I can't wait until August to meet these new members of the Vanderbilt community in the spectacular setting of Th e Commons. McCarty has served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of psychology at Vanderbilt since 2001. A Vanderbilt professor and the grandson of one of Ecuador's most renowned artists, it led to Vanderbilt's role in the first U.S.
It was developed in collaboration with Fundación Guayasamín, Quito, Ecuador, the largest repository of the artist's work in the Americas. After establishing a scholarship for students in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Hambricks began exploring additional ways to help Vanderbilt. "One of the priorities for the College of Arts and Sciences is to create new knowledge through research," says McCarty.
In the 1950s, interest and expertise in things Brazilian led to the founding of Vanderbilt's Center for Latin American Studies, which eventually. Our Brazilian collection is one of the best in the country,” says Marshall Eakin, professor of history and executive director of BRASA. Every day, when I walk from the parking lot, I rejoice at the beauty of the campus.
Instructors are drawn from many departments in the College of Arts and Sciences and from other Vanderbilt schools, as well as from the Health Center.
BRIEFS
You can't bring in a rod and reel, so why does Vanderbilt have a newly renovated fishery in the Stevenson Center. The Fi shery is a special genetics facility that is home to the zebrafish, a small tropical fish you may have in your aquarium. Vanderbilt's Fisheries for Biological Research allows researchers to view and study early development in fish embryos through transparent zebrafish eggs.
Since 25–50 percent of human pregnancies end in miscarriage of unknown genetic origin, researchers hope that studying zebrafish eggs can help shed light on human development. Vanderbilt researchers have confirmed that the brain registers fearful faces faster than those showing other emotions. Randolph Blake, Centennial Professor of Psychology; Eunice Yang, doctoral student; and David Zald, associate professor of psychology; co-author of the study, which appeared in the November 2007 issue of Emotion.
But neuroscientist Kenneth Catania discovered that the starfish he studies blow bubbles as they swim to sniff out underwater objects. This was a complete surprise, as it is common knowledge that mammals cannot smell underwater," says the associate professor of biological sciences. Then-graduate chemistry student Michael Bowers, PhD'07, collaborated with associate professor of chemistry Sandra Rosenthal when he discovered a new way to make solid-state lights (light-emitting diodes – LEDs) that produce white light.
The discovery was published in The Journal of the American Chemical Society and received a Breakthrough Award from Popular Mechanics magazine. If quantum dots can produce white light more efficiently, then LEDs coated with quantum dots can replace light bulbs. At the time of the discovery, Rosenthal's group was researching two uses for semiconductor nanocrystals, one for medicine.
The quantum dots were supposed to emit blue light, but instead they gave off a beautiful white glow.” The exciting thing about this is that it is a nano-nanoscientific phenomenon,” says Rosenthal. But as the size of the crystal decreases – becoming even more nano – the light emission region appears to move towards the surface of the crystal and expand into a full spectrum, creating white light.
OFF TO A
With an ultimate goal of ensuring that all of its students make that transition smoothly and excel during their time at Vanderbilt, the College of Arts and Sciences pays special attention to the adjustment of its first-year students. Vanderbilt and the College of Arts and Sciences have a long history of helping with academic and social transitions. In the past five years, the College of Arts and Sciences has further increased its efforts.
These initiatives for first-year students overlap in several areas, beginning with a new curriculum for all students in the College of Arts and Sciences. As an integral part of the first-year experience in the College of Arts and Sciences, seminars also encourage students to engage in independent study and research in an environment in which they can express knowledge and defend opinions through class discussion, oral presentations, and writing. Vanderbilt Visions involves all undergraduate students in each school and represents one of the newest components of the freshman experience.
The concept and original curriculum was designed by a committee of faculty, staff, students, and administrators to enhance the social, academic, cognitive, and cultural experiences of first-year students. We address the transition [from high school to college] not in top-down, supervisory structures or lectures, but by providing an environment in which the first-year students can articulate what they are going for themselves. The freshmen gain a shared understanding of experience because they are all new to Vanderbilt.
Based on feedback from previous participants, beginning in fall 2008, Vanderbilt Visions will officially meet only for the first semester, rather than year-round. Sessions will be held in Th e Commons, which will house this year's entire class of incoming freshmen. In fact, many changes will occur in the first-year experience at both Vanderbilt and the College of Arts and Sciences when Th e Commons' 10 houses welcome their first residents in August 2008.
Characterized by student-led programming, faculty leaders, and the already popular Commons Center, Th e Commons will provide a physical landscape and communal living that will complement the programs that already benefit first-year students. In addition to Wcislo's role as dean of Th e Commons, several Arts and Sciences faculty will serve as heads of houses, each living in residence with first-year students. Helping new students adjust to university life is a major objective of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Don’t Blame Me…
I VOTED BECAUSE
I have always enjoyed history, and the quality of the professors in the department made it an easy choice for a major. One of the best things I did at Vanderbilt to prepare for a career in finance was to take several accounting and economics classes. After I graduated, I went into undergraduate admissions at Vanderbilt, which was one of the best times of my life.
Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro, a great hotel in one of the most beautiful cities in the world F A V O R I T E B O O K. My job is to help my clients raise financing on the international debt markets, some for the first time. The overall Vanderbilt experience prepared me to ultimately embark on a journey to fulfill a lifelong ambition to help Brazil, long known as “the country of the future.”
Special connections with the university kept her at Vanderbilt in the following years. An endowed chair or professorship associates outstanding achievements with the name of the chair, creating a lasting legacy for the donor or recipient. The family was gathering for Thanksgiving and planned to tell Eugene Greener about the chair his children had named after him.
So at the funeral, most of the people who were there were family friends and people from the legal community, and I didn't really know all the people who had come, says Cindy. Conlee, BA'58, a member of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust and the College of Arts and Science Board of Visitors, has made an additional commitment of $500,000 to support the Cecil D. Carol Riddick and Frank Riddick III, BA' 78, committed to $750,000 to endow the Riddick Family Scholarship in the College of Arts and Science.
Lawrence Wilson Scholarship in the College of Arts and Sciences in honor of their upcoming 50th reunion. Larry is a member of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust and Barbara serves on the Board of Visitors for the College of Arts and Sciences. While she was unable to persuade her two daughters to attend Vanderbilt, stepson Zachary "saw the light" and will be a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences in the fall.
He says of the gift, “We felt this would be an important investment in the future of the Vanderbilt family.” 2 Corner-to-corner windows let in the natural light needed to capture colors and tones.
PAID
