Celebrating Our 2020 Graduates
Though we cannot gather in person to celebrate you in 2020, we are incredibly proud of all of our graduates and excited about the impact you will have on world as you move on from Vanderbilt into your new roles in life.
A message from the dean
2020 founder's medalist
Thea Jean Autry, from Katy, Texas, is this year’s Founder’s Medalist for the Graduate School. She is graduating with a doctor of philosophy in English. Thea’s research and teaching focus on U.S. literature and visual arts of the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, with emphasis on theories of visuality, race, gender, sexuality, and cultural geography. She has earned numerous grants and scholarships, including a student-directed seminar grant from the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities. She has been recruited as a reviewer by the European Journal of American Culture, and her paper proposals have been accepted at several national and international conferences. In her capacity as an officer in the English Graduate Student Association, she participated in the Tennessee Prison Books Project and college application workshops at Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet School in Nashville. Admired by her students, Thea designed and taught four well-received undergraduate courses. She is finishing a year in residence at Kenyon College after winning a prestigious Yarbrough Dissertation Fellowship and has multiple professional prospects lined up for the fall
The Celebration
Visit the Class of 2020 site for a message from Interim Chancellor and Provost Susan R. Wente (Friday, May 8, at 9:00 AM), find virtual commencement Zoom backgrounds, learn how you can contribute your ideas on celebrating 2020 graduates in May 2021, and more.
View the Graduate School 2020 Conferral of Degrees Program and the Main Commencement Program.
Congratulations to all Vanderbilt graduates, and we'll see you on campus in May 2021 to celebrate properly! #VU2020
We express our gratitude to the graduates shown below, who shared personal quotes and pictures with us. We hope you enjoy our tributes and share them with your family, friends and colleagues. Send us a message if you would like us to share your video on social media.
Master of Arts
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| Hana Bacaj | Bagga Aanchal | Wil Morse | Khodadad Shoayb | |||
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| Maria Silat |
Jonghyung Youn
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Wen Zhang | Qiuyu Du |
Master Liberal Arts & Science
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Win Barker
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Charles Otis Blackmon |
Alexandra Rockafellar
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Megan Sykes
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Master of Science
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| Allegra Anderson | Pietra Bruni |
Kenya Collins
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Kaylee Johnson | |||
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Scott Williams
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Hamid Zare
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Doctor of Philosophy
