Arts And Science

Auer, senior lecturer of Asian studies, emeritus, died May 16, 2024 at age 82, as a result of complications from Parkinson’s disease. Read More

In August 2023, the university launched Dialogue Vanderbilt, its core initiative to bridge divides, reestablish a vibrant culture of civil discourse and free expression, and showcase experts from on campus and around the world, leading the charge to build more engaged citizens and communities.  Read More

“Woven Wind,” led by Vanderbilt art professor Vesna Pavlović, is a collaborative project that honors untold stories of enslaved people through art, archival research and community engagement. Funded by significant grants including a $40,000 NEA grant announced May 15, the project symbolizes resilience and remembrance with unique clay vessels created during reparative justice workshops. Read More

The semiannual, statewide Vanderbilt Poll showed in its most recent survey that slightly more than half of the state’s voters support a woman’s right to an abortion, that there is significant bipartisan support of IVF procedures as well as modest gun control legislation, and that views about many state and national issues differ significantly by gender.  Read More

The Choice, produced by the Dialogue Vanderbilt, is a four-part podcast focused on the key moments and ramifications of the 2024 presidential election between former president Donald J. Trump and current President Joseph R. Biden. Vanderbilt’s Jon Meacham and John Geer will blend history and political science to offer insights and context about this rematch of the 2020 presidential contest. Read More

Vanderbilt University and the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries won three awards at the ninth annual Association of Research Libraries Film Festival on May 8 at the Harvard Film Archive in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The “ARLies” recognize excellence in multimedia projects that highlight library collections and their impact. This year’s festival featured 34 submissions from major research libraries across North America.   Read More

The award, funded by the Enhanced Funding and Support Model for Doctoral Education, recognizes doctoral students who exhibit exceptional academic excellence in areas such as publications, awards, patents and other forms of national/international distinction. Read More

A Vanderbilt scientific team has succeeded in adjusting the daily biological clock of cyanobacteria, making the blue-green algae a more prolific producer of renewable fuels, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals, like insulin. Read More

On May 3 and 4, the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator for Political Economy and Regulation and the Vanderbilt University Department of History hosted “How the New Deal Was Run,” a conference about the implementation of the New Deal programs that transformed American life in the 1930s and beyond.  Read More

Vanderbilt University honored 27 retiring faculty members and one dean for their years of service by bestowing upon them the title of emerita or emeritus faculty during Vanderbilt’s Commencement ceremony on May 10 at GEODIS Park. Read More

Josh Clinton, who holds the Abby and Jon Winkelried Chair and serves as professor of political science and co-director of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, has been named a 2024 Andrew Carnegie Foundation Fellow. He joins 27 other scholars nationwide being recognized for their research into the polarization of society and the fortification of our democracy. Read More

Vanderbilt University is proud to announce the launch of the Institute of National Security. The founding director and leader of the institute will be retired General Paul M. Nakasone, who has served as commander of U.S. Cyber Command, director of the National Security Agency, and chief of the Central Security Service. Read More

A mere decade ago, decoding the genome of every organism in a major branch of the tree of life and deciphering their diets was a pipe dream. In a groundbreaking study, a team of researchers from Vanderbilt University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and other institutions worldwide have done just that for the first time ever. Led by Abigail LaBella, a postdoctoral researcher in the Rokas Lab, an international research team used the genomes and diets of nearly all known species from an ancient lineage of yeasts to understand the evolution of generalists and specialists.  Read More

Jefferson Cowie, James G. Stahlman Professor of History at Vanderbilt University, was recently honored with a 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship—in part, in anticipation of his upcoming project, tentatively titled Crosswinds of a Common History, which will take a visionary approach to historical nonfiction. Read More

After a rigorous nomination and review process, Vanderbilt University professors -- Jada Benn Torres, David Cliffel, Volker Haase, Janet Macdonald, Xiao-Ou Shu, Keith Wilson and Zheng Wei -- were named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Read More

With a prestigious new grant, archaeologist Ari Caramanica will explore what ancient people can teach us about dealing with the most pressing environmental issue of our time. Read More

Candidates for the Truman Scholarship go through a rigorous, multi-stage selection process. In 2024, there were 709 candidates for the award nominated by 285 colleges and universities. Jagarlamudi was one of 60 students chosen nationwide. Read More

Jad Abumrad, Distinguished Research Professor of Communication of Science and Technology and creator of Vanderbilt’s Quantum Potential series, talks to Vanderbilt Magazine about this groundbreaking project, described as a collection of wild but precise portraits of the scholars, scientists and students at Vanderbilt who are finding new ways to understand the world—and change it. Read More

Vanderbilt University has named Timothy P. McNamara, a visionary leader, trusted peer and mentor, as Ginny and Conner Searcy Dean of the College of Arts and Science for a two-year term beginning July 1. Read More

Sixty-six faculty members across seven schools and colleges received Provost’s Faculty Grants for Culminating Projects in Immersion, up 50 percent from the program’s inaugural year in 2023. The goal of the grants is to empower undergraduate students through immersive and impactful learning opportunities that take them from the studio to the lab, to an internship, to service learning in the Nashville community and beyond. Read More