Overview

About the College of Arts and Science

The College of Arts and Science at Vanderbilt University is a highly selective liberal arts college at the heart of a major research university. It seeks to attract a diverse student body of high promise and ability from throughout the United States and the international community. Its mission is to engage in significant and innovative research, scholarship, and creative expression in the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, to offer distinguished, well-taught programs of undergraduate and graduate education in the liberal arts and sciences, and to foster service to society overall.


-The Mission Statement of the College of Arts and Science

Arts and Science Priorities

  1. Attracting the Best Students:
    Undergraduate Scholarships and Graduate Fellowships
  2. Recruiting and Retaining Top Faculty:
    Endowed Chairs
  3. Discovery Without Boundaries:
    Transinstitutional Initiatives
  4. Creating New Knowledge:
    Research and Programs
  5. New Foundations:
    Facilities and Technology
  6. Growing Support:
    Annual Giving

 

New Tenured/Tenure-track Faculty
for the 2008-2009 academic year

Carol Atkinson, Assistant Professor of Political Science
B.S. (U.S. Air Force Academy 1984); M.A. (Indiana 1985); M.A. (Air Command and Staff College 1999); M.A., Ph.D. (Duke 2002, 2003)

Chris J. Bennett, Assistant Professor of Economics
B.Comm. (Ryerson 2000); M.A. (Waterloo [Ontario] 2001); Ph.D. EXPECTED (Western Ontario 2008)

Seth R. Bordenstein, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
B.S., M.S., Ph.D. (Rochester 1997, 1999, 2002)

Giacomo Chiozza, Assistant Professor of Political Science
Master (Centro Studi Politeia, Milano 1992); Laurea (Universita degli Studi di Milano 1997); M.A., Ph.D. (Duke 2001, 2004)

Lauren R. Clay, Assistant Professor of History
B.A. (Princeton 1994); Ph.D. (Pennsylvania 2003)

Julia Phillips Cohen, Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies, Assistant Professor of History
B.A. (California, Davis 2001); Ph.D. EXPECTED (Stanford 2008)

Lesley Gill, Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the department
B.A. (Macalester College 1977); M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. (Columbia 1978, 1980, 1984)

Basak Z. Gürel, Assistant Professor of Mathematics
B.Sc., M.Sc. (Middle East Technical University [Turkey] 1998, 1999); Ph.D. (California, Santa Cruz 2003)

Leor Halevi, Associate Professor of History
B.A. (Princeton 1994); M.A. (Yale 1996); Ph.D. (Harvard 2002)

George M. Hornberger, University Distinguished Professor, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences
BSCE, MSCE (Drexel 1965, 1967); Ph.D. (Stanford 1970)

Sarah Igo, Associate Professor of History
A.B. (Harvard 1992); M.A., Ph.D. (Princeton 1997, 2001)

Cindy D. Kam, Associate Professor of Political Science
A.B. (Princeton 1996); M.A., Ph.D. (Michigan 2000, 2003)

Peter Lake, University Professor; Professor of History; Professor of the History of Christianity
B.A., Ph.D. (Cambridge 1973, 1978)

Mireille Lee, Assistant Professor of History of Art
A.B. (Occidental College 1991); M.A., Ph.D. (Bryn Mawr 1994, 1999)

David E. Lewis, Professor of Political Science
B.A. (California, Berkeley 1992); M.A. (Colorado 1996); M.A., Ph.D. (Stanford 2000)

Ole Molvig, Assistant Professor of History; Assistant Professor of Physics
B.S. (Wisconsin 1998); M.A., Ph.D. (Princeton 2000, 2006)

Denis V. Osin, Associate Professor of Mathematics
B.S., M.S., Ph.D. (Moscow State 1996, 1999)

Efrén O. Pérez, Assistant Professor of Political Science
B.A. (San Diego 1999); M.A., Ph.D. EXPECTED (Duke 2006, 2008)

Jesse D. Peterson, Assistant Professor of Mathematics
B.S. (Westmont College 2001); Ph.D. (California, Los Angeles, 2006)

Joseph L. Rife, Associate Professor of Classics
A.B. (Kenyon College 1992); M.A., Ph.D. (Michigan 1995, 1999)

Betsey Ann Robinson, Associate Professor of History of Art
A.B. (Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges 1990); ALM (Harvard University Extension School 1995); Ph.D. (Pennsylvania 2001)

Joel Rodrigue, Assistant Professor of Economics
B.A. (Manitoba 2001), M.A., Ph.D. (Queen's University 2002, 2008)

Claudia Rei, Assistant Professor of Economics
B.A. (Technical University [Lisbon] 1998); M.A. (New York 2002); Ph.D. EXPECTED (Boston 2008)

Miriam Shakow, Assistant Professor of Anthropology
B.A. (Swarthmore College 1997); Ph.D. (Harvard 2008)

Rachel Teukolsky, Assistant Professor of English
B.A. (Harvard 1996); Ph.D. (California, Berkeley 2004)

Elizabeth J. Zechmeister, Assistant Professor of Political Science; Assistant Director of the Latin American Public Opinion Project
B.A. (Loyola 1994); M.A. (Chicago 1996); Ph.D. (Duke 2003)

New or Acting Department Chairs for 2008-2009

Anthropology, new chair Lesley Gill
Art History, acting chair Vivien Fryd
Earth/Environmental Sciences, acting chair, Molly Miller
Economics, new chair Tong Li
French/Italian, new chair Lynn Ramey
Mathematics, acting chair Constantine Tsinakis
Political Science, acting chair John Geer
Sociology, new chair Katharine Donato
Film Studies, Paul Young has returned from leave
Women's and Gender Studies, interim director Charlotte Pierce-Baker