Society And Culture

Robert Talisse’s Open Inquiry Award recognizes his work on effective argumentation—an increasingly relevant topic for today’s polarized campuses and public squares. His work provides astute observations about the current climate and offers invaluable solutions to decrease polarization and improve constructive discourse. Read More

Vanderbilt University is partnering with NashFilm to provide two of the festival’s venues, Rothschild Black Box Theater and Sarratt Cinema. Founded in 1969 as one of the first film festivals in the United States, the Nashville Film Festival will host its 54th festival Sept. 28–Oct. 4.  Read More

The Discovery Vanderbilt center welcomed adolescent and young adult health expert Stephen Russell to share evidence for strategies that create supportive communities, reduce mental health risk and promote well-being for LGBTQ+ youth. Read More

For his “eclectic but refined, musical, talky and witty” poetry, renowned poet Major Jackson, professor of English, director of creative writing and holder of the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities, has been awarded the 2023 Academy of American Poets Fellowship. Read More

Join “Coffee: Where Science Meets Sips” in the next Lab-to-Table Conversation on Sept. 27. Read More

Philosophy scholar David Thorstad’s mathematical modeling approach may spark counterintuitive discussions about existential risk and how to mitigate it. He concludes that we must rethink recent arguments in favor of prioritizing existential risk over other pressing problems. Read More

The program is designed to host a cohort of thought leaders with competing and sometimes conflicting views on policy issues and social problems. These visitors will engage with students, faculty, the public and each other to model reasoned, evidence-based civil debate. The first public event sponsored by the program will be on Sept. 18 at 4 p.m. Read More

A $350,000 grant to develop next-generation archaeological mapping technology will let a Vanderbilt-led research team reveal information about the ancient civilizations of the central Andes. Read More

Supported by Discovery Vanderbilt and a collaboration between the College of Arts and Science and the School of Nursing, the center will deepen society’s understanding of the causes and consequences of health-related inequalities. An event marking the center’s launch will take place on Monday, Sept. 18. Read More

Undergraduate artists, biomedical researchers join forces to convey the power and promise of Vanderbilt research labs through visual art on display at the Fine Arts Gallery and throughout biomedical research spaces on campus through Nov. 17. Read More

Raheleh Filsoofi has been awarded a Tennessee Art Commission Grant for her project, “The Resonance of the Lands: Finding Identity and Place in Tennessee Through Clay, Music, and Community.” The program involves mapping and extracting clay from various locations across the city to create 25 clay instruments, taking inspiration from the traditional Middle Eastern clay darbuka. Read More

During the spring 2023 semester, students worked on The Musicians in Nashville project, along with the Data Science Team and the Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville to create a user interface for survey data of Nashville musicians. The goals of the project were to understand the economic circumstances of working artists and creative entrepreneurs in Greater Nashville, considering inflation, supply chain issues, and broader economic factors. Read More

A new survey conducted by researchers from Vanderbilt University, Emory University, Nova Southeastern University and the LGBTQ Institute at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights finds that despite consistent reports of stigmatization, LGBTQ Southerners view their LGBTQ identity in a positive light. Read More

A nine-day intensive training hosted by LAPOP provided students, postdocs, faculty and policymakers with skills to conduct trustworthy, reliable surveys in international settings. Read More

Vanderbilt biologists Nicole Creanza and Kerri-Ann Anderson have developed a new mathematical model, rooted in cultural evolution, that represents vaccine hesitancy as a belief that can influence, but not perfectly predict, whether parents will decide to vaccinate their children. Read More

A campus survey is now available for the Vanderbilt community to make suggestions on what the new time capsule should contain. Read More

Vanderbilt's Assistant Professor of History, Meng Zhang, has been awarded a stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities for her intriguing research into the historical and societal implications of the edible bird's nest trade between China and maritime Asia. Read More

A National Endowment for the Humanities grant awarded to Vanderbilt’s Angela Sutton, assistant dean for graduate education and strategic initiatives in the College of Arts and Science, will help fund the excavation of a historic Nashville neighborhood and a collection of the oral histories of the neighborhood’s descendants. Read More

Approximately 4,498 students graduated from Vanderbilt during the 2022–23 academic year, including approximately 2,689 people receiving graduate and professional degrees. Read More

Jefferson Cowie, a celebrated U.S. politics and culture historian, has won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for his book that “radically shifts our understanding of what freedom means in America.” Read More