Spring 2010

Billy Ray Caldwell All good things must come to an end. As my term as president of the Vanderbilt Alumni Association Board of Directors comes to a close, I am reminded about exciting changes that have taken place the past couple of years and look forward to the future—of… Read More

A packed house of Vanderbilt alumni, parents and friends gathered to hear an update about the university from Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos at the City Club of San Francisco on Jan. 28. Here the chancellor, left, chats with (clockwise) Meredith Thacker, BS’97; William Linsenmeyer, PhD’72; Doug Asiell, BA’92; Marjorie Sennett,… Read More

Last October alumni members of the Vanderbilt Atlanta Chapter were presented a President’s Volunteer Service Award recognizing the group’s nearly 400 hours of service to the Atlanta Community Food Bank during the previous year. Chapter members have been volunteering for the food bank on a monthly basis since 2007. “We… Read More

As part of a continuing effort to help increase current students’ awareness of, and access to, Vanderbilt’s network of alumni, the Office of Alumni Relations has created “Dores Across Nashville,” a series of small, informal dinner gatherings for students in the homes of Nashville-area alumni. Each gathering centers on a… Read More

I hope there’s a kitchen in heaven. My loved ones know to look for me there. In fact, I expect to go to heaven straight from my own kitchen, leaving behind a freezer full of food and, less likely, clean dishes. I come from a long line of enthusiastic cooks… Read More

Baker is one of six students accepted last year into Vanderbilt’s M.F.A. program in creative writing out of a pool of 374 applicants. One game my best friend and I used to play was this: We were castaways on an island where we were trapped with a horrible monster. We… Read More

Glen Stewart (right) enjoys a pre-earthquake lunch with members of his mission group at the Olafson Hotel in downtown Port-au-Prince. We were going to be late for supper. That thought was uppermost in my mind as I prodded the members of my group to conclude their purchases in the One… Read More

Muhammad Ali whispers to his wife, Lonnie, as she testifies at a U.S. Senate hearing in 2002.   LONNIE WILLIAMS ALI, BA’78 When Lonnie Williams married the world’s most famous athlete in 1986, she knew little about the degenerative neurological condition that was just beginning to grip Muhammad Ali’s… Read More

JIM MORGAN, BA’69 “We believe there’s a greater purpose in life than selling doughnuts,” says Jim Morgan. “During the past two years, we’ve committed to a new mission of taking this incredible product and brand and using it as an instrument through which to touch and enhance lives.” Morgan… Read More

WILLIE GEIST, BA’97 It’s fitting that one of the shows Willie Geist hosts on MSNBC is called Way Too Early. If there’s one gripe he has about his job, it’s the necessity of waking up in the wee hours of the morning. “When the alarm clock goes off at… Read More

Tyler Sanchez, Class of 2010, uses his Nichols Humanitarian Fund award to spend a month working with International Development Enterprises India. Here he demonstrates how to use a treadle pump in the village of Gorakhpur. “Demand things of the world and if they don’t do it, then change the world… Read More

During the past 40 years, more than 100 graduating Vanderbilt women have had the once-in-a lifetime chance to begin their careers at world-renowned Lloyd’s of London, thanks to the generosity of one man. In 1969, Walter C. Wattles, BA’36, established a fellowship to allow women to live in London for… Read More

Priscilla Craven (left) surprised Suzanne McGee by flying to Dallas and walking with her friend during part of the Avon 60-Mile Walk for Breast Cancer last year. McGee was the top fundraiser for the event. On the surface, Suzanne Perot McGee and Priscilla Call Craven didn’t have much in common… Read More

Aaron Noll, a sophomore biological sciences major from Fort Mitchell, Ky., is a forward on the basketball team and the current recipient of the Martin F. McNamara Jr. Honor Scholarship. After Martin McNamara Jr. died 26 years ago, his family honored him by establishing the Martin F. McNamara Jr. Honor… Read More

Over the last year and a half, our hard-working volunteers encouraged classmates to come back and give back to Vanderbilt. We welcomed 5,160 Vanderbilt alumni, spouses and friends to campus for the 2009 Reunion/Homecoming weekend. Our volunteers’ hard work also resulted in more than $39 million in gifts and pledges—an… Read More

The Blakemore Trio   Nearly four years have passed since the Blakemore Trio (violinist Carolyn Huebl, cellist Felix Wang and pianist Amy Dorfman, all three of whom are on the faculty of Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music) first decided to ask New York composer Susan Botti to write a… Read More

Four years after its creation and only a year and a half after granting degrees to its first class, the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Creative Writing program at Vanderbilt University has been named a top 20 program in the country by Poets & Writers magazine. Vanderbilt was ranked… Read More

The Jean and Alexander Heard Library is remembering one of America’s most beloved writers with the exhibit “Mark Twain: An American Original,” on display in Special Collections through June 30. The exhibit is free and open to the public. “Twain and Twang,” Nashville’s citywide celebration, marks the 175th anniversary this… Read More

Bachmann Wins Tufts Discovery Award Beth Bachmann (right), assistant professor of English, is the 2010 winner of the prestigious Kate Tufts Discovery Award, given to honor a poet’s first book. The award, presented by Claremont Graduate University, includes a $10,000 prize. Bachmann’s Temper, published last year by the University of… Read More