Cambridge University Press has published Universal Human Rights in a World of Difference by Brooke Ackerly, associate professor of political science.

Jeremy Atack, professor of economics and professor of history, co-edited The Origins and Development of Financial Markets and Institutions, published by Cambridge University Press.

Darryl Bornhop, professor of chemistry, was named one of 10 finalists for the Association for Laboratory Automation’s annual innovation award. 

The Blue Star by Tony Earley, Samuel Milton Fleming Associate Professor of English, was recognized by The New York Times Book Review as one of the “100 Notable Books of 2008.” USA Today named it one of the top 10 books of 2008.

Tony Earley and The Blue Star

Brandt Eichman, assistant professor of biological sciences and assistant professor of biochemistry, has received the Young Investigator Award from scientific research society Sigma XI. 

Fanning

Ellen Fanning, Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences, and Thomas J. Weiler, professor of physics, have been awarded Humboldt Research Awards in recognition of lifetime achievements. 

Seeing Mexico Photographed: The Work of Horne, Casasola, Modotti and Álvarez Bravo by Leonard Folgarait, professor of history of art, was published by Yale University Press. 

American Crucible by Gary Gerstle, James G. Stahlman Professor of American History, has been chosen as a Best Book for a Transformative New Year by NPR’s Fresh Air. 

Jennifer Lena, assistant professor of sociology, and Sarah Igo, associate professor of history, will serve as co-chairs of the Culture Network of the Social Science History Association from October 2008-2011. 

Gerstle

The Divine Nature of Power by Tracy G. Miller, associate professor of history of art, received the Southeastern College Art Conference Award for Excellence in Scholarly Research and Publication. 

Assistant Professor of History Catherine Molineux’s Pleasures of the Smoke has been named co-winner of the 2008 James L. Clifford Prize from American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. 

Michael Nelson, adjunct professor of political science, won the V.O. Key Book Award for How the South Joined the Gambling Nation: The Politics of State Policy Innovation.

Moses Ochonu, assistant professor of history, has been awarded a Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Grant.

Thomas Schwartz, professor of history, has been awarded the 2008 Annual Alumni Education Award from the Vanderbilt Alumni Association. He has also received the Book Award by Chi Chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order. 

John Sloop, professor of communication studies and associate dean of the College of Arts and Science, has been awarded the prestigious 2008 Charles H. Woolbert Research Award by the National Communications Association. Sloop was honored for his influential 1995 co-authored essay, “The Critique of Vernacular Discourse.” 

Gary Sulikowski, Stevenson Professor of Chemistry, has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Robert Talisse, associate professor of philosophy, and Scott Aikin, PhD’06, have published Pragmatism: A Guide for the Perplexed.

Sulikowski

David Petrain, assistant professor of classics, and Tracy G. Miller, associate professor of history of art, have been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

Elizabeth Zechmeister, assistant professor of political science, has been awarded a National Science Foundation grant for research on “The Effects of Terrorist Threats on Democratic Support in Liberal and Illiberal Democracies.”

The College of Arts and Science presented 2008 teaching awards to faculty members in a variety of disciplines. Nathalie Debrauwere-Miller, assistant professor of French, received the Jeffrey Nordhaus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in the Humanities;Terry Page, professor of biological sciences, received the Jeffrey Nordhaus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in the Natural Sciences; and Katherine Crawford, associate professor of history, received the Jeffrey Nordhaus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in the Social Sciences. The Harriet S. Gilliam Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Lecturer or Senior Lecturer was awarded to Michelle Sulikowski, senior lecturer in chemistry. The Ernest A. Jones Faculty Adviser Award was presented to Roger E. Moore, senior lecturer in English. The Alumni Outstanding Freshman Adviser Award was presented to Senior Lecturer Julia Fesmire of the Women’s and Gender Studies program. Gregg Horowitz, associate professor of philosophy, received the 2008 Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching. Jon Kaas, Centennial Professor of Psychology, was honored with the 2008 Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentoring. Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Awards were awarded to Danielle Kurin, anthropology, and Matt Whitt, philosophy.

Michael Bess, Chancellor’s Professor of History, and Jay Bloom, assistant professor of history of art, have received 2008 fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). ACLS fellowships and grants are awarded to individual scholars for excellence in research in the humanities and related social sciences.

William Caferro, professor of history, received the 2009 Otto Gründler Prize for his book, John Hawkwood: An English Mercenary in Fourteenth Century Italy. 

Anastasia Curwood, assistant professor of African American and diaspora studies, received the Woodrow Wilson Career Enhancement Fellowship for junior faculty.

Ellen Fanning, Stevenson Professor of Molecular Biology, has been named a fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She was also recently elected to the German National Academy of Science (Duetsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina), the world’s oldest continuously existing academy for medicine and natural sciences.

The trade paperback version of Investing in College: A Guide for the Perplexed by Malcolm Getz, associate professor of economics, was published by Harvard University Press in September. Harvard first published the hardcover edition in March 2007.

Victoria Greene, professor of physics, has been appointed executive dean in the College of Arts and Science.

Arts, Inc., a cultural assessment of the U.S. arts system by Bill Ivey, director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy, has been published by the University of California Press.

John Janusek, associate professor of anthropology, has received a Dumbarton Oaks Fellowship in Pre-Columbian Studies for 2008–2009.

Gary Jensen, professor of sociology, has been appointed editor of the journal, Homicide Studies.

David E. Lewis, professor of political science, has been awarded the Herbert A. Simon Best Book Award for The Politics of Presidential Appointments: Political Control and Bureaucratic Performance. 

Richard Lloyd, assistant professor of sociology, has been appointed consulting editor of the American Journal of Sociology.

John McLean, assistant professor of chemistry, received a 2008 research award from the American Society for Mass Spectrometry and a 2008 Starter Grant Award from the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh/Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh.

Dana Nelson, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English and American studies, has been elected to the American Antiquarian Society.

Antonis Rokas, assistant professor of biological sciences, has been named a 2008 Searle Scholar. The honor, given to exceptional young faculty in the biomedical sciences and chemistry, is accompanied by a $300,000 research grant. 

Allison Schachter, assistant professor of Jewish studies and English, was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities summer grant.

Robert Scherrer, professor of physics and chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, co-authored “The End of Cosmology,” the cover story of the March 2008 Scientific American journal. 

Robert B. Talisse, associate professor of philosophy and political science, has been appointed editor of Public Affairs Quarterly.

Lenn E. Goodman and his wife, Roberta Goodman

Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos honored several arts and science professors with 2008 faculty awards. David Wood, Centennial Professor of Philosophy, received the Joe B. Wyatt Distinguished University Professor Award, given annually in honor of faculty whose contributions span multiple academic disciplines. Daniel B. Cornfield, professor of sociology and director of the Vanderbilt Center for Nashville Studies, received the Harvie Branscomb Distinguished Professor Award for distinguished accomplishments at furthering the aims of Vanderbilt University. Stephen G. Buckles, senior lecturer in economics, received the Madison Sarratt Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. The 2008 Thomas Jefferson Award, made annually for distinguished service through extraordinary contributions in the councils and government of the university, was awarded to Randolph Blake, Centennial Professor of Psychology. Douglas G. McMahon, professor of biological sciences and director of graduate studies, Tracy G. Miller, associate professor of history of art, Frank Tong, associate professor of psychology, and Mark A. Wollaeger, professor of English, were honored with 2008 Chancellor’s Awards for Research. Lenn E. Goodman, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and professor of philosophy, received the Earl Sutherland Prize for Achievement in Research, given annually for achievements in research, scholarship or creative expression that have had significant critical reception and recognition nationally or internationally.

Andreas Berlind, assistant professor of physics and astronomy, received one million cpu-hours of computing time on the TeraGrid, a National Science Foundation-funded program. Berlind will use the research time on national supercomputers to simulate the evolution of dark matter.  

The first Chancellor’s Chair in History was awarded to Michael Bess, professor of history, who specializes in twentieth-century European history.  

Barbara Hahn, Distinguished Professor of German, and Michael Bess, Chancellor’s Professor of History, have been awarded 2008 Guggenheim Fellowships. These competitive awards provide funding in the arts, sciences and other forms of scholarship. 

Tom D. Dillehay, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and department chair, has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The academy annually elects as new fellows the finest minds and most influential leaders of our day.   

Chancellor Zeppos surprises Molly Miller during class.

In Defense of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns by John Geer, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, has been awarded the Goldsmith Book Prize of the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University. The prize goes to an academic book that best improves government.  

Larry Isaac, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and professor of American studies, received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship Award for 2008.  

Molly Miller, professor of earth and environmental sciences, received the 2007 Chancellor’s Cup, given annually in recognition of the greatest contribution outside the classroom to undergraduate student-faculty relations.

“Endangered Still Life, #7” by Ron Porter, senior lecturer in art, took top prize in the Red Clay Survey at the Huntsville Museum of Art.

Dieter Sevin, professor of Germanic languages and literatures and chair of the department, was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (das Bundesverdienstkreuz). The Order of Merit is the highest tribute of the Federal Republic of Germany for services to the nation.   

Photo by Daniel Dubois.