John Geer
Vanderbilt chemist wins Sloan Research Fellowship
Feb. 16, 2021—Assistant Professor of Chemistry Steven D. Townsend, PhD’10, has been awarded a 2021 Sloan Research Fellowship, one of the highest honors for young scientists who have the potential to revolutionize their fields of study.
Alumni couple makes $5M gift to establish center dedicated to presidential scholarship
Feb. 15, 2021—Vanderbilt University announced today that alumni Carolyn Thomas Rogers, BA’75, and Robert Moss Rogers, BA’75, have made a $5 million gift to establish the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Center for the American Presidency in the College of Arts and Science.
Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy debuts with conversation series featuring Gore, Rice, Meacham
Jan. 12, 2021—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.
Alumna joins faculty as research professor in political science and law
Jan. 12, 2021—Samar Ali, JD’06, BS’03, has joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University as a research professor in political science and law. Her appointment was announced by John Geer, the Ginny and Conner Searcy Dean of the College of Arts and Science, and Chris Guthrie, dean and John Wade-Kent Syverud Professor of Law.
Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy aims to heal societal divisions
Jan. 12, 2021—After months of exploring how higher education could play a meaningful and active role in bridging longstanding partisan fissures, Vanderbilt University today launched the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy, which aims to strengthen the nation’s democratic institutions by advancing evidence-based research in the national discourse on unity.
Vanderbilt Poll: Unprecedented partisanship divides Tennesseans on COVID-19 vaccine, election results
Dec. 17, 2020—The deep partisan divide in Tennessee has never been more apparent than on the questions of whether citizens will get the COVID-19 vaccine and curb holiday travel at the height of the global pandemic, according to the latest Vanderbilt Poll-Tennessee. The poll also found a deep chasm between registered voters on the legitimacy of the results of the presidential election.
Vanderbilt honors 29 distinguished faculty with endowed chairs
Nov. 11, 2020—Twenty-nine prominent faculty from across campus comprise Vanderbilt University’s latest endowed chair honorees. They include scholars working in diverse areas—from election analysis and lung cancer research to the nascent field of neurolaw, exploring the brain mechanism underlying legal decision-making.
The 2020 Election: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Nov. 3, 2020—Vanderbilt University alumni were offered the unique opportunity this fall to hear two of the country’s foremost political science experts, John Geer and Jon Meacham, discuss the U.S. presidential election in the four-part webinar series, “The 2020 Election: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”
Steady Hand: Gov. Andy Beshear, BA’00, seeks the ‘why’ in governing as he guides Kentucky through the pandemic and political divide
Oct. 27, 2020—Beshear, the first-term Democratic governor of Kentucky, was elected last November by a margin as thin as a surgical mask, just in time to steer his largely Republican state through a runaway pandemic, the resulting economic damage, and America’s most consequential reckoning with racial injustice since the 1960s.
Washington Insiders: Vanderbilt alumni in CNN’s Washington Bureau are playing key roles in the network’s around-the-clock political coverage
Oct. 22, 2020—This election night, Sam Feist, BA’91, will perform one of his more unusual duties as head of CNN’s Washington Bureau. Assuming the results are clear-cut, he will—in consultation with CNN’s statisticians and political scientists—call the winner of the presidential race for the network. It is a responsibility he has held since 2004, and one that he does not take lightly.
Diermeier shares research interests with Owen, Arts and Science communities
Oct. 9, 2020—Chancellor Daniel Diermeier discussed his research and scholarship on management, political science, public policy and more during two recent virtual webinars with Owen Graduate School of Management and the College of Arts and Science.
Michael Eric Dyson, distinguished scholar of race and religion, to join Vanderbilt faculty next year
Sep. 28, 2020—Michael Eric Dyson, a globally renowned scholar of race, religion and contemporary culture, will join Vanderbilt as Centennial Chair and University Distinguished Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies in the College of Arts and Science and University Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Society in the Divinity School on Jan. 1, 2021.