Georgia car accident claims life of senior

Dorothy Legros, a senior in the College of Arts and Science, died during Spring Break after visiting her sister near Atlanta. The funeral is tentatively set for 10 a.m. March 20. For more information, call (305) 940-6304.

Vanderbilt University named to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll

This award recognizes the university’s commitment to service and civic engagement on campus and in the nation.

Keegan Fellowship winner to travel across six continents

Wyatt Smith, graduating senior, Ingram Scholar and president of Vanderbilt Student Government, has been named this year’s recipient of Vanderbilt’s Michael B. Keegan Traveling Fellowship.

Researchers to study impact of Scientist-in-the-Classroom Partnership

Vanderbilt has received a $1 million federal stimulus grant to evaluate the long-term impact of a “Scientist-in-the-Classroom” partnership program designed to enhance learning and encourage students to pursue careers in science.

Safety Central store offers baby safety tips

Kohl’s Safety Central turns one this month. To celebrate, Safety Central will offer a free gift to anyone who visits the store on the 2nd floor of Children’s Hospital inside the Junior League Family Resource Center during the month of March.

Get discounted tickets to Grand Ole Opry for College Basketball Night March 13

Among those confirmed to appear are American Idol finalist Danny Gokey, Joe Diffie, new hitmaker David Nail and Academy of Country Music Awards nominee for Top New Vocal Duo Steel Magnolia.

How Christians and Jews understand Jesus, the New Testament and each other subject of lecture March 18

Amy-Jill Levine, a leading biblical scholar at the Vanderbilt Divinity School, presents the last Chancellor’s Lecture of this year.

Great Performances at Vanderbilt presents Nrityagram Dance Ensemble March 25

The dances pay homage to the ancient form of Odissi full of sensuousness and lyricism reflective of Orissa motifs in temple sculpture.

When do Vanderbilt tornado sirens sound? It may not be when you think

Vanderbilt sirens only go off if a tornado is close to campus specifically, not a tornado elsewhere in Davidson County.

Mentor TennisSee provides tutoring, life-skills training and tennis instruction to at-risk children in Nashville

Mentor TennisSee links tennis instruction with academic tutoring and life-skills development for children who would otherwise have no exposure to the game.

more info and top stories »

  This Week

Mar. 11: Kathleen M. Giacomini Lecture: Personalizing Anti-Diabetic Drug Therapy

Mar. 12: VUIIS Founders Lecture: Dr. Richard Ehman

Mar. 15: Shigehisa Kuriyama Lecture; The Resonance of Strings and the History of Being

Mar. 16: Juan Floyd-Thomas Lecture: Reflections on Rastafarian Theology, Reggae Music and the Politics of Postcolonial Jamaican Culture

Mar. 17: Robert Wright Lecture: Sibling Rivalry: Can the religious offspring of Abraham get along?

Mar. 18-20: “Trauma: Memory, the Body, and the Arts” Conference

Mar. 18: Special Lectures - Graham Reside, Amy-Jill Levine and Bich Minh Nguyen

 Mark Your Calendars

Mar. 22: Rick Perlstein Lecture

Mar. 25: InsideOut of the Lunch Box

Mar. 30-31: Impact Symposium – John Stossel, Ralph Nader and Mitt Romney

more events »

Sign Up for a Clinical Trial

Healthy, Obese Men and Women Needed for a Clinical Research Study

Women Needed for Research Study

Healthy, Non-smoking Females Needed for a Clinical Research Study

Announcements

Chile benefit March 13

23rd Avenue near hospital reopened to two-way traffic

Invitation to participate in Nashville VisionWalk

Most Photogenic Baby Contest to benefit Children’s Hospital

CRIME ALERT – Robbery at McDonald’s March 6

Looking for golf teams for a good cause

more announcements »

Featured Media

Watch: “The Marriage of Figaro”

Watch the Vanderbilt Opera Theatre and Vanderbilt Orchestra production of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” performed in the Blair School of Music’s Ingram Hall Nov. 15, 2009.

Watch: Beyond Inclusion: Rethinking Normalcy, Identity, and Disability in Theological Terms

Tom Reynolds, associate professor of theology at Emmanuel College of Victoria University, suggests a reframing of what we consider “normal” and outlines how that reframing might alter how we think about the act of inclusion at the Disabilities, Religion, and Spirituality Special Lecture on March 1, 2010.

more media »

Tune in to VUCast, for audio and video of events happening around campus. You can also find VU podcasts on iTunes and VU videos on YouTube.

From House Organ: Speaking for Each Other

Aaron Hiscutt could easily have been left in isolation by his classmates in middle school. After all, he cannot see or hear them well, and communication is very, very difficult.

But instead, the energetic 12-year-old has many friends; he is responsible for a sign language club at school; and he is the inspiration and driving force behind a pilot of a new program guided by experts based in Vanderbilt’s Division of Developmental Medicine.

Colonial Heights Middle School, in Kingsport, Tenn., is home to the first pilot of a Youth Speakers Bureau for the Tennessee Project for Individuals with Combined Hearing and Vision Loss, which goes by the name Treds. This winter, a group of Aaron’s middle school classmates brought their program to the twice-annual meeting of the Treds Advisory Council, a group of representatives from various agencies and disciplines from across the state of Tennessee.

More on that presentation later – but first a little background on how the pilot came to be.

Aaron’s family began working with the Treds program before he turned 2. Despite near blindness, severe hearing loss and serious speech impairment, the Hiscutts wanted their son to become fully engaged in life and school. With all that love and support, Aaron had no problems all the way through elementary school. But once he turned 10, everyone recognized they would have to do something to special to help Aaron navigate the perilous waters of middle school.

Read more here.