Arts And Science

The Politics of Health Conference Oct. 3-4 at Vanderbilt is a free event that will speak to the scale, urgency and intimacy of health as a critical American economic and political issue. Read More

Acclaimed short fiction writer Deborah Eisenberg will read from her latest work Thursday, Sept. 12, as part of the Gertrude and Harold S. Vanderbilt Visiting Writers Series, which is sponsored by the English Department’s Creative Writing Program. Read More

Forty years after Atari’s digital table tennis game Pong bleeped onto the scene and made video games mainstream entertainment, we’ve become a nation of video gamers. We’re playing games on phones, tablets, computers, game consoles, social networks, and even TVs connected directly to the Internet. Read More

Research conducted at Vanderbilt is featured in "Brains on Trial with Alan Alda," a two-part televised series airing Sept. 11 and Sept. 18 on PBS that explores how the growing ability to separate truth from lies may radically affect the way criminal trials are conducted in the future. Read More

“From a historical perspective, which looks at the American presidency since the end of World War II, Obama’s decision reflects a turning point, the clear triumph of domestic political considerations over foreign policy priorities,” according to Thomas Schwartz, a professor of history and political science at Vanderbilt. Read More

A new, free massive open online course, or MOOC, from Vanderbilt University launching Sept. 9 uses J.R.R. Tolkien and “The Lord of the Rings Online” to explore what happens to stories and films when they are turned into online games. Read More

The fall 2013 edition of Saturday University at Vanderbilt will feature members of the philosophy department lecturing on “Life’s Big Questions and Philosophy’s Answers to Them” on four October Saturday mornings. Read More

In a letter to faculty, Carolyn Dever, dean of the College of Arts and Science, reflects on how research informs teaching, and vice-versa. Read More

Ellen Fanning, Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences and a professor of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, died on Sunday morning, Sept.1, after a lengthy battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). She was 67 years old. Read More

Charlotte Pierce-Baker will discuss her memoir This Fragile Life: A Mother's Story of a Bipolar Son when Thinking Out of the (Lunch) Box: Conversations with a Philosophical Flavor with David Wood resumes Sept. 4. Read More

Twelve Vanderbilt University faculty members named to endowed chairs were lauded for their extraordinary academic achievements during an Aug. 28 celebration. Read More

When it comes to government funding of basic science training programs for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, Vanderbilt University Medical Center hit a grand slam this year, officials said. Read More

"Sacred Ecology: Landscape Transformations for Ritual Practice," a symposium that explores the various experiences of complex ritual sites around the world and across all periods of history, takes place Aug. 30 at the Sarratt Student Center. Read More

More can be done with sun-powered electricity source, writes Dennis Hall, vice provost for research, dean of the Graduate School, professor of physics and professor of electrical engineering. Read More

Jean Bethke Elshtain, a renowned interdisciplinary scholar who was the first woman to hold an endowed professorship at Vanderbilt University, died Aug. 11 at the age of 72. Read More

The Jean and Alexander Heard Library at Vanderbilt University has launched its new website. Read More

Fisk and Vanderbilt's Bridge Program mentors talented minority students pursuing advanced science degrees. Keivan Stassun, professor of astronomy and director of the Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program, is quoted. Read More

Hot topics in astronomy, pioneering African American film stars, medical advances, and the history of fashion are among 11 classes offered this fall for adults 50 and above by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Vanderbilt. Read More

A possible Pre-Hispanic solar calender was documented last week by Vanderbilt archaeology graduate student Kasia Szremski near the small town of Casa Vieja in the Andean foothills of Peru. Read More

Each time Gitmo’s relevance was called into question—by Cuban opponents, and by Americans worried about the base’s diminishing returns, the trouble of running it and the toll it took on global goodwill—new purposes had been found with unfailing ingenuity, writes Paul Kramer, associate professor of history. Read More