Chancellor Faculty Fellows

Vanderbilt University is committed to supporting and retaining outstanding faculty who have recently received tenure. The granting of tenure indicates the university’s long term commitment to these individuals. In many ways, these scholars represent the future of our institution. They offer energy and innovation for new basic discoveries, path breaking scholarship, and creative expression. As these faculty assume more senior status, it is important that Vanderbilt renew its commitment to them so as to ensure continued success in their careers that will lead to even greater national and international visibility. By investing in a select group of younger scholars from across the campus, we will not only advance their careers at a critical time, but we will also provide a forum for them to share their academic interests with others on campus that build and enrich our One Vanderbilt community.

2019 Chancellor Faculty Fellows

• Terrah Foster Akard, associate professor of nursing
• Sun-Joo Cho, associate professor of psychology and human development
• Todd Edwards, associate professor of medicine
• Christin Essin, associate professor of theatre
• William Grissom, associate professor of biomedical engineering
• Lori Jordan, associate professor of pediatrics
• Ari Joskowicz, associate professor of Jewish studies and European studies
• Bennett Landman, associate professor of electrical engineering, computer engineering and computer science
• David Michelson, associate professor of the history of Christianity
• Evelyn Patterson, associate professor of sociology
• Yesha Yadav, professor of law

Chancellor Faculty Fellows from Previous Years

Program

On a competitive basis, the Provost’s Office will award tenured associate professors (or of the equivalent rank in the Blair and Law Schools) the title of Chancellor Faculty Fellow. The designation will include funding of $40K a year for two fiscal years. Other resources available to the Fellow will remain in place and be budgeted separately. The funds are designed to support the professional development of the awardee. Each college will provide its own guidelines on what is and is not appropriate uses of this funding. There is one prohibition: these funds cannot be used to supplement existing contracted salary. If a college allows faculty to use this money for course buyouts, there is a cap for the amount that can be charged. That cap will be negotiated each year between each dean and the provost’s office prior to the awarding of Chancellor Faculty Fellows. If promotion to full professor occurs during the fellowship, the award will continue for its approved period. However, if an endowed chair or professorship is awarded to the Fellow that contains funds for research, that chair will replace the support provided through Chancellor Faculty Fellows Program. Candidates may be re-nominated for a second award period on a competitive basis and with a new nomination package.

As part of this award, the Chancellor Faculty Fellows will be expected to attend at least four CFF events each academic year. Events may include: dinner with the Board of Trust, lunches with university leaders, and workshops. The events will allow them to share academic interests and expertise, aimed at building interdisciplinary connections and fostering a broader intellectual community.

Eligibility

All faculty recently promoted to Associate Professor (tenured) within the past five years in all the schools/colleges (or of the equivalent rank in the Blair and Law Schools), who do not hold an endowed chair or professorship, and who devote the majority of their effort to excellence in fundamental research, scholarship, and/or creative work are eligible for nomination.

Preference will be given to faculty who have not had an infusion of research funding through being recently hired or having been recently retained.

Process

Department chairs and/or deans will nominate candidates. Candidates may NOT nominate themselves nor contribute supporting information to the nomination materials. The TIPs Council will review, score and rank the nominations and make recommendations to the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Final selection will be confirmed by the Chancellor.

Nomination materials for the 2020 Chancellor Faculty Fellows must be submitted via the InfoReady Review Portal by February 10, 2020. The application portal will open in December.

Questions? Please email cff@vanderbilt.edu.

Past Chancellor Faculty Fellows

2018 Chancellor Faculty Fellows (Full Biographies)

• Seth Bordenstein, associate professor of biological sciences
• Audrey Bowden, associate professor of biomedical engineering
• Craig Duvall, associate professor of biomedical engineering
• Jason Grissom, associate professor of public policy and education
• Anna Hemnes, associate professor of medicine
• Bingshan Li, associate professor of molecular physiology and biophysics
• Ebony McGee, associate professor of teaching and learning
• Vesna Pavlović, associate professor of art
• Allison Schachter, associate professor of Jewish studies
• Ganesh Sitaraman, professor of law
• Jason Valentine, associate professor of mechanical engineering
• Digna Velez Edwards, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology
• David Weaver, associate professor of pharmacology

2017 Chancellor Faculty Fellows (Full Biographies)

• Julia Phillips Cohen, associate professor of Jewish studies
• Carlos Grijalva, associate professor of health policy
• Terry Maroney, professor of law
• David Merryman, associate professor of biomedical engineering
• Jesse Peterson, associate professor of mathematics
• Renã A. S. Robinson, associate professor of chemistry
• Seth Smith, associate professor of radiology and radiological sciences
• Sonya Sterba, associate professor of psychology and human development
• Tiffiny Tung, associate professor of anthropology
• Geoffrey Woodman, associate professor of psychology
• Jamey Young, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering

2016 Chancellor Faculty Fellows (Full Biographies)

• Wenbiao Chen, associate professor of molecular physiology and biophysics
• Derek Griffith, associate professor of medicine, health, and society
• Kelly Haws, associate professor of management
• Julián Hillyer, associate professor of biological sciences
• Irina Kaverina, associate professor of cell and developmental biology
• Christopher Loss, associate professor of public policy and higher education
• Bradley Malin, associate professor of biomedical informatics
• Catherine Molineux, associate professor of history
• Kevin Niswender, associate professor of medicine
• Çağlar Oskay, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering
• Betsey Robinson, associate professor of history of art
• Robert Webster, associate professor of mechanical engineering
• Steve Wernke, associate professor of anthropology
• Christopher Williams, associate professor of medicine

2015 Faculty Fellows (Full Biographies)

• Muktar Aliyu, associate professor of health policy
• Scott Guelcher, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering
• Kelly Holley-Bockelmann, associate professor of physics and astronomy
• Peter Kolkay, associate professor of bassoon
• Borden Lacy, associate professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology
• Jens Meiler, associate professor of chemistry
• Bunmi Olatunji, associate professor of psychology
• Andrea Page-McCaw, associate professor of cell and developmental biology
• Kristopher Preacher, associate professor of quantitative methods
• Bernard Rousseau, associate professor of otolaryngology
• Sean Seymore, professor of law
• Daniel Sharfstein, professor of law
• Rachel Teukolsky, associate professor of English
• Sharon Weiss, associate professor of electrical engineering