Society And Culture

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

The Vanderbilt Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats took place on May 4 and 5, 2023. It included remarks from international experts and industry leaders on the nature of modern conflict and emerging threats the intelligence, technology and academic disciplines must consider in this era. Read More

The Vanderbilt University jazz program has been awarded three DownBeat Student Music Awards. Founded in 1976 by the music industry’s preeminent jazz publication, the Student Music Awards are considered among the most prestigious honors in jazz.  Read More

Vanderbilt’s Special Collections and University Archives materials and operations will have a new home on campus at 1101 19th Avenue. The historic 1101 building will provide a large reading room and shelving for ready access to the university’s special collections. Read More

Four Vanderbilt and VUMC faculty—María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Kimryn Rathmell, Keivan Stassun and Major Jackson—have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a record number of elections from Vanderbilt in a single year. Read More

Vanderbilt Divinity School and the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries announced a grant of $350,000 from the NEH that is enabling Vanderbilt to partner with Texas A&M and Marquette universities to continue preserving the history of Syriac culture, a medieval dialect once spoken widely by Middle Eastern Christian communities.  Read More

Justitia, an independent and nonpartisan think tank based in Copenhagen, Denmark, has opened its first U.S. location at Vanderbilt University. The expansion of the "The Future of Free Speech" project, led by Justitia CEO Jacob Mchangama, aims to advance the global culture of free speech. Read More

Research from Associate Professor of Medical and Linguistic Anthropology T.S. Harvey demonstrates how a disease’s name can have a significant impact on the public’s perception, attitude and behavior toward the disease. Harvey argues that disease names should be selected with careful consideration of their potential impacts on public health from the framing of risk perceptions through the circulation of harmful misinformation. Read More

Maria A. Ressa, an internationally acclaimed journalist who has endured political threats and government arrests for her commitment to truth and democracy, will receive Vanderbilt University’s prestigious Nichols-Chancellor’s Medal when she speaks to the university’s graduating students and their families during 2023 Commencement activities. Read More

For the past 20 years, Vanderbilt and the Tennessee Performing Arts Center have collaborated to cultivate new audiences for the arts downtown through a series of programs aimed at attracting constituents interested in exploring the arts. Read More

A Lab-to-Table Conversation on Monday, Feb. 27, will discuss some of the challenges that Black trainees and faculty face in their STEM fields of study and the strategies they've used to be successful in the face of these challenges.  Read More

Today, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs named Vanderbilt University a Fulbright Top Producing Institution for U.S. Students. Read More

The University of Mississippi teamed with Vanderbilt to host a debate exhibition on Feb. 3. The free event, part of an effort to increase civic engagement on Vanderbilt’s campus, drew an audience from the higher ed and Nashville communities.  Read More

In partnership with Vanderbilt’s Department of English and MFA Program in Creative Writing, the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy is soliciting poems from students currently enrolled in any Tennessee college or university. Students may submit a poem in the style of their choosing that explores what unity through American democracy means to them. Read More

The Medieval Academy of America has elected William Caferro, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of History, to its 2023 Class of Fellows. Read More

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy will host CBS Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett and David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, to discuss their book, The Big Truth: Upholding Democracy in the Age of the Big Lie, on Tuesday, Jan. 31, at 11 a.m. at the Scarritt Bennett Center. Read More

The Vanderbilt Blair School of Music has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts to receive a Grants for Arts Projects award of $20,000. Led by professor Douglas Shadle, the grant will fund “Florence Price: A Celebration,” a series of performances honoring classical composer Florence Price.  Read More