New Faculty 2012

Morgan Ricks (Daniel Dubois/Vanderbilt) When the financial crisis hit in September 2008, Morgan Ricks knew what he had to do. “I was on a trading desk at a hedge fund when the crisis started,” Ricks said. “The day after Obama was elected, I quit my job and… Read More

Rizia Bardhan (Joe Howell/Vanderbilt) Rizia Bardhan has a large picture of Mahatma Gandhi in her office. “Gandhi has always been very special to me,” she said. “We share the same birthday. He exemplifies the power of perseverance.” Perseverance has carried the new assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular… Read More

Gary T. Henry (Daniel Dubois/Vanderbilt) It has been said that the next great wave of education reform is teacher preparation. If that assertion holds true, Gary T. Henry is prepared to bring evidence to the table. Henry has spent his career looking at how students and… Read More

On newsstands now is a special print edition of MyVU—Vanderbilt’s online hub for faculty and staff—that honors some of the newest faces on campus and showcases their exciting work in the fields of pediatrics, anthropology, history, education, law, music and more. Read More

As an assistant professor of education, diversity and urban schooling in the Department of Teaching and Learning, McGee will continue the research she began as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow: investigating the role of stereotypes and other influences in the postsecondary career and academic decision-making of high-achieving African American, Asian and Latino STEM students. Read More

Few musicians win their first orchestral audition, and the likelihood that the first audition is with the prestigious Vienna Philharmonic is very slim. That puts Jeremy Wilson, Blair School of Music's new associate professor of trombone, in a class all by himself. Read More

Griffith serves not only as an associate professor of medicine, health and society within the College of Arts and Science, but also as an associate professor of medicine at the School of Medicine. Read More

A molecular anthropologist specializing in epigenetics, the study of how environment and behavior affect the expression of genes, Amy Non's work integrates genetics, anthropology and public health. Read More

David Blackbourn (John Russell/Vanderbilt) Communicating with the departed is something David Blackbourn does on a daily basis. As a scholar of German history and the Cornelius Vanderbilt Distinguished Chair in History, he sees his life’s work as a way to “get into the heads of dead people.”… Read More

Jie Deng (Daniel Dubois/Vanderbilt) For Jie Deng, the desire to further nursing research and education began with the SARS outbreak in China in 2003. At the time, she was the associate chief nursing officer at Peking University Health Science Center in Beijing. “Our nurses were incredible—the sacrifices… Read More

Cecilia Hyunjung Mo followed in her father's footsteps to understand the thorniest issues in political science. Read More

John Graves was part of the team hired by the Obama administration to provide statistical and economic evidence that would inform the development of the Affordable Care Act. Read More

Cathy Ivory is conducting foundational research work in perinatal nursing informatics and introducing master’s students to the world of nursing informatics. Read More

The Rev. Jaco Hamman’s decision to avoid the draft for the South African military, which was responsible for enforcing apartheid, propelled his 1993 move from his native country to the United States, where work as a hospital chaplain shaped his career. Read More

Michael Bess (far right), Chancellor's Professor of History, consults with junior faculty during a Center for Teaching-sponsored Teaching Visit. (image courtesy Center for Teaching) Vanderbilt takes seriously its mission to be a center for scholarly research, informed and creative teaching and service to the community and society at large. Read More

Patrick Grohar came to Vanderbilt in January from the National Cancer Institute, bringing with him his passions and self-motivation for lab-based work. His research focuses on drug discovery in pediatric sarcomas, cancers that develop in bone and soft tissues. Read More

n today’s complex world, engineers are seen more and more as imaginative problem-solvers. Philippe Fauchet, the new dean of Vanderbilt University School of Engineering, is a perfect example. Read More

A complete list of new university faculty for the 2012-13 academic year Blair School of Music Tucker Biddlecombe, associate professor and director of choral activities B.M., State University of New York–Potsdam, 1998 M.M., Florida State University, 2003 D.Phil., Florida State University, 2012 Biddlecombe is a published… Read More

A complete list of new School of Medicine and School of Nursing faculty for 2012 School of Medicine Aqeela Afzal, Ph.D. Research assistant professor of neurological surgery Francisco Aguirre, M.D. Instructor in clinical obstetrics and gynecology Neda Ahmadi, M.D. Instructor in otolaryngology Syed Toufeeq Ahmed, Ph.D. Read More