Month: October 2008

Davis in Washington, D.C., in front of the Rwandan Embassy. The day then-sophomore Elizabeth Davis read an in-depth article about the horrific 1994 genocide in Rwanda—in 100 days in 1994, an estimated one million Rwandans were slaughtered in an ethnic bloodbath—was the day she tied her destiny to Africa. Read More

The spirit of Peabody is redefining Vanderbilt’s study abroad experience—with help from HOD students and faculty who want more than a tourist’s itinerary. Read More

The Health Care Business Alliance will bring together leaders from a diverse group of local and national health care companies with health care MBA and MHA students to discuss the latest challenges and future innovations of this vital industry. Read More

The credit crisis and a faltering economy. Rapidly rising energy costs. War. These pressing issues dominate voters’ concerns in advance of the November 4 presidential election. With so many raging fires to fight, the nation seems to have less attention to devote to education policy. That does not mean voters do not care about education. In polls that ask them to assess the importance of various issues in their votes for president—as opposed to those more frequent polls that ask respondents to identify only one issue of top concern—education continues to receive high rankings. Read More

In reviewing the articles in this issue of The Reflector, I am struck by the theme of service, both at the macro and micro levels. Our primary feature is on the presidential election (macro), while several portraits of students and recent alumni shed light on engagement at local levels, though thousands of miles away. Read More

When it comes to human performance, what is expected shapes what we get. Experienced individuals—be they in business, the military, the clergy or elsewhere—know that a low bar virtually assures low performance. Read More

Vanderbilt Peabody faculty member Matthew Springer has been appointed by Assistant Secretary of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Kerri Briggs to a new U.S. Department of Education advisory committee on teacher and principal performance pay programs. Springer is a research assistant professor in the Vanderbilt Peabody… Read More

Peabody doctor of education graduate Jonathan Eckert has been selected by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings for a Teacher Ambassador Fellowship with the U.S. Department of Education. Eckert is a seventh-grade science teacher at Poplar Grove Middle School in Franklin, Tenn. His selection was announced by Spellings on July… Read More

Dean Camilla Benbow served as a panelist at the National Science and Technology Summit held at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., in August. Called for by the 2007 America COMPETES Act, the summit examined the direction of the U.S. science and technology enterprise and… Read More

The impact of the nation’s current economic downturn on low- and moderate-income students was the topic of an all-day national roundtable discussion on June 13 at Peabody. Assistant Professor Stella Flores discusses issues pertaining to college access at the roundtable held at Peabody in June. The panel was hosted by… Read More

Discovery Education and Vanderbilt University are partnering to launch a new research-based evaluation tool that measures the effectiveness of school principals. The Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education (VAL-ED), which is being exclusively distributed by Discovery Education, was created at Vanderbilt University through a grant from the… Read More

Watch video of an Oct. 13 by Peter Applebome, writer and editor at the New York Times. Read More

Watch video of an Oct. 13 by Peter Applebome, writer and editor at the New York Times. Read More

H. Rodes Hart, a Vanderbilt alumnus and Board of Trust member who, for nearly three decades, has provided strong volunteer leadership for university initiatives, will succeed the late Monroe Carell Jr. as chairman of Shape the Future, the university's comprehensive campaign. Read More

Writer Teresa Dovalpage, author of the novel A Girl Like Che Guevara, will read from her work as part of the Gertrude and Harold S. Vanderbilt Visiting Writers Program at Vanderbilt. Read More

An attorney for the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice, Jennifer Rosenbaum, will give a talk on the harsh realities of guest workers in the United States, entitled "Bonded Labor for a New Millennium: Guest Workers and Indentured Servitude in Post-Katrina American Politics." The event will be held on Oct. 20 at 4:30 p.m. at Vanderbilt Law School's Hyatt Room. The event is free and open to the public. Read More

Watch video of Donna Ford, professor of special education at Vanderbilt's Peabody College of Education and Human Development, discussing her research with gifted minority youth and what is needed to close the achievement gap. Read More

Watch video of an Oct. 15 forum on pediatric obesity, "Developing Unique Partnerships to Halt the Epidemic." Read More

When biologist Ken Catania heard about the peculiar practice of worm grunting practiced in the Apalachicola National Forest in the Florida Panhandle, one of his first thoughts was an observation made by Charles Darwin. Read More

Celebrated independent film director Charles Burnett will host a conversation on Friday, Oct. 17, from 4-5 p.m. in the auditorium of the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt University. Read More