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CRA Faculty

CRA core faculty have degrees in psychology, sociology, geography, anthropology, health policy, human development & family studies, human resource development, counselor education, leadership & policy studies, and community research & action. They are engaged in a wide variety of interdisciplinary research and teaching and are actively involved with many different interdisciplinary professional organizations (e.g., Society for Community Research and Action, American Sociological Association, American Association of Geographers, Community Development Society, Society for Prevention Research, American Evaluation Association, Urban Affairs Association, American Educational Research Association, Society for Applied Anthropology). Graduate faculty may serve as PhD advisor and on Program of Studies, thesis and dissertation committees; other faculty may serve on Program of Studies Committees, and with the permission of the Graduate School on thesis and dissertation committees.

Core Faculty

Nicole Allen (Graduate Faculty)
Chair, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Kimberly Bess (Graduate Faculty)
Associate Professor of the Practice, Department of Human and Organizational Development
David Carlone (Graduate Faculty)
Professor of the Practice, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Ashley Carse (Graduate Faculty)
Assistant Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Gabrielle Chapman
Center for Translational Justice Research
Gabriel Lynn Chapman Center for Translational Justice Research
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Brian D. Christens (Graduate Faculty)
Associate Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Caroline Christopher
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning
David Diehl (Graduate Faculty)
Assistant Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Bradley T. Erford (Graduate Faculty)
Program Director, Core Faculty, Professor, Human Development Counseling
Kayla Fike (Graduate Faculty)
Assistant Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Andrew Finch (Graduate Faculty)
Core Faculty, Human Development Counseling
Professor of the Practice, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Jyoti Gupta (Graduate Faculty)
Assistant Professor of the Practice, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Yolanda J. McDonald (Graduate Faculty)
Assistant Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Faculty Affiliate, Program in Climate and Environmental Studies, Vanderbilt University
Velma McBride Murry (Graduate Faculty)
University Professor of Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Department of Human and Organizational Development
University Professor of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Department of Health Policy
Maury Nation (Graduate Faculty)
Core Faculty, Human Development Counseling
Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Ashmeet Oberoi (Graduate Faculty)
Associate Professor of the Practice, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Douglas Perkins (Graduate Faculty)
Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Jessica M. Perkins (Graduate Faculty)
Assistant Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Sara Safransky (Graduate Faculty)
Assistant Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Beth Shinn (Graduate Faculty)
Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Paul W. Speer (Graduate Faculty)
Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Sarah V. Suiter (Graduate Faculty)
Associate Professor of the Practice, Department of Human and Organizational Development
Rong Wang (Graduate Faculty)
Assistant Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development

Affiliated Faculty

Brooke Ackerly, Professor of Philosophy in Political Science. Her research interests include democratic theory, feminist methodologies, human rights, social and environmental justice. She integrates into her theoretical work empirical research on activism.

Joe BandyAssistant Director of the Center for Teaching and affiliated faculty in the Department of Sociology at Vanderbilt University. He  oversees programs dedicated to public scholarship and community engagement in the academy, particularly junior faculty development, service learning and community engagement, sustainability education, and issues of difference and power in teaching. Joe also specializes in the sociology of development, globalization, U.S. class relations, labor, as well as environmental problems and movements.

Ted Fischer, Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Vanderbilt University . He is also the founder of Maní+. His research combines cultural anthropology and political economy with a geographical focus on highland Guatemala and Germany. His ongoing fieldwork is centered in the Kaqchikel town of Tecpan and he has also worked extensively with the leaders of Guatamala's pan-Maya movement. His most recent research looked at consumer behavior, labor relations, and moral models in Germany. 

Gina Frieden, Assistant Professor of the Practice, Department of Human & Organizational Development. Her teaching and research interests are in adult development, life transitions and counselor training.

Mark Lipsey's Research Professor, Department of Human & Organizational Development and Director, Peabody Research Institute. His professional interests are in the areas of public policy, program evaluation research, social intervention, field research methodology, and research synthesis (meta-analysis). His recent research interests have been in the areas of risk and intervention for juvenile delinquency and substance use, early childhood education programs, and issues of methodological quality in program evaluation research. He is the Director of the Vanderbilt .

Richard Lloyd, Associate Professor of Sociology. His teaching and research interests are in urban sociology, sociology of culture, social theory, sociology of art, work and occupations, social change, and political sociology.

Holly McCammon's Professor of Sociology and Editor, American Sociological Review, 2010-2015. Her teaching and research interests are in social movements, women's legal rights, historical sociology, and political sociology.

Melissa Snarr, Associate Professor of Ethics and Society, Graduate Department of Religion, Divinity School. Her interests are intersection of religion, social change and social/political ethics.