Two committees tasked with fleshing out key initiatives in Vanderbilt’s Academic Strategic Plan are now staffed and ready to begin work.
Members of the immersion experience and cross-college teaching committees are set, announced John Geer, vice provost for academic and strategic affairs.
The Immersion Vanderbilt Initiative calls for all university undergraduates to immerse themselves in creative independent projects that give them the opportunity to engage, question and forge change. The parameters of Immersion Vanderbilt are to be kept broad and flexible, so students have the opportunity to work with a faculty mentor to forge a project that has the capacity to shape them for the rest of their lives.
“Many students already have these kinds of experiences at Vanderbilt,” Geer said. “But given the quality of our students and their ability to work with our amazing faculty across 10 world-class colleges, we want to extend this opportunity to all Vanderbilt students.”
Members of the committee are:
- Co-chair Cynthia Cyrus, Provost’s Office
- Co-chair John Geer, Provost’s Office
- Bruce Barry, Owen Graduate School of Management
- Cynthia Brame, Center for Teaching
- Roger Cone, School of Medicine
- Victoria Davis, Peabody College of education and human development
- Jana Lauderdale, School of Nursing
- Holly McCammon, College of Arts and Science
- Jens Meiler, College of Arts and Science
- William H. Robinson III, School of Engineering
- Melissa K. Rose, Blair School of Music
- Samira Shiekh, College of Arts and Science
- Melissa Snarr, Divinity School
- Mike Vandenbergh, Law School
Also staffed is the committee for the Cross-College Teaching Initiative, which will assist faculty as they strive to conceive and structure innovative courses that exploit the natural synergies among Vanderbilt’s 10 colleges. The committee will offer support, including incentives, to professors who wish to team teach with colleagues in other schools. The result should be innovative courses that break through traditional school boundaries, such as Law and Education, Demography and Health, or Music and Business.
Members of this committee are:
- Chair John Geer, Provost’s Office
- Ex-officio Cynthia Cyrus, Provost’s Office
- Ellen Armour, Divinity School
- Robin Fountain, Blair School of Music
- Christopher Loss, Peabody College of education and human development
- Jonathan Metzl, College of Arts and Science
- David Miller, School of Medicine
- David Owens, Owen Graduate School of Management
- Doug Schmidt, School of Engineering
- Mavis Schorn, School of Nursing
- Kevin Stack, Law School
Vanderbilt’s Academic Strategic Plan aspires to shape the future of higher education and to foster the creation of knowledge that together improve the human condition. The cross-college teaching and immersion experience are initiatives that will allow Vanderbilt to achieve its ambitions.
