Dr. C. André Christie-Mizell
Dr. C. André Christie-Mizell is the vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate School. He also serves as the director of the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and is a Centennial Professor of sociology at Vanderbilt University.
Christie-Mizell joined Vanderbilt’s Department of Sociology in 2010. Prior to his role as vice provost, he served as senior associate dean and then dean of undergraduate education in the College and Arts and Science for four years.
As vice provost and dean, Christie-Mizell serves as the chief administrator for all graduate programs within the university’s schools and colleges, and he works to foster a collaborative support system across multiple departments, programs, and central provost resources such as the Career Center, International Student and Scholar Services, and Data and Strategic Analysis. Christie-Mizell has an extraordinary talent for building consensus and is viewed across the institution as a trusted partner, connecter, and effective listener.
Since taking leadership of the Graduate School, Vice Provost Christie-Mizell has worked to catapult Vanderbilt doctoral education to be among the best in the world through a redefinition of the role of the Graduate School, the launch of an enhanced funding model, and the creation of new pipeline programs to support students interested in tenure-track faculty roles post-graduation.
Christie-Mizell aligned vision and ambition to empower the 58 graduate programs across seven teaching schools to recruit, train, support, and place an increasingly diverse graduate student body in high-impact positions across the academy, government, and industry. Taking on ultimate responsibility for the over 2,400 graduate students, he has redefined the role of the Graduate School and raised the standards for operational excellence at Vanderbilt. His clear communication style and ability to design and implement processes brought clarity to graduate education.
In 2021, Christie-Mizell launched an enhanced funding and support model for doctoral education, supported by Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs C. Cybele Raver’s
new $5 million annual investment in graduate education. The new model is the outcome of a yearlong project to collect and review data from constituents across the university.
“Our graduate faculty partners shared with us that they needed a solution to providing enhanced support for doctoral students,” Christie-Mizell said. “Through the creation of five funding supplements, we have created more financial support across all schools and programs for graduate student discovery, research and creative endeavors.”
Christie-Mizell has made it a priority to recruit, train, and place a diverse group of scholars. As a first-generation student who grew up in the rural South, and as a leader in graduate education at Vanderbilt with multiple minority statuses, he shares his own experiences that inspire him to pave the way for the next generation of diverse faculty and academic leaders in the academy. From his own research on racial group identity, stratification, and inequality, to his leadership in the Graduate School expanding initiatives and programs to build a diverse pipeline of future academics, his steadfast commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion is embedded in the way he teaches, mentors, and leads. His efforts were essential in the establishment of the Vanderbilt-Fisk Joint Postdoctoral Fellowship Program—a program that fosters collaboration between Vanderbilt and Fisk’s campuses to prepare doctor students for the professoriate.
“These fellowships will expand our partnership into the postdoctoral space, creating another pathway to careers in academia,” said Christie-Mizell.
Since joining Vanderbilt’s Sociology department as a tenured professor in 2010, Christie-Mizell has received the 2021 Leadership Award from the Chancellor’s Office and a 2015 Distinguished Faculty Award for his exceptional work as a graduate student mentor. Throughout his career, Christie-Mizell has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to graduate student development through engagement in close research collaboration, high-level classroom instruction, and generosity with his time despite his own critically important research agenda.
Christie-Mizell co-chairs a task force to address the Supreme Court’s university admissions decision. That group helps the Vanderbilt campus and community understand the implications of the High Court’s decisions and guides the university’s responses. In 2020 he co-led the Education Continuity Subcommittee as part of the University Continuity Working Group, which advised Vanderbilt leadership on how to continue operating safely and productively during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christie-Mizell is also a licensed psychologist who treats children, adolescents, and young adults with mood and behavior disorders. His research focuses on racial and gender differences in mental and physical health, with particular attention to how family structure and interpersonal relationships shape well-being across the life course. His work appears in journals such as Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Psychology Quarterly, Social Science Research, Race and Social Problems, and Journal of the National Medical Association.