Charlotte Observer

Quest highlights barriers to meeting renewable-energy goal
Wind power is on a lot of minds in the N.C. mountains and on the coast, where breezes blow strong and steady. Harvesting them will be key to meeting the state renewable-energy goal that legislators are poised to adopt.

But making that happen in a big way, energy experts say, will depend on untangling red tape and calming neighbors angered by the prospect of towering windmills in beloved, scenic places.

Other obstacles: a state law that prohibits tall structures on mountain ridges and a maze of regulations. As many as 18 government agencies could claim a role in reviewing a wind-farm proposal, wind advocates say.

“We’ve talked to a dozen different wind developers now, and to a person they say, `Just tell us what the rules are,’ ” said Dennis Grady, director of Appalachian State University’s Energy Center.

ASU estimates that 12 to 20 small, utility-scale wind farms in the mountains and on the coast could produce 6.5 percent of North Carolina’s electric power. That estimate assumes that turbines wouldn’t be placed near scenic public places such as the Blue Ridge Parkway. Read full story

Winston-Salem Journal  

June rate rises because of tight summer-job market, officials say

Increased competition for summer jobs sent the Triad’s unemployment rate to an 11-month high of 5.3 percent in June, the N.C. Employment Security Commission reported yesterday.

The rate was 4.8 percent in May.

It was the first time that the Triad’s jobless rate was above 5 percent since February. Economists said that by traditional definition, a 5 percent unemployment rate signifies an economy at full employment in which everyone available for work has a job.

Eight of the 10 counties in the Triad had an increase in their unemployment rates, with Guilford’s rate rising to 5.3 percent from 4.7 percent in May and Stokes’ rate going to 5.5 percent from 4.9 percent in May.

However, Davie County’s rate dropped to 4.9 percent from 5.8 percent in May.

“The upshot I take from all of this in recent months is that things are a bit shaky,” said Todd Cherry, an economics professor at Appalachian State University. “Things are not solidly strong, but it may not be that bad. Read full story

Asheville Citizen-Times
Elected officials, business people and others working to sustain or grow tourism in the 25-county Western North Carolina region must work together to protect the natural beauty that draws tourists to the area.

“Individual policy makers need to understand that if they want tourism, they need to protect the product,” said Mike Evans, a professor in the Walker College of Business’ Department of Management at Appalachian State University. “Sustainable tourism such as ecotourism and cultural/heritage tourism is what brings people to the area.” Read full story

Winston-Salem Journal

Bonnie, Jamie Schaefer will be the hosts at spa
When invitations went out for a $2,300-a-person cocktail reception for Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday at Westglow Resort & Spa, some people wondered if it was a hoax.

“We’ve got a lot of calls from the area from people who can’t believe it and say it’s wonderful,” said Blake Zeff, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign. “Yes, it’s true.”

Daniel German, a political-science professor at Appalachian State University, said that people have teased him about how many tickets he’s buying, but he jokes back that it’s a bit out of his price range.

These kind of private fundraisers are common, he said, although he thinks it’s stunning that Clinton is coming to the mountains of North Carolina right now. The earlier states’ primaries will have all but decided the party’s nomination by North Carolina’s May 2008 primary.

“The tickets are $2,300 to $4,600 so I suspect that from a purely politically strategic point of view, it doesn’t make any sense, but from a fundraising point of view, it does make sense,” he said. Read full story

Gottabemobile.com
Students in Jennifer Snodgrass’s music theory classes are learning more than the dynamics of composition. They are exploring ways technology can enhance their learning, and in the process helping develop ways other students and instructors can use technology to teach the nuances of music theory.

Snodgrass is an assistant professor in the Mariam Cannon Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State University. She has received $39,823 from Microsoft Research & External Programs to explore the use and efficiency of Tablet PCs in the music classroom. Read full story

Winston-Salem Journal
When is a farm more than a farm?

When it sets out to harvest farmers as much as crops.

Maverick Farms in Watauga County is just such a farm. Its founders are ostensibly in the vegetable business, but their broader vision encompasses tourism, environmentalism, education and economic development.

The partners at Maverick also offer community workdays, soliciting volunteers from the community to help out with plantings and other chores. They have even arranged for students from Appalachian State University’s sustainable-agriculture program to get credit for working on the farm.

All told, Safransky said, they’ve had 19 interns or “work exchangers,” 12 of whom have gone to work on other farms or in jobs that involve sustainable agriculture.   Read full story

Lansing State Journal
Courtesy of the August issue of Prevention:

A couple that laughs together stays together, according to a recent study. Psychologists at Appalachian State University surveyed 52 couples and found that those who enjoyed reminiscing about shared laughs were the most satisfied with the relationship.
Read full story

Asheville Citizen-Times
North Carolina has a great university system due in no small part to generous support from residents through taxes and bond referendums.

Two years ago a provision was slipped into the state’s budget without discussion or debate. The provision allows out-of-state scholarship recipients, athletic or academic, to be treated as in-state students. They then pay the much lower in-state tuition rates.

The Daily Tar Heel estimates that this provision will cost N.C. taxpayers $8.5 million this year and $12.3 million next year. But, it gets worse. The newspaper calculated that more than 70 percent of the recipients are athletes.

Don’t be misled into thinking it’s just a UNC or N.C. State problem. N.C. taxpayers are paying for 25 scholarships at Appalachian State this year. All 25 are athletic, and not   academic.   Read full story

Winston-Salem Journal
Teachers in the United States and Pakistan may have more in common than they might think. Here, teachers often complain about having to teach to standardized tests. In Pakistan, high-school students take exams that determine if they go on to college. “The teacher is bound to teach out of the textbook,” said Jesse Lutabingwa, the associate vice chancellor for international programs at ASU. “Otherwise, students will be at a disadvantage because they won’t be able to take the exam.” Change is afoot, though, and that’s one reason 15 Pakistani high-school biology teachers are spending a month in the North Carolina mountains at Appalachian State University, learning a different way to teach.

Their visit is being paid for by a grant given to ASU by the U.S. Department of State through the International Institute of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Graduate School.

The program is the only one of its kind being held at an American college this summer, Lutabingwa said, and its goal is to improve Pakistani education and strengthen American-Pakistani relations.   Read full story

Ottawa Citizen
The term “fat talk” was coined by Mimi Nichter, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona and author of Fat Talk: What Girls and Their Parents Say About Dieting (Harvard University Press, $18.50).

Denise Martz, a professor at Appalachian State University and a psychologist in private practice, is expanding on Nichter’s research to try to understand why girls (college-age in her research) fat talk and how that relates to body-image problems.

“It does create a bonding and allows women to get reassurance and support from other women,” Martz says. “But it is also continuing a norm that objectifies women’s bodies and makes that salient, makes that important.” Read full story

It’s a way to bond, but is it healthy?

Dallas Morning News

Guys know better.

When the woman in their life asks, “Do I look fat?” guys respond, “Gosh, I love you more every day, honey,” or “Now would be a great time for me to start painting the kitchen, don’t you think?” or, “Hey, is that a UFO up there?” Anything to avoid fat talk.

For women, however, fat talk is social currency.

Denise M. Martz, a professor at Appalachian State University and a psychologist in private practice, is expanding on research to try to understand why women (college-age, in her research) use fat talk and how that relates to body-image problems.

“It does create a bonding and allows women to get reassurance and support from other women,” Dr. Martz says. “But it is also continuing a norm that objectifies women’s bodies and makes that … important.” Read full story

Wilmington Star News
A recent study by researchers from Appalachian State University, UNCW and East Carolina University paints a worrisome picture for Southeastern North Carolina’s beaches.

The report, “Measuring the Impacts of Climate Change on North Carolina Coastal Resources,” states that 14 of the region’s 17 public beaches will have washed away by 2080, with nearly $3.9 billion in economic losses, without some sort of preventive measures.   Read full story

Asheville Citizen Times
A love of politics is taking two Appalachian State University professors to exotic locales.

George Ehrhardt, an assistant professor in Appalachian’s Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice, is fascinated with Japanese politics. He will spend the next six months in Japan learning more about the members of the Clean Government Party and their voting patterns through a Fulbright Hays award from the U.S. Department of Education.

Marvin Hoffman, a professor in the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice and director of Appalachian’s master of public administration program, will travel to Serbia to research changes occurring as a Communist country transitions to a Republic form of government, and help a university there develop a training program for future government leaders.   Read full story

Winston-Salem Journal
Only seven days left.

And the Harry Potter fans are counting them down before they get in line to buy copies of the final installment of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

But the bookstores aren’t the only ones dusting off shelves to make room for the expected megaseller.

Libraries are getting on the bandwagon, too.

There has been some criticism among academics about whether Harry Potter has as much to offer children as such classics as Lewis Carroll’s Alice books. A professor at Yale, Howard Bloom, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that Harry Potter books represent a dumbing down of child readers, asking, “Why read, if what you read will not enrich mind or spirit or personality?”

Alice Naylor, a professor of reading, language and exceptionalities at Appalachian State University, dismissed Bloom’s criticism as “academic elitism.”

“Anything that takes you out of the ordinary and the mundane and practical and concrete is wonderful because it makes the mind imagine things and that’s great fun to be taken out of your own day-to-day existence,” Naylor said. “If somebody’s concerned about (the decline of children’s classics), they should open them up and read them” to children.   Read full story

Winston Salem Journal
The economy in Western North Carolina improved for the second consecutive month in May, according to an index that measures business activity in the 25-county region.

The Western N.C. Economic Index was at 118.4, which was up a half-percentage point from April. The index includes Alleghany, Ashe, Watauga and Wilkes counties.

It is the first back-to-back positive gains from the region’s economy since November and December.

“The indicators are mixed, but it is heartening that we had two consecutive months of growth for the first time since 2006,” said Todd Cherry, an economics professor at Appalachian State University and one of the index’s authors. “While the region appears to be recovering from the economic stumble from the start of the year, there is still a lot of catching up needed.” Read full story

USA Today
Eric Church released his Sinners Like Me album last July, but the collection only now seems to be finding its audience.

The North Carolina native’s debut – a cleverly crafted set that includes songs about a pregnancy test and a condemned killer – is selling 4,000-plus units a week after hitting weekly lows near 1,000 in January.

Church attended Appalachian State University because his father offered to bankroll six months in Nashville if he got his degree first. “I went to college for the sole purpose of getting out of college and appeasing my parents,” he says. Still, the marketing degree Church picked up there has come in handy. “It’s allowed me to communicate with the label, because sometimes I can maybe speak their language.”   Read full story