When highly talented faculty and researchers are also leaders and mentors, a university is at its best. Over more than a decade of the Chancellor Faculty Fellows program, almost all of the 144 participants have taken on leadership roles within and beyond their areas of study.
Some fellows are helping lead the university, such as anthropologist Tiffiny Tung, a 2017 fellow who is now vice provost for undergraduate education and growth initiatives, and Robert Webster, engineer, inventor and 2016 fellow, who served as senior associate provost for commercialization and technology transfer.
Through the Chancellor Faculty Fellows program, created by the Office of the Provost, a yearly cohort of Vanderbilt's top recently tenured faculty receive $80,000 over multiple years to fuel their work. Fellows also become part of a collaborative group that exchanges ideas and supports their development as leaders.
In the third of a multi-part series, we show how some alumni of the fellowship are leading on campus and beyond.
Yesha Yadav, associate dean, Robert Belton Director of Culture and Community,
faculty co-director, LL.M. program,
Milton R. Underwood Chair in Law
Vanderbilt Law School
COHORT: 2019
Yesha Yadav is an expert in the law of money and payment systems, including financial market and securities regulation, corporate bankruptcy and trading ecosystems such as cryptocurrencies, equity, U.S. Treasuries and corporate bonds.
"When I received the fellowship in 2019, research on frontier markets like digital assets sat at the margins of legal scholarship," Yadav said. "Building a serious research agenda around frontier market design meant spending time where the law was being worked out in Washington-at industry gatherings, in rooms where regulators, engineers and market participants were still finding a shared vocabulary."
The fellowship helped to get her into rooms with engineers, regulators and academics, aiding her research on crypto assets.
"When FTX [cryptocurrency exchange] collapsed in November 2022, these questions became urgent for everyone almost overnight," said Yadav, who was ready with research and expertise. "Three months later, I was testifying before the Senate Banking Committee on why digital assets need financial regulatory safeguards."
BUILDING CONNECTIONS
Soon after her fellowship began, Yadav took on a leadership role as associate dean and Robert Belton Director of Culture and Community. She was also the faculty co-director of the LL.M. program, working with lawyers from around the world who have come to Vanderbilt. She also serves as faculty adviser to a new journal, the Social Justice Reporter.
"I do my best to convey to students and colleagues what the fellowship gave me, which is institutional support and room to try," she said.
Yadav said the external connections and networks she built during her fellowship are now opening doors for students who are seeking a path into digital asset policy.
"The value of this fellowship is not measured in the two years of the award. The relationships, ideas and scholarship it has helped build will outlast it by decades." - Yesha Yadav
Christin Essin, chair, Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies,
professor of cinema, media arts and theatre
College of Arts and Science
COHORT: 2019
Christin Essin is the chair of the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies and professor of cinema, media arts and theatre. She has written two books, Stage Designers in Early Twentieth-Century America and Working Backstage: A Cultural History and Ethnography of Technical Theater Labor.
"Being a Chancellor's Faculty Fellow has been the highlight of my Vanderbilt career to date. First, having the financial backing to take a full year sabbatical gave me the time I needed to finish my second monograph and the confidence to make it better," Essin said. "I am certain that Working Backstage won awards because Vanderbilt offered the support I needed to take new directions with my research into theatre labor."
LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Essin said she especially appreciated the fellowship for placing her in a cohort with scholars who were working on a diverse range of research and for introducing her to administrators who reshaped her understanding of leadership in universities.
"University leaders, I learned, are most productive when they exhibit kindness and show genuine respect for their colleagues' expertise," Essin said. "As the chair of the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies, I've benefited significantly from that lesson. Being a chair isn't a path I saw for myself before this fellowship, but I've discovered new talents like mentorship."
"My departmental leadership and mentoring role is work that makes me feel productive in the best way, and I couldn't have done that without the skills I learned as a fellow." -Christin Essin
Celso Castilho, director, Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies,
associate professor of history
College of Arts and Science
COHORT: 2021
Celso Castilho is a historian and director of the interdisciplinary Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies. His most recent work examines the history, culture and politics around sports and the Latin American diaspora. His upcoming book studies the 1994 Men's World Cup and its impact on culture and politics in the United States. His earlier work researched slavery, emancipation and literature in Latin America, including analyzing adaptations of Uncle Tom's Cabin.
EXPANDING EDUCATION
Castilho used his fellowship not only to expand his own research, but also to enhance learning for students and colleagues at other universities.
"I used part of my time and resources from the Chancellor Faculty Fellowship to organize panels at Vanderbilt and academic conferences that reflected on what it meant to connect the three fields of Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies under one administrative unit-given that this combination was then largely unparalleled at peer institutions," he said.
Through his leadership role with CLACX, Castilho helped expand curriculum for students, including a new course on sport and society called Fútbol-Soccer: Culture, Gender and Diaspora.
"I can trace the genesis of new courses and research to the time and support I received as a Chancellor's Faculty Fellow." -Celso Castilho
During his time as a fellow, Castilho also served in the leadership role of faculty head of Memorial House on The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons from 2021 to 2026.
Vivian Gama, associate dean for mentoring,
associate professor of cell and developmental biology
School of Medicine Basic Sciences
COHORT: 2023
Vivian Gama's lab focuses on using stem cells to model rare pediatric neurological diseases associated with mitochondrial and peroxisomal defects that currently have no cure. Her team is working to identify metabolic pathways essential for brain development to determine how these pathways are disrupted in disease and to uncover potential therapies.
Gama said that the Chancellor Faculty Fellowship allowed her to bridge crucial research to gain federal research funding.
"The CFF award gave us the runway to pursue questions that were scientifically compelling but too early-stage for traditional federal funding. We had a hypothesis about how defects in mitochondrial and peroxisomal fission affect neural development, but we didn't yet have the preliminary data to make a strong case to [National Institute of Health]. This award let us generate that data," Gama said. "That kind of institutional endorsement matters. It tells us that the university was willing to take a bet on our science."
The fellowship also supported research collaborations with the Vanderbilt Genome Editing Resource that became the foundation for a successful NIH grant renewal.
ESSENTIAL MENTORING
Breakthrough science discoveries and thriving research universities depend on strong mentorship at every career stage, from undergraduate and graduate students to postdoctoral fellows and faculty. As associate dean for faculty development, Gama supports professional development of faculty in the School of Medicine Basic Sciences.
"Protected time and resources are critical for taking intellectual risks before you can compete for major external awards, and for giving trainees the freedom to test new ideas," she said. "This is true for junior faculty, but it is also critical for mid-career faculty, a stage when startup funds are diminishing and the pressure to sustain external funding is at its peak."
"In the current funding climate, where grant renewal has become increasingly competitive, internal investments like this one can determine whether a promising research program reaches its full potential." -Vivian Gama
Rebecca VanDiver, chair, Department of History of Art and Architecture,
associate professor of history of art and architecture, senior arts adviser to the provost
College of Arts and Science
COHORT: 2023
Rebecca VanDiver researches and teaches courses on contemporary African American art, the history of women artists, and contemporary African art and visual culture. Her recent work includes the book Designing a New Tradition: Loïs Mailou Jones and the Aesthetics of Blackness, and she is working on a second book on the artwork of Elizabeth Catlett, Faith Ringgold and Charles White.
"The CFF injected critical support in the form of time, institutional resources and money that has enabled me to advance my research while also honing my leadership skills and ability to build new programs," she said.
VanDiver said the fellowship made it possible for her to serve as guest curator of the 2024 exhibition Carving a New Tradition: The Art of LaToya M. Hobbs at Nashville's Frist Art Museum. That exhibition led her to contribute an essay on the artwork to the Harvard Art Museums' catalog-"LaToya M. Hobbs: It's Time"-published in 2025.
"Of course, the scholarly outcomes were meaningful, but some of my most memorable moments came in the galleries themselves," she said. "One highlight was leading a tour of the exhibition for my son's third-grade class and seeing young students engage thoughtfully with contemporary art created by a Black woman."
MENTORSHIP AS A CORNERSTONE
VanDiver said she can draw a direct line between the opportunities the CFF fellowship created and the leadership roles she holds today. This fall, VanDiver stepped into a new role as senior arts adviser to the provost. She is helping form Vanderbilt's arts strategy across its expanding network of campuses in Nashville, New York and San Francisco.
To kick off Vanderbilt's new partnership with the Whitney Museum of American Art, VanDiver is co-moderating a panel, Artists and the City: Emerging Voices in Conversation, on Nov. 10 at the Vanderbilt University-New York City campus.
"Mentorship is a cornerstone of my academic identity. In all that I do, I try to act as a 'door opener' rather than a 'gatekeeper' for the next generation of scholars and undergraduates." -Rebecca VanDiver
"During my second year as a CFF Fellow, I became director of the College of Arts and Science's Program in Career Development. In that role, I worked closely with junior tenure-track faculty navigating the pre-tenure process. Supporting colleagues at that critical stage was deeply rewarding," she said.
While a CFF fellow, VanDiver also helped establish the history of art and architecture department's new minor and graduate certificate in museums and markets, an interdisciplinary curriculum connecting students with museums, cultural institutions and the art market.
"The fellowship provided not only research resources, but also the confidence and institutional support to grow as a leader, mentor and program builder," she said.
Molly Barth, associate dean for faculty affairs,
professor of flute
Blair School of Music
COHORT: 2024
Molly Barth is the associate dean for faculty affairs and professor of flute at the Vanderbilt Blair School of Music. She has performed on many of the world's most prestigious stages and earned a Grammy Award.
As a Chancellor's Faculty Fellow, Barth created the "Together We" project, a series of collaborative performances and videos combining music, dance, photography, poetry and food. She also helped finance artist residencies and commissioned musical pieces. All of these projects have Vanderbilt faculty, students and alumni interacting with each other and outside artists.
The projects include "Together We" performances, "Venezuelan Voices in Oregon," a 2024 DuoKrom benefit concert, the 2025 premiere of AI climate catastrophe opera Lexia by Scott Deal, a 2025 recording of "The Heebie-Jeebies" by Venezuelan composer Marco Granados, with the Blair Big Band, along with benefit concerts that supported food security in Nashville and medical supplies for Venezuela.
Her culminating fellowship project will be the Vanderbilt residency of the Zohn Collective, of which Barth is a member, and a concert on Jan. 16, 2027, in Ingram Hall. Barth commissioned Ilari Kaila, a Finnish-American composer who teaches and resides in Hong Kong, to write a work that will premiere at the concert, along with the music of two prominent Eastman School of Music composition professors.
"Each project that I have undertaken while using these funds has involved a tremendous amount of thought regarding how the funds for the project will benefit others. For example, I created 'Together We,' guided by the mission, 'Together We observe, nurture creativity, foster conversations, reject boundaries, ask challenging questions of ourselves and others, and create meaningful art,'" Barth said. "For my three Chancellor Faculty Fellowship-funded video projects, I hired two recent graduates of the Blair School of Music who started their own recording company, called Continuous Motion Productions. Their business is thriving, and I am proud to have been working with them since their fledgling student days at Vanderbilt."
LEARNING WHILE LEADING
Barth also used funds to continue her own education, taking courses on leadership in the arts at New York University, to better understand the industry, with the goal of making a larger impact.
"The information provided in the comprehensive course was especially helpful given my past position as associate director of the Vanderbilt Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy, and now as associate dean for faculty affairs at Blair," she said.
"I feel a deep sense of gratitude to the Chancellor Faculty Fellows program." -Molly Barth
- Read about more Chancellor Faculty Fellows excelling in their fields
- Learn about Chancellor Faculty Fellows leading research centers
- Meet the 2026 cohort of Chancellor Faculty Fellows
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