A Year Like No Other: How a Global Pandemic Led to Vanderbilt University's Proudest Moment

The University that was at the heart of the research to discover the vaccines for the pandemic pens the story of how it all happened.

In 2020, as COVID-19 threw the U.S. higher education system into turmoil, university administrators around the country debated whether it was prudent—or even possible—to teach students in person or conduct laboratory research amid a once-in-a-century pandemic. For the leadership at Vanderbilt University, the answer to the question was a resounding Yes. Viewing residential education and collaborative research as essential to its academic and societal mission, Vanderbilt was one of a small number of America’s top universities to put rigorous safety protocols in place to allow students, faculty, and research personnel back to campus in the fall.

Told with recollections and insights from Vanderbilt’s leaders, students, faculty, and staff, and moving at a pace matching the events it describes, A Year Like No Other takes readers from Vanderbilt’s near-shutdown in the spring through its reopening for the 2020–2021 academic year, providing an inside look at how the university coped not only with COVID-19, but also with a tragic night of tornadoes and the urgent calls for racial justice following the killing of George Floyd. A Year Like No Other also highlights some of the vital contributions that faculty at Vanderbilt and Vanderbilt University Medical Center have made to the development of COVID-19 vaccines and therapies, with research fueled in part by Dolly Parton, the beloved country music legend.

A Year Like No Other captures a singular moment in the university’s history while delivering a concise portrait of successful crisis management playing out amid the fast-changing circumstances of global health threats and a barrage of local hardships.

Ryan Underwood is the Director of Editorial Strategy at Vanderbilt University and editor of Vanderbilt Magazine. Prior to that role, he served as Director of Content Strategy for Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management, where he oversaw global communications and social media for the school. Before joining Vanderbilt, Underwood worked as politics editor for The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville. He was staff writer for Fast Company magazine in Boston and New York, where he covered branding, technology, and executive leadership. He is also a former contributing writer for Inc. magazine, covering the intersection of innovation and global entrepreneurship. A native of Nashville, Underwood holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and completed graduate work in international relations at Boston University.

Chancellor Daniel Diermeier is an internationally renowned political scientist and management scholar and the ninth chancellor of Vanderbilt University.

Diermeier is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Canadian Institute of Advanced Research. His teaching and research focus on formal political theory, text analytics, behavioral models of politics, and crisis and reputation management. He has published four books and more than 100 research articles.

Prior to his position at Vanderbilt, Diermeier held leadership and faculty roles at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. From 2016 until 2020, he was provost of the University of Chicago, where he was responsible for all academic and research programs across the university.

Throughout his career, Diermeier has been an adviser to governments, nonprofits, and leading companies. He has served as a board member for the University of Chicago Medical Center, the Civic Consulting Alliance, the National Opinion Research Center, and the management board of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, among several other organizations. He is a national trustee of the Field Museum and a member of the Board of Overseers of Argonne National Laboratory.

A first-generation college graduate, Diermeier earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Rochester. He also holds master’s degrees in political science and philosophy.