There is a rich intellectual life for graduate students in social and political thought at Vanderbilt.
The Department
Prospective and current graduate students can find useful information at the Vanderbilt University, Political Science web page for graduate students. Additionally, graduate students in political theory can find helpful information about the field requirements, classwork expectations, and a student directory of theorists on the webpage of the Political Theory Program.
Graduate Students also have resources available at the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities as well as the Global Feminisms Collaborative. The Women’s Center at Vanderbilt and the Women’s and Gender Studies Department also offer courses and resources for interested graduate students. Additionally, details and instructions are available for students interested in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department graduate certificate in gender studies.
Global Feminisms Collaborative
The Global Feminisms Collaborative at Vanderbilt engages in scholarly and ethical reflections individually and collaboratively. Because Global Feminisms’ subjects of inquiry have long been marginalized questions within their home disciplines, enhancing Global Feminist scholarship takes place through increased visibility of this scholarship and its authors within their own institutions and globally. Hence, the Global Feminisms Collaborative is committed to working transinstitutionally, with global partners, national partners, Nashville partners and Vanderbilt partners in order to develop the field of Global Feminisms in research and teaching. In addition, we are committed to reflecting on our work and the way we work as a practice of the ethical commitments of global feminism.
The core of the project is a research group. Members of the group with an existing expertise in global feminism or with a research or teaching strength in an area important to the purpose of the project have been developing the Global Feminisms Collaborative.
Social and Political Thought Workshop
There are many ways for graduate students to participate actively in the intellectual life of Vanderbilt more generally. For example, students can participate and attend the Social and Political Thought Workshop (2016-2017 schedule) which convenes several times a semester and welcomes presenters from both the university and visitors. The topics range widely, so there is certainly something of interest for many students.
Upcoming Events
- 1/26/17 12:10 pm – Comparative Politics Speaker: Alberto Simpser (ITAM)
- 3/1/17 3:10 pm – Political Economy Seminar Series: Qiang Fu, National University of Singapore (visiting Berkeley)
- 3/2/17 12:10 pm – Comparative Politics Speaker: Anna Grzymala-Busse (Stanford University)
- 3/15/17 3:10 pm – Political Economy Seminar Series: Justin Fox, Washington University
- 3/22/17 3:10 pm – Political Economy Seminar Series: Aram Grigoryan, University of Illinois
Housed at the Law School is the Vanderbilt Climate Change Network, which consists in a team of faculty and graduate students who are conducting theoretical and applied research on one of the most important and most widely overlooked sources of greenhouse gases: individual and household behavior. The Climate Change Research Network is affiliated with the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment.
TIES: Transdisciplinary Initiative on Environmental Systems
 | The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences collaborated to create TIES, a program that involves faculty and students from the natural sciences, engineering, and key social disciplines, including the social sciences, the humanities, law, and education. The centerpiece of this initiative is a unique transdisciplinary course that focuses each year on an environmental issue that is of global significance, and which is embodied in a particular field site to be studied by participants. This capstone course is required of all environmental sciences Ph.D. students and includes a field study at the case site. The course is next offered in 2013-2014 and is open to graduate students in all disciplines. Download the article, "Water Works" which features Professor Ackerly with a team of students and fellow faculty members in Bangladesh working on the relationship between water, culture, and social justice. |
–Professor Ackerly’s Former and Current Students–
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| Anna Carella Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN Anna's graduate student page -here- and blog -here- Anna's report has been featured in TIME magazine. Anna was presented with the Rising Star Award on the 68th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by Tennessee's Human Rights Commission among others. | Farhana Loonat Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN Winner of the 2011 Best Teaching Assistant Award in the College of Arts and Sciences Farhana's graduate student page -here- | Stacy Clifford Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN Dissertation: "The Disabled Contract: Social Contract Theory and Cognitive Disability" Stacy's graduate student page -here-. | Sonalini Sapra, Political Science '09 At Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, IL Sonalini's faculty page can be found -here-. | Lyndi Hewitt-Corzine, Sociology '09 At University of North Carolina, Ashville Dissertation: "The Politics of Transnational Feminist Discourse: Framing across Differences, Building Solidarities" Lyndi's faculty page can be found -here-. |
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| Katherine Attanasi, Religion '09 At Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA Katy's faculty page can be found -here-. | Sarah Suiter Community Research and Action '09 At Vanderbilt University Author of Magdalene House, A Place About Mercy | Eleanor Fleming, Political Science '06 Epidemic Intelligence Service Office Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | Darcy Freedman University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC Darcy's faculty page can be found -here-. | ............... | ............... | ............... |
–Courses–
The following list is the current graduate course rotation schedule:
- PSCI 301: Human Rights (offered every 2 to 3 years)
- WGS 301: Graduate Seminar for the Gender Certificate, offered annually in rotation with other WGS affiliated faculty.
- PSCI 305: Feminist Theory in Social and Political Thought (offered spring 2013)
- PSCI 308: Human Rights and Religion – a graduate seminar co-taught with Melissa Snarr, Vanderbilt Divinity School (offered Spring 2011)
–Job Openings–
The University of Amsterdam has a job opening in political theory (tenure-track), with an emphasis on gender theory. – (1/22/2017)
–Grants–
The Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities offers graduate student fellowships. Each award includes tuition, health insurance, a stipend of $24,250, a research budget of $2,000, and affiliation with the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities. The competition is open to those students in the humanities and qualitative social sciences in the College of Arts and Science. You can find application information –here-.
–Publishing–
Here are some helpful articles and reflections on publishing as a graduate student (or turning your dissertation into a book):
- Professor Ackerly and Jacqui True offer a guide for turning your doctoral dissertation into a book on the companion website for Doing Feminist Research in Political and Social Science (Palgrave 2010).
- Sandy Thatcher has some excellent articles on the state of publishing books in political theory, as well as an excellent reflection on the difficulties and challenges of turning your dissertation into a book, “From the University Presses-Dissertation into Books? The Lack of Logic in the System.” He has been the director or consultant for many university publishing presses (Penn State University Press, University Press of Florida, University of Rochester Press), and has helped launch the careers of many now renown political theorists and scientists:Hadley Arkes, Charles Beitz, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Nannerl Keohane, Martha Nussbaum, Susan Moller Okin, and Iris Marion Young.