University Gazette

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•   First Durham Scholars graduate
•   Easley's budget mixes increases, cuts
•   Forum seeks voice on panel advising chancellor
•   Living/learning program accepting applications
•   Campus preparing to comply with HIPAA regulations
•   Water and sewer inspections may cause traffic delays

First Durham Scholars graduate

After graduating from Southern High School, Brandie Bailey plans to pursue a college degree in sports medicine. She'll be armed with a $10,000 scholarship she earned through a six-year commitment to Durham Scholars, a program begun in 1995 that targets at-risk youth from northeast Durham's most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Bailey entered the after-school enrichment program when she was in sixth grade. If she stayed with the program for six years, the scholarship was the pot of gold waiting at the end of the rainbow. Eleven members of Bailey's inaugural class of 24 sixth graders are graduating from the program, which is the brainchild of the late Frank Hawkins Kenan and James H. Johnson Jr., a management professor at the Kenan-Flagler Business School. Johnson runs the program out of the Kenan Institute, the business school's innovative think-and-do tank that finds creative solutions to public and private sector problems. Durham Scholars is funded by the W. R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust.

The program has opened doors for her, said Bailey, who spent one summer at Camp $tart-Up in Wellesley, Mass., where she learned how to develop a business plan and networked with women entrepreneurs. She has served as a peer mentor to the younger Durham Scholars.

"I've been able to develop as a person because I've had people to encourage me," she said. "Durham Scholars has pushed me and helped me develop a sense of responsibility."

Bailey's fellow graduates hope to pursue careers in digital animation, elementary education, biology, computers and cosmetology, among other fields.

Last year, with a grant of $1.35 million from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, the Kenan Institute began to replicate the Durham Scholars model in three additional N.C. cities. The expanded youth initiative primarily will serve Lumbee Indian children in Pembroke and African-American children in Kinston and Asheville.

The Durham Scholars program utilizes a myriad of resources and partnerships to help the 140 children it now serves in grades six through 12. Union Baptist Church on North Roxboro Street is one of those key partners; it provides a home for the program four days a week, complete with 11 classrooms, an office and a computer lab.

"I believe that a church has a civic responsibility to the community it serves," said Union Baptist's Pastor Kenneth Hammond. "When we look around in our community and have an awareness of what's happening with young people, we have to afford them opportunities to succeed academically."

Corporations also are involved. The AOL Foundation provided computer hardware and Internet accounts for program participants through its PowerUp program, and Cisco wired the computer lab. Other donors have given money for students to go to summer camp. Business school MBA students serve as mentors. Eleven public school system teachers and two social workers staff the program, and chartered buses pick up the scholars weekday afternoons from 18 different schools.

The beauty of the program is that it's not just about academics. Students are expected to abide by a dress code, as well as follow a code of conduct. Parents give written consent, which grants program staff the authority to meet with teachers and guidance counselors, as well as exchange information and gather academic information and copies of report cards. Social workers explore family dynamics, and parental workshops cover topics such as parenting an adolescent, financial literacy and how to buy a house. Students have classes on topics such as how to use the Internet, anger management and character-building.

"We spend a lot of time with these kids; we are an extension of their family. Many of them are battling tremendous odds, but we set realistic goals for them and build hope," said Beverly Hester-Stephens, the program director whom many students call "Mama." She attends their schools' award ceremonies and graduations and accompanies students to summer camps outside the area.

Johnson, an academic activist in the truest sense of the word, has become a master at mobilizing all the resources in the community to help the students succeed. "Public schools have a daunting task. They can't be expected to do it all," he said. "We've committed long-term support to educational intervention -- this is not a one-time inoculation. The biggest variables are patience and persistence."

Just as a management professor should, Johnson sees Durham Scholars as a smart business opportunity -- building stronger, more prosperous communities out of the inner city, one student at a time.

"In this rapidly changing knowledge economy, it comes down to brainpower," he said. "These children are the workforce of the future. The extent to which they are empowered educationally will have a direct impact on the bottom line."

Easley's budget mixes increases, cuts

N.C. Gov. Mike Easley's proposed budget for next fiscal years includes funding for enrollment increases at UNC system schools but also calls for eliminating more than 1,000 staff positions at those institutions.

Based on zero economic growth estimates, Easley's budget trims nearly $1 billion in state government spending while continuing to fund class size reduction efforts and expansion of a statewide pre-kindergarten program for at-risk four-year-olds. It proposes a lottery for education to fund new education expansion items.

Easley's budget draft includes additional teacher recruitment and retention efforts and provides for enrollment growth in public schools, community colleges and universities.

"In this difficult budget time, government must operate conservatively but we cannot retreat from our commitment to education," Easley said. "By continuing to invest in our schools, our community colleges and our universities, North Carolina will emerge as a much more competitive state."

At UNC system campuses, enrollment-growth funding would total $54.6 million for regular-term enrollment and $12.2 million for distance-education enrollment. Those numbers stem from estimates that call for 5,506 additional regular-term students and 28,792 more credit hours to be taken by distance-education students.

The proposal also includes 2002-03 tuition increases recommended by the UNC Board of Governors. Tuition would rise by 8 percent for in-state students and by 12 percent for students from outside the state.

With the exception of the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, the proposal calls for cutting a total of 557 SPA positions and 496 EPA positions from UNC system campuses. The position reductions reflect recommendations from the schools. No permanent faculty positions would be cut.

In what are identified as measures aimed at "current operations efficiencies," $26.2 million in permanent funding would be cut from UNC schools. The reduction would be in non-personnel budgets for supplies, materials, equipment, membership dues, printing, postage, staff development and travel.

The draft includes no raises for state employees other than public school teachers and administrators, who would get increases of a little less than 2 percent.

The governor's proposal is now being considered by the N.C. General Assembly, which must approve a final spending plan.

Budget proposal highlights for UNC campuses

Enrollment-growth funding, regular term +$54.6 million

Enrollment-growth funding, distance education +$12.2 million

Operating cuts -$26.2 million

SPA position reductions -557

EPA position reductions -496

Forum seeks voice on panel advising chancellor

The Employee Forum passed a resolution at its June 5 meeting calling for representation on the faculty's Advisory Committee.

Now made up of faculty members, the committee -- among other duties -- advises the chancellor in program planning and assessment as well as resource allocation, which is why the forum would like its chair or the chair's designee to have a seat at the table.

That voice is particularly needed now, the resolution states, in light of recent and prospective cuts in staff employment.

According to Employee Forum Chair Tommy Griffin, the move also would continue his efforts seeking to bring staff, faculty and students together to work on issues.

The resolution now goes to Chancellor James Moeser and Sue Estroff, chair of the faculty, for their consideration.

Also at the June 5 meeting, the forum:

•   Heard a presentation by Susan Worley, executive director of Volunteers for Youth, a United Way agency that matches at-risk Orange County youths with adult mentors.

Worley, a Carolina alumna and former employee, said she would like to see current employees volunteer for the program. It will hold its next volunteer training session on June 26 from 6 to 9 p.m. at its Carrboro office. Call 967-4511 for more information.

•   Heard presentations by Triangle Transit Authority (TTA) and Chapel Hill Transit officials about alternative transportation programs available to Carolina employees.

TTA provides vanpool and bus service to Carolina and in March expanded bus service to include more frequent trips to campus from Durham, Raleigh and RTP. Call 549-9999 for more information.

Rick Hannegan of Chapel Hill Transit told forum members that bus ridership has increased by 29 percent since the service became fare-free in January. He also noted that two new park-and-ride lots should open this fall, a second lot in Chapel Hill at the Friday Center and a new lot off Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro.

Living/learning program accepting applications

Applications are being accepted through June 24 from faculty members interested in working closely with first-year students in the First Year Initiative Living/Learning Program (FYI) for the upcoming academic year. The stipend is $5,000 ($4,600 salary; $400 expenses) for an average of eight hours per week.

Faculty Associates serve as mentors, advocates and friends for groups of 10-20 students in a program designed to enhance the intellectual and personal growth of 200 first-year college students in the Ehringhaus residence community. Groups meet weekly for the first six weeks, every other week for the remainder of the fall semester and four times during the spring semester.

Among other activities, faculty associates must:

•   participate in a team-building course in late August;

•   attend faculty associates orientation, planning and evaluation meetings;

•   sponsor and attend dinner discussions;

•   participate in a community service project each semester; and

•   attend a performing arts event each semester.

Criteria for selection include a high degree of interest in, and commitment to, undergraduate students and student life; rapport with students and the ability to communicate easily and comfortably with them, both individually and in groups; and enthusiasm for the goals of the FYI program. It is not essential that applicants have tenure-track or tenured appointments.

To apply, send a one-page letter expressing the reasons for your interest and an abbreviated resume of two to three pages to Faculty Associates Selection Committee/FYI Program, CB# 5000, 106 Steele Building; or cwjohnson@unc.edu After review of applications, brief interviews will be held in June.

For more information, contact Cynthia Wolf Johnson, associate vice chancellor for student learning, at cwjohnson@unc.edu

Campus preparing to comply with HIPAA regulations

As Americans grow more and more concerned about the security of their personal health information, congressional attention in Washington has turned more and more to protecting that information's confidentiality.

That attention led to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a federal law that included provisions strengthening privacy and security of protected health information. HIPAA was enacted in 1996, but many of its privacy measures will first become mandatory in April 2003.

That may seem a long way off, but because of HIPAA's implications for health care and research at Carolina, the University is taking pains now to make sure the campus will be ready to comply with the law. And compliance is a serious matter -- penalties for failing to do so range from fines of $100 to $250,000 per person per violation and/or imprisonment of up to 10 years. Enforcement falls under the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services.

At Carolina, HIPAA applies to health care providers or anyone who -- as part of work being done on behalf of the University -- obtains protected health information from any health care provider for research, fund raising, marketing or use other than health care.

Protected health information (PHI) is individually identifiable health information -- oral or recorded -- that relates to the physical or mental health or condition of an individual, to the provision of health care to an individual or to the payment for the provision of health care to an individual.

The concept behind HIPAA's Privacy and Security Rules is simple: keep individuals' health information securely confidential. But the way HIPAA applies this concept represents a significant cultural change away from the notion that a health care provider has "ownership" of the medical record.

Instead, HIPAA represents the consumer-based concept of individuals' ownership of their personal health information, meaning that it is given to a health care provider for defined, limited and specific purposes.

Implementing this view at Carolina will involve significant changes in the way the University creates, obtains, uses, maintains, discloses and transmits individually identifiable health information.

Bringing Carolina into compliance with HIPAA will require the campus to follow privacy rules about access to protected health information, as well as security procedures meant to protect that information's privacy. For health care providers, it will also mean implementing standardized HIPAA transaction and code sets.

Carolina has two major HIPAA planning projects working to make sure that the campus will be ready to comply with the law. The UNC Health Care System has one that, along with its constituent organizations, includes the University's School of Medicine. All other University units belong to the UNC-Chapel Hill HIPAA planning project. It addresses all HIPAA applications, paying special attention to research.

Both planning projects are working together to coordinate efforts, and this summer they are conducting surveys to identify units performing duties that will be affected by HIPAA. These units will then be contacted and receive help in establishing policies and procedures that meet HIPAA requirements. Training also will be provided.

A HIPAA Q&A

Q What are some examples of procedures that are different under HIPAA for handling protected health information ("PHI")?

A HIPAA regulations define using PHI not just in terms of who receives the information but how it will be used. Examples of HIPAA requirements include:

* Stricter standards for physical and electronic security for PHI.

* Restricted access to PHI for in-house personnel on a "need to know" basis.

* Maintenance of a record of all disclosures of the PHI outside of the original

* authorized purpose, with access for the individual to that record of disclosures of her/his PHI.

* Access to copies of his/her PHI for each individual patient, and a process for responding to patient requests for amendment of the PHI record.

* Requirement to provide a notice of privacy practices to all patients.

* Requirement of a specific authorization from the individual or waiver of authorization from a privacy board or Institutional Review Board (IRB) for disclosure of PHI for purposes other than the consented health care, including research.

Q How will HIPAA affect a research study that also involves health care treatment?

A HIPAA requires that research study subjects who will receive health care as part of the study authorize the use of their PHI in that research -- or that a privacy board or IRB waive the authorization requirement -- regardless of the consent for treatment.

Also, any research-generated PHI that may be applied to treatment decisions is subject to HIPAA's medical record requirements.

Q Where is there more information about HIPAA and how it will affect Carolina employees?

A UNC HIPAA planning groups are surveying the campus to identify units that will be affected by HIPAA and will follow up with guidance, but their members also can answer questions and provide advice. Eddie Capel is the project manager for the campus HIPAA planning project. He can be reached at eddie_capel@unc.edu or 962-1219. Adrian Shelton, research compliance coordinator, serves on both campus and health care system HIPAA planning groups and can handle inquiries or refer people to other members as appropriate. She can be reached at adrian_shelton@unc.edu or 962-0338.

For a national perspective, there are also four particularly comprehensive web sites on HIPAA. They are:

•  The Office of Civil Rights HIPAA web site -- www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/

•  The Department of Health and Human Services HIPAA web site -- aspe.hhs.gov/adminsimp

•  Association of American Medical Colleges HIPAA web site -- www.aamc.org/members/girgasp/

•  Phoenix Health Systems (a health care information technology consulting firm) web site -- www.hipaadvisor.com

Additional updates will be provided in the Gazette.

Water and sewer inspections may cause traffic delays

Minor traffic delays are possible on campus during the summer while consultants working for the University conduct video camera inspections of the campus water and sewer system. Most of the sewer entrances that will be used to insert and retrieve the camera equipment are in streets, requiring the closure of some single lanes of traffic for about an hour at a time.

The firm of Severn Trent will inspect some 13,000 linear feet of sewer pipes from approximately 120 different locations to assess which pipes need repair or replacement.

These field tests are part of a multi-task study aimed at evaluating the existing water and sewer infrastructure throughout the main campus. This evaluation will aid in developing a plan for replacements, improvements and expansion of the system to ensure the campus has adequate water and sewer service and fire protection as it continues to grow.

For more information about the project, contact John Masson of Facilities Planning at jmasson@fac.unc.edu or 962-7019. To report concerns during the inspections, call Terry Adams of Severn Trent at 314-630-4846.

University Gazette