Trustee Emerita Shirley Collado, BS'94, remembers the beginning of her Vanderbilt journey with remarkable clarity.
It was the fall of 1990, and she was nearing the end of a 26-hour bus ride from her hometown of New York City to Vanderbilt's campus in Nashville. She was accompanied by her mother and four fellow first-year students who, like Shirley, had never been to the South. They were all part of the university's inaugural cohort of Posse Scholars-the pathbreaking program that continues to grow to this day, making a world-class education accessible to high school students who have extraordinary leadership potential.
Shirley grew up in a traditional Dominican household in Brooklyn with her hardworking parents and two younger brothers, whom she helped to look after. To her, the idea of getting a bachelor's degree at all-let alone leaving home and her family to do so-felt practically impossible. Everything changed, however, when Debbie Bial, a youth counselor at the CityKids Foundation who later founded the Posse program, handed Shirley a Vanderbilt admissions viewbook and encouraged her to apply.
"The bus ride was a reminder of how incredible it was to be selected by Vanderbilt and Peabody College to be part of the first Posse before the program had any track record of success. It represented the beginning of a whole new world," says Shirley, who has gone on to lead a trailblazing career in higher education that included serving as the executive vice president of the Posse Foundation, where she played a vital role in scaling the organization on a national level. Today, Shirley serves as the president and chief executive officer of College Track, a national college completion organization dedicated to democratizing potential among first-generation students. "My career has been all about who gets on that bus in the first place, who is there to support you along the way, and what conditions need to be in place to ensure all students thrive once they arrive on their college campus and realize their biggest dreams."
Legacy Redefined
Shirley's connection to Vanderbilt deepened in 2022, when one of her younger brothers, a firefighter and paramedic who did not attend college, brought his daughter Jadyn Collado to Nashville to start her undergraduate journey.
Shirley was in the middle of her decade-long service to the Vanderbilt Board of Trust at the time and says she will never forget that day. "If you had told me when I was a student that I would one day serve as a trustee, and that my niece would become a Vanderbilt student in her own right, I would not have believed you."
For Shirley, who felt a sense of guilt when she first left her brothers to attend Vanderbilt, Jadyn's arrival on campus symbolized not only a full-circle moment, but also an expanded definition of what legacy can mean. "'Legacy' is not just about the past," she says. "It's also a springboard for what's next. My legacy with Jadyn is not just about how we come from the same family, or how we both went to Vanderbilt. It's about what we both want to do in the future to solve complex challenges. It's about being fearless and always connecting new dots and communities."
The Next Generation
As inspired as she was by her aunt's trajectory, Jadyn had her own reasons for choosing Vanderbilt. She was drawn to the university's emphasis on academic exploration, its commitment to research and the opportunity for her to be part of the Commodores cheerleading squad. She was also offered a spot in the prestigious Chancellor's Scholars program, which made her Vanderbilt education financially possible.
"My legacy with Jadyn is not just about how we come from the same family, or how we both went to Vanderbilt. It's about what we both want to do in the future to solve complex challenges. It's about being fearless and always connecting new dots and communities."
Jadyn, Class of 2026, went on to declare a double major in psychology and human and organizational development-coincidentally, the same majors her aunt had at Vanderbilt-and a minor in data science. Jadyn has also conducted extensive hands-on research in the lab of her honors mentor, Assistant Professor of Psychology André Bastos, studied abroad in Madrid, completed two internships in California, and worked on campus with the Vanderbilt Next Steps program, among many other pursuits.
Shirley sees how the university has supported Jadyn's curiosity and proactive spirit-qualities they share. "If something doesn't exist, Jadyn explores what's possible and creates it," Shirley says. "I love that when she asks questions, people are willing to help her find answers. That is certainly a tribute to Vanderbilt."
A Big-Picture Approach
While Jadyn had been interested in research since high school, her passion for interdisciplinary discovery reached new heights when she took a cognitive neuroscience class with Bastos about the predictive brain-a course for which she now serves as a learning assistant. There, she learned about predictive coding theory, which explores the idea that the human brain reduces the amount of energy it expends by holding predictions and correcting them only when they are wrong.
"I started to realize how the circuits in the brain can have a direct impact on people's actions, and in turn, the world," says Jadyn, noting that predictive coding theory examines how the brain processes information differently in different people, including those with conditions like autism and schizophrenia, or those who exhibit forms of human bias or racism.
In fall 2025, Jadyn's interest in neuroscience deepened even more when she received a unique opportunity to study predictive responses within the human brain through a collaboration with researchers at the University of Michigan. Although data from within the human brain is notably rare, as it can only be gathered when a probe fully enters the brain, this team was working with patients who were already getting probes placed as part of in-hospital epilepsy treatments and had agreed to share the resulting data as their brains responded to predictive tasks. The resulting information may be an important component for scientists around the world who are studying predictive mechanisms as a means to imagine more energy-efficient approaches to artificial intelligence.
"Since we're already making artificial intelligence that is based on the brain's activity-for example, when AI predicts the most probable next word in an email we're writing-then there are also ways we could model AI based on the brain's methods for preserving energy. This is especially important given how much energy AI requires, and the effect it has on carbon, water, data storage and beyond."
Jadyn's pursuit of these novel connections is largely due to her aunt's encouragement. "At first it felt hard to pursue such ambitious, big-picture research when there are other paths that feel more 'safe,'" says Jadyn. "But my aunt has always encouraged me to follow my passion over the more stable options."
Getting Off the Bus
In recounting the now infamous story of her bus ride to Vanderbilt, Shirley draws an important distinction: between the bus ride itself-the journey to Vanderbilt-and the act of getting off the bus: the gradual, often complex process of acclimating to campus life. While the former is a key part of all students' stories, the latter is what helps talented first-generation students like Shirley and Jadyn to reach their full potential.
The importance of acclimation and belonging also inspired Shirley and her husband, A. Van Jordan, to philanthropically support Immersion Vanderbilt, the university's landmark program that requires all undergraduates to pursue an experiential learning project for academic credit, and which is also a core priority of Vanderbilt's historic Dare to Grow fundraising campaign.
"We often forget that students who do not come from money-even if they are on scholarship-may not be able to have the full Vanderbilt experience," Shirley says, recalling the limitations she faced as a student, which ranged from not being able to pitch in on her hallmates' late night pizza orders, to not being able to study abroad. "By supporting Immersion Vanderbilt, we can normalize the fact that big pursuits like internships, studying abroad or working in a lab require funding and means."
Support for experiential learning is just one way that Shirley has emboldened students to go after what they want. Throughout her career, during which she also served as the ninth president of Ithaca College, making her the first Dominican American to lead a four-year institution of higher education, Shirley has encouraged students to make their presence, their contributions and their dreams fully known.
"By supporting Immersion Vanderbilt, we can normalize the fact that big pursuits like internships, studying abroad or working in a lab require funding and means."
She gives all first-generation and scholarship students the same advice she gave to Jadyn-and which also reflects the ethos of Vanderbilt's motto: Dare to Grow.
"I tell them: 'Take up space because you have earned it. Go abroad, do the thing, ask for what you want, and always remain grounded and humble."
"When you come from a household that is always thinking about the next paycheck, it's logical to want to choose the job that's secure or the path that's right in front of you. But taking risks, and thinking big, will make you stronger in the end.'"
