News Story Category
Six A&S students selected for U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship Program
Jul. 16, 2021—The U.S. Department of State has selected six students studying foreign languages at Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and Science to receive the 2021 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS). Through the competitive program, CLS scholars will receive intensive language instruction and structured cultural enrichment experiences through partnership with local institutions in countries where the languages are commonly...
A&S faculty reflect on the importance of Juneteenth
Jun. 19, 2021—Today, June 19, marks 156 years since Union Army General Gordon Granger proclaimed freedom from slavery in the state of Texas—the last state where the Emancipation Proclamation was enforced. At the time, an estimated 250,000 people were still enslaved in Texas. What began as an annual celebration in Texas’ Black community has grown to become...
Anthropology department’s women Ph.D grads diversify, and change, the field
May. 3, 2021—Founded in 1987, the College of Arts and Science’s Department of Anthropology has been a leader in Andean archaeology, an important subdiscipline that studies some of the world’s earliest human settlements. In recent years, the department has maintained that leadership position by diversifying its small Ph.D. cohorts and more recently, by diversifying the faculty. The...
Department of Medicine, Health, and Society expands collaborative potential with new hires
Apr. 20, 2021—In 2007, Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and Science launched an innovative new major called Medicine, Health, and Society (MHS). From attracting just 40 enrollees in its first year, the interdisciplinary program has grown rapidly into one of A&S’s most popular majors. More than 700 undergraduate students are now studying toward an MHS degree, and MHS...
Cinema and Media Arts students use capstone projects to develop themselves as world citizens
Apr. 20, 2021—For students in the Department of Cinema and Media Arts (CMA), senior year involves an important rite of passage: the capstone seminar. Required for every CMA major, the seminar brings together the department’s unique blend of theory and practice. While most film departments around the country focus on training either film scholars (theory) or filmmakers...
Former Tennessee governor Phil Bredesen talks problem-solving, cross-cultural respect at physics colloquium
Apr. 20, 2021—The Department of Physics and Astronomy hosted former Tennessee governor Phil Bredesen at an April 8 colloquium attended by students, faculty, and other members of the Vanderbilt community. In a lecture followed by a question-and-answer session with attendees, Bredesen shared the value of scientific frameworks for problem-solving and emphasized the need for cross-cultural respect in...
College of Arts and Science faculty share recommendations for reading women authors
Mar. 25, 2021—Women’s History Month is both an opportunity and an invitation: an opportunity to learn more about an often-hidden side of history and culture, and an invitation to develop a new awareness, concerns, and habits of learning that can carry through the rest of the year. As part of the College of Arts and Science’s celebration...
College of Arts and Science recognizes faculty and graduate students for excellence in teaching and advising
Mar. 24, 2021—On March 24, the College of Arts and Science recognized 19 outstanding faculty members and graduate students for excellence in teaching and advising. These awards are an important part of the Arts and Science tradition, and past recipients include some of the most distinguished and beloved professors and instructors in the history of Vanderbilt. The...
New research uncovers crucial role of activist lawyers in expanding women’s rights
Mar. 8, 2021—The history of women’s rights in the United States is inextricable from the history of social movements. In the nineteenth century, married women fought for legal personhood and the right to own property independent of their husbands. In the early 1900s, women mobilized for the right to vote. And beginning in the 1960s, “second-wave” feminists...
Love of Hebrew and Yiddish leads Allison Schachter to hidden stories of women authors
Mar. 2, 2021—Allison Schachter, an associate professor of Jewish studies, English, and Russian and East European studies, never intended to end up in her current field. After studying French and Hebrew as an undergraduate, she entered graduate school for comparative literature and planned to focus on seventeenth-century drama. But her love of learning new languages repeatedly drew...