Releases

Thomas J. Weiler, professor of physics and astronomy at Vanderbilt University, has received a 2009 Humboldt Research Award. The award is granted by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Bonn, Germany for the purpose of encouraging research collaborations between German scientists and colleagues in other countries. Read More

Vanderbilt research shows impact of role models in African American performance Watch video of an interview with Ray Friedman. New research by Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management professor Ray Friedman finds that the presidential run of Barack Obama has had a strong positive impact on the test-taking… Read More

In a poor economic climate riddled with corporate scandals, good leadership can be hard to find. The Cal Turner Program for Moral Leadership in the Professions at Vanderbilt University will present a workshop about "Personal Responsibility and Moral Leadership in the Professions" on Saturday, Jan. 24, from 8 a.m. to noon in the Vanderbilt Divinity School's Reading Room. Read More

On a break from her "Listening Tour through the Axis of Evil," Kelly Hayes-Raitt will speak Jan. 29 at Vanderbilt's Leadership Breakfast about her experiences as an activist, political consultant and writer. Read More

One of the most important themes to listen for in Barack Obama's inaugural address is a call for a united American body or citizenry, says Vanessa Beasley, an associate professor of communication studies at Vanderbilt University. Beasley is the author of You, The People: American National Identity in Presidential Rhetoric, which looks at previous inaugural addresses from 1885 to 2001. Read More

As the curtain falls on the Bush presidency, we will inevitably try to assess his legacy. So will President Bush. He's been doing interviews, holding press conferences, and just delivered his farewell address all in an effort to define that legacy. Read More

Charles McDew, a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and its chairman from 1961 to 1964, will deliver the keynote lecture Monday, Jan. 19, for Vanderbilt University's 2009 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Series. The event is free and open to the public. Read More

Listen to Blair Professor Greg Barz on Wisconsin Public Radio\'s "Higher Ground." podcasts interviews and music from the World Music Spotlight. Read More

Vanderbilt University will host several events to mark the historic inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama. All events are free and open to the public. Read More

Voters in Tennessee House Speaker Kent Williams' district could continue to support and re-elect the Elizabethton representative – even if he switches parties – says Vanderbilt University political scientist Christian Grose. Read More

Dhavan Shah, a leading national researcher on how political ads and digital media work in tandem to influence politics, will present "Network Nation: How Campaign Ads and the Internet Shape Participation" on Wednesday, Jan. 28, from noon-2 p.m. at the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt University. Read More

The literature of Flannery O'Connor, especially the theology that informs it, will be examined during a series sponsored by the Religion in the Arts and Contemporary Culture program at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Read More

Vanderbilt University Associate Professor of History Leor Halevi has received the 2008 Ralph Waldo Emerson Award for Muhammad's Grave: Death Rites and the Making of Islamic Society (Columbia University Press). Read More

Butch Baldassari, a Blair School of Music professor who created a cottage industry around his love of mandolin music, died Saturday at a Nashville hospice. He was 56. Read More

With all the focus on the president-elect's views about the Burris appointment and the economic stimulus, we forget that Barack Obama is about to assume responsibility as chief executive of an organization that employs close to 2 million civilian employees. Obama's fortunes as president will depend in large part on his success at taking charge of the machinery of government. Read More

James A. Webb Jr., a three-sport athlete at Vanderbilt University, prominent Nashville banker and an emeritus member of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust and the board of Vanderbilt Medical Center, died Thursday at Vanderbilt. He was 86. Read More

Major Cathy Ryan was named interim police chief at Vanderbilt University, replacing departing Chief Marlon Lynch while a national search is launched for his successor. Lynch resigned his Vanderbilt position effective Feb. 1 to take a job as associate vice president for safety and security at the University of Chicago. Read More

Films from Russia, South Korea, Israel, India, Romania and the United States are in the lineup for the International Lens Film Series this spring at Vanderbilt University. All the films in the series will be free and open to the public. Read More

America's arduous struggle over competing visions of nationhood involving race is a giant step closer to resolution with the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, says Vanderbilt University historian Gary Gerstle. Read More

Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Levering Lewis will speak at Vanderbilt University Jan. 14 about his new book God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe. Read More