University News and Communications publishes VUToday, a compilation of Vanderbilt mentions in the media, each weekday. Read a selection of Vanderbilt news stories for the week of Nov. 14. To subscribe to the daily VUToday newsletter, visit news.vanderbilt.edu/vutoday.
New York Times: Trump’s Supreme Court list: Ivy League? Out. The Heartland? In.
In important ways, President-elect Donald Trump’s Supreme Court candidates represent a sharp break from the current conservative justices, who all went to law school at Harvard or Yale and who all served on federal appeals courts in the Northeast or in California. If the list has a main theme, it is that there are plenty of good judges who went to law school at places like Notre Dame, Marquette, the University of Georgia, and the University of Miami. About half of Mr. Trump’s candidates sit on state supreme courts, and almost all those who sit on federal appeals courts do so in the heartland. Brian Fitzpatrick, professor of law, is quoted.
The Tennessean: Vanderbilt’s Wond’ry spurs school-wide innovation
Vanderbilt’s innovation center, called the Wond’ry, has officially opened, welcoming students of all 10 colleges and schools to tinker, experiment, build companies and share ideas in the new, three-story facility filled with natural light. Robert Grajewski, Evans Family Executive Director of the Vanderbilt Innovation Center, and Vanderbilt students Yifan Zhu and Tobi Shitta-Bey are quoted. The Vanderbilt Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization is mentioned.
Time: Opinion: Donald Trump and history’s competing visions of America’s ‘forgotten man’
Jefferson Cowie, James G. Stahlman Professor of American History, writes about the history of “forgotten man” politics in the U.S. and how Donald Trump’s use of the expression appeals to a white, native-born working class of people who see their interests as different from others at the foundation of the economic pyramid.
NPR: A lesson for preschools: When it’s done right, the benefits last
Is preschool worth it? We know that most pre-kindergarten programs do a good job of improving specific skills like phonics and counting, as well as broader social and emotional behaviors, by the time students enter kindergarten. So the next big question to follow is: Do these benefits last? The article mentions Peabody College’s study of Tennessee’s pre-K program.
Chicago Tribune: For a better White House, have fewer appointees
When President-elect Donald Trump visited the White House last week, he was reportedly surprised to learn that he will need to replace nearly the entire staff. While Trump is said to have promised jobs to his small campaign team, research suggests that he should try a revolutionary approach to staffing his administration: replacing political appointees with civil servants. A 2008 study by David Lewis, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Political Science, about the government’s internal evaluations of programs run by political appointees, is referenced.