a thin slice of cork.

In so doing, Robert Hooke not only became the first

person to see what he called cork's 'cells', he also set the science of biology on its

way. Had he been able to

visit a laboratory two centuries later, whether in his native London or acros the ocean in Chapel Hill, he

would have had little trouble recognizing the microscopes then in use. In fact, most biological instru-

ments in the mid-l9th century were essentially refined versions of those Hooke and his contemporaries had used.

But if Hooke could skip lorward to UNCTH's Bicentennial, he might think he had stepped into some

The microscope is the instrument people

improbable dream. Familiar instruments would have

equate most often with

mutated into unrecognizable shapes capable of mind-

microscope from the mid-\9th century, nou)

boggling feats. Other machines are designed to work

in

with substances he had never heard of, such as amino acids or DNA, Here is a sarnpling of changes in just a

who first examined cork ce$s under

few of the instruments used in biological research at

UNC{H.

biolog.

i"trrs basic

the North Carolino Collection, would haue been quite familiar to Robert Hoohe, a

microscope in the l\thcentury. Similarities included capabilities as well as oppear"

O

ences: et)en the most aduanced models Liso Blonsett ond M. G. Broaddus assisted in the reseorch for this article.

Electron microscopes were deueloped in the middle of the 20th century to ot)ercome the resolution

limits imposed by the relatioely long wauelengths of uisible light. This transmission elecffon microscope at the Dental Research Center is about 1,000 times more powerful than a conu e ntio na I micr o s co p e-alm

o st

enough to show indiuidusl atoms.

of the time were only incrementally more powerful than those of his oun day.

f,oN.D.E.A.V.0.R.S

ZJ

The Sartorius Selecta balance (left), made in the 1930s, was accurote to 100 miLligrams but aas time consuming to operate

demanded frequent mointenance and uw fairly easily damated. Today"'s Mettler PM 2000 electronic balance (right) is nearly fs6lpy6rS as well as l0 times as accurate-gaod enough for most reseatch in the biological sciences today,

Although unoble to approach the magnifying power of electron microscopes,

ligh$theing

microscopes haue gained new abilities in recent

years. Fot example, this digitized uideo microscope housed in the cell

biolog and anatomy

department utilizes digital imaging technolog)/ to record information about cell and tissue function, enabling researchers lo obserue processes uithin indiuidual liuing cells.

Measures prouided each state with

standards

in

a

set of

official

1883, the North Carolina legislature sent

theirs to UNC. These brass standards range from 25 pounds down to 20 grams. The Uniuersity used these to chech the accuracy of its own balances as well as to seftle disputes about the accuracy of scales used

in commercial transactions in the state.

E.N.D.E.AoIr$rR.S

Nuclear medicine physicians

in

1975 were

the first UNC"CH biological reseanhers lo u.se computer imaqes. Some techniques det:eloped then, such as enhancements (right) of rau' cardiac chamber images (left) durinq one complete beat cycle, are still used in medical studies today.

'[ools today may merge softwure and hardwrtre. In this doctorol student project using the Pixel-Planes

5 graphics computer and a cornmerciall, auailable head-mounted drsplay, users can explore a uirtual

patient's anatomy

b

detennine the best combinab treat a twnor while

tion of X-ra1' beam angLes

6

sparing healthl X-ruy-sensitiue tissue. This labora-

k)N experiment mq: lead in the future to tools

E

used routinel,- in patient h'eatnent Wogtlms.

O

The Be c hman s pi n n i ng{ up se(luencer u'os lirsl rnorketed in 196i. alloainq researchers to determine the amino acid sequence of peptides and proteins. It

c\uld automoticallv perform the sequencing chemistry. but each sequential amino

acid had to be identified manually. This example, consigned to surpLus earlier this year,

rL)as

acquired by UNC-CH in 1977.

ProSequenter Svslern run oblain sequence information bom much smaLler samp

le

s*impoftant

u hen

working with tt.ace amounts. Better y'et, they also

directly identify the

ornino ocids. a chore the spinning<up sequencer left kt researchers.

E.Nof).E.A.V.0.R.S

25

Pooling Resources Physicists and Chemists Share Equipment and ldeas

by Ashley Singleton

ome would say that Elisha Mitchell, the second

share lab space and equipment, often bartering

chemistry profesor at the University of North

resources.

l8l8

his private laboratory, located above the University

"People just share," Clegg says. "To the extent that we can get people together doing that, we will

carpenter's shop. He oversaw no student research; in

succeed in modern scientific endeavors."

Carolina, had it easy. In

he could walk to

fact, there wasn't any laboratow training in chemistry at UNC untllthe 1850s. And Mitchellworked alone with what he called "the materials of science"-his

own beakers, mirrors and test tubes.

Today, researchers in chemistry and physics

follow a different formula for research. Though single investigators do still exist, many researchers have joined forces to share equipment and ideas in large

UNC-CH researchers in physics and astronomy are collaborating with colleagues at Columbia Univer-

sity and the National 0ptical Astronomy Observatories, Together, they're raising more than $20 million to place a Southern 0bservatory for ktrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope in Cerro Tololo, Chile, one of the best observing sites in the world. "A single

collaborative research efforts. Two factors have

investigator couldn't d0 this type of research," Clegg says. "This is a multi-investigator instrument not only

inspired this shift: the cost of equipment and the

because it's so costly, but also because one person's

complexity of today's scientific problems.

going to get enough data in a night to last for a year

"Things have changed, and they're changing

nationally,'

says Tom Clegg, chair of the department

or two."

Such sophisticated problems as magnetized

of physics and astronomy. "Certainly there's a trend

astrophysical plasmas and molecular spectrosc0py

toward more collaborations and more sophistication,

weren't isues for earlier physicists and chemists.

and driving that change is the cost of instruments.

"The problems we investigate have become so

It's difficult to find the money for one single person

complicated that they sometimes require a certain

to pull together the resources for doing high quality

amount ol collaboration, and the methods of attacking

science now."

them often stretch acros several departments," says

In

1817, Denison Olmsted, UNC's fimt

profesor

of chemistry and mineralogy, suggested that $700 would purchase enough apparatus to furnish a chemistry lab. Today, however, a physics laboratory requires at least $300,000 for equipment-high field magnets, vibration{ree tables, atomic force

micro

Building and locating this telescope in Ceno Tololo, Chile, will cost researchers more than $20 million.

Yet once installed, this instrument (shown here in

Maurice Bursey, profesor of chemistry.

model form) will generate more information in one

Collaboration allows researchers to bring their talents together, often producing unexpected results. "l once had a technique that I thought might help

night than a researcher could interpret in a year.

people. It wouldn't have been posible if we hadn't

[my colleague] Tom Meyer in analyzing some of the compounds he developed," Bursey says. "Conse

scopes and nuclear accelerators are not cheap.

quently, we made quite an insight into understanding

Funding restraints prohibit researchers from owning

how these things react under the conditions of my

such expensive equipment individually, so scientists

experiment, and we were years ahead of other

collaborated."

Similarly, there would be fewer nuclear physicists if researchers from the Triangle universities

hadn't pooled their resources to build an accelerator on the Duke University campus. Now, between 8 percent and l0 percent of the country's Ph.D.s in nuclear physics are trained there. In general, Clegg adds, "lf I need to have some skills or knowledge for a particular problem I face in physics, I can usually

find somebody in the Research Triangle area to help.

The collaborations are posible where they weren't 20 years ago."

And so the old school of individual research to which Mitchell belonged is being replaced by an approach which streses collaboration and partnership, in response to scientists' needs to pool

resources-both I

o o

zl

,9

I 6 o o z This simple l9th<entury building serued as an obseruatory and meteorological laboratory.

astronomical equipment, which had been purchased in 1824 for slightly ouer $3,000.

It

housed the Uniuersity's

f

inancial and intellectual-to

solve ever more complicated scientific problems.

"Mitchell and his colleagues would be astonished at the complexity that science has turned into and the sorts of problems that people are addresing," .We're Bursey says. asking so much more detailed questions that in order for the early faculty even to comprehend today's questions, I think they'd have to take quite a refresher course." O

E.N.ID.E.ArIo$oR.S

26

Changes in the Humanities )ne

Classicist's View

by George A. Kennedy

f I I

n the last jl() vt-ars, a paradigm shift has taken place in the field of classics.

New models and theuries have reshaped the ways many scholars frame their

inquiries. For the most

par1, these changes aLe more visible

nationally'than thel'' are at UNC,

internationally and

HeLe. the classics program has been open to new

approaches. but it has follorved a niddle course

b1"

adhering to a rather traditional

conception of what constitutes truth and knorvledge. There has not been the acrimonious debate and polarizatron found at some other univercities; we have avoided politicization of the isues.

Over the past 200 years, classical studies has seen several distinct shtfts.

Originally, American colleges followed the British educational model and required students to study Greek and Latin. This early instruction,

holel'et, concentrated on

understood or practiced today-has been much studied.

Classical stLrdies rs also making use of post-structuralist strategies of interpreta-

tion. Nelv works increasingly show the influence of,,contemporary thinking about language. litt,rature arrd sot'iety, Some are predominantly feminist or psychological in appilach, but there is also much interest in narrative techniques and occasional

application of deconstruction to classical texts, The most irnportant development is a changed view oi the nature of language and its relationship to cultuLe. Post-structuralist critical theory is largely founded on evidence for the arbitrary nature of lanQuage (as argued by de Saussure) and the

corollan'that literature, histow, political institutions, philosophy, religion and culture are thus manifestations of language that hale no "foundation" outside the

grammarandpaidlittleattentiontoawork'scontents. Thischangedinthemid-l9th

circularityof languageitself. Whatiscalled'post-modernism"inart, literatureand

century as German philology began to influence American scholars. During the first half of the 20th century, "neohumanism" was predominaltt, lvhich stressed such

the human sciences generally reflects these conclusions, but it is essentially ecleetic,

topics as the birth of democracy in Creece, connections between Grec'k philosophl,

Louis Round Wilson

Library

A visual analogy thal I offer to students might be helpful. Wilson Library, com' pleted in 1929, imitates the traditional "logocentric" paradigm of Westetn society:

Walter Royal Walter Royal Dauis Library

According to George Kennedy, the differences betueen Louis Round Wilson Library ond Walter Royal Douis Library

authority.

ln

contrast, Dauis Library, completed

in

ore symbolic of the ways the humanities

haue changed.

1984, is a postmodern building and illustrates the decansbuction of foundstionalist assumptions.

and Christianity, and the serene beauty ol Greek art. Then at mid-century, American "New Criticism" and its emphasis on understanding imagery and unity became

influential.

In the mid-20th century, archeological discoveries provided a wealth of new

information about the clasical world. A modest paradigm shift occutred,

as

schol-

Its facade and parts of the interior use classical architectural motifs to suggests a con-

tinuity with older values. The circular dome caps and unifies the whole as seen from one particular vantage point-the front. lts interior is ananged on an axis and divided into distinct rooms. Entering the building one must make binary choices, right or left, up or down. The whole building speak with authotity,

ism, the effects of slavery, the suppression of women, animalsacrifice and other

ln cuntrast, Davis Library is a post-modem building and illustrates the deconstruction of foundationalist or "logocentricl asumpiions: It has no real {ront. The

social phenomena that revealed an ugly side of life conveniently ignored by the

entrance is hidden and off center. The large mainlhalllleads nowhere and one can

neohumanists.

wander off in several directions at any time. Il isa verypractical, succesful and

ars' assessments of ancient life began to take into account class struggle, imperial-

Today, clasical studies has incoporated social history to a much greater

handsome building, but it also represents a maior paradigm shitt from the values of

degree than ever before. Most clasicists, howevet, have not approached this

the past; it is much more open, less assedive of any particular physical and aesthetic

subject in a doctrinaire way. There are few if any Marxists. The social sciences

truth. and decentered.

o

that have most gained attention have been anthropology and psychology. Scholarship on women in antiquity has flourished, gender isues are frequently discused,

George A. Kennedy

and homosexuality-although differing in many respects from homosexuality as

ture department ond adjunct professor of speech communicotions.

is Paddison Professor of Classics, chsir of the comparatioe litero-

A PROFILE

27

VITA

Kenneth Brinkhous

transfusions and then during the 1960s developing

he increasing emphasis on interdisciplinary research in recent years has sent many researchers scramblinq to rethink their

approaches. But Kenneth Brinkhous, professor emeritus in the pathology department, remains unaffected

by the changes. Don t make the mistake of thinking that here's an old dog who can't learn new tricks.

Instead, this 85-yearold scientist has been waiting lor younger researchers to catch up. "l sort of smile when people sav it is something

new,' chuckles Brinkhous. "When I graduated from medical school in 1932, I immediately joined a research group that was based on the principle that

you needed a multifaceted attack on complex problems in medicine. I was a charter member of one of the very early interdisciplinary teams."

That research team was in lowa, where Brinkhous was born, grew up and went to medical

school. During his residencl, at lowa's Universily Hospitals, one of his patients who had hemophilia died of a brain hemonhage resulting from his

condition. The

voung doctor decided to lind ways to save others from the same death. That decision set him on a course

leading to the diagnosis and treatment now used for

hemophiiia, an inherited disease affecting about 25.000 in the ljnited States.

"l was naive in those da1,s, and I thoughl that by getting all the morphological material together, if you were sharp enough, you'd

The dogs he mentions are members of the

with Wagner, Harold Roberts and Philip Webster a dry

colony of hemophiliac dogs that helped develop

concentrate of Factor VIll lvhich finally allowed those

current treatments for the disease. Like humans,

with hemophilia to lead near-normal lives.

most have hemophilia A with its lack of Factor Vlll

Until Brinkhous and his colleagues developed these treatments, Iife for hemophiliacs was anything

and the rest have hemophilia B, lacking Factor IX. "Our attitude is, if we can make the doqs normal

but normal. Repeated hemorrhaging caused great

so they can live a normal, happy life. we can transfer

pain as well as cumulative damage t0 ioints, eventually incapacitating the patient. Lifespans were drastical-

that to man, and we will have accomplished two goals, one for the dogs and one for man," says Brinkhous.

ly shortened, too: Brinkhous recalls a study when he

'Right now we're concentrating on the dogs. The gene

began his research that found the average age ol

has been cloned for the canine hemophilia

hemophrliacs at death was l6 years. With treatment,

you have the gene in the bottle, so to speak, the next

they nolv can live a full lifespan.

step is to get it into the cell, where it can produce the

Effective treatment is not enough for Brinkhous

today-the goal

is to develop a

cure. Techniques only

mising protein, Factor IX. We've been working on it four yean now, and it's just beginning to pay off in

dreamed of throughout most of his career are bringing that goal within reach.

"Methodologies today are so different than they

That means these dogs are producing enough clotting

were in the '40s. There are so many things that you

hemonhages and needing few transfusions.

can do now t0 get answers that you could only speculate about at that time," marvels Brinkhous. "We're

people after a lifetime of such achievements, but not

that we are finally getting expresion in the dogs." factor themselves to be partially cured, suffering few A well deserved retirement mav beckon most

spending most of our time now on another approach

Brinkhous. He used to be quite active outside the

to get this trace protein into the blood of hemophiliacs

University, including chairing the National Hemophilia

so they don't have the threat of hemorrhaging, and

Foundation's Medical Advisory Council lrom 1954 to

that's gene therapy. We're trying to take the advances

1973 and serving as Secretary{eneral of the lnternational Committee on Thrombosis and Hemostasis from

in molecular biology and make the transition to the whole organism, firct the dog and then the man. We're

1966

in the very early stages with the dos."

ties, he has not forsaken research.

to 1978. Butwhile he has cutbacksuch activiIn fact, virtually all his activities revolve around research these days, from reading to attending meetings to listening to lectures. "l

be able to figure out exactly what went on

think those c0ntacts and activities are just

to lead to this catastrophe. But as more and

so basically enjoyable that my vocation is

more is done. there's a whole host of new

my avocation,' Brinkhous says. "When I

questions that come up. 0n and on it

was chairman of the pathology department

goes." says Brinkhous with a laugh.

and chief of the pathology service at North

The discoveries have been going on

Carolina Memorial Hospitals, that was my job, and my avocation was my research.

since that early interdisciplinary research team took the first important steps in the

early

1930s toward

B. Once

But nowadays when I have only research

explaining the blood

and a certain amount of teaching, I gues

coaqulation process. Brinkhous con-

it's all become one thing."

tributed, among other things, the discovery

Brinkhous approves of most changes

that hemophiliacs cannot produce a protein needed for clotting, now known as Factor

in his profesion over the five decades

VIII. Except for five years in the Army Med-

since he arrived at UNC-CH and began the work that earned him the Iongest con-

ical Corps during World War II, Brinkhous

tinuous research support ever from the

has dedicated himself ever since to finding

National Institutes of Health. New ideas

a cure for hemophilia. Since 1946, that

work has been done with nearly 60 co-work-

'6

and findings, new methodologies and tools,

-

and the trend toward interdisciplinary

,9

ers over the years at UNC-CH, where he

d

served as chairman of the pathology department from his arrir,,al until 1973.

o 6

,9

Two accomplishments stand out

during his tenure here. In

research impress him as esential to the great leaps in rnedicine we are fortunate

enough to see. One change, however,

would make him think twice before recom-

1953, Brinkhous

E

and colleagues Robert Wagner and Robert

mending that today's students answer the

Langdell developed the partial thrombo-

same calling.

"When Iwas growing up, the econom-

plastin time test, now used thousands of times every day around the world to diagnose clotting disorders. From diaqnosis

Leading the research teams that deueloped diagnostic tests and treatments for hemophilia is not enough for Kenneth Brinkhous, the professor emeritus and his

he turned to therapy, first using plasma

interdisciplinary group are now closing in on a cure for the qenetic disease.

ics of the situation never really occurred to

me because the costs of doing laboratory work were not very large," explains

Student Research

28

Brinkhous.

-You

SCHOTARLY PURSUITS

worked hard and applied younelf

and the American way would take care of you.

Today, getting support can be very frustrating and damaging. Iwould still tell them about the glories

A Really Remarkable Light

and the ecstasies, but you could probably have a better time economically in other pursuits. Nevertheles,

William Rand Kenan Jr., B.S. 1894

lwould strongly encourage those with a bent for

hen William Rand Kenan Jr. came to UNC

their contributions can have a wide impact."

in

In the case of the patriarch of the pathology

world. But true

to his nature, he plays down his own importance,

'A university career

as many as

is a tremendous

posible.

opportunity that

it.'o

peiod and $550,294 for the fouryear peiod

ending February 28, 1997.

and cars (early car batteries were not powerful enough to power the car and its lighting

too). tn

lamps used in these circumstances, the acetylene

and the majority of students used student lamps of the

was produced by the regulated dripping of water

single or double type," he wrote in his autobiography, lncidents by the Way: Lifetime Recollections qnd

onto a calcium carbide tablet.

Major Morehead's dark, glistening lump has

Reflections. Although Thomas Edison had invented lower New York City with electrical lighting by 1883,

come a long way. Today, acetylene is used to make vinyl fabric and floor coverings, water-based paints and other products, and in torches for welding and

such Iighting was expensive, and researchers contin-

cutting metals. As Kenan put it in

ued to look for alternatives. Little did Kenan know

the gas' use in welding: "From the discard of the little furnace at Spray came a proces for making gas that

when he came to UNC that the work he would do in

Funding for this research from the Nationol Heart, Lung and Blood lnstitute omounts to $168,338 for the cunent one-year

no

the light bulb in 1879, and had supplied buildings in

society gives to some people, and there are many ways to take advantage of it," Brinkhous says. "This is the way that one person has taken advantage of

1890 as a freshman, the University had

electric lights. "Every one used kerosene

department, that impact has given new life to thou-

prefening to share credit with

electricity was not available, including in buoys, miners' lamps, road signals, and lamps for bicycles

research and innovative approaches to problems;

sands of hemophiliacs around the

As electricity gradually caught on, acetylene was especially useful for lighting in places where

1939, describing

the chemistry laboratories, during 1892 and 1893, would lead to an alternative lighting method that

was destined to flame-out the metals of the world and

would last ior decades.

required by man.'o

then weld them into the more desirable shape as

It all began in the village of Spray, in Rocking-

ham County, NC. Here MajorJ. Turner Morehead, father of John Motley Morehead, owned a cotton mill and hydroelectric plant. Morehead formed a company with T. L. Willson to find an inexpensive way to

produce aluminum. One waste product of Willson's

Determining Zirconium

experiments, a dark, glistening material, had been hauled out to the dump and, when rained on, pro duced a gas. Morehead called on his son's former chemistry profesor, UNC's Francis Preston Venable, to determine what this waste substance was.

At UNC, Venable and his students-Kenan and Thomas Clarke-identified the dark, glistening mate-

o o E

E

ts ,9

E o E

I

f I I

n

1894, in the chemistry laboratories at UNC, gradu-

utu

rtrd.nt

Charles Baskerville carefully measured

ou, un amount of the metal zirconium, which he

then disolved into a solution by using a strong acid.

solution. He

rial as calcium carbide, and the gas it produced when

He added ammonium hydroxide to this

it came into contact with water as acetylene. "This gas

then watched as a curdy solid, or precipitate, settled

was inflammable, buming with a very smoky flame," wrote Kenan in his 1939 paper "Discovery and ldentifi-

out of the solution, the result of the zirconium's combining with the hydroxide. 'The precipitate is white

cation of Calcium Carbide in the United States." The

and flocculent Iand] settles quickly," Baskerville noted in his disertation.

researchers attempted to reduce the burning gas'

smokines. '0n trying a mixture of one part acetylene

Baskerville was tuting the efficacy of different

wing bumer, the wonderful brilliance and beauty of

methods for "determining" zirconium, which meant determining how much zirconium is in a given solu-

this really remarkable light were revealed for the first

tion. Baskerville studied nine different methods which

time in the country, in the late Fall of 1892," wrote

he had found described in the scientific literature of

Kenan.

the day.

with four or five parts of air, using an ordinary bat-

.g

o

Charles Baskenille, Ph.D. 1894

Acetylene was not an unknown gas, nor was cal-

cium carbide undiscovered. However, a new, simple, and relatively inexpensive method had been found for

Baskerville's interest in zirconium probably stemmed from the discovery of zircon (which contains zirconium) in Western North Carolina in 1869. By

mined from

producing acetylene: by using calcium carbide. The

1888, grayish crystals of zircon were being

calcium carbide itself was simple enough to produce:

near the town now called Zirconia, in Henderson

it had been made at Morehead's factory by heating a

Coung, NC, for use in lighting devices. Inspired by

As a direct result of research conducted under

combination of lime (calcium oxide) and tar and

desire to make use of the state's natural resources,

I E

oo

a

Binhhous' direction at UNCOH, hemophiliac children

other forms of carbon. Chemically united, the cal-

Baskerville's advisor, UNC chemistry profesor Francis

today can not only participate in actiuities denied them 40 years ago, but can also looh forward to long and

cium and carbon formed calcium carbide.

Research on the gas continued at UNC, in an

Preston Venable, had initiated research on zirconium

fulfilling adult liues.

attempt to find the best way to bum

it.

Efforts were

directed at either diluting the acetylene with a neutral gas or buming the acetylene alone with improved

At UNC.

After the white, flocculent precipitate settled out of his solution, Baskerville poured off the liquid from the precipitate and washed the precipitate. Next, he

burners. "The range of a mixture with air that did not

ignited it and calculated the amount of zirconium in

explode was rather limited,' wrote Kenan. With the

the residue. He then compared the amount of zirconi' um in the residue to the amount of zirconium he had

help of his student Thomas Clarke, Venable finally published a paper describing the experiments at UNC

with calcium carbide.

started with. In nine different repetitions of this experiment, Baskerville got as close as putting in .1083

29

units of zirconium and recovering .1082 units of it.

(Baskerville did not specify in the disertation what units of measurement he used.) In a later instance, however, he put in .2815 units of zirconium and recovered.2832 units! In thisway, Baskerville tested the

A Richer Record

Rural Education Joseph Henry Johnston, M.A.

FJt

I I

efficacy of using ammonium hydroxide precipitation to determine zirconium.

Curent Studenls Record the

l9l4

Past and Present

en out of l7 male students at one high school in

henThe Daily ?"arHeel publishes stories

rural

about students, most of those students are

1914 North Carolina intended to be, like

involved in organized activities: sports,

,n.i, iathers. farmers. What did they study in

high school? Four required years of Latin. "The only

student government or a particular interest group.

nine methods he tested, though he drew no final

course bearing on farming at all was a short book

conclusions as to which was the most accurate ot

course on agriculture, taught by a lady teacher and

But, what information exists about the many students who do not participate in formal groups? In addition,

expedient method for determining zirconium.

covering a period of about 2 months," wrote Joseph

whether students participate in groups or not, what

Baskerville reported the results for each of the

ln his disertation, Baskerville also studied meth-

Henry Johnston, in his

l9l4 masters

thesis in educa-

ods for separating zirconium from iron, aluminum and

tion. A high school principal, Johnston conducted

titanium. Baskerville's disertation was published by

survey of the 17 farming families whose children

UNC's scientific coterie, the EIisha Mitchell Scientific Society. His disertation, one of the oldest graduate theses or disertations done at UNC which the Univer-

o

their Iives?

With a grant from the Bicentennial Observance

attended hisschool. Johnston's interestwas in deter-

Policy Committee, graduate students, part of a larger

mining the needs of this particular community and

group including faculty and staff, work with the history

how those needs might best be served.

department's Southem 0ral History Program to

pro

vide such records, enriching the history of UNC{H.

Johnston inquired into the size of the farms,

sity still poseses, can be read by the public at the University's North Carolina Collection.

a

records exist describing the more penonal sides of

crops grown, what sorts of machinery and farm ani-

By interviewing not only past and present students,

mals were on the farm, whether farmers had fruit trees

but also those who have shaped the history of the

ln addition to the sources mentioned in the orticles,

and gardens, and methods farmers used for selecting

University, including influential profesors and former

professor of chemistry Mourice Bursey's boohs Carolina

seed. He also inquired into the families'social and

chancellors and presidents, graduate students are

intellectual life-whether they attended church;

captunng a side of history not always available to

sources for the orticles on Williom Rand Kenon Jr.

whether they used the high school's library, the only

historians: an insidersstory.

and Charles Basheruille.

accesible Iibrary in the region; whether they had state and federal agricultural health bulletins in their home;

Chemists cnd Francis Preston Venable serued as

whether they subscribed to newspapers.

Johnston concluded that while the farmers' crop

"ln any kind of institution, there's only so much that takes place that gets into the written record," says history graduate student Pamela Dean, former acting director of the Southem Oral History Program. "You

yields were above the state average, there was room

may know some of the major events and changes. But

for improvement. While he found that 75 percent of

you don't always know what the thinking was behind

the families received the state agricultural health bulletins. "a much smaller number appear to read them

them." Dean interviewed nine people

carefully enough to profit very much by their teach-

as part of the

Bicentennial Oral History Project.

With the Bicentennial grant, the Southem Oral

ings," he wrote. Few farmers, found Johnston, applied

History Program has interviewed 50 people, tran-

the new farming methods these bulletins described,

scribed many of those interviews and made the tapes

such

as

selecting a fertilizer designed for a specific

and transcripts available for public use at the Southem Historical Collection at UNC{H. Future historians will

crop rather than choosing fertilizer by the brand.

Johnston found, moreover, that farms were gen-

have a richer record to draw on when writing about

wrote Johnston, "has regular market days and delivers

the events of UNC{H's past and present.

"We're creating the raw material of historical

his goods regularly to a firm at stipulated pnces. The

research," says Dean.

erally not run in a busineslike way. 'Only one man,'

others simply carry their produce to town at inegular

intervals and take whatever price someone offers. As a rule, they keep no record of loses or gains on any

crops, stock, or dairy products. Under such loose and

unbusineslike methods, a person can hardly tell what pafis of his farm are prolitable and what are running at a

los.'

Johnston concluded his lGpage thesis by urging

that rural schools play a greater role in the life of their

communities. 'Rural teachers must be prepared,

as

very {ew are today, to teach such subiects as agriculture, with demonstration work, and such other work as

cooking and sewing,' wrote Johnston. Johnston further urged that the school foster cooperation and a Charles Baskeruille receiued his Ph.D. at UNC only two

sense of community among those it served.

years after completrng his B.S. at the Unioersity. Duing graduate school, he played fullboch for the football

clases at the school where he was principal. If the

team and was a founder and editor in chief of theTw

aspiring farmers among his students were not free of

Heel, which later becomeThe Daily Tar Heel. After graduation, Basheruille become a professor of chemistry

jects more immediately applicable to their everyday

at IINC.

lives.

Johnston added cooking, sewing and agriculture

Latin, they at least had the opportunig to study sub-

I

o

31

Where is.o.? the first public uniaersity in the United States?

unitsersig press in the South?

:::a:,

the only American public unioersity to grant degrees in the 18th century?

the only organization dedicated to nourishing outdoor drama ocross the United States?

the first research project to receioe 50 years of continuous funding by the National Institutes of Heolth?

the nation's first hospital intensiae-care unit? the preeminent U.S.collection documenting the

flora of the Southeast?

the first Southern public uniaersity to awqrd a Ph.D.?

the world's fq"stest graPhics comquter

the first planetarium in the world associated with a uniaersity?

usedto adaance airtual worlds

the first social science research institute?

research?

the first molecular modeling laboratory using computer graphics on a uniuersity campus? the largest American library of published materials relating to a single state?

the most sophisticated and complete population research library in the world?

the site of the first astronomical obseroatory built by a unioersity in the United States?

hor,

of the largest ond best supported of the yytionb B0 Area Heatth Edacation Cenfurs progrqms?

!h"

the largest, most diaersified uniaersitY' based gouetnmental taining and research organization in the United States?

-

The Uniaersity of North Csrolina at ChCIpel Hill, of course, To learn more about UNC-CH's past two centuries ol scholarship, take some time to enjoy the Reseorch ot Carolina poster accompanlting this issue of Endeauors.

a9

Exploring Time Mapping the History of Research at Carolina

f f That is research? A passion ior discovery? A W pre.llec.on IOr asKrng questr.nsl A searcn Y Y ,o, unr*ersr A nunger ror Knowleoge.' ur.

early decades of the century, as talented fac-

perhaps, all of the above? At the heart of research is

in Social Science, the UNC Pres, Carolina

ulty firmly established the social sciences and arts at UNC. The Institute for Research

the quest to traverse new intellectual territories and

find new knowledge. It involves

a

Playmakers and the Southern Histori-

willingnes to ques-

cal Collection all contributed to an

tion, to consider, to step off the well-trodden path and

exciting and novel focus on

venture into unexplored lands.

regionalism, earning UNC a rep-

In honor of the Bicentennial Observance,

utation

as the

Endeauors lraces the history of research at the Univer-

intellectual

sity. With this poster, the magazine highlights the intel-

power-

Iectual accomplishments of the faculty and charts the

house of

ground covered by UNC scholars, artists and scientists

the

throughout the Universig's 200-year existence.

South.

themselves at home, the world's fastest computer graphics

As a map detailing some of the intellectual journeys taken by the University's scholars, the "Research

systems, a history of North Carolina incorporating the

at Carolina" poster is by nature impressionistic, per-

voices of the state's millworkers, an animal model for cystic fibrosis-these are but a few examples of the

haps at best containing broad outlines of major trends

and developments. It would be imposible to Iist all the notable research accomplishments of UNC's

After the Ciuil War, a neu era

many talented profesors. This poster also

began at the Uniuersig as faculty

inevitably reveals some less laudable aspects

and students embraced an academic ethos that ualorized critical

of UNC's history. That the vast majority of researchers commemorated are white and

male reminds us that until recently,

thought and inu e sttgation.

women and minorities were excluded from the University community. However, since admitted to the

faculty-

landmark research that has emanated

women in 1927 and African-Americans

from the University of North Carolina

in

in recent years.

1966, for

example-they have con-

tributed amply to the body of knowl-

We can only guess at what the

edge created at Carolina.

The poster hints at the contours

of

next century will bring. We do know, however, that as long as research,

,,

research s development at the University.

along with teaching and public service,

For most of the l9th century, UNC was pre-

occupies a place at the heart of the Uni-

dominantly oriented toward undergraduate education. Professors, many of them ministers,

tinue to explore new intellectual frontiers

sought to fill the minds of their young male stu-

and generate new knowledge, breaking new

versig's mission, UNC faculry will con-

dents wrth the age-old truths of the clasics.

and innovative paths for others to travel. O

Nonetheles, antebellum faculty explored their environment, surveying the state and publishing accounts

Pochet watch of hofessor

of North Carolina's geography and geology. They

Elisha M itche ll ( 1 7 93-l 857)

collected documents, preserving sources indispens-

After

able for later historians who labored to write the state's

World

history.

War II, research in

After the Civil War, a new era began at the Uni-

the health sciences flowered. The advent of federal

versity as faculty and students embraced an academic

grant money, the onset of the now world-renowned

ethos that valorized critical thought and investigation.

work on hemophilia, and the establishment of the

By the close of UNC's first century, key aspects of a

progenitor of the Division of Health Affairs all

Time stopped for Elisha Mitchell uhen he fell to his

research institution-a graduate program, a profesori-

occurred in rapid succesion.

death

ate with doctorates, scholarly journals, scientific labo-

ratories and a unified library-were in place.

The 20th century saw further change and devel-

opment. The Universig truly came into its own in the

During the last three decades, research at the University has grown explosively, yielding previously

in

1857 while measuring the tallest

of North

Carolina's Black Mountains. Since then, Uniuersity scholars and scientists haue reached unprecedented

inconceivable results. A new theory in fundamental

heights of achieuement.

particle physics, a way for hemophiliacs to treat

next century will bring.

)nly time uill tell

tDhat the