University News and Communications publishes VUToday, a compilation of Vanderbilt mentions in the media, each weekday. Here, read a selection of those Vanderbilt news stories for the week of June 5. To subscribe to the daily VUToday newsletter, visit news.vanderbilt.edu/vutoday.
USA Today: Scientists discover strange KELT-9b planet ‘hotter than most stars’
Research by an international team of astronomers led by Vanderbilt and Ohio State universities have discovered a strange scorching-hot planet that is only slightly cooler than our sun. The Jupiter-like planet, KELT-9b, is tidally locked, which means it’s always showing the same face or its “dayside” to its even-hotter host star. The planet’s “dayside” reaches a balmy 7,800 degrees Fahrenheit, about 2,000 degrees cooler than our sun. Study co-director Keivan Stassun, Stevenson Professor of Physics and professor of astronomy, is quoted.
The New York Times: At Ithaca College, a president focused on diversity
Diversity—how to address it, cultivate it and promote it—has become a pressing issue in higher education. Shirley M. Collado, the incoming president of Ithaca College, is interviewed about her plans to bring a new take on diversity as she sets out to usher in a new era at the institution. Collado, secretary of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust, earned her bachelor’s degree in 1994 from Vanderbilt, where she was part of the inaugural class of the Posse Foundation.
USA Today: Can attending church really help you live longer? This study says yes
A recent study by Marino Bruce, research associate professor of medicine, health and society, has found that people who attend religious services live longer and are less stressed. Bruce is quoted and featured in a video produced by Vanderbilt Video.
The Washington Post: It’s time to bust the myth: Most Trump voters were not working class.
Noam Lupu, associate professor of political science, and Nicholas Carnes of Duke University write that, despite media reports to the contrary, Donald Trump voters were not mostly working-class people. “In the general election, like the primary, about two-thirds of Trump supporters came from the better-off half of the economy,” they write.
Philanthropy News Digest: Vanderbilt receives $10 million for College Halls program
Vanderbilt University has received an anonymous $10 million donation to expand communal living residence halls where faculty members live alongside students. The university says the $10 million provides momentum to expand the College Halls residential program. It is the third such gift made for the living-learning initiative during the past approximately six months. The article quotes Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos.