From the Dean | January 2023

Dear Arts and Science community,  

A central part of our mission is to teach our students the essential capacities that will prepare them to succeed in life: how to think critically, communicate effectively, question thoughtfully, and explore deeply. We accomplish this by exposing students to a diverse array of disciplines.

But there is more. We also need to ensure that our students—who are the world’s future leaders—know how to tackle the crucial issues confronting society. The problems we face are increasingly complex and multi-layered and our approaches to those problems must, therefore, be creative and multidisciplinary. No longer do we assume that the solution to racial inequality lies solely with any one field of inquiry. We know that an array of experts in mass incarceration, health, gun violence, and many other fields need to be involved in the conversation. Nor do we believe that scientists alone can address global pandemics: the solution must incorporate economics, public health, psychology, and anthropology, among other areas.

This belief in diverse perspectives is what spurred us to create the Grand Challenge Initiative (GCI), in which faculty identify a pressing societal problem and develop a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to pursue potential solutions. The first round of our GCI launched projects on citizenship and immigration, climate and society, evolution, global ecology, COVID-19, and racial justice. As we prepare to launch the second round, projects will include artificial intelligence, urban affairs, and inequality, among others.

Much of this innovative, interdisciplinary work is already happening at the college:

• Renowned historian Michael Bess is studying what history can teach us about artificial intelligence, and what we must keep in mind as technologies outpace our ability to regulate them. As chatbots write papers for students and conversations about education, cheating, and ethics permeate the media, we need to learn more about AI and its impact on the world. This effort must involve many more fields than just computer science: Bess and his colleagues have convened a group of faculty experts from sociology, Earth and environmental sciences, art history, philosophy, economics, political science, English, cybersecurity, law, education, and other disciplines to start those efforts. We will also hire new faculty to expand our teaching and research portfolio in this area.
• Due to a string of tragic events involving the Asian community across the country, and because of our increasingly diverse community at Vanderbilt, we have launched a new major in Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies. The curriculum incorporates, among other areas, history, politics, race relations, language, literature, and science and technology. New faculty hires have been an important part of building this program, as well.
• A group of junior and senior faculty across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences collectively developed and launched a new program in Climate Studies that uniquely incorporates sociology, architecture, urban planning, environmental anthropology, and public policy into the traditionally science-focused curriculum.
• As science and technology advance, members of the scientific community need to be able to clearly communicate those developments, providing the public with “user-friendly” information to make effective decisions. Our unique, interdisciplinary program in Communication of Science and Technology (CSET) meets this need by providing a strong background in both science/engineering and communication/humanities, preparing students to work in journalism, public health, medicine, hospitals, education, pharmaceutical sales, and many other careers. CSET Director David Weintraub even launched a children’s book series to help elementary school students better understand—and see themselves in—science careers.

All these efforts, and the many others like them across campus, require three criteria: (1) innovation, examining everything in new and different ways, (2) collaboration, working across geographic, social, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries, and (3) determination, knowing that we are not going to get it right the first, second, or even the third time. But we will learn, iterate, and improve as we go, hopeful that we will uncover unexpected and effective solutions that have a lasting and positive impact on our world. 

Please reach out and suggest other important areas that deserve our focus as we seek to solve the world’s most pressing problems. Our commitment to this goal is enduring and will help define the college for years to come.

My best,

John G. Geer
Ginny and Conner Searcy Dean, College of Arts and Science
Professor of Political Science