Chancellor’s Lecture Series

Author and "New York Times" columnist Margaret Renkl joined Vanderbilt University Press authors Rachel Martin and Steve Haruch and former Nashville mayor and Vanderbilt adjunct professor Bill Purcell on Nov. 9 to discuss the evolution of Nashville and the American South. Read More

Author and "New York Times" columnist Margaret Renkl will join Vanderbilt University Press authors Rachel Martin and Steve Haruch to discuss the evolving nature of Nashville and the American South through culture, food, race relations and politics in a special panel discussion on Tuesday, Nov. 9. Read More

Prominent scholars, journalists, historians and activists gathered virtually for a daylong symposium discussing the fight for equity. “Racial Justice, Freedom and Activism in Nashville and Beyond: Then and Now” was hosted by Vanderbilt University on March 26.  Read More

Vanderbilt’s role in shaping each step of the medical response to the COVID-19 pandemic began three decades ago and is grounded in the determination of a small group of scientists to understand coronaviruses. The research, and the faculty and alumni who helped lead it, was the topic of the March 23 Chancellor’s Lecture Series virtual event, “Vanderbilt in the Vanguard: The Decades-Long Journey to a Coronavirus Vaccine.” Read More

The remarkable success of the COVID-19 vaccines began in a Vanderbilt lab decades ago, with the groundbreaking research of alumnus Dr. Barney Graham. Read More

Vanderbilt scientists on the front lines of COVID-19 research will share their insights on the pandemic and subsequent vaccine development during a Chancellor’s Lecture Series event on Tuesday, March 23, at 5 p.m. CT, hosted by Chancellor Daniel Diermeier. Read More

The Vanderbilt community will welcome a diverse panel of renowned civil rights and social justice activists, journalists, historians and scholars for an examination of Nashville’s role as an intellectual center of the struggle for racial justice, then and now. The daylong virtual symposium will be held on Friday, March 26, starting at 9 a.m. CT and is open to the public. Read More

Joan Marie Johnson, an author who has written extensively about the history of women’s suffrage, feminism and social activism, will discuss “Race, Rights and the Woman Suffrage Movement: The Stories of Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, Irene Moorman and Rose Schneiderman” on Thursday, March 4, at 5:30 p.m. CT. Read More

Ethiopian American novelist Dinaw Mengestu gave an impassioned personal view of growing up in an immigrant family in the United States during his keynote address for this year’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative event, hosted in partnership with the Vanderbilt Chancellor’s Lecture Series. Read More

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy debuted an exclusive conversation series featuring a tone-setting discussion on the redemptive power of reason and evidence in American politics with former vice president Al Gore and presidential historian Jon Meacham, followed by a dialogue between Meacham and Condoleezza Rice, the 66th Secretary of State, on the project’s first case study. Read More

A series of virtual events for the Vanderbilt community will celebrate the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, Jan. 18. Beginning this year, MLK Day is a paid staff holiday, aligning with VU’s efforts to strengthen equity, diversity and inclusion. Read More

Former Vice President Al Gore and the 66th Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice each will provide timely conversations with Vanderbilt’s Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian and biographer, on Thursday, Jan. 14, to support the debut of the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy. Read More

Former U.S. Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Gen. Colin Powell called for a return to civility, communication and compromise in domestic politics and foreign relations during the Vanderbilt Chancellor’s Lecture on Nov. 16. Read More

The Faculty Senate will host a community conversation for faculty, staff and students beginning at 5 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Nov. 17, to discuss themes from the Chancellor’s Lecture Series event with former United States secretaries of state Madeleine K. Albright and Colin L. Powell taking place the day prior. The community conversation will be conducted via Zoom, and registration is required to participate. Read More

Madeleine K. Albright and Colin L. Powell—the 64th and 65th United States secretaries of state, respectively—will discuss the future of U.S. global relations as part of Vanderbilt University’s first Chancellor’s Lecture Series event of the 2020-21 season. Read More

Foster, the vice president of external affairs at YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee, leads the AMEND Together initiative, a prevention program dedicated to ending violence against women and girls by engaging men and boys to be part of the solution. Read More

Joan Marie Johnson, an author who has written extensively about the history of women’s suffrage, feminism and social activism, will give a lecture on Thursday, March 19, as part of Vanderbilt’s celebration of Women’s History Month. Read More

The Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center, in partnership with the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries, will host an “inclusive book group” on Friday, March 13, focused on "A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts" by New York Times best-selling author Therese Anne Fowler. Read More

Anderson Cooper, a prominent journalist, CNN anchor and best-selling author who often reports from around the world, will be at Vanderbilt University for a Chancellor’s Lecture on Sunday, March 29. Cooper had to reschedule his appearance from March 15 due to unforeseen circumstances. Read More

Ambassadors Susan Rice and John Bolton agreed during the Vanderbilt Chancellor’s Lecture Wednesday evening that significant improvements are needed in the current decision-making process on national security issues, but the two sharply differed in their opinions on the recent presidential impeachment process. Read More