Robert Penn Warren Center

Jefferson Cowie, James G. Stahlman Professor of History at Vanderbilt University, was recently honored with a 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship—in part, in anticipation of his upcoming project, tentatively titled Crosswinds of a Common History, which will take a visionary approach to historical nonfiction. Read More

On National Humanities Alliance’s advocacy day in D.C., through a series of meetings and a social media campaign, Vanderbilt students advocated for federal funding to support the National Endowment for the Humanities. This effort was part of the Robert Penn Warren Center’s Humanities in the Real World: Undergraduate Advocacy Fellowship in collaboration with Vanderbilt’s Office of Federal Relations.  Read More

Heglar will offer a public lecture at Vanderbilt at 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 20, to kick off the Vanderbilt Eco-Grief Initiative, a yearlong interdisciplinary project that will use art to illustrate the emotions evoked by living through climate change.   Read More

The Curb Center is pleased to announce the Vanderbilt Eco-Grief Initiative, a yearlong collaborative project that will use art as a tool to investigate the complex set of emotions—sorrow, guilt, terror, complicity and a range of others—that come to mind as we contemplate our changing climate and witness its effects on earthly life. By engaging artists working in a range of disciplines—theater, creative writing and the visual arts—the Curb Center aims to highlight creative work that confronts the emotional dimensions of climate change with the hope that true emotional reckoning might serve as an avenue to candid dialogue, innovation and lasting impact. Read More

See how more than 200 students and faculty came together through 19 interdisciplinary hands-on courses to turn the historic Vaughn home into a living laboratory, unveiling "hidden narratives" of Vanderbilt's and Nashville's past. Read More

Vanderbilt University will be well represented at the 2023 Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word, where a significant number of faculty and authors with ties to the university will discuss their works Oct. 18–22. Read More

Join students and faculty from the Department of Anthropology to learn more about Vanderbilt’s early history through archaeological excavation on the grounds of a service workers’ cabin once located behind the first faculty residences on campus. Ongoing investigations at the Vaughn Home (currently the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities) will be open to the public on Saturday, Oct. 14, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Inclusive Book Group will meet Tuesday, Oct. 31, at noon to discuss The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Limited physical and electronic copies of the book are available by request. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Inclusive Book Group will meet Wednesday, Aug. 9, at noon to discuss the 2023-24 campus reading Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson. Read More

Since its founding in 1873, Vanderbilt has stayed true to its roots by breaking new ground in various ways, whether in its capacity to be a more welcoming and inclusive community, or in its pursuit of discoveries that help answer humanity’s most pressing questions. Here we present an illustrated guide to just a few of the many pioneering figures who have helped Vanderbilt dare to grow throughout its history. Read More

Vanderbilt University has created the Future of Learning and Generative AI Initiative and appointed members of an advisory board. Both will center their efforts around scholarship and opportunities connected to the growing use of nascent artificial intelligence technologies.  Read More

In March, humanities advocates converged on Washington, D.C., for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to advocate in person for funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities. Elizabeth Meadows, associate director of the Robert Penn Warren Center, was joined by two undergraduate students and members of the RPW Student Advisory Council—Coco Randolph and Shunnar Virani—to discuss how the humanities are shaping their education.    Read More

Cal Flyn, an award-winning author and journalist who has written extensively on nature and environmental issues, will deliver the 2023 Harry C. Howard Jr. Lecture on April 4. Read More

Writer Cal Flyn will discuss Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape at the 2022-2023 Harry C. Howard Jr. Lecture on April 4, 2023 at 4:00 PM in the Central Library Community Room. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Inclusive Book Group will meet online Wednesday, May 3, to discuss The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri. Read More

The Robert Penn Warren Center offers a residential one-year interdisciplinary faculty seminar fellowship related to that year’s theme. The theme for the 2023–24 academic year is “The Place of Memory.” The application deadline is Feb. 1. Read More

Vanderbilt-related authors will have a strong presence at the 2022 Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word, which takes place at War Memorial Plaza and Nashville Public Library Oct. 14–16. Read More

Join the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities for the Liberating Structures workshop series. Liberating Structures is a methodology grounded in the idea that the strategies commonly used to organize collaborative discussion often end up stifling creativity and a sense of belonging. Read More

Vanderbilt’s Inclusive Book Group will meet online Wednesday, Sept. 7, to discuss Nevada by Imogen Binnie. Read More

Vanderbilt University’s second Excellence in Podcasting competition was held during the spring 2022 semester. Awards were presented in April to the students whose podcast submissions exemplified the goals of the competition: using audio storytelling to communicate ideas, share perspectives, make arguments and persuade others. Read More