Year: 2008

The three faces of Mr. C are Sam Newman (in gold), Mike Fagan (in black), and a third student who prefers to hide behind the anonymity of the Commodore mask. Photo by John Russell It was quite the conundrum. Mr. Commodore, the “face” of Vanderbilt athletics, had gone missing. Read More

Sevin Awarded Germany’s Cross of the Order of Merit Dieter Sevin, professor of Germanic languages and literatures and chair of the department, has been awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is the only order awarded by the president of that… Read More

Vanderbilt has launched its own channel on YouTube, the wildly popular video-sharing site. The channel features a broad range of offerings, including lectures, concerts and news pieces, and content straight from the classroom. Vanderbilt is one among just a handful of universities nationally with a branded YouTube channel. Read More

Kathryn Edwards works to find a vaccine that would protect everyone from a pandemic flu. Photo by Dana Johnson Vanderbilt University Medical Center will receive nearly $24 million from the federal government over the next seven years to continue evaluating innovative vaccines for pandemic flu, malaria and other infections. Read More

In a major policy shift, Vanderbilt University Medical Center will no longer allow faculty, staff, residents or students to accept personal gifts from industry, regardless of the nature or value of the gift. The policy is a response to patient concerns nationwide that medical decisions are influenced by drug companies. “A… Read More

The Saturday Academy at Vanderbilt for the Young raises the bar for top students. Photo by Rusty Russell Not every child would want to spend Saturdays in school. But these aren’t your average kids, and SAVY isn’t your average school. Beginning in January and continuing through early March, gifted… Read More

Thumbs Up for Residential Education I read with great interest Whitney Weeks’ piece on the College Halls initiative [Fall 2007 issue, “Common Ground,” p. 52]. The article was informative and gave me a good overview of the entire College Halls vision. In particular, the sentence “Disengaged students… Read More

  Teacher Mary Laurens Seely helps Tyler Rowland with his studies at the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital School, where young patients keep up with schoolwork. Photo by Dana Johnson Like most 4-year-olds, the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is growing like a weed. Although the free-standing hospital was just… Read More

One of the first friends I made after I began work at Vanderbilt in 1986 was Grace Zibart, then editor of The Vanderbilt Lawyer and associate editor of Vanderbilt Magazine. A native New Yorker, she had been assistant fashion editor at The New York Times before she married a… Read More

SPEAR volunteers turn last year’s leaves into next year’s compost. Photo by John Russell Vanderbilt has more trees than undergraduate students–an estimated 7,500 leaf- producing specimens on its 330-acre campus. Until recently, all the leaves collected from autumns past were stockpiled at Natchez Triangle because nobody could figure out… Read More

  Lisa Robbins Lisa Robbins earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia and worked as a reporter in Jerusalem and Chicago. When a newspaper editor instructed her to stop conducting interviews in person and to do all her reporting from behind a desk, she decided to… Read More

Enrollment of African American students has more than doubled in the past decade. Photo by Kathleen Smith Barry The percentage of African Americans in the fall 2007 freshman class increased by 12.3 percent over the previous fall, placing Vanderbilt fourth among the highest-ranking U.S. universities, according to The Journal… Read More

Nicholas S. Zeppos was named Vanderbilt’s chancellor March 1 following the Board of Trust’s winter meeting. The unanimous election of Zeppos, who had served as Vanderbilt’s chief academic officer since 2002 and interim chancellor since last summer, marks the first time in 70 years that Vanderbilt has… Read More

John D. Rockefeller Sr. (1839-1937) and Jr. (1874-1960) At the end of the 19th century, vast personal fortunes were created in the United States. Industrial advances made from 1870 to 1900 opened opportunities in railways, oil, banking and manufacturing. Savvy businessmen with names like Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Morgan and Rockefeller… Read More

Editor, Gaynelle Doll Art Director and Designer, Donna DeVore Pritchett Editorial Read More

    Sandy Besser, BA’58, shares his Santa Fe home with thousands of works of art, including Koi Neng Liew’s “One Pretty Flower for Mr. Rabbit Man,” shown here. “There’s a story behind every single piece in this house, and I don’t have favorites,” Besser says. “They are all… Read More

Give the gift of tradition with the official Vanderbilt class ring for alumni and students. For more information contact Balfour Rings at www.balfour.com or visit the Vanderbilt Bookstore. Read More

Illustration by Joe Johnston In its ability to learn, the cockroach is a numskull in the morning and a genius in the evening. Dramatic daily variations in the cockroach’s learning ability were discovered by a new study performed by Vanderbilt University biologists and published last fall in the Proceedings… Read More

Middle school students teach a cartoon character and then test her comprehension. Photo by Jason Tan Anyone who has ever helped children with homework knows how much they resist checking their answers. Now a new animated computer program created by Vanderbilt engineers is showing students that self-checking is an… Read More

“Never believe the landlord when he says that living next to the ‘el’ train is an ‘urban experience.'” Life After Vanderbilt is a new guide written for new graduates by recent graduates–a collection of advice that the Alumni Association will present as a graduation gift to each member of the… Read More