Public Health

Water, water, we’re talking water everywhere

March 26, 2012

But 1.8 Billion people in the world still lack access to safe water and sanitation.

Chancellor Thorp talks water

A Woman Prepares to Collect Water, Tiruchirapalli, India. Photo by Heather Arney.

It’s been a great week for water. At the UNC Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting Thursday March 22nd, Chancellor Thorp announced that water will be a two-year campus focus, in accord with recommendations from the UNC Academic Plan for a campus theme. Jamie Bartram, PhD, professor environmental sciences and engineering, and director The Water Institute at UNC, and Terry Rhodes, PhD, professor and chair, music, are co-chairs for H2O Carolina (PDF).

Chancellor Thorp said “It’s a great opportunity to show how Carolina fosters scholarship that helps improve people’s lives.” This fits with Thorp’s statement at the time of his installation as Chancellor that the mission of UNC-Chapel Hill is to help solve some of the greatest challenges of our time. We’re right there!

At the meeting, Thorp also announced a fabulous new professorship endowed by Don and Jennifer Holzworth (which will bear their names) to accelerate work of The Water Institute. We’re so excited and grateful! Don is Executive in Residence at the SPH and has helped us in so many ways.

Jamie Batram, PhD, and Hillary Clinton

And Hillary Clinton talks water and sanitation

While the Chancellor was talking about water in Chapel Hill, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was talking about global threats caused by shortages of clean water and sanitation. Clinton said, “It’s exciting that it’s not only about water. It is about security, peace and prosperity as well.” Jamie Bartram was standing there with her and a number of other non-academic partners as Clinton announced a new initiative. From State Department’s press release: “The U.S. Water Partnership (USWP) is a U.S.-based public-private partnership (PPP) established to unite American expertise, knowledge and resources, and mobilize those assets to address water challenges around the globe, especially in the developing world.”

Tears in Chapel Hill

The men’s basketball team lost to Kansas. What a total bummer. We were so well-matched in the first half. I’ve been carrying my iPad around like a boom box since I got the NCAA app.

Unhappy in Chapel Hill but there’s always next year. Our team is great even when they lose! I so appreciate our team.

Barbara

 

 

 

 


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The views expressed in this blog are Barbara Rimer’s alone and do not represent the views and policies of The University of North Carolina or the Gillings School.