Peabody College

Education Week has released the 2026 Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, an annual list of education researchers who have demonstrated the greatest influence over educational policy and practice. Four researchers from Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development are among the 200 who made the rankings. That places them in the top… Read More

By Jennifer Kiilerich On a gray, blustery December day in Nashville, students piled coats and bags into the corner of a bright, windowed classroom inside Vanderbilt Peabody College’s Six Magnolia Circle. Lively chatter, applause and words of support bounced around the room, and holiday cookies lined a table by… Read More

Warren Lowell (Vanderbilt University) Warren Lowell joined the faculty at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development as an assistant professor in fall 2025. He is an urban sociologist, population scientist and public policy scholar whose work focuses on housing, internal migration and child well-being. He studies… Read More

By Jenna Somers Almost anyone who starts a new job reads training and policy documents as part of an on-boarding process. They might peruse the assigned reading to check the right boxes, but how much are they really learning in the process? How can employers verify learning from training materials… Read More

Funding renewals from major philanthropic organizations will strengthen operations and research efforts aimed at improving outcomes for young children and families.   Press Contact: Sydne Lewis, 615-343-9946, sydne.lewis@vanderbilt.edu The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at Vanderbilt University Peabody College of education and human development celebrates the most recent renewed financial… Read More

How do smartphones affect the brains of teenagers? That question is at the core of a new grant awarded to the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt (SSMV) by the Dana Foundation, which works to advance neuroscience in alignment with community values and societal priorities. Menton Deweese, director… Read More

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center has announced its latest Nicholas Hobbs Discovery Awards, which recognize innovative research to improve the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Colleen Niswender, Dr. Bill Nobis, Audrey Bowden and Laurie Cutting are the recipients for 2025–26, earning support for projects that address Rett syndrome, Dravet syndrome and other developmental epilepsies, and reading difficulties like dyslexia. Read More

The following speech was delivered by Peabody Distinguished Alumna Sharon Shields, PhD’76, at Peabody Diploma Ceremonies on May 8, 2025. Her remarks have been lightly edited for context. Sharon Shields and Camilla Benbow, Peabody College Doctor of Education Degree Ceremony at the Peabody Esplanade on May 09, 2025. (Photo… Read More

By Jennifer Kiilerich Golnaz Arastoopour Irgens When Vanderbilt researcher Golnaz Arastoopour Irgens learned about a new all-girls secondary school, located not far from Vanderbilt University, she quickly saw how its mission aligned with her own work. She set about fostering a collaboration that would connect young learners to her… Read More

By Jenna Somers Mark Lipsey Mark Lipsey, professor emeritus of public policy at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development, has been awarded the Stockholm Prize in Criminology, the world’s largest and most prestigious criminology prize. Lipsey received the award for his research on rehabilitative programs… Read More

Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development has established the new Teacher Pathway Scholarship for all admitted master’s and Ed.D. students in initial teacher licensure programs and advanced programs. The new scholarship guarantees a minimum 30 percent of tuition for initial licensure and advanced programs listed below,… Read More

Vanderbilt supports new faculty every step of the way—by connecting them with senior faculty who serve as mentors, observe their classes and provide valuable feedback, and proofread their grant proposals to make them stronger. These professors who joined Vanderbilt in the past few years shed light on how the university has helped them succeed.  Read More

By Jenna Somers On October 30 and 31, education scholars, practitioners and policymakers convened Schoolteacher at 50. The conference marked the 50th anniversary of sociologist Dan Lortie’s book about the ethos of the teaching profession. Attendees reflected upon Lortie’s insights at the time of publication as well as their applicability… Read More

At Vanderbilt, research doesn’t just live in the lab. It moves into the world in the shape of new tools, treatments and technologies that improve lives, support communities and expand what’s possible. Read More

Key Takeaways: Vanderbilt has launched a new Quantitative Methods and Data Analytics for Human Behavior M.S. program. Students who earn the degree will have in-demand skills to be competitive across a range of industries. Apply early to take advantage of priority decision benefits: Priority Decision 1: January 3,… Read More

Vanderbilt Magazine celebrates the lives and mourns the loss last spring of three Vanderbilt alumni who led with passion and generosity during times of transition and change: James Stephen “Steve” Turner, BA’69; Sylvia Sanders Kelley, BA'54; and H. Rodes Hart, BA'54. Read More

By Steven Smartt, BME’71, MME’72 April 1, 1970, was a notable day in the history of Peabody College. John T. Scopes, defendant in the famous “Monkey Trial” of July 1925 in Dayton, Tenn., spent a full day on campus at the invitation of the Peabody Student Government Association. John… Read More

By Jennifer Kiilerich Gabriella Noreen is teaching at PTY while earning her Ph.D. with Vanderbilt Peabody College. Gabriella Noreen loved math from a very young age, her passion deepening when she discovered A.P. statistics as a teen. But she tended to be quiet in school. “I wish somebody had… Read More