Entrepreneur and philanthropist Steve Turner and his alma mater, Vanderbilt University, have launched a new Center for Nashville Studies to explore issues and opinions shaping an increasingly urban Nashville.Vanderbilt and Turner have made undisclosed financial commitments toward the center's success, and Turner serves on the center's new community advisory board. Interest in urban issues comes easily for Turner, whose Marketstreet Enterprises and Nashville Urban Venture companies are playing pivotal roles in the $400 million redevelopment of The Gulch area downtown. Turner, a member of the founding family of Dollar General Corp., often makes contributions via the James Stephen Turner Charitable Foundation. The Nashville Symphony, the Blair School of Music and Adventure Science Center are among other recent Turner beneficiaries. Efforts to reach Turner for this story have thus far been unsuccessful.Attorney Aubrey Harwell, who serves with Turner on the center's new community advisory board, told NashvillePost.com yesterday he believes the CNS will have "tremendous impact on this community," because "Steve Turner has a vision" that calls for addressing Nashville's most pressing needs, and because the new center enjoys direct support from "the senior-most people in the university." Vanderbilt has named Dan Cornfield the first director of the CNS. Cornfield is a professor of sociology and is acting director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies. Cornfield told NashvillePost.com the CNS operates independently of VIPPS, and he reports directly to Vanderbilt Provost Nick Zeppos. VIPPS is searching for a full-time director to succeed interim appointee Cornfield.Cornfield said CNS activities will improve teaching and learning, provide research opportunities for faculty and students, and engage "faculty, students and community in on-going reflection and conversation about greater Nashville as a community."Harwell said he believes roughly 50 Vanderbilt faculty members are already committed to working with CNS. Vanderbilt said a faculty advisory committee will also support CNS.CNS projects already in-train include:
Studying sources of inspiration and motivation among musicians committed to music careers, in cooperation with Vanderbilt's Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy.Studying the origins and evolution of Nashville's participation in the Civil Rights Movement.Studying how local immigrant families engage with local schools. CNS has awarded $69,000 to Prof. Katharine Donato, to augment funding she received from the National Science Foundation and the Russell Sage Foundation for similar work in New York City and Chicago.A rigorous "Vanderbilt Engaging Nashville Survey" of 1,000 Nashvillians, conducted every two years to determine trends in opinion regarding the local economy, arts and other facets of life. Support of student courses in documentary film-making, linked to a year-long academic seminar.Studying premature births and infant mortality among Hispanic women, who have "lower risks of pregnancy complications than other racial groups," according to CNS.Establishing an archive of CNS studies and conducting public forums on salient issues.In addition to Turner and Harwell, community advisory board members include Orrin Ingram, president and CEO of Ingram Industries and a member of Vanderbilt's Board of Trust; and Ralph Schulz, president of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.
