Jeremy Payne, principal senior lecturer in the Department of Human and Organizational Development, has been awarded the 2024-2025 Chancellor's Cup by Chancellor Daniel Diermeier for his steadfast mentorship and teaching of undergraduate students.
Established by the Nashville Vanderbilt Club in 1963, the Chancellor's Cup is awarded for the greatest contribution outside the classroom to undergraduate student-faculty relationships in the recent past. The faculty member's contribution is one of educational importance, relevant to the central purpose of the university.
"I share my utmost congratulations with Jeremy," said Camilla Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development. "He is an exceptional mentor and an innovative teacher, who leaves a meaningful impact on our students' success. We are grateful for his remarkable leadership at Vanderbilt."
For more than six years, Payne has mentored and advised undergraduate, professional, and graduate students, and has shown he is committed to developing personal connections with each of them. He serves as an advisor to approximately 40 undergraduate students and a summer advisor to incoming first-year students majoring in human and organizational development. He also mentors about 15 graduate teaching assistants each academic year with an emphasis on strengthening graduate students' classroom teaching and instructional design capabilities.
Payne is the associate director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Human and Organizational Development and faculty advisor to the Vanderbilt Business Exploration Club. He also serves on his department's Undergraduate Faculty Committee, where, in previous years, he led the Pathways Subcommittee for undergraduate curriculum design. He has served as a Student Life Committee member on the Faculty Senate, and as a faculty representative on his department's Mentoring Committee.
As a senior lecturer, Payne teaches courses that are both engaging and challenging. Among students, he is known for his ability to explain complex concepts in an accessible manner, while encouraging them to think critically and to participate in intellectual discourse. Through a variety of teaching techniques, including group discussions, multimedia presentations, and immersive activities, Payne allows students to actualize the theories and techniques they are learning.
Payne also dedicates much of his time to offering students detailed, personal feedback, which further enhances their learning and professional development. As a successful teacher of introductory courses in human and organizational development, he builds a strong foundation for learning, setting up students for success in upper-level courses.
Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship
In addition to establishing foundational education, Payne recently spearheaded the creation of a new program on Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship. Students in the program take part in theoretical, empirical, and practical experiences that give them opportunities to promote well-being. This year, 115 students were involved in classroom and program offerings. Many more worked independently across campus on social innovation projects.
In the program's Social Entrepreneurship course, fifty-five students worked in teams to pitch 10 new social enterprises ranging from increasing access to fresh food to developing financial literacy for Tennessee high school students. In addition, senior leaders from Southwest Airlines and Soles4Souls visited the class as guest speakers and offered students frameworks for social entrepreneurship in action.
Thirty-four students completed Building a Culture of Design, a new course in the program that aims at developing students' "intrapreneurial" and human-centered innovation skills. The course has sparked a collaboration with Turnip Green Creative Reuse, a social enterprise led by Erin Boddy, an alumna of Peabody's Community Development and Action Program.
Human and Organizational Development remains Vanderbilt's largest undergraduate major.
