College Of Arts And Science

John Lachs, professor emeritus of philosophy and Centennial Professor Emeritus, died November 14, 2023, in Nashville. He was 89. Read More

A college education at a residential campus means more than a degree earned through successful completion of coursework and class projects. Student life beyond the classroom also provides a formative experience, and that is especially true for Sherry Chen, BA’15, who has served as president of the local Vanderbilt Chapter in Phoenix since 2018, connecting the community of Commodore alumni and parents. 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

Meet three student-athletes in the Class of 2024 who are making a difference on and off the field. Read More

A multidisciplinary artist from Cuba, María Magdalena Campos-Pons creates installations that showcase her personal experiences as a Cuban woman as well as document displacement and inequality in the Caribbean. She was awarded a 2023 MacArthur Fellowship last October from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Read More

Meet some members of the Class of 2024 who are sharing their unique global experiences and identities, enriching the Vanderbilt community. 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

Vanderbilt is leading the charge on what AI can do for teaching and learning in higher education. Read More

Meet three members of the Class of 2024 who represent belonging in action, enriching the Vanderbilt community along the way. 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

Former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog joined Professor Brett Benson’s Introduction to International Politics class last week, with Fayyad on Wednesday, March 27, and Herzog on Thursday, March 28. “I think this is the only university in the country that can host Salam Fayyad one day and the Israeli ambassador the next,” Morgan Ortagus, former spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State told students, as she led the conversation with Ambassador Herzog.  Read More

Doan Phuong Nguyen, BA'07, was in the first grade when she decided her dream was to be an author. The dream came to fruition in 2023 with the publication of her first novel for middle grade readers, 'Mèo and Bé' (Lee and Low Books, 2023; illustrated by Jesse White). Read More

María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Art, has been named the 2024 SEC Faculty Achievement Award winner from Vanderbilt University. Her artistic work spans a variety of media, including photography, performance, sculpture, drawing, painting and video. She employs them in immersive installations that explore her experience as a Cuban woman and the broader issues facing Caribbean people, including displacement and inequality. Read More

Jenny Davis, professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Science, and Pamela Wisniewski, associate professor in human-computer interaction and Flowers Faculty Fellow in the School of Engineering, join 22 other distinguished scholars from a wide array of organizations and backgrounds to collaborate on critical policy discussions related to technology and society. Read More

Vanderbilt University officially launched the McGee Applied Research Center for Narrative Studies at a campus event on Feb. 7. Board of Trust members, university leaders, alumni and invited guests gathered at Rothschild College to celebrate the new interdisciplinary center, which will promote media literacy by providing resources to evaluate the objectivity of news coverage, digital media and other narratives. Read More

WATCH: See how Danait Issac is sharing her love of her Eritrean heritage and the great outdoors to empower and connect Vanderbilt students. Read More

Morinville, a history major in the College of Arts and Science, was named to the next class of the John Robert Lewis Scholars & Fellows Program for 2024-2025. Selected through a highly competitive process, the scholars and fellows represent a wide range of backgrounds, ideologies and faiths, creating an environment that fosters open dialogue, empathy and understanding. The program is run by the Faith and Politics Institute. Read More

The Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Center for the American Presidency has launched, with the goal of exploring the presidency through an innovative, comprehensive lens. Housed within the College of Arts and Science, the center will serve as a nationally recognized hub for innovative scholarship about the workings of the presidency. Read More

On Tuesday, Feb. 6, former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney joined Pulitzer Prize–winning author and professor Jon Meacham, co-chair of the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy, to speak about the future of U.S. democracy at the inaugural event for the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Center for the American Presidency. Read More

Thomas Weiler, professor of physics and astronomy, emeritus, died December 17, 2023, after enduring a progressive neurodegenerative variant of Parkinson’s disease. He was 74. Read More