Grammy nominations concert photo gallery

North Carolina had a decent showing in the Grammy Award nominations announced Wednesday, highlighted by country singer Eric Church's two-category breakthrough. The Granite Falls native (and Appalachian State University alumnus) picked up a pair of nominations for his hit single "Springsteen," for country song and country solo performance -- and this is fresh off winning album of the year at last month's CMA Awards.

Charlotte native Anthony Hamilton was also a multi-category nominee, in R&B song ("Pray For Me") and album ("Back To Love"). Hamilton shared a Grammy in 2009 with Al Green.

Concord's Avett Brothers earned their first-ever Grammy nod with their current album "The Carpenter," nominated for best Americana album alongside Mumford & Sons (one of their half-dozen nominations) and rising young star John Fullbright.

After winning best folk album with their 2010 major-label debut, Triangle old-time group Carolina Chocolate Drops will try to start a streak. Their latest album "Leaving Eden" picked up a nomination, also in the folk-album category.

Brevard's Steep Canyon Rangers were nominated last year alongside Steve Martin. This year, they get a bluegrass-album nomination all to themselves for "Nobody Knows You."

Finally, Triangle expatriate Ryan Adams didn't get a direct nomination himself. But Adams' most recent release, 2011's "Ashes & Fire," was nominated for best-engineered non-classical album. Producer Glyn Johns and mastering engineer Bob Ludwig would get that trophy.

The Grammys will be presented Feb. 10 in Los Angeles.

And in other news, the sun came up this morning.

For the 10th straight year, Kiplinger's Personal Finance has named UNC-Chapel Hill the best value among public colleges.

The top ranking can be found in the magazine's February 2011 issue, which is now available on newsstands and at www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges.

Some parents may scoff at this particular ranking, given that tuition at Carolina and all public four-year universities jumped significantly last year thanks to a two-pronged tuition hike needed to help fill a state budget hole.

But Kiplinger says UNC-CH is still far ahead of the curve.

"Despite rising tuition costs, there are still many first-rate institutions providing outstanding academics at an affordable price," said Janet Bodnar, the magazine's editor, in a news release.

At UNC-CH, tuition and fees for an in-state undergrad runs about $6,665 this year, with the total cost of attendance, factoring room, board, books and other incidentals, is about $19,764.

Nationally, the average annual in-state sticker price of a public college is $16,140, according to Kiplinger.

The magazine specifically cites recent moves at UNC-CH to hire 120 junior faculty members, expand its honors program and create a new enrichment program for top freshmen, all while cutting $36 million in operating costs.

It's interesting that the junior faculty hires caught the magazine's eye, and points to the continued importance of private money at public universities.

Some of those hires were made possible by a $5 million private gift in March of last year from the William R. Kenan, Jr., Charitable Trust. That gift, coupled with a $500,000 anonymous gift for the same purpose, freed the university to hire 18 new junior faculty members.

In fact, even with tight budgets, universities across the region are still looking to add young faculty members. Given the nation's economic problems, universities that do have some money to spend are finding they have the pick of a talented crop of budding academicians.

Several other UNC system campuses make the list as well. N.C. State is 15th on the list, UNC-Wilmington is 27th, Appalachian State is 35th, UNC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem is 48th and UNC-Asheville is 58th.

The University of Florida is number 2 on the list.

A trustee at Appalachian State University has made a $3 million gift to benefit business students, art lovers and sports fans there.

The commitment from Alice G. Roess of Blowing Rock touches on three of her passions. It will be included in her will.

A portion of the Roess estate has been earmarked for the Holland Fellows Program for Business Study in Asia Endowment, which sends students to study at Fudan University in China.
 
Proceeds from Roess’s estate also will support the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts endowment and current expense funds, and the Athletics Facilities Enhancement Campaign.

   Roess was appointed to the board in 2009. A former resident of St. Petersburg, Fla., Roess moved permanently to Blowing Rock in January 2008 after spending more than 15 summer and fall seasons in the High Country with her husband, the late Judge Martin John Roess.
 
“I wanted to make my own change in peoples’ lives,” she said of her gift plans. “The best use of anything I have is to leave it to Appalachian where I know it will help others. I can’t think of anything better to do.”
 
 Roess is a member of the trustees’ student development and business affairs committees. She serves on the campaign steering committee that will help the university chart and reach its future fundraising goals.

NOTE: THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED.

Local universities fare well, as usual, in the 2011 edition of the U.S. News & World Report's "Best Colleges" issue.

UNC-Chapel Hill can go ahead and print up their "We're number 5" banners, should they so desire. Carolina ranks fifth among public universities for the 10th straight year.

The University of California-Berkeley is once again the top public, followed by more usual suspects - UCLA and Virginia in a tie for second, and Michigan in fourth.

N.C. State placed 52nd on that list, tied with Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington State and South Carolina.

Duke, which ranked 10th among national universities offering doctoral degrees a year ago, crept up one slot into a three-way tie for ninth. It's 9th-place compatriots are Dartmouth and the University of Chicago.

Harvard, Princeton and Yale were the top three institutions on that list. Wake Forest placed 25th and UNC-CH placed 30th.

Elon University did well. It ranked 2nd among southern regional universities and placed well in a series of other rankings as well.

Appalachian State ranked 9th on the southern regional universities list.

N.C. Central University ranks 11th nationally among historically black institutions, one spot higher than another member of the UNC system - N.C. A&T.

And UNC-Wilmington placed fifth among public master's institutions in the south.

NOTE: This is not a comprehensive list of rankings for local universities. I probably missed some. For the full package, check out the U.S. News website.

Several North Carolina colleges have been recognized for their environmental efforts in The Princeton Review's first "Guide to Green Colleges."

From Boone today, a story about a man named Joshua.

If you went to Appalachian State University, you know Joshua. Or at least recognize him and saw him on the street.

Long beard, unkempt, charming. One of those crazy characters you find in college towns.

As Ruth Sheehan reports today, Joshua - whose identity is not entirely clear - has some medical issues. He's in the hospital in Winston-Salem, but there's a movement afoot in Boone to bring Joshua home.

It's touching. Have a read.

A UNC system task force will recommend that all public universities follow a single policy related to hate crimes.

But the task force, formed following the November discovery of racist threats to then-presidential candidate Barack Obama inside N.C. State’s Free Expression Tunnel, has stopped short of recommending mandatory diversity training for new public university students.

The group was asked to consider both a systemwide hate crimes policy and the need for mandatory diversity training. It is recommending the systemwide policy to UNC President Erskine Bowles but wants a new task force to continue exploring the need for diversity training.

A systemwide policy detailing unacceptable behavior would both force campuses to standardize their codes of conduct and send a message to students about what is acceptable behavior, said Harold Martin, a UNC system vice president who chaired the task force. The more detailed the policy is, the more power a campus has to punish bad behavior, Martin said.

“It heightens the level of visibility and importance of student codes of conduct,” Martin said. “It will force the campuses to be clearer about codes of conduct and allow them to punish students who violate it.”

The policy would include a broad statement about the university's commitment to diveristy and multiculturalism as well as more detailed information prohibiting, for example, the infliction or threat of bodily harm, and harassment.

Task force members prefer that a new policy not specifically use the phrase "hate crimes," saying it should have a broader reach.

A public forum in January revealed strong opinions on both sides of the issue. Proponents of a new policy said it would ease tensions on campuses. Opponents feared an infringement on freedom of speech and expression, with some saying it appeared an overreaction to a single incident.

Several UNC system campuses offer diversity training during freshman orientation, but none mandate it. The task force was asked simply to consider whether students should receive such training; its members concluded that a new commission should look at the issue more broadly, taking faculty and staff into account as well.

“It can’t just center on students; it must also focus on employees,” said Tracy Wright, a task force member and administrator at Appalachian State University. “You can’t just attack one piece of the puzzle and think everything will be alright.”

The task force’s final report is due to Bowles March 31.

The leaders of several public universities whose names do not include the words "North Carolina" say having that distinction isn't such a big deal.

So reports the Daily Advance of Elizabeth City, where some supporters of Elizabeth City State University want a name change.

Proponents of a name change say a closer link to the state university system will help name recognition and aid in recruiting. Folks who don't care for the idea believe in maintaining the university's geographic identity.

 Said Kenneth Peacock, chancellor at Appalachian State University in Boone:

"I do not believe a name change would have a marked diffrence in recruitment. Every chance we get, we proudly state that this institution is part of the University of North Carolina system."