Katharine Donato, sociology chair

Sometimes new leaders make their mark on an organization by changing everything. Fortunately for the Department of Sociology, new chair Katharine Donato doesn’t hold that philosophy. Instead Donato is building on the strengths of the programs in place to generate growth.

“This is not a department that needs an overhaul,” says Donato, professor of sociology, who joined Vanderbilt in 2006. “It runs very smoothly. My colleagues are very productive, grounded people. That makes them a pleasure to work with personally and professionally.”

The productivity of the sociology faculty is made all the more remarkable by the relatively small size of the department. Sociology, Donato explains, is a very broad field. The American Sociological Association lists 41 different sections of study. The College of Arts and Science’s sociology department concentrates on eight sections, in addition to teaching an overview of sociology in general. “Some sociology departments will list 15. We’re a fairly small faculty to cover eight areas,” she says. “What is remarkable is we really do cover those areas.”

The sociology faculty, which currently numbers 16, concentrates on teaching and research in the areas of health and medicine; cities, states, and political economy; race, ethnicity, and immigration; deviant behavior; arts and culture; gender and sexuality; work, labor, and occupations; and social movements. Their work is published in scholarly journals, two of which—Work and Occupations and Homicide Studies—are housed in the department. Starting in January 2010, the prestigious American Sociological Review—considered as the flagship journal in the field—will also come to Vanderbilt. Donato, Associate Professor Tony Brown, Professor Holly McCammon and Distinguished Professor of Sociology Larry Isaac were recently chosen as editors. 

Relational Focus

Donato intends for the department to grow in the 2009-2010 academic year by adding new faculty positions and projects. It will grow smartly, she says, with continued focused attention on research and mentoring students. “I want to keep pushing so that we hire the best faculty and bring in the highest quality graduate students, and that both grow,” she says.

Emily Tanner-Smith, who graduates with her Ph.D. in sociology in May, was drawn to the program because of its small size. Having attended a small liberal arts college for her undergraduate degree, she wanted something larger, but not by too much. “I felt like I could get the one-on-one relationship with the faculty and that mentoring relationships could be built,” Tanner-Smith says. “I had an idea of what I wanted to study, but I wasn’t positive. With the breadth of the faculty members’ research interests, I knew I wouldn’t be locked in if I changed my mind.”

With the broad reach of the field of sociology, the faculty finds plenty of opportunity to research jointly with others on campus. The Center for Medicine, Health and Society, Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy, and Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and the Environment all have ties to the sociology department through cross-discipline research or shared professors.

“Most of us work at the interstices of these areas, as well as within them,” says Jennifer Lena, assistant professor of sociology. “This affords us particular advantages—we’re all interesting people and interested in one another. We are all broadly read across the discipline and we work with ease on interdisciplinary projects like the medicine, health and society program, or Jewish studies.”

Assistant Professor Shaul Kelner’s Tourism, Culture and Place class.

Healthy Growth

One interdisciplinary project includes interviewing Nashville residents on a wide variety of health indicators. Students use data from the Nashville Health Survey to discuss the survey methods and analyze results. When complete, Donato hopes that findings from the survey will lead to “interesting and important policy recommendations for the city.” 

In a new initiative, the department is teaming with Meharry Medical College on a health policy funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. As part of that initiative, graduate students will become foundation fellows, participate in Meharry’s new Center for Health Policy and pursue doctorates in sociology in the College of Arts and Science.

Health-related work is both a strength and an area in which the department can continue to grow, Donato believes. As part of her research, she studies the relationship between migration and health. “We, as a social science discipline, have a long-standing history of writing on health issues,” she says. “Any courses that we offer in health, broadly speaking, fill up immediately.” 

Jennifer Lena, assistant professor, discusses campus creativity.

Emphasis on Research

Research plays a major role in the activity of the department. “Research is what we do and what we are expected to do,” Isaac says. “It is at the heart of the scholarly mission. When we refer to research we generally mean the ongoing process of maintaining command of a particular field of inquiry—necessary for high-quality undergraduate and graduate teaching—and our individual and collective contributions to advance the field—necessary for graduate teaching.” 

The emphasis on research strengthens the department’s 25–30 graduate students, who often work with professors on research topics, earning not only valuable experience, but also publication credit. The department’s prolific research has had an unexpected effect—professors sometimes have difficulty finding enough graduate students who are available to participate in new research projects. To that end, Donato anticipates small growth in the graduate program along with the addition of new faculty.

Research alone isn’t enough to prepare students for future careers in academia. At the graduate level, students are required to take a teaching seminar. “We do mostly research with the graduate students, but then we add that applied piece which rounds them out as new Ph.D.s,” Donato says. “It’s not only about your ideas; it’s about how you get those ideas across.”

Koji Ueno, PhD’04, and currently assistant professor at Florida State University, says the teaching seminar plus the dual emphasis on teaching and research made him a better sociologist. “The extensive and individualized feedback and mentoring from faculty tremendously helped me develop my research agendas and methodological skills to become an independent researcher,” he says. “I also took advantage of the excellent course for sociology instruction as well as the opportunities to guest lecture and teach my own summer course. I felt confident about my teaching when I received my doctoral degree.”

In this global, fast-changing, digital age, people in business need to know more than just business. That’s why the Managerial Studies program in the College of Arts and Science combines a liberal arts education—cultivating creativity, knowledge, innovation and the ability to think critically—with a strategic foundation in business methods.

The Managerial Studies program complements a student’s liberal arts major with the addition of a minor or specific courses in business. That union prepares students for life after college and has won approval from business leaders, students, parents and faculty alike. 

Focusing on the liberal arts allows students to find their hearts and souls, and to study topics for which they have passion, says William Damon, professor of economics and director of the Managerial Studies program. “Their majors provide a broad base of knowledge and then managerial studies provides the tools to help them shape their careers.”

A diversity of majors adds depth to group presentations by students.

The program offers minors in three areas: corporate strategy, financial economics, and leadership and organization. Currently, more than 1,400 students are enrolled in managerial studies courses, making it one of the most popular campuswide. Last year, students from more than 32 majors and four Vanderbilt schools selected managerial studies as their minor.

“The Managerial Studies program delivers an alternative model to the business major, one that we think is better,” says Cherrie Clark, associate director of the program and associate professor of managerial studies. “Being able to draw students from throughout the university brings depth to classroom discussions. It’s a different classroom and different perspective than one would find at a school with a traditional undergraduate business program.”

The program’s three tracks have drawn future entrepreneurs, business people, doctors, lawyers, artists and other professionals. The track in corporate strategy explores the methods businesses use to create competitive advantage in the marketplace. Financial economics develops understanding of financial markets, corporate finance, personal wealth management and government. The third track, leadership and organization, focuses on how to be effective, successful leaders. 

Understanding how business operates helps students apply the knowledge they’ve gained in their majors. Jacqueline Kumar will graduate in May with a major in psychology and double managerial studies minor in corporate strategy and leadership and organizations. The Memphis native has completed two internships in human resources, her chosen field. “I had not really taken any managerial studies classes when I started the first internship,” she says. “I realized that HR is people skills, but now know that in order to be a successful, strategic partner, you need to understand core business processes. I really appreciate the corporate strategy that is more numbers-based. I’ve become stronger and I understand things a little better.”

Real-World Applications

Managerial studies grew out of the economics department, then known as economics and business administration, nine years ago. Initially the program had one professor and one senior lecturer. Today the program has grown to include four full-time faculty and 13 adjunct professors, most of whom have executive experience at top corporations.

Having so many professors with corporate backgrounds gives the program credibility with students, Clark says. She brings experience as a partner in the computer-based education firm Executive Perspectives and as a consultant with Bain & Company. “Students often wonder ‘How does this work in the real world? How am I going to use this?’ Our professors are able to share first-hand knowledge on how classroom concepts can translate to the business world,” Clark says.

Associate Professor of Managerial Studies Cherrie Clark.

Clark uses her business contacts to bring in outside guest speakers who provide additional real-world knowledge, experience and career advice. She says that because they speak from experience, speakers can provide valuable knowledge and career direction that is on target. 

Zhou Zhang, a 2007 graduate now working at Wachovia in Charlotte, N.C., found the guest speakers “gave us a lot more breadth of what you can do, how things apply, and what kind of options were out there.” The courses she took in financial economics contrasted with the individual study that marked her double major in mathematics and economics. Managerial studies courses offered “more of a real world application. With a lot of heavy math classes, it’s all about theories. With the managerial studies classes, there’s a lot of practical application,” Zhang says.

Opportunities and Passions

Some of the popularity of the program, which graduated 230 minors in spring 2008, may start with parents, Damon believes. “We know that some parents, while they see the value in a liberal arts education, are also saying ‘Have some idea about what’s going to happen next.’” One goal of the Managerial Studies program is to help students identify opportunities for combining their passions with business. The three-course sequence in entrepreneurship has been particularly effective in meeting this goal, he says.

The ultimate goal of the Managerial Studies program is to allow students to build upon their liberal arts education, Damon and Clark say. The popularity of the program, however, leaves the program directors with the challenge of balancing an appropriate
number of course offerings with the traditional liberal arts education. “We have some students who would take every course offered in managerial studies,” Damon says. “But if they’re taking all of our courses, they’re not taking the courses where they have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to broaden their view of the world. That goes against the basic philosophy of the liberal arts.”

Damon and Clark believe that a liberal arts education is the best preparation for life as well as the best preparation for business. And that is not just the educators’ opinion. “We’re listening to Arts and Science alumni, individuals who majored in history, philosophy and psychology, for example, and who have gone on to achieve great success in the business world; we’re listening to our guest speakers at the upper levels of business,” Damon says. “They say liberal arts is the way to go.”

Students Logan Van Meter and David Nelson at an Internally Displaced Persons camp.

One undergraduate travels to Jamaica to research whether the health clinic is open when the population needs it most. Another works with a local hospice. A third studies the effect of literacy on diabetics’ renal function.

Vanderbilt has always strived to educate its students so they will go forth and contribute as leaders after they graduate. But why wait?

From this philosophy, a new College of Arts and Science major, medicine, health and society (MHS), was born. Using an interdisciplinary and transinstitutional framework, MHS encourages students to examine the local, national and international forces that affect medicine, health and society. Courses and seminars cover topics including the correlation of health care and diseases, the doctor/patient relationship, economic and legal barriers to quality care, cultural and global concerns, the history of medicine, and gaps in the infrastructure of public health systems. Students then have an opportunity to participate in internships to confront problems in real-time settings, such as hospitals, hospices, public health clinics, homeless shelters and international relief agencies. 

Passion, Service and Research Combined

“I think a lot of our students come to our program because they want to change the world,” says Arleen Tuchman, professor of history and director of the Center for Medicine, Health and Society. “They’re learning how to reflect on this impulse or this passion that they have, and they’re being encouraged to think about how to combine service and research.”

Vanderbilt students are flocking to participate in this innovative intersection of humanities, social sciences and medicine. Now tagged as the hottest new major on campus, it has grown from 29 declared majors in the fall of 2006 to 175 majors today–with no plateau in sight. “There’s a buzz on campus,” Tuchman says. And students and faculty alike share the excitement.

“These are students who want their shot at some sort of transformative experience,” says Greg Barz, associate professor of anthropology, associate professor of musicology, and associate professor of music and religion. “I see them as intellectual risk-takers. I see them taking leaps off cliffs in terms of what they’re willing to think about, and what boxes they’re willing to think outside of. Plus, the courses are cool.”

Barz, for example, teaches a course about East African medicine and society, and works with Vanderbilt’s Kampala Project, which includes a four-week, on-the-ground, service-learning component in Uganda. Students chosen for the course attend a spring semester class introducing the health issues of East Africa, with a particular focus on HIV/AIDS. They then travel with Barz for a May session internship in Kampala, where each works in a clinic, school, orphanage, hospital or outreach
center. 

The Kampala Project is now co-sponsored by The Commons (see related story on page 20), with the intent of providing international opportunities for first-year students who will return to the university and share their experiences with peers and teachers.

“We wanted them young, so they would come back and change Vanderbilt,” Barz explains. “From their first steps on campus, these kids are being given an opportunity to become global citizens.” 

Kampala’s chaotic taxi park.

Diverse Disciplines Encourage Diversity of Thought

Another hallmark of the major is the way it fosters cross-campus exchange. Instructors assemble from many departments in the College of Arts and Science and from other Vanderbilt schools, as well as the medical center.  

This interdisciplinary diversity broaches a wide range of thought-provoking topics. For instance, Holly Tucker, associate professor of French and associate director of MHS, teaches a course on medicine and literature; David Boyd, who holds a doctorate in medieval studies and has worked in hospital administration, has created a course on death and dying; and physician Frank Boehm leads a class in controversies in modern medicine. School of Nursing Associate Professor and Vanderbilt Distinguished Alumna Carol Etherington instructs students about risks and responsibilities in caring for vulnerable populations.

Tuchman has high praise for her faculty, pointing out just some of what each brings to their classes. “What I appreciate about Carol Etherington is her whole commitment to teaching students, who want to save the world, to examine their motivations. She wants them to begin thinking responsibly about the kinds of interventions that they are either supporting or enacting. And she wants them to make sure that, in the end, their work is actually benefiting the people they’re trying to help.”

In this same vein, Barbara Clinton, who directs Vanderbilt’s Center for Health Services, will guide a class that seeks insight from community leaders into the most pressing issues facing their constituencies. Tuchman says the point is “that those of us who are in academic settings and have resources and research tools should be working with community leaders to help them solve the problems they consider most urgent.”

Unique Perspectives for Premed

Many MHS majors continue on to graduate programs in nursing, public health, dentistry, law, hospital administration and medicine. In fact, the major offers a unique background for the premed undergraduate. 

“So many people [applying to medical school] are biology majors without much experience in the societal aspects of medicine,” explains Daniel Israel, a senior MHS major who will attend medical school in fall 2008. “Now it seems nonscience majors are getting accepted into medical school at a higher rate than pure basic science majors. I think a lot of that is the changing perspective of medical schools, realizing that knowing your p’s and q’s of science isn’t enough to make you a true physician. You really need to know how health affects people from a societal perspective.” 

Senior Sarah Deery, who also will attend medical school next year, attributes the critical thinking required from her MHS classes to helping her sail through medical school interviews. “I was asked, ‘What do you think is the biggest problem facing American medicine today?’ and I could have talked about that for hours!” she says with a laugh.

Disha Kumar, BA’07, now in her first year at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine, believes that by double-majoring in MHS and chemistry, she was well prepared for challenges in her chosen career. “I was able to do everything I wanted to do in college,” she says. “I took a history of medicine class. Who would have thought that a class like that even existed for undergraduates? I loved the interdisciplinary nature of MHS. For me, it was the best part of college.”

Photos by Ravi Patel and Carolyn Audet.