Summer 2019

Dan Lovinger By all measures—admissions, graduation rates, philanthropic support, exceptional faculty, diversity and financial health—Vanderbilt has raised its profile dramatically under the leadership of Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos. We will be forever grateful for his knowledge, vision and passion during his 11 years as chancellor, as well as his 32… Read More

Everybody’s Doin’ It: Sex, Music, and Dance in New York, 1840-1917 (2019, W.W. Norton) by Dale Cockrell, professor of musicology, emeritus Everybody’s Doin’ It is the eye-opening story of popular music’s 70-year rise in the brothels, dance halls and dives of New York City. It traces the birth of popular… Read More

Daniel Dubois/Vanderbilt University   Since coming to Vanderbilt in 2002, I have seen the university from many different perspectives—as a scholar and faculty member, a department chair, a mentor, a vice chancellor and as Vanderbilt’s provost, and even as the proud parent of an alumna after one… Read More

Turner and Stackhouse developed a mutual admiration during their time in the G League. At the same time Turner was guiding the league through unprecedented growth, Stackhouse was leading the Toronto Raptors’ affiliate, Raptors 905, to the league championship. Read More

Several members of the Vanderbilt community have enjoyed success in the romance genre, drawing upon their varied experiences and interests to bring their stories to life. And they all point to their time at the university as helping spark their imaginations and kindle the passion for their creative pursuits. Read More

Some of the leading efforts to understand the changing nature of public higher education, and implement policies to address those shifts, are being directed by faculty and alumni of Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development. Read More

After 53 years, Carmichael Towers, Vanderbilt’s monument to 1960s Brutalist design, are coming down, soon to be replaced by the next phase of the university’s residential colleges along West End Avenue. Read More

Vanderbilt’s baseball team clinched its second NCAA championship June 26, winning a final Game 3 against the Michigan Wolverines at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. Read More

The passing of Bob Keith, BA’53, and Sharon Wemhoener Keith, BA’53, marked the end of a 70-year love affair that began on the Vanderbilt campus. I always felt a special Commodore connection to my parents, attending the university myself in the 1970s as a philosophy major and member of the men’s track and cross-country teams. Read More

Two years ago, Fort Negley, a Union Army stronghold located a few miles east of Vanderbilt’s campus, was slated to be demolished to make way for one of Nashville’s newest mixed-use developments. Yet, in part because of efforts by Vanderbilt researchers to document the vital contributions African Americans made to building and defending the site, not only was Fort Negley spared, but the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) also recognized it as a “Site of Memory” as part of its Slave Route Project. Read More

Chef Jon Bonnell, BS’94, shares his tips for success as both “grill master” and host. Read More

Because knuckleballers want no spin at all, they don’t engage the same muscles as conventional pitchers. If a robot could pitch, it would throw like a knuckleballer, like one mechanical piece instead of a flexible acrobat stressing multiple leverage points to impart spin. The physical dangers of repeated throws at maximum effort do not apply for these craftsmen. Theirs is the safest pitch of all, but the trade-off is severe: It is also the hardest to master, and to trust. Read More

Two giants in the science world joined Chancellor Emeritus Nicholas S. Zeppos on April 30 for the final 2018–19 Chancellor’s Lecture Series event, passionately advocating for an America that encourages its citizens to abandon simple opinion on big challenges and instead use evidence-based, critical thinking. Read More

The loss capped the storied Commodore careers of seniors Will Gordon, BS’19, and Patrick Martin, BS’19, who combined to win 16 team championships, five individual titles, three NCAA match play appearances, six GCAA All-America honors, seven All-SEC honors, three Palmer Cup selections, and two GCAA All-America Scholar honors during their time on campus. Read More

Women’s tennis standout Fernanda Contreras, BE’19, grew up knee-deep in a pile of LEGOs in her living room. Now, having graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering, she feels her path has come full circle. Read More

The Miami Marlins selected junior right fielder JJ Bleday with the fourth overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft on June 3, and bowler Kristin Quah, BE’19, became just the third student-athlete in Vanderbilt history to win the H. Boyd McWhorter Award in April. Read More

This tall, earth-tone glazed vase is one of Susan DeMay’s classroom demonstration pieces, 17x8x8 inches, completed in stages throughout a semester for an assignment involving numerous objectives for honing pottery wheelwork techniques. Photo by Bill Luton Clay artist Susan DeMay’s retirement exhibit showcases a three-pronged approach to ceramic art From… Read More

Vanderbilt M.F.A. graduate Matthew Baker has sold eight of his stories to media production companies for film adaptation during the past two years. Photo by Logan Werlinger Matthew Baker, MFA’12, never expected to see his work inspire a Hollywood bidding war. When an agent contacted him in 2017 about pitching… Read More

Anna Fisher, a certified nuclear medicine technologist, scans an ancient stamp using the PET/CT scanner. Photo courtesy Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery When the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science installed a new state-of-the-art PET/CT scanner in early 2018, the team probably never imagined it would be used for an art… Read More

Investigative journalist and New York Times best-selling author Elaine Shannon has spent decades reporting from the globe’s danger zones. Her latest book recounts the efforts to take down notorious criminal Paul LeRoux, whom she describes as “a twisted-genius entrepreneur and cold-blooded killer who brought revolutionary innovation to transnational crime.” Photo… Read More