Diversity

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

Ethiopian American novelist Dinaw Mengestu, known for his powerful and personal depictions of the immigrant experience and perspectives on the American dream, will be the keynote speaker for Vanderbilt University’s 2021 Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemorative event on Monday, Jan. 18. Read More

The Vanderbilt Evolutionary Studies Initiative will host award-winning British science journalist and author Angela Saini for a virtual discussion of her best-selling book, "Superior: The Return of Race Science," on Wednesday, Jan. 13, at 3:10 p.m. CT.  Read More

Vanderbilt University’s commitment to hosting threatened and displaced scholars is highlighted in a new publication by the Institute of International Education. A senior lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies is among the scholar profiled. Read More

A Vanderbilt medical student credits the strong focus on design thinking in the Medical Innovators Development Program with his leadership role in an international competition to promote racial equity in health care. Read More

Chris Purcell, director of Vanderbilt’s Office of LGBTQI Life since 2013, will leave the position Dec. 31 to become assistant dean of students at Chatham University in Pittsburgh. Rob Nelson, assistant director of LGBTQI Life, will serve as the interim director while a national search is conducted to fill the role, William H. Robinson, vice provost for academic advancement and executive director of the Provost’s Office for Inclusive Excellence, has announced. Read More

In March, Vanderbilt University Medical Center leaders established a command center on campus to address the myriad issues that the Medical Center would face in the coming days, weeks and months as the COVID-19 pandemic encroached on Tennessee, then Nashville and finally on campus. Read More

Bryan Stromer, BS’17, has been chosen from more than 3,600 applicants to be one of 154 Schwarzman Scholars for the Class of 2022. The Schwarzman Scholars Program is one of the world’s most prestigious graduate fellowships and was designed to bring together the best minds from around the world to study the economic, political and cultural landscape of China. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Provost’s Office for Inclusive Excellence and identity centers coordinated a number of initiatives and events during the fall 2020 semester to support the university community—in particular, those members with systemically nondominant identities—amid the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing social and political unrest in the country. Read More

Derrick Gragg, a former student-athlete on the Vanderbilt football team, is the NCAA's new senior vice president for inclusion, education and community engagement. Read More

The Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, in partnership with Human Resources, has announced a new framework to establish, manage and sustain university-supported Employee Affinity Groups, which are designed to help foster a positive work environment at Vanderbilt and support the university’s values specific to diversity, inclusion and campus engagement. Read More

The deans of Vanderbilt’s 10 colleges and schools each have named liaisons to work directly with the Provost’s Office for Inclusive Excellence. These Deans’ Diversity Designates will serve as advocates for inclusive excellence as well as equity-, diversity- and inclusion-related initiatives at their respective schools and in their specific areas across the Vanderbilt campus. Read More

Vanderbilt University has launched the Gender Affirmation Toolkit to reinforce its commitment to providing a safe and inclusive working environment for all employees. The toolkit was developed in collaboration with the Office for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Human Resources, the Equal Opportunity and Access Office, the Office of LGBTQI Life and other campus partners. Read More

P. Preston Reynolds, a physician-historian at the University of Virginia, will give an online talk, “The History of African Americans in Medicine,” on Monday, Dec. 7, beginning at noon CT. Reynolds will return to join a panel of Vanderbilt faculty to discuss “The History of African Americans in Medicine: Abraham Flexner, Racism and Vanderbilt” on Monday, Dec. 14, also beginning at noon CT. Read More

The Vanderbilt School of Medicine Basic Sciences has won continued funding from the National Institutes of Health for its Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity program supporting the success of biomedical graduate students from underrepresented backgrounds. Read More

Vice Chancellor André Churchwell, Vice Provost William H. Robinson and Senior Associate Vice Chancellor August Washington will discuss Vanderbilt University's role in eliminating racial disparities in public safety in an online event on Wednesday, Dec. 2, from 6 to 7 p.m. Read More

Falling between the gender and race gap, men in same-sex couples are 12 percentage points less likely to have a STEM degree, research by Vanderbilt economist Kitt Carpenter confirms. Read More

Vanderbilt community members are invited to attend an online vigil in honor of International Transgender Day of Remembrance on Friday, Nov. 20. Read More

The Initiative for Race Research and Justice at Vanderbilt Peabody College will host a daylong virtual conference on Saturday, Dec. 5, featuring internationally known scholars and leaders Marc Lamont Hill, Gloria Ladson-Billings and Bettina Love, among others, who will address a range of questions about racial justice as the issue applies in educational settings and more broadly. Read More

Several Vanderbilt diversity and inclusion programs are spotlighted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs on a list of disability and inclusion resources meeting the agency’s criteria. Read More