Fall 2020

As we continue to navigate a fall semester like no other, and as I embark on my first academic year as Vanderbilt’s chancellor, I am increasingly impressed by the strength of our university community. Read More

Maizie Zhou, a new assistant professor of biomedical engineering, blends bioinformatics, computational genomics, neuroscience and machine-learning techniques to understand how the brain enables us to behave intelligently and how specific genomic mutations can alter that process. Read More

Julie Barroso, a new professor at the School of Nursing, has made the care of people living with HIV the focus of her research career. Read More

New Peabody College assistant professor Kelly Slay's experiences as a college readiness coach for Chicago public high school students serve as the foundation for her scholarship focused on issues of race, access, diversity and equity in higher education. Read More

Raheleh Filsoofi, a new assistant professor in the Department of Art, draws on her childhood in Iran and the U.S. immigration experience as themes in her work. Read More

Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams are both writers-in-residence at Vanderbilt—Randall in the Department of African American and Diaspora Studies and Williams in the Department of Medicine, Health and Society. And neither is afraid to shine a light on complicated questions around race. Read More

Shatema Threadcraft, whose scholarship focuses on the intersection of race and gender, will join the departments of Gender and Sexuality and Political Science in the College of Arts and Science as associate professor in January 2021. Read More

Major Jackson, an accomplished poet and essayist, will join the Vanderbilt faculty as Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English in January 2021 after 18 years in the Department of English at the University of Vermont. Read More

Lisa Fazio, assistant professor of psychology and human development at Peabody College, shares a few tips on how to avoid knowledge neglect and spreading misinformation. Read More

David L. Tuleen, an emeritus chemistry professor who excelled first as a teacher and later as a university administrator, has died. Read More

Birch, the new chief legal officer and senior vice president of business affairs for the Tennessee Titans, recently was named chair of a new Vanderbilt Board of Trust ad hoc committee that is partnering with university leadership to evaluate and recommend policies around equity, diversity and inclusion. Here he discusses the work of the committee, the rise in athlete activism, and his favorite Nashville sports memory. Read More

Vaughan Jones, one of the world’s foremost mathematicians and a celebrated professor in the College of Arts and Science, has died. Read More

The Hon. Claudia Bonnyman, JD’74, discusses the role her great-grandfather, Gov. A.H. Roberts, played in Tennessee's ratification of the 19th Amendment and the battle for women's suffrage. Read More

A two-year, $17,000 National Endowment of the Arts research grant will support a Vanderbilt analysis of how the characteristics and practices of more than 500 local arts agencies help or hinder their efforts to expand access to the arts in their communities. Read More