Faculty News

Alice Randall, Andrew W. Mellon Chair in the Humanities and writer-in-residence of African American and Diaspora Studies, discusses the untold stories of Black country music in Nashville and its roots that stretch back more than 100 years ago. Read More

Mark Wollaeger, a professor of English, emeritus, former director of graduate studies in English, died on his birthday, February 19. He was 66. Wollaeger earned a bachelor of arts from Stanford University in 1979, and a Ph.D. in English from Yale University in 1986. He taught at Yale from… Read More

In 2004, a group of students attended Immaculate Conception High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Kingston, Jamaica. In August 2022, nearly 20 years later, two of those students reunited for the first time, but not at a high school reunion, as one might expect. They ran into each other… Read More

Aimi Hamraie, associate professor of medicine, health, and society, discusses opportunities to make urban environments more equitable and accessible for disabled individuals. Hamraie, whose work focuses on disability and the built environment, offers solutions for a more accessible future for all. Read More

A group of scholars who work at the intersection of gender and race in the discipline of political theory recently convened for the first time as part of the new Oxford-Vanderbilt Gender, Race, and Political Theory Project. The project is being co-convened by Shatema Threadcraft, associate professor of gender and… Read More

Data gained could help with fire activity predictions and environmental planning NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A newly developed technique is revealing how prehistoric climate change shaped fire activity in California. The new data suggest that increased climate whiplash—change between extreme wetness and dryness—occurred at the same time as increases in fire… Read More

Steven Taylor, assistant professor of physics and astronomy Stephen Taylor, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, has been elected to a two-year term to NANOGrav, an international collaboration dedicated to exploring the low-frequency gravitational wave universe through pulsar timing. See the Q&A below to learn more about… Read More

Nashville, Tenn. — While knowing the ages of stars in the galaxy was once limited to a small number of stars painstakingly analyzed one at a time, a new age-dating method developed by a cohort of Vanderbilt and other researchers now allows for age estimates to occur for tens of thousands… Read More

  Left to right: Gilbert Gonzales, Savanna Starko, John Geer, Alissa Hare, Nathan Schley, Tiffany Patterson, Elizabeth Meadows, Rupinder Saggi, Bianca Manago, Sheri Shaneyfelt, Roger Moore On December 6, the College of Arts and Science recognized nine faculty members for outstanding teaching and advising. These annual awards acknowledge faculty… Read More

> College of Arts and Science faculty members Nathan Schley, Allison Walker, and John Yang have each been awarded grants from the National Institutes of Health to continue their groundbreaking chemistry research. Known as the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA), these grants provide both new and established researchers of general… Read More

As once only imagined technologies now become reality, Chancellor’s Professor of History Michael Bess studies the ethical implications for society as the artificial intelligence race outpaces regulation. Read More

Mark Sapir, Centennial Professor of Mathematics (John Russell/Vanderbilt University) Mark V. Sapir, Centennial Professor of Mathematics, died in Nashville on Oct. 8, 2022. He was 65 years old. Sapir, who made significant research contributions in the areas of geometric group theory, semigroup theory and combinatorial algebra, was born in Russia on Feb. Read More

Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science is honored to welcome our newest faculty members for the 2022-23 academic year, who add to our growing community of distinguished scholars. “We’re thrilled to welcome these scholars as they join the talented and accomplished A&S faculty,” said John Geer, Ginny and Conner Searcy Dean… Read More

  Conservation paleobiologist Larisa DeSantis, associate professor of biological sciences, explores the intersection of climate change + evolution with her research on the extinct marsupial lion. Watch the debut episode from inter+SECTIONS, a new faculty research video series from the College of Arts and Science. Read More

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—A four-year longitudinal study of older LGBTQ+ people in the South is being conducted to better identify the sources of stress and resilience for this infrequently studied population. Led by Tara McKay, assistant professor of medicine, health, and society, and her team, the Vanderbilt University Social Networks, Aging,… Read More

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Leaders of Vanderbilt’s LGBTQ+ Policy Lab have provided the first comprehensive evidence on the effects of access to legal same-sex marriage. Their efforts revealed that marriage access impacted the LGBTQ+ community positively in multiple ways. The first-of-its-kind study, published last year, analyzed aspects of both marriage and health in… Read More

The past academic year has been monumental for A&S astronomy faculty, a small cohort achieving on a meteoric scale. Their groundbreaking findings and numerous awards have kept the department at the forefront of the discipline, as they work to enhance the scientific understanding of our universe and train future scientists… Read More

By: Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies Initiative scientific coordinator Growing up in a small community has its advantages, but if you want to learn from world experts, you may have better luck in a big city. This is the case in the world of birds as well. Read More

The National Science Board has given the 2022 Public Service Award to the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE). President of the organization, Renã AS Robinson, is an associate professor of chemistry in the College of Arts and Science. The NSB award honors… Read More

On this International Day of Women and Girls in Science, listen to some of our talented faculty describe how they’re helping to mold future generations of scientists and make the field more inclusive. … Read More