Adrienne Burns

The College of Arts and Science has announced the recipients of the 2021-2023 Dean’s Faculty Fellowships. Seven junior faculty members from diverse areas of expertise were recognized by the dean for their extraordinary promise in their respective fields. They join the existing group three faculty members who were awarded 2020-2022… Read More

Vanderbilt University’s first ROTC cadet corps poses for a farewell photo near what is now the main entrance to campus. They left shortly after to serve in World War I. A little more than one hundred years ago, rows of young men stood at attention for a portrait in front… Read More

As public health officials tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, they face an overwhelming number of factors that affect the virus’s spread. Population density, economic challenges, adherence to social distancing measures—they all play a part in determining the rise or fall of infection rates. And the results of efforts to “flatten the… Read More

After much planning and consideration, Vanderbilt has released a plan for how it will approach the fall 2020 semester. College of Arts and Science Dean John Geer also sent specific messages to A&S staff, undergraduate students, and graduate students. Read More

THE WORK “What are the burdens we carry?” For three years, Associate Professor of the Practice of Art Jana Harper has been exploring and answering that question through her project This Holding. “That question multiplied into other questions,” Harper said. “What might those… Read More

Amidst all the uncertainty caused by COVID-19, one constant has held: researchers across the College of Arts and Science have dedicated their efforts to understanding the virus, how to control it, and how it impacts our communities. Jennifer Trueblood, associate professor of psychology, and… Read More

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Steve Townsend Assistant Professor of Chemistry Steve Townsend has been named to this year’s class of Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awardees. Every year, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation supports the careers of a select number of faculty in the chemical… Read More

Dara Johnson insists she wants to spend time after graduation on a bus—a mobile dental clinic, to be exact. The Montgomery, Alabama, native is well-versed in the power of buses for social change. From Rosa Parks to the Freedom Riders, buses have been a potent symbol of change in Johnson’s… Read More

Claire Sisco King will be the first to say that she isn’t an activist. But, looking at her pursuits over the past six weeks, you might have a hard time envisioning her as anything but. From working with physicians to create a petition for stay-at-home orders in… Read More

     After years of seeing a decline in men’s health, Derek Griffith knew there was a better approach to improve health outcomes. As a clinical and community psychologist leading the first university-wide center in the U.S. focused on men’s health and health equity, he knew he had a… Read More

In middle school, Allison Booher (BA’21) already knew she wanted to be a doctor. Since then, she has set out on a pursuit to make it a reality. When Booher enrolled at Vanderbilt, she charted out a traditional path to medical school as a biochemistry major in the College… Read More

On November 20, in a dimly lit Neely Auditorium, the Greek heroine Antigone stood center stage. She was in anguish and held a white balloon against her body. She popped the balloon, projecting red confetti into the air, and fell to the floor. Her fiancé, Haemon, entered the scene and… Read More

Steve Townsend’s office has a lot of the hallmarks you would expect to find in a chemistry professor’s office: models of chemical bonds sitting on the desk, academic and industry awards lining the bookshelf, and published papers pinned to the corkboard outside. But these ordinary items also hint at… Read More

What is the future of the humanities at Vanderbilt? That question was top of mind for Holly Tucker, Mellon Foundation Chair in the Humanities and Professor of French, as she planned this year’s Humanities 20/20 mini-conference. Hosted by the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, which Tucker directs,… Read More

The College of Arts and Science was pleased to welcome 37 new, full-time faculty members this year. These scholars hail from top universities around the world and represent some of the most innovative thinking and cutting-edge research in their respective fields.   Their work ranges from Matthew Congdon’s study of… Read More

Roy Blount Jr., BA’63, and John Hindle, BA’68, PhD’81, are among the six recipients to be honored by the Vanderbilt Alumni Association Board. Blount will receive the Alumni Professional Achievement Award that recognizes alumni who have distinguished themselves through their professional accomplishments, and whose contributions honor the legacy of excellence… Read More

Black feminist scholars. Bessie Smith. James Baldwin. Beyoncé. All have been the subject of Emily Lordi’s academic and public scholarly work. Read More

Elsa Mercado Sanchez has not always had a clear or easy path to the Ph.D. she is pursuing. She grew up in an urban, racially-segregated neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wis., with Mexican immigrant parents who didn’t speak much English. Education was a top priority for her… Read More

Thames Street in Newport, Rhode Island is a picturesque street in a picturesque New England town. Upscale shops, Gilded Age mansions, and boutique inns draw in tourists every summer. But for a few days of the season, this small corner of Newport is also a hub for scholarly progress. On… Read More

A&S alumna and former head of Nashville nonprofit FiftyForward looks back on 50 years of work in the community Janet Jernigan has never seen herself as exceptional. As an undergraduate English major at Vanderbilt in the mid-1960’s, she saw herself as simply a reflection of all the other young… Read More