Profiles
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.
Public Policy through an Economics Lens: Lesley Turner, associate professor of economics
Oct. 2, 2019—One of the hottest policy discussions today centers on college affordability and the role government can play in making higher education accessible to more students. Lesley Turner blends a passion for public policy with the tools of economics in search of those answers.
Elsa Mercado Sanchez, PhD’20 | Stronger together: the future of VU’s Latinx community
Sep. 27, 2019—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 parents, but college was never a guarantee. Mercado Sanchez’s parents...
Find Your Impact: Jeffrey Bennett shows how much words matter in the treatment of diabetes
Sep. 24, 2019—September 24, 2019—Communication studies professor Jeffrey Bennett wants everyone to understand how the way we talk about health shapes the way we understand and treat disease.