This academic year is an exciting one for all those associated with Peabody College, as 2010-2011 marks our 225th anniversary.
The college traces its lineage through a series of institutions to the founding of Davidson Academy, which was granted a charter in 1785 by the territory of North Carolina. The school opened its doors the following year. Nashville itself was less than a decade old; attacks by local Native Americans were not uncommon in the early days of the academy.
Yet the settlers survived. Davidson Academy became Cumberland College; Cumberland College became the University of Nashville; the University of Nashville became the State Normal College of Tennessee, then Peabody Normal College, and George Peabody College for Teachers. In 1979, we merged with Vanderbilt.
Today, Peabody and Vanderbilt are global institutions and becoming ever more so. Nonetheless, it is worth remembering—and celebrating—our origins. This issue of the Peabody Reflector does just that, even as we look forward to future accomplishments.
This fall, Peabody added new faculty members, including several who promise to deepen our impact on teacher education. Our joint endeavor with Metropolitan Public Schools of Nashville has enrolled its first class of 16 master’s degree students. They will study tuition-free while teaching math, science and literacy in Metro middle schools. Our entering class of doctoral students numbers 45, up 12 from last year and bringing with it a remarkable number of prior publications. We have enrolled nearly 250 new master’s and Ed.D. students in our summer and fall cohorts. They come to us from 38 states and from outstanding undergraduate institutions, including a number of historically black and Hispanic-serving colleges and universities. This year’s class of first-year undergraduates includes an unprecedented number of students who are recipients of full-tuition scholarships.
In short, all signs suggest that Peabody’s long journey from frontier academy to one of the world’s most innovative and vital schools of education and human development continues at full speed. We are grateful to the readers of the Reflector for coming along.
Camilla P. Benbow
Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development