Rodney Purvis, one of the top high school basketball players in the country, plans to announce his college decision on Friday.

RALEIGH – Upper Room Christian Academy senior Rodney Purvis has re-opened his recruiting process and announced a revised list of schools he’s considering for the 20012-13 season.

Purvis, a 6-foot-4 senior guard who pulled his verbal commitment from Louisville in May, said he’s now, in no order, considering offers from: Connecticut, Memphis, Missouri, N.C. Central, N.C. State, Ohio State, Virginia Commonwealth and Virginia.

Purvis and his mother, Shanda McNair, said they have no time frame on a decision, but may wait to after they take five official visits, interact with coaching staffs during home visits and thoroughly evaluate each program. 

“Instead of rushing into another decision,” Purvis said. “I get to sit down and talk with the coaches more. Gain relationship with every coach on the staff. Just get a good feel for the campuses ... and see what fits my style of play the best.”

UNC Chapel Hill has won a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish a regional research center to study sexually transmitted infections.

The Southeastern STI Cooperative Research Center will be based at UNC-CH and headed by Fred Sparling, a medical school professor.

The five-year grant will fund work by faculty at UNC-CH, Emory, Virginia Commonwealth and Duke universities as well as the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, of Bethesda, Md.

The center will look for vaccines for the bacteria which cause gonorrhea and chancroid, each of which increase transmission of HIV.

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It doesn't appear UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp has designs on any other jobs.

Thorp is profiled today in an article today in the Chronicle of Higher Education examining several new, youngish university leaders. Thorp is spotlighted, as is Michael Rao, who at age 42 is about to become the head of a university for a fourth time when he becomes Virginia Commonwealth's president.

The story is here, though you may need a password. In it, Thorp says his plan isn't to get a certain number of things done within a finite period of time. Rather, he just wants to do things right.

Thorp's lineage suggests he'll be here a while. He's a native son, a Fayetteville native and UNC-CH graduate who rose through the faculty and administrative ranks before snaring the top job last year. 

His ascension marked a departure for UNC-CH, which had previously hired chancellors with previous CEO experience - James Moeser as Nebraska and Michael Hooker at Massachusetts.

And Thorp appears pretty happy with his job, even dealing as he is with a significant budget cut battle right now.

"There aren't many places that I could move up to," he told the Chronicle of Higher Ed. "Even if I wasn't a lifer."

Waddya bet Michael Rao won't stop with four?

Rao was recently selected to the presidency of Virginia Commonwealth University. He's just 42, and what is remarkable is that this will be his fourth gig running a university. 

He comes to the Richmond campus from Central Michigan, where he is currently the president. Before that, he led a Montana State University campus and Mission College, which is in California.

He'll earn more than $488,000 in total compensation. Yes, you read that right. 

Here's the story.