Office of the Chancellor

The Chancellor’s Lecture Series brings to Vanderbilt and the wider Nashville community intellectuals who are shaping the world today.

Each lecture – for which reservations are not required – is free and open to the public.

To receive announcements about Chancellor Lecture Series events or to ask questions, please e-mail cls@vanderbilt.edu, call (615) 322-0885 or sign up to receive updates.

2012-13 Chancellor’s Lecture Series:

September 12, 2012:

Dr. Dan Roden – Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Assistant Vice Chancellor for Personalized Medicine and Williams Stokes Chair in Experimental Therapeutics, will present “Genomes, Hype, and a Realistic Pathway to Personalized Medicine”.

Roden is widely-recognized for his expertise in clinical, genetic, cellular, and molecular basis of arrhythmia susceptibility and variability responses to arrhythmia therapies. Over the past decade, he has led Vanderbilt’s broader efforts in pharmacogenomics discovery and implementation. Currently, he directs the Vanderbilt DNA databank, BioVU and the John A. Oates Institute for Experimental Therapeutics.  Roden also serves as Principal Investigator for the Vanderbilt sites of the National Institutes of Health’s Pharmacogenomics Research Network and the National Human Genome Research Institute’s Electronic Medical Records and Genomics network.

During this lecture, Roden will lead a conversation focused on DNA, genetic variations, and the roles they play in effecting health outcomes. Against this background, he will engage us in a relevant and riveting conversation that bunks the hype and cuts right to the facts of how modern personalized medicine allows physicians to use a patient’s DNA to tailor the best possible treatment for various illnesses and conditions.  Please mark your calendars to attend this fascinating look at how merging the power of the Electronic Medical Record and genomics is changing medicine forever, and what you need to know about this rapidly changing area of health care.

208 Light Hall

Lecture 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Reception 4:30 p.m. – North Lobby Light Hall

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October 30, 2012:

Dorothy E. Roberts -  recently named Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor at the University of Pennsylvania will present “Fatal Invention: The New Biopolitics of Race” based on her latest book Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century.

An acclaimed scholar of race, gender, and the law, Roberts examines contemporary issues in health, bioethics, and social justice with a particular focus on how they affect the lives of women, children, and African-Americans. Synthesizing a range of disciplines, she sheds light on some of humanity’s most challenging issues to bring hope and awareness to underserved members our society.

Sarratt Cinema

Reception 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Lecture 5:30-6:30 p.m.

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January 31, 2013:

Nicholas Kristof, Pulitizer Prize-Winning New York Times journalist and co-author of Half the Sky, Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, will present “The World’s Women: Fighting Poverty & Repression by Empowering Women & Girls.”

Based on the book, Half the Sky, co-authored with wife and fellow Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Sheryl WuDunn, Kristof will make a passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world. Drawing on the breadth of his reporting experience, he will illuminate how the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential and how we can each do our part to support women’s empowerment worldwide.

Student Life Center

Lecture 5:30-6:30 p.m.

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March 21, 2013:

Adam Goodheart, award-winning historian, essayist, and journalist, will talk about his latest book 1861 The Civil War Awakening. Taking us from the corridors of the White House to the slums of Manhattan: from the mouth of the Chesapeake to the deserts of Nevada; from Boston Common to Alcatraz Island; Goodheart will vividly evoke the Union at this moment of ultimate crisis and decision.

Reception and book signing, 4:30-5:30 p.m., Central Library Lobby

Lecture and moderated question and answer session, 5:30-6:10 p.m., Central Library Community Room

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2011-12 Chancellor’s Lecture Series:

Photos from the Jan. 19 lecture with Lorrie Moore:

Photos from the Nov. 15 lecture with Francis Fukuyama:

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Past Lectures on Video:

Use the arrows on the screen below to scroll through past lectures.