Vanderbilt’s rigorous and collaborative approach to scholarship and the creation of knowledge has led to the launch of Discovery Vanderbilt to further catalyze the engagement, reach and impact of scholars’ cutting-edge work across all of the university’s schools and colleges.
This initiative commits significant resources to dramatically increase faculty, student and staff success in the pursuit of bold new ideas and extend the global reach of discoveries made by researchers and innovators in all parts of the university.
Learn how Discovery Vanderbilt will build upon the knowledge, perspectives and solutions generated by students and faculty within Vanderbilt’s professional schools and colleges.
Expanding the reach of professional education at Vanderbilt
The expertise of Vanderbilt’s faculty and the research and discovery coming out of the university reach new students and future practical experts through Vanderbilt’s professional programs, further extending the university’s global impact.
- The online master’s program in computer science and the online doctorate program in leadership and learning in organizations were ranked No. 1 by Fortune in its 2022 list of best online degree programs released in summer 2022.
- Vanderbilt Law School is accepting applications for the inaugural cohort of the online master of legal studies program for individuals who want specialized knowledge to solve law-related problems, identify areas of risk and collaborate effectively with counsel without having a legal degree.
- The Vanderbilt University School of Nursing established Tennessee’s first master of science in nursing. The program empowers graduates to provide holistic care for individuals of all ages, communities and populations while considering the socioeconomic, cultural, political, environmental and educational influences on health and well-being.
- Vanderbilt’s Divinity School offers lifelong learning to make theological education available to all, especially for religious professionals, people of faith, global divinity school graduates and the spiritually curious. This education creates a learning community that cultivates and nurtures more thoughtful leaders who better understand the changing contexts in which they live.
- Vanderbilt University School of Medicine offers 11 professional degrees, including a unique master of imaging science, set to begin in fall 2023. The school’s hearing and speech sciences programs consistently rank among the best in the country—the doctor of audiology and master of science in speech pathology were ranked No. 1 by U.S. News and World Report.
- Vanderbilt celebrated the official launch of the Office of Digital Education to further raise the bar on Vanderbilt’s online and hybrid programs. “This initiative will dare a whole new type of student and a new type of faculty to grow, achieve and reach higher than ever before,” Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs C. Cybele Raver said.
Social innovation
Vanderbilt’s professional schools create environments where students and faculty can apply their knowledge and skills to real-world challenges, extending the discoveries made at the university to new markets and areas of practice.
- The Center for Entrepreneurship and the Turner Family Center for Social Ventures at the Owen Graduate School of Management encourage and facilitate collaboration among students, researchers, alumni and regional businesses to develop solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems.
- Vanderbilt Law School’s George Barrett Social Justice Fellowship carries out a one-year public interest project under the supervision of a partner nonprofit organization or public defender’s office as part of the school’s commitment to connect students to public interest practice opportunities during law school and beyond.
- The Wond’ry Innovation Consulting Program is a nonprofit, multidisciplinary consulting program led by Vanderbilt professional and graduate students interested in strategy, health care and management consulting. M.D., J.D., MBA and Ph.D. students provide local businesses and startups with services that include market/industry analysis, process improvement and operational strategy.
New partnerships to expand research
Discovery Vanderbilt will expand on impressive research partnerships already in place, many of which are led by faculty and students in the university’s professional schools. Examples of this include:
- The MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience is a partnership between Vanderbilt’s Law School and Brain Institute, supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, that focuses on issues at the intersection of neuroscience and criminal law. The partnership explores a range of problems, including investigating mental states of, and decision-making processes in, defendants, witnesses, jurors and judges, and the pitfalls of using large-group data to create arguments in individual cases.
- Vanderbilt signed a five-year partnership between the Institute for Space and Defense Electronics and global aerospace and defense technology company L3Harris to provide Vanderbilt professional students with opportunities to hone their space survivability design, analysis and test skills.
Learn more about Discovery Vanderbilt, and watch for the next story in the Discovery Vanderbilt series.