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What Is New in My Vanderbilt Life

Sep. 20, 2019— Happy Fall 2019 everyone! My summer break was rejuvenating. I watched TV dramas and movies in a wide range of topics from all over the world. I believe doing so is relaxing and beneficial to my writing. Besides, I read books relevant to Asian Studies, spent wonderful time with family and friends, and visited multiple...

Course Highlight: Beginning Nonfiction Workshop

May. 24, 2019— It does not matter where you are from or what you have experienced, you have stories that are worth sharing. Even when you feel like the person next to you is entirely different from you, you can still feel something they have. I learned these two things in ENGL 1240 with Professor Piyali Bhattacharya. The...

Class Overview: Fall 2018

Sep. 13, 2018— Hello junior year! While there are so many cool courses at Vanderbilt that I have yet to take, there are only so many I can enroll in a semester that meet graduation requirements for my major, and I’m somehow already halfway through my undergraduate career, which is a little bit terrifying. However, I’m really excited...

Maymester Stop 6: Rome

Jun. 13, 2018— Hello again! Before beginning, if you have not yet read my previous posts on the Maymester program I was able to be a part of, be sure to check those out for more information on what a Maymester is and what brought me on this trip. Last but not least, our group traveled to Rome,...

Maymester Stop 5: Zurich

Jun. 13, 2018— Hello again! Before beginning, if you have not yet read my previous posts on the Maymester program I was able to be a part of, be sure to check those out for more information on what a Maymester is and what brought me on this trip.   After our time in the Alps, our group...

Maymester 2018 Stops 3 and 4: Murren and Grindelwald

Jun. 13, 2018— Hello again! Before beginning, if you have not yet read my previous posts on the Maymester program I was able to be a part of, be sure to check those out for more information on what a Maymester is and what brought me on this trip.   After Monte Verita, our exploration of culture and...

Maymester 2018 Stop 2: Monte Verita

Jun. 12, 2018— Hello again! Before beginning, if you have not yet read my post on our Maymester’s first stop, Geneva, Switzerland, be sure to check that out for more information on what a Maymester is and what brought me to Switzerland. So, to pick up where we left off, I travelled to Monte Verita with my class...

Maymester 2018 Stop 1: Geneva

Jun. 12, 2018— Hello and happy summer, Inside ‘Dores readers! While spring semester at Vanderbilt ended in early May, many students took part in Maymester courses throughout the month of May to explore subjects of interest with Vanderbilt professors either on or off campus, often travelling abroad. A Maymester course is like most courses you can take during...

7 Days of Blogging: Spring 2018 Class Preview

Nov. 24, 2017— Sadly, my week of blogging is coming to the end (but don’t worry, I’ll be back with Inside ‘Dores for 5 MORE SEMESTERS)! However, I’ve got one final post before we part ways for now. Since I started with my class recap for this fall, I thought I’d share with you all my spring class schedule...

Send us yo questions (yo)

Jun. 23, 2017— Email your questions about anything, because we know it all (obviously). :) Even if we don't, we can always find someone who does.

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Patterson discusses formative years, book bans, writing process at Vanderbilt event

James Patterson has published over 400 titles and sold more than 425 million copies of his books, but he first gained the confidence to pursue a career in writing while working toward a graduate degree at Vanderbilt.  

“Where I got the confidence is right here,” the bestselling author told a large audience in Langford Auditorium on April 11.  

Patterson, who earned his master’s in English from the university in 1970, discussed his writing process, prolific career, the value of collaboration, and his support for librarians and reading in a wide-ranging conversation moderated by former NBC News anchor John M. Seigenthaler. The event was co-sponsored by the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries , Dialogue Vanderbilt and the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy in collaboration with Parnassus Books .  

Patterson cited as his greatest influence at Vanderbilt the late professor Walter Sullivan , an expert in Southern literature who published novels, short stories and criticism and taught at the university, including popular courses in creative writing, for more than 50 years. Patterson said he and his former mentor could not have been more different.  

“Walter was an ultra-conservative, and I was a hippie with long hair,” Patterson said. “But he was great. He was terrific with my writing, and he really encouraged me. He said, ‘You have it—you’ve got the gift. Don’t blow it.’”  

Patterson went to work in advertising, and it was there he honed his marketing acumen and the ability to juggle multiple projects, he said. The manuscript for his debut novel was rejected more than 30 times before being published by Little, Brown and Company in 1976. The Thomas Berryman Number went on to win the Edgar Award for best first novel written in the mystery genre.   

His first New York Times bestseller was 1993’s Along Came a Spider , which launched the popular series featuring protagonist Alex Cross that has spawned nearly 35 books, three film adaptations and an upcoming streaming series for Amazon’s Prime Video.    

Though he is now synonymous with mysteries and crime thrillers, Patterson said he began writing them almost by accident. “I didn’t read mysteries in those days, but I wrote one, and that’s probably why it won an Edgar—because it didn’t imitate anything. It was its own thing,” he said. Patterson rejects the notion that certain types of books qualify as “guilty pleasures.”  

“That’s absurd,” he said. “Why would you be guilty? There are things to be guilty about [in life], but not reading a book.”  

Patterson has expanded his phenomenally successful storytelling to include nonfiction, biographies, young adult and graphic novels, and children’s books. His latest is The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading , written with Matt Eversmann, which celebrates the everyday heroes who champion literacy.   

“They’re really good people and they care, and they want to turn people on to reading and they want to help,” said Patterson, whose mother was a teacher and part-time librarian. “They work hard, and they don’t get paid very well for the most part,” among other challenges faced by librarians and independent booksellers.   

Book censorship rankles Patterson, whose Maximum Ride young adult series has been removed from some elementary school bookshelves in Florida. “I don’t want a stranger coming in and telling my family members what they should and shouldn’t read. I don’t want that, and that’s what’s happening,” he said to applause from the audience.  

“If you want to be aware of what your kids are reading, you should—that’s your job. … But don’t be afraid of the libraries” when many kids have unfettered access to smartphones and the internet, said Patterson, who has donated more than 1 million books to schools and under-resourced communities. In 2015, he was honored with the National Book Foundation’s Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community for his efforts to promote reading.  

Patterson said he writes every day, and the process never feels like work to him. He currently has upward of 30 “live” projects, including books and screenplays, underway. Story ideas come easily, and he collects them in a notebook. It was the realization that he would never get around to writing them all that inspired Patterson to begin collaborating with others, he said. His co-authors have included former President Bill Clinton and megastar entertainer Dolly Parton as well as veteran journalists and writers.  

“People look at [collaboration] like it’s some weird thing,” Patterson said. “But if we’re ever going to save the world, it’s going to be because we learn to collaborate.”  

The April 11 event was a demonstration of “ the synergy between literacy, democracy and the pursuit of collective knowledge, showcasing Vanderbilt University’s dedication to fostering dialogue, understanding and unity in an increasingly fragmented world,” University Librarian Jon Shaw said in his introduction.  

“We’re here tonight to pay tribute to the tireless efforts of librarians and booksellers, many of whom are in attendance,” Shaw said. “Your commitment to fostering a culture of reading and perpetual intellectual curiosity is invaluable. You are the cornerstone of our literary community, enriching our society’s collective soul and sanity with every recommendation and discussion.”  

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Department of English

2024 academy of american poets prize winner and honorable mentions announced.

Posted by vineslt on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 in spotlight .

2024 Academy of American Poets Prize Contest

Winner and honorable mentions.

Congratulations to this year’s winner of the 2024 Academy of American Poets Prize Contest, Sydney Mayes, and to the students receiving honorable mentions for their work, Carson Colenbaugh and Ajla Dizdarevic.

Sydney Mayes, GS, MFA, for “the walker system”

Honorable Mentions:

Ajla Dizdarevic, GS, MFA for “The Ring”

Carson Colenbaugh, GS, MFA for “Proctor Creek”

Carlina Duan, author of Alien Miss (2021) and I Wore My Blackest Hair (2017)

Judge’s Remarks:

the walker system by Sydney Mayes

“the walker system” is a poem that is lush with history, life, and persona. The poem, which traces the memory/lineage of Madam CJ Walker, is rich with movement and mythological image: from “my bag o’ bones” to “the pebble webbed hair of miner’s wives,” “river scored fingertips” to “the waxwing who follows only that which sustains and gleams.” The language throughout this poem is shimmery, wild, unruly, and electric. I was mesmerized by our speaker, who commands a poetics of attention, and seeks to set the history books straight. This is a poem that revivifies the flattened pages of biography: using poetry as a portal to infuse breath, imagination, and movement back into the record.

Proctor Creek by Carson Colenbaugh

Proctor Creek is a beautiful portrait of labor and land, with an ecopoetic respect for the natural world around us. I was delighted and surprised by the poet’s sonic and imagistic commands— there is a musicality and a materiality found within this poem, from “a gruel of rebar, lumbar, aggregate,” to the cyclical leakiness between “Creeks & fields.” This poem located me so clearly within a place, and I trusted our speaker’s knowledge of the creeks, the animal instincts, the “gleaming land.” And what an entirely gorgeous line I will be thinking about for times to come:  “Each copied day / I look on our work, snaring myself…”

The Ring by Ajla Dizdarevic

I admired the way this poem locates desire within the physical intimacy of a ‘fight.’ Place is smartly reflected in form: in this poem, we linger within that compressed box of the ring, only to burst out of that last line: “But then he holds me…” The poem is ripe with surprising lyrical moments that bump up against the tactile, such as: “I am a mouse in a field set aflame,” to “…I spit out my mouthguard.” This poem left me breathless.

About the Judge:

Carline Duan (MFA ’19) Carlina Duan is the author of the poetry collections  I Wore My Blackest Hair  (Little A, 2017), and  Alien Miss  (Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 2021). Carlina received her M.F.A. in Poetry from Vanderbilt University and is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the University of Michigan’s Joint Program in English and Education, where she is a 2023-2024 David and Mary Hunting fellow at the Institute for Humanities, and serves as the Poetry Editor for Michigan Quarterly Review. Carlina’s recent poems appear in POETRY, Narrative Magazine, Poets.org, The Kenyon Review, Poetry Daily, The Slowdown Show, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of literary awards and artist residencies from Tin House, the Academy of American Poets, the U.S. Fulbright Program, Hedgebrook, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, and other places.

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66 Vanderbilt faculty grants empower student innovation through immersion

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Apr 18, 2024, 8:00 AM

Sixty-six faculty members across seven schools and colleges received Provost’s Faculty Grants for Culminating Projects in Immersion, up 50 percent from the program’s inaugural year in 2023. The goal of the grants is to empower undergraduate students through immersive and impactful learning opportunities that take them from the studio to the lab, to an internship, to service learning in the Nashville community and beyond.

Provost C. Cybele Raver expressed the university’s commitment to supporting faculty who provide students with transformative experiences: “Vanderbilt is such a special university in so many ways. As just one example, our faculty are tremendously dedicated to students’ experience of scholarly discovery through immersive and collaborative projects. The notable increase in applications and in grants awarded reflects our shared commitment to promoting innovative research and interdisciplinary collaboration.”

The grants were awarded to faculty in the Blair School of Music, College of Arts and Science, Divinity School, Peabody College of education and human development, School of Engineering, School of Medicine and School of Nursing. Each grant to a faculty member provides students with invaluable opportunities to engage in research and creative works, by, for example, tagging and tracking proteins in a biology lab, studying ancient ruins or learning the inner workings of an international film festival.

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Tiffiny Tung said that these opportunities would not be available to students without the superb faculty at Vanderbilt. “Our world-class faculty are addressing some of the most pressing problems facing society, and they are inviting the students into those research and creative collaborations so they can gain hands-on experience in a variety of fields. Those projects include learning how to design structurally sound floodgates, scouring documents to tell the story of a people erased from public memory or increasing capacity to research cultural factors that inhibit access to medical care.”

One noteworthy project that connects immersion cohorts through the years is the “Vanderbilt University Student Price Index” led by Heather Luea , senior lecturer in economics in the College of Arts and Science. Last spring, Luea’s student cohort worked on the innovative index, which measures the cost of a “basket” of goods and services purchased by the typical Vanderbilt University student—similar to the Consumer Price Index generated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“This project gives students a ‘hands-on’ opportunity to apply the economic concepts they learn in class,” Luea said. “It is a collaborative, ongoing project that is a torch to pass on to future students.”

In the spring 2024 semester, a second cohort expanded that work by collecting new prices and generating a second index for the basket. They then calculated the first inflation measure for Vanderbilt students, which they plan to publish soon.

Another is Associate Professor Deonni Stolldorf ’s “Implementation Science in Healthcare Settings” in the School of Nursing. Students have engaged in such projects as the evaluation of heart failure self-care interventions, clinical decision support tools and medication safety in inpatient settings. Through this hands-on experience, students developed research skills, including data collection, analysis and manuscript writing.

Third is Assistant Professor Ghina Absi and Professor Lori Troxel ’s immersive travel course on the history, innovation and artistry of structures in the School of Engineering’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

This innovative course, designed for sophomores and juniors, explored the historical significance and durability of structural innovations like the Pantheon and Roman aqueducts, as well as contemporary marvels like MOSE, the human-designed barriers that protect the city of Venice from seawater. The students built prototypes of domes, floodgates and similar structures in the lab. The course’s highlight was a spring break trip to Italy, where students visited these structures in person and participated in structural engineering-focused tours.

The impact of these faculty immersion grants goes beyond the immediate projects. Students who participate in immersive experiences gain a deeper understanding of the research process that is transferable to future academic and professional pursuits. Through proposal development, institutional review board applications, cultural immersion, data collection and analysis, and report writing, students acquire valuable research skills that will serve them well in their careers.

And by investing in the faculty who are leading student research, Vanderbilt is shaping the next generation of scholars and leaders who will make meaningful contributions to their fields and society at large.

For more information about Provost’s Faculty Grants for Culminating Projects in Immersion and related opportunities, please email [email protected] .

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Explore story topics.

• Arts and Science
• Arts and Science faculty
• Blair School of Music
• C. Cybele Raver
• Deonni Stolldorf
• Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Divinity School
• Economics Department
• Heather Luea
• Immersion Vanderbilt
• Lori Troxel
• Office of the Provost
• Peabody College
• Provost’s Faculty Grant for Culminating Projects in Immersion
• School of Engineering
• School of Medicine
• school of medicine faculty
• School of Nursing
• Tiffiny Tung

Data Science Institute

Professor alex christensen wins the inaugural ‘innovation in teaching: generative ai award’.

Posted by nunezmj1 on Thursday, April 18, 2024 in DSI-Supported Research , generative-ai-research , Newsletter , Peabody College , Vanderbilt Generative AI Research .

Recognizing Innovation in Education

On April 11, at the Spring Faculty Assembly , Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and Faculty Senate Chair Andrea Capizzi of Vanderbilt University took a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the remarkable contributions of its faculty. Among the honorees, Professor Alex Christensen stood out for his exceptional use of generative AI in education, earning him the inaugural Innovation in Teaching: Generative AI Award. As an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Human Development and an affiliate faculty member of the Data Science Institute (DSI), Professor Christensen integrates his expertise in data science to enhance interdisciplinary learning environments. His affiliation with the DSI underscores his commitment to leveraging cutting-edge AI technologies to not only enrich his curriculum but also to foster an academic culture that embraces technological advancements. This award highlights his innovative approaches that significantly improve student engagement and understanding through the application of generative AI tools in the classroom.

Deepening Ties with the Data Science Institute

Professor Alex Christensen’s affiliation with the Data Science Institute (DSI) at Vanderbilt has contributed to his innovative teaching methods. His journey at Vanderbilt began with a memorable interview process, during which he met Chief Data Scientist, Dr. Jesse Spencer-Smith and Senior Data Scientist Dr. Charreau Bell . “I credit my dive into generative AI to Charreau Bell and Jesse Spencer-Smith, who during my interview with Vanderbilt for my current position, talked to me about LLMs. They were further gracious enough to allow me to join their AI workshops (AI Summer) that ignited my imagination with possibilities of what these models could do,” Alex recalls. This early exposure played a role in his decision to join Vanderbilt and has helped shape his teaching and research.

Integrating AI into Learning

Professor Alex Christensen has been a pioneer in integrating generative AI into educational settings at Vanderbilt. His innovative approach involves developing tools that enable students to generate their own practice quizzes, enhancing their engagement and deepening their understanding of complex concepts. Reflecting on the integration of AI into his teaching, Christensen suggests the tool is designed to foster a deeper understanding of a given subject matter, enabling students to identify gaps in their knowledge autonomously. By interacting with AI, they tackle the areas they find most challenging in a more targeted and efficient manner.

Over the winter break of 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT and flipped Alex’s world upside-down. After exploring what was now possible, he knew he had to write something into the syllabus as a policy for ChatGPT: “Data science is at the forefront of the AI revolution. As teachers, especially of data science, we cannot ignore the impact of the latest models called transformers. These models are capable of writing code, poems, and papers as well as creating visual art.” Alex encourages the use of such technologies in the classroom while emphasizing academic integrity. “You can use ChatGPT or other models to write code for you; however, I ask that you write down that you’ve used ChatGPT to aid the production of the code used in this problem. Failure to provide this statement will be considered cheating per Vanderbilt’s academic honor code,” he asserts.

To this day, the policy has held up and hasn’t changed much.

The Future of Teaching and Generative AI

“The future of teaching and generative AI is challenging,” begins Professor Alex Christensen. “The rate of change in the progress of generative AI is really challenging to keep up with when prepping a course that is usually months before the course happens or if you’re further along in your career when you already have materials prepped.” He explains the rapid advancements in AI technology and their implications for educational preparation, citing his own experience with the release of GPT-4 during the Spring 2023 semester.

Alex also discusses the diverse applications of generative AI across different courses: “I was fortunate to be teaching many courses that include coding, which can immediately benefit from generative AI in positive and productive ways.” He expresses hope that future courses might reduce the emphasis on coding itself, envisioning a shift towards “Natural Language Programming,” which focuses on applying conceptual knowledge directly through AI, minimizing the coding requirement.

Reflecting on the broader educational landscape, Alex notes, “As we move forward, generative AI will continue to be integrated into the classroom, and students will be able to do more faster.” He emphasizes the value of deep knowledge, suggesting that understanding the material allows students to use AI more effectively and creatively. “The more you know, the deeper you can go into the model’s knowledge,” he adds, highlighting the creative benefits of extensive knowledge and the importance of distinguishing fact from fiction in AI-generated content.

Concluding his thoughts, Alex underscores the importance of transparency and integrity in the use of AI. “It’s not to say that we shouldn’t use generative AI but instead that we need to be transparent about the work that was created solely by generative AI, solely by the person, and in tandem,” he advises. He anticipates that human-to-human interactions will remain central in education due to the intrinsic rewards of engaging with others and learning directly from them.

Explore AI This Summer

Inspired by the transformative potential of AI in education? Join the AI Summer program at the Data Science Institute. It’s an excellent opportunity for individuals at all levels of expertise to explore the current state of AI, guided by leading educators like Jesse Spencer-Smith and Charreau Bell.

Sign Up for AI Summer

For any inquiries, reach out to [email protected] .

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Tags: Artificial Intelligence , Data Science Institute , news

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