Chancellor’s Lecture Series

Eight years after Barack Obama’s historic election as the nation’s first African American president, are race relations better or worse in the United States? Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos convened a panel of political experts Tuesday evening to discuss that question, as well as President-elect Donald Trump’s extraordinary ascent to the presidency. Read More

Noted clinical psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison, whose best-selling memoir chronicled her early experience with bipolar disorder, will speak at Vanderbilt Jan. 31. Read More

Vanderbilt faculty, staff and students are invited to attend a series of January events designed to further conversations around healthy help-seeking behavior and creating a culture in which the stigma of seeking support can be eradicated. Read More

The theme for this year’s commemoration is “Justice and Democracy? Revolutionizing our American Myths.” Read More

In the final days of Barack Obama’s historic presidency, Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos will host a panel discussion reflecting on the 44th president’s legacy. “Beyond Obama: Race, Politics and America’s Future” is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 17. Read More

Some 40 years ago, children born to families belonging to the upper third of American society and those born to families on the lower third of the economic scale had roughly equal chance of achieving success in life. Not so any more, said Harvard University political scientist Robert Putnam Monday evening at the Student Life Center. Read More

One week after Donald Trump’s surprising victory in the 2016 presidential election, the Vanderbilt campus—and the nation—is still grappling with the outcome. Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos hosted two prominent members of the national media as well as Distinguished Visiting Professor Jon Meacham Tuesday evening to discuss the 2016 race and their expectations for a Trump presidency. Read More

Prominent political scientist Robert D. Putnam, whose latest book examines the widening class-based opportunity gap among young people and its long-term effect on social mobility, will speak at Vanderbilt University Monday, Nov. 28, as part of the Chancellor’s Lecture Series. Read More

Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos and Writer-in-residence Alice Randall gathered in Langford Auditorium Wednesday evening to discuss Alexander Hamilton's influence on contemporary American politics, but it was the previous day’s momentous presidential election that pervaded the conversation. Daveed Diggs, a Tony winner for the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton," participated in a separate discussion as part of the event. Read More

Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos will host CNN's Nia-Malika Henderson, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer and Distinguished Visiting Professor Jon Meacham for a discussion Nov. 15 exploring the 2016 presidential election. Read More

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is “the wrong answer to the right question,” said "New York Times" columnist David Brooks in his appearance at the Vanderbilt Chancellor’s Lecture Series Sept. 22. Read More

Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos, Distinguished Visiting Professor Jon Meacham and political journalists Peggy Noonan and Eugene Robinson discussed this most unusual election cycle before a near-capacity crowd in Langford Auditorium Sept. 14. Read More

A discussion of America’s future and a campus read-a-thon of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights are among the Vanderbilt events that will observe Constitution Day. Read More

Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos will be joined by "New York Times" op-ed columnist David Brooks and Vanderbilt Distinguished Visiting Professor Jon Meacham Sept. 22 for a discussion titled "Decision 2016: A Look at America's Future." Read More

Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos will host a panel discussion Sept. 14 exploring the 2016 presidential election and the United States’ future in the first installment of the Chancellor’s Lecture Series for 2016-17. Read More

The unexpected death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in February threw a wrench in the works of an already complicated election year at a time of great political partisanship in Washington and the country. On Monday evening, Vanderbilt Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos convened a panel of experts to discuss the sudden vacancy and the controversy surrounding the nomination of a new justice. Read More

A roundtable discussion at Vanderbilt University on Monday, May 2, will explore the U.S. Supreme Court’s current vacancy and the controversy surrounding the nomination of a new justice. Read More

Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos will host a roundtable May 2 exploring the U.S. Supreme Court’s current vacancy and the controversy surrounding the nomination of a new justice. Fox News' Andrew Napolitano, CNN's Jeffrey Toobin, and Vanderbilt's Jon Meacham and Audrey Anderson will participate in the discussion beginning at 6:30 p.m. in Langford Auditorium. Read More

Dr. André Churchwell, senior associate dean for diversity affairs at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, will share his personal insights on the role of art in all of its creative forms and its relationship to applied physics in the solution of humankind’s medical woes when he delivers the next installment of the Chancellor’s Lecture Series April 11. Read More

Booker Prize-winning novelist Julian Barnes and highly acclaimed pianist Angela Hewitt join forces for an exciting musical and literary residency at the Blair School of Music March 23–25. Read More