From the Dean | September 2022
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Dear Arts and Science community, As a major research university, Vanderbilt attracts some of the most accomplished, visionary, and pathbreaking scholars in the world. As a result, our faculty in the College of Arts and Science are engaged in discovery and creativity that is changing the way we understand and live in our world. A necessary part of our research endeavor is securing external funding. In recent years, the college has made a concerted effort to support our faculty in securing grants by expanding our Research Office. In addition, Chancellor Diermeier and Provost Raver have prioritized growing the university’s scholarly footprint, especially as we seek to increase our global presence. I want to draw particular attention to Provost Raver’s many initiatives designed to build a stronger grant culture in the college and university, which includes hiring new faculty and ensuring we have the needed infrastructure to support our research mission. These multi-pronged efforts are paying off in significant ways. A&S faculty—across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences—have seen a nearly 20% gain in external grants over the last four years. We have secured funding from the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, National Institutes of Health, National Endowment for the Humanities, Ford Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and many other leading funders. However, it’s not the financial value or the source of these grants that really matters, but the impact this work has on society. Consider the following: Thilo Womelsdorf, professor of psychology, was awarded a $3.4 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study drugs that may help those diagnosed with schizophrenia. The college’s Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies (CLACX) received a $1.7 million U.S. Department of Education grant to expand and innovate curriculum and increase public awareness of Latin American studies. The grant also designates CLACX as a National Resource Center for Latin America, the highest recognition an academic center can receive. This support serves as an important complement to the work of the Latin American Public Opinion Project, which, under the leadership of Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Political Science Elizabeth Zechmeister, has secured $10 million in funding from USAID. With her newest grant, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair and Professor of Art, has now secured more than $1 million from the Ford Foundation to enhance the visibility of the arts in Nashville and across the state. The grant will also expand the work of the Engine for Art, Democracy, and Justice initiative, which she founded, which explores how art can lead to positive social change and a brighter future for humanity. These are but a few examples of how grants are supporting crucial research in the college. From how the brain processes memory and learning, to the health effects of same-sex marriage on LGBTQ populations, to how public-private partnerships impact the quality of education, to ways to combat childhood obesity, to the first literature professor to ever receive funding from the NIH, to discovering new stars, this work gives life to innovations that improve our world. At our core, we are a community of discoverers. It is what fuels and inspires us. It is what compels us to push boundaries, dig deeper, embrace nuance, and open our minds. It is the Vanderbilt Way. My best,
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