Amanda Little

More than 1,600 first-year students were asked to interview someone in their community who could deepen, broaden or shift their understanding of the world—and to document the experience through a written story or reflection. This exercise, the first of its kind at Vanderbilt, drew a response that was nothing short of extraordinary.   Read More

Engaging in thoughtful dialogue is not only essential in today’s society, but also is a trademark of the Vanderbilt experience, which begins with the first-year experience on The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons. On Sunday, Sept. 14, author Jacqueline Woodson spoke to a packed Langford Auditorium for the 19th Annual Lawson Lecture and offered a master class for the Class of 2029 on using storytelling to foster discourse and find connection, continuing the 2025–26 first-year programming theme of “Stories that Connect Us.”   Read More

In this episode of Quantum Potential, Amanda Little, writer-in-residence at Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and Science, joins Provost C. Cybele Raver to discuss how journalism can highlight the tipping points humanity faces and how people-first storytelling can move us from observation to action. Read More

While threats to food production are varied and region-specific, a single story connects them: Climate change is becoming something we can taste. This is now a kitchen-table issue, literally and otherwise. Read More

Everybody’s Doin’ It: Sex, Music, and Dance in New York, 1840-1917 (2019, W.W. Norton) by Dale Cockrell, professor of musicology, emeritus Everybody’s Doin’ It is the eye-opening story of popular music’s 70-year rise in the brothels, dance halls and dives of New York City. It traces the birth of popular… Read More