Vanderbilt Magazine
Washington Insiders: Vanderbilt alumni in CNN’s Washington Bureau are playing key roles in the network’s around-the-clock political coverage
Oct. 22, 2020—This election night, Sam Feist, BA’91, will perform one of his more unusual duties as head of CNN’s Washington Bureau. Assuming the results are clear-cut, he will—in consultation with CNN’s statisticians and political scientists—call the winner of the presidential race for the network. It is a responsibility he has held since 2004, and one that he does not take lightly.
New faculty Maizie Zhou: Unlocking genetic disorders through Big Data
Oct. 13, 2020—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.
New faculty Julie Barroso: Removing the stigma of HIV
Oct. 12, 2020—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.
New faculty Kelly Slay: Access and equity for the underserved
Oct. 7, 2020—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.
New faculty Raheleh Filsoofi: A bridge between cultures
Oct. 3, 2020—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.
Words in Common: Mother-daughter duo and writers-in-residence Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams share a deep creative calling
Oct. 2, 2020—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.
Trailblazing alumna Dorothy Phillips discusses her career as a chemist, importance of diversity in the physical sciences
Oct. 2, 2020—Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips, BA’67, the first African American woman to receive an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt and a member of the inaugural class of Vanderbilt Trailblazers, recently was interviewed by the American Chemical Society about her career as a chemist and the importance of making the physical sciences more inclusive for women and underrepresented minorities.
New faculty Shatema Threadcraft: Political bodies
Sep. 28, 2020—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.
New faculty Major Jackson: Community through poetry
Sep. 28, 2020—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.
How to spot misinformation—and what to do about it: Expert advice from psychology professor Lisa Fazio
Sep. 22, 2020—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.
Lasting and Meaningful Change: NFL executive Adolpho A. Birch III, JD’91, discusses diversity on campus and athlete activism
Sep. 10, 2020—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.
Alumna: How my great-grandfather’s bravery helped secure a woman’s right to vote
Aug. 20, 2020—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.