Profiles
A Bus Ride to Smile About: Dara Johnson, BA’20
May. 20, 2020—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 hometown, and she’s working to...
Communication Studies Professor Organizes Pandemic Help for Healthcare Workers
May. 4, 2020—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 Tennessee to her current campaign to provide resources...
Derek Griffith | Seeing men’s health through a new lens
Feb. 28, 2020— 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 chance to make a big difference....
How to produce an investigative podcast: Expert advice from podcast host Chip Brantley, BA’95
Feb. 11, 2020—Chip Brantley, BA’95, explains the steps that went into producing , a podcast about the 1965 unsolved murder of a white Unitarian minister and civil rights activist named James Reeb.
Allison Booher | BA’21 Latin American Studies & Neuroscience
Jan. 30, 2020—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 of Arts and Science—but then a...
Professor, Chemist, Mentor: Steve Townsend, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Oct. 28, 2019—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 Townsend’s professional success. This year alone,...
At the Intersection of Black Expressive Culture: Emily Lordi, associate professor of English
Oct. 2, 2019—Black feminist scholars. Bessie Smith. James Baldwin. Beyoncé. All have been the subject of Emily Lordi’s academic and public scholarly work.
‘Ethics Backwards and Forwards’: Diana B. Heney, assistant professor of philosophy and Greg S. Allen Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Philosophy
Oct. 2, 2019—“How do I flourish in the long shadow of my own death?” That is a question, says Diana B. Heney, assistant professor of philosophy, that everyone must answer for themselves. In an undergraduate course she is teaching this fall on death and dying, her students are asked to consider that question and more, including how philosophy intersects...
Interpreting Politics’ Impact on Daily Life: John Sides, professor of political science
Oct. 2, 2019—John Sides has a maxim he likes to share with students. “I tell my students that you don’t have to like politics in order to care about them,” says the political scientist and writer, who joins Vanderbilt’s faculty this year.
The Poetics and Politics of Black Literature: Anthony Reed, associate professor of English
Oct. 2, 2019—Anthony Reed’s deep interest in the intersections between black literary forms and politics was sparked during the 1980s, when, as a child, he discovered hip-hop and rap music.