Year: 2007

A Vanderbilt student group’s love of nature has led to a project that will produce cleaner-burning fuel on campus. The Vanderbilt Biodiesel Initiative, started by participants of Vanderbilt’s Wilskills program, will take used vegetable oil–stuff that cooks fried foods in campus cafeterias– and recycle it into environmentally friendly… Read More

It’s hard not to notice something as big as a dead mall. Changes in consumer buying habits have led to the decline of shopping centers in many cities, leaving space up for lease. Those empty stores can provide a creative solution for a burgeoning medical center like Vanderbilt’s,… Read More

Chemistry Whiz Awarded NSF Fellowship Kristin Glab, BS’07, is one of only 22 chemistry majors in the country this year awarded a National Science Foundation fellowship, which will pay for three years of graduate school. Following graduation from Vanderbilt last May, Glab is studying at the Massachusetts Institute of… Read More

Pregnancy May Help Cut Risks for HIV-Infected Women Women with HIV infection who become pregnant have a lower risk of progression to AIDS and death,Vanderbilt researchers report in the online edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases. They suggest that “the complex set of immunologic changes” during pregnancy may… Read More

Virtual Vanderbilt Sam Davidson, MDiv’09, created this Web site to give users easy, practical resources for making a positive impact on their local communities. The “5 Minutes of Caring” section offers daily 99-word articles featuring practical tips and motivation. The “Act Locally” calendar lists meaningful events, from 5K… Read More

One of Vanderbilt’s own jumped into the presidential candidate ring in September, ending months of speculation. Even before he declared his candidacy, Fred Thompson, JD’67, polled third nationally among GOP presidential contenders. The preferred candidate among many conservatives, Thompson has drawn comparisons to Ronald Reagan for his easy manner… Read More

Gone are the days of straight lecturing by instructors and note taking by students. Instead, clickers, which look like small remote controls, are allowing students to become active participants and instructors to gauge how well concepts are sinking in. An instructor using a classroom response system poses multiple-choice… Read More

Vanderbilt University School of Nursing nurse midwives, who typically help birth more than 700 babies each year, have expanded their reach to delivering babies at Nashville General Hospital. The arrangement, begun last summer, is aimed at easing capacity issues in Vanderbilt’s labor and delivery service as well as providing assistance… Read More

Faculty from Vanderbilt and South Africa’s University of Cape Town (UCT) are working together to recruit and train more black scientists in South Africa.Vanderbilt and UCT will be core partners in collaborative research and study across several academic disciplines. The universities have agreed to jointly build an automated telescope… Read More

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore was named a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize on Oct. 12 for his work to combat global warming. The 2007 Nobel was awarded to Gore jointly with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The announcement marks the second time in little… Read More

In every issue of Vanderbilt Magazine, we include an essay written by a student. The most frequent challenge I face as editor of these essays is convincing young writers to share their stories, blemishes and all. One of the first rules of writing is that without conflict, there is no… Read More

From the moment they step onto campus next August, the 1,550 students in the Class of 2012 will be pioneers in one of the most comprehensive changes in Vanderbilt history. Each incoming student will live in one of 10 residential “houses” led by a faculty head who lives with… Read More

In the City, you don’t stargaze. You don’t dig through wildflower field guides for the name of that brilliant trumpet burst of blue you saw on your morning walk. You don’t hunt for animal tracks in the snow or pause in that same frozen forest, eyes closed, listening for… Read More

Gordon Gee never was one to follow the playbook. Past Vanderbilt chancellors have always pursued a more or less predictable exit strategy: After a couple of decades leading the university to ever-greater heights, they quietly retire to spend their days serving on foundations and advisory boards, growing more silver-haired… Read More

Last winter Shane Thurman, a 42-year-old construction worker from Crossville, Tenn., became one among an estimated 45 million Americans without health insurance when he was dropped from the rolls of TennCare, Tennessee’s state-run Medicaid insurance program. Thurman’s employer didn’t provide health insurance, and his income wasn’t sufficient to meet… Read More

Just before plunging into their studies, medical students of the Class of 2011 cool off at an orientation party. The 104 incoming first-year medical students come from 30 U.S. states, Canada, Ethiopia, India, Republic of Korea, Poland, Taiwan and Thailand. Photo by Anne Rayser. Read More

In gentrifying neighborhoods there are typically clashes between racial and ethnic groups, the "haves" and "have-nots," homeowners and apartment dwellers and newcomers and longtime residents. However, a new book by Northwestern University professor Mary Pattillo explores the story with a twist. Read More

Spring Accolades In the most recent issue of Vanderbilt Magazine was an article about the undergraduate admissions process [Spring 2007 issue, “Getting In,” p. 28]. I read it with interest–as I have a rising high school senior and took a “college road trip” with her earlier in the summer–and have… Read More

Eugene Watkins, BS’77, the first president of AVBA Reunion and Homecoming Weekend in October kicked off a yearlong series of events commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Association of Vanderbilt Black Alumni (AVBA). Tremayne Anderson, BE’95, the current AVBA president. AVBA was founded as part of the Vanderbilt Alumni… Read More

Contrary to popular belief, schools are not devoting more time and resources to students that fall just below federal standards in response to No Child Left Behind, a new study from Vanderbilt University has found. Read More