Peabody

To continue the legacy in education to which Bess Parks owes her own career, she wants to give back to those who need help paying for higher education. Through the establishment of two charitable remainder unitrusts and a retirement plan beneficiary designation, she’s found a way to do that and honor the memory of her mother, also a teacher. Read More

President Joe Biden has appointed Vanderbilt Peabody College research professor Douglas Fuchs to serve on the 15-member National Board for Education Sciences. The appointment was announced Oct. 27. Read More

Assistant Professors of Psychology and Human Development Deon Benton and Cristina Zepeda joined the Department of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development this fall. Read More

Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of education and human development is working with the American University of Iraq–Baghdad to improve higher education and build a stronger teacher workforce in the region. The institutions were recently awarded a two-year, $2.5 million grant from the U.S. State Department to design and launch a new college of education focused on teacher training and development, with plans to seek Iraqi Ministry approval for the college by fall 2023. Read More

The Quality Education for Minorities Network, in partnership with Vanderbilt University and other universities, has been awarded funding for a conference on supporting underrepresented minorities in STEM. Read More

Join Peabody College professor Ilana Horn and co-author Brette Garner of the University of Denver for an online conversation about their new book, Teacher Learning of Ambitious and Equitable Mathematics Instruction: A Sociocultural Approach, on Thursday, Sept. 22. Read More

Patricia Ingram Hart, one of Vanderbilt University’s most generous benefactors, died Aug. 13 at her home in Nashville. Read More

Jim Schifman, BS'90, and his wife, Melissa, launched Project Hive Pet Company last year, selling dog toys and treats that directly contribute to rebuilding bee habitats. Their beehive-themed dog toys are sustainably manufactured in the United States and the company donates 1 percent of gross sales to the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund, which works with private, public and corporate partners to help establish and manage pollinator habitats on their lands. Read More

Though 37 percent of Tennessee’s students are people of color, only 13 percent of the state’s teachers are. To work toward narrowing that representation gap, the Tennessee Education Research Alliance, a research-practice partnership between Vanderbilt Peabody College and the Tennessee Department of Education, has received a four-year, $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.  Read More

Governments of lower- and middle-income countries increasingly are turning to public-private partnerships to operate schools as an alternative to traditional public schools. Vanderbilt professors Felipe Barrera-Osorio and Andrew Dustan have received a one-year NSF grant in excess of $400,000 to lead an interdisciplinary study on the quality of these partnership schools in Bogotá, Colombia. Read More

Assistant Professor of Psychology and Human Development Kathryn Humphreys will investigate parent–child proximity and emerging psychopathology with a new five-year research grant in excess of $3.7 million from the National Institute of Mental Health Biobehavioral Research Awards for Innovative New Scientists program.  Read More

The Initiative for Race Research and Justice at Vanderbilt Peabody College will host its third virtual Jumpstart Conference Aug. 1, bringing together researchers on race from both inside and outside of the field of education. Read More

World champion axe thrower Mark Mirasol, MEd’17, aims for success as he builds a business around the up-and-coming sport. Read More

The integration of cinema and science is at the foundation of Vanderbilt University professor Daniel Levin’s research. Levin teaches Film and Psychology in addition to other classes that examine how cognitive science and the arts collide.  Read More

They say motherhood is the toughest job you’ll ever love. That’s true for this group of Vanderbilt researchers, who’ve built successful careers around researching various aspects of parenthood while raising their own children.   Read More

Marice Wolfe, of Nashville, the first woman to serve as Vanderbilt’s university archivist, died Jan. 3. She was 86. Read More

Joseph “Yusef” Fontaine Harris III, founder and owner of Alkebu-Lan Images, Nashville’s only independent, Black-owned bookstore and a cornerstone of the North Nashville community for more than 35 years, died Jan. 3. Read More

Joyce Searcy grew up in segregated Yazoo City, Mississippi, where going to the public library would have meant entering through its back door.  Today she is the first Black person to serve as chair of the Nashville Public Library board. Read More

In his long U.S. Navy career, Michael Brasseur, BS'97, has had numerous command postings, including his latest as a full commodore. Based in Bahrain, he commands Task Force 59, the Navy’s first unmanned task force dedicated to securing the waters around the Arabian Peninsula. He directs a team dedicated to rapidly harnessing the power of unmanned and artificial intelligence integration to promote the free flow of commerce in the area. Read More

With schools across the country facing personnel shortages and COVID-19 continuing to affect education, people have turned to the IRIS Center at Vanderbilt Peabody College for free resources and support. In 2021, the center’s website hosted roughly 4 million visits from 223 countries.  Read More