From the Director

Culture, Advocacy, and Leadership is an interdisciplinary program that marries intellectual creativity, rigorous scholarship, experiential learning, and civic engagement. Because it is unique to Vanderbilt, students who graduate with a CAL major will stand out from the pack when they apply for jobs, pursue graduate studies, or seek internships.

Designed for students who want to make a difference in the world, CAL builds the knowledge, values, and skills needed to improve people, communities, and society. By bridging what students learn in the classroom with the larger community—whether in Nashville, across the nation, or around the world—CAL brings together a rich understanding of human culture with an ethical sense of advocacy and widely applicable leadership skills. As a result, the program prepares students for a wide range of advanced studies or career paths. As you’ll discover, every pathway after graduation needs someone who understands cultural diversity, who can advocate effectively, and who can lead with integrity.

That’s why the program of study in CAL is both structured and individualized. Students complete a series of required courses and select courses within an “area focus” designed around the particular civic problems that excite them. All CAL majors undertake a practicum project or internship experience in conjunction with a community partner to put their classroom learning into action.

Our students’ interests range from law and justice to sports and society, pop culture and music to climate justice and community, race and diaspora to migration and belonging, and religion and reform to health and equity. They join CAL because the program helps them develop the skills and perspectives that they can use in whichever area of public life they find most compelling.

If you’re interested in making meaningful change in the world and addressing complex problems through an interdisciplinary perspective, CAL is the major for you. Explore our course offerings, our major and minor, possible areas of focus, our events, and our people.  And feel free to contact me or the director of undergraduate studies if you want to learn more.

Paul Stob
Director, Program in Culture, Advocacy, and Leadership
Director, A&S College Core
Professor of Communication Studies