Vanderbilt's $80,000 Fellowship Program Helps Faculty Move Into Leadership

Vanderbilt University’s Chancellor Faculty Fellows program has awarded $80,000 grants to 144 faculty members over more than a decade. Created by the Office of the Provost, the initiative targets recently tenured professors. The university reports that almost all participants have assumed leadership positions within or outside their specific academic fields since receiving the award.

The program provides multi-year funding to support research and professional development. Fellows also join a collaborative cohort that facilitates idea exchange and mentorship. This structure aims to bridge the gap between individual academic work and institutional leadership. Several alumni now hold senior administrative titles at Vanderbilt and other institutions.

Yesha Yadav, a 2019 fellow and expert in payment systems law, cited the fellowship as a catalyst for her research on digital assets. She stated that the grant allowed her to engage with regulators and engineers in Washington, D.C. When the cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed in November 2022, Yadav was prepared to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on regulatory safeguards for digital assets. She now serves as associate dean and Robert Belton Director of Culture and Community at Vanderbilt Law School.

Christin Essin, a 2019 fellow and professor of cinema, media arts, and theatre, used her award to complete her second monograph. The financial backing provided a full-year sabbatical, which she credited for the quality of her work on theatre labor. Essin, now chair of the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies, noted that the cohort experience reshaped her understanding of university leadership and mentorship. She described the fellowship as a key factor in her willingness to take on departmental leadership duties.

Celso Castilho, a 2021 fellow and historian, directed the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies. He used fellowship resources to organize academic panels and expand the center’s curriculum. One new course, Fútbol-Soccer: Culture, Gender and Diaspora, resulted from this initiative. Castilho also served as faculty head of Memorial House on The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons from 2021 to 2026, a role that involved direct student engagement.

Vivian Gama, a 2023 fellow and associate professor of cell and developmental biology, utilized the grant to gather preliminary data for her research on pediatric neurological diseases. Her lab models mitochondrial and peroxisomal defects using stem cells. Gama stated that the institutional support allowed her team to pursue early-stage scientific questions that were not yet ready for traditional federal funding. The data generated during her fellowship period became the foundation for a successful grant renewal from the National Institutes of Health.

Rebecca VanDiver, a 2023 fellow and associate professor of history of art and architecture, used her award to curate an exhibition on the artist LaToya M. Hobbs. That work led to an essay in a 2025 Harvard Art Museums catalog. VanDiver recently became the senior arts adviser to the provost, a role where she helps shape Vanderbilt’s arts strategy across its Nashville, New York, and San Francisco campuses. She is currently co-moderating a panel with the Whitney Museum of American Art scheduled for November 10 in New York.

The university describes the program as a pipeline for academic leadership. Participants receive both financial resources and professional development support. The administration emphasizes that the fellowship’s value extends beyond the initial award period, citing long-term relationships and scholarly output. The program continues to select new cohorts of recently tenured faculty each year to maintain this leadership development structure.