How Higher Education Divided North Carolina

WUNC News | By Anita Rao,

Published April 20, 2017 at 12:05 PM EDT

The 2017 election laid bare stark divisions between urban and rural areas of the United States, and North Carolina was no exception. While highly-regarded research universities and the creation of Research Triangle Park helped turn the state’s economy around in the 1950s, they also created an economic and political wedge that continues to grow to this day.Host Frank Stasio talks with reporter Karin Fischer about her article “How a Big Bet on Higher Education Split A State in Two.”

A new report from "The Chronicle of Higher Education" looks at both the political and economic divide in the state and the role that higher education played in shaping present-day divisions. Host Frank Stasio talks with reporter Karin Fischer about her article “How a Big Bet on Higher Education Split A State in Two.”

Anita Rao

Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.

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Frank Stasio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.

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