Month: November 2010

A new national center based at Peabody College is tasked with identifying key elements that make some high schools in urban districts more effective at improving outcomes for low-income and minority students, as well as English language learners. The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has awarded $13.6 million over five… Read More

Vanderbilt’s new expanded aid program has resulted in the most selective class in the university’s history. Beginning in the fall of 2009, Vanderbilt eliminated all need-based loans for admitted students, choosing to substitute scholarships and grants for those with demonstrated need. Applications jumped to 21,811 for the Class of 2014,… Read More

“If we don’t educate girls, communities will never, never change.” —Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time, speaking Sept. 22 on The Commons. His best-selling book was given to all members of Vanderbilt’s first-year class to… Read More

Beloved Commodore Coach Roy Skinner passed away Oct. 25 of respiratory failure at Southern Hills Medical Center in Nashville. He was 80. The Skinner years as men’s basketball coach spanned the ’60s and ’70s and were marked by major milestones and achievements as yet unequaled by his successors. He compiled… Read More

During the next two years, Vanderbilt will create 60 new endowed faculty chairs, bringing the total number of endowed chairs at the university to 267. Endowed chairs, the highest honor Vanderbilt can give to a faculty member, help attract and retain distinguished senior scholars. In the academic world they represent… Read More

Major League Writers Please add to your list of accomplished Vanderbilt sports writers [Summer 2010, “Shooting from the Lip”] the name of my good friend and Alpha Epsilon Pi brother Henry Hecht, BA’69. Henry was the major league baseball beat writer for The New York Post during the tumultuous… Read More

I married my high school sweetheart after my freshman year at a small Iowa liberal arts college. He was several years older, and his work required frequent relocations. I earned a bachelor’s degree in four years by attending three undistinguished colleges. Most of that time I had a long commute… Read More

Jeremy Kane’s emergence as a key figure in Nashville’s charter schools movement may well have taken root in seventh grade. That was the year he transferred from a Metro Nashville public school to Montgomery Bell Academy, a private college preparatory school. Read More

If one travels north on 20th Avenue South in Nashville, the dome on the Wyatt Center—known to many alumni as the Social-Religious Building—comes into view. The building sits on the crest of a hill, so it should not be a surprise as it suddenly pops up amid the trees… Read More

Fizzy’s Lunch Lab—an interactive Web series with cartoon characters acting out funny stories to emphasize the importance of good nutrition, a balanced diet and physical activity—was nominated for a Daytime Entertainment Emmy Award. And there’s a Peabody connection. Sharon Shields, professor of the practice of human and organizational development; Heather… Read More

Jessica Lewis and her family are Vanderbilt through and through. She and her husband, Hi Lewis, BA’99, MEd’01, received their undergraduate and graduate degrees at Vanderbilt. Their two children were born at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and attend the Vanderbilt Child Care Center. Read More

Paul Dokecki was born and raised in Brooklyn and came to Nashville in 1962, 10 days after his wedding to his wife, Katherine, to start a doctoral program in clinical psychology at Peabody. “The culture shock was significant at about every level,” he says. Read More

This academic year is an exciting one for all those associated with Peabody College, as 2010-2011 marks our 225th anniversary. Read More

Guerillas belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, kidnapped Ingrid Betancourt as she campaigned for the Colombian presidency in 2002. She was held captive six years in Colombia’s rain forest until she was liberated in  2008 with 14 other hostages in a daring rescue staged by… Read More

Two hundred and twenty-five years is a long time for an institution to survive. Founded as Davidson Academy in 1785, what is now Vanderbilt’s Peabody College initially existed under various names—Cumberland College, University of Nashville, State Normal College of Tennessee, Peabody Normal College. During those years, Peabody’s primary innovation was its continued existence in a region not always responsive to higher education. Read More

New research based on preliminary data in a pilot study has found no significant difference in achievement gains on standardized math tests between students in charter schools and those in traditional public schools. The findings have spurred the collection of additional data for continued analysis. Ellen Goldring, Patricia and… Read More

Richard Dreyfuss (right) discussed the importance of civics education at an event moderated by John Siegen-thaler (left) at the Tennessee governor’s residence on Oct. 12. On Tuesday, October 12, Peabody and Owen Graduate School of Management joined with Tennessee’s First Lady, Andrea Conte, to welcome actor and education activist Richard… Read More

Identifying and developing a process for transferring key elements that make some high schools in large urban districts more effective at improving outcomes for low-income and minority students as well as English language learners is the focus of a new national center at Peabody. Read More

Improving math instruction for elementary and middle school children experiencing problems with fractions is the focus of a $10 million grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, a research branch of the U.S. Department of Education. Among the collaborators in the new Center on Improving Mathematics Instruction for Students with… Read More

Illustration by Elizabeth Rosen Visit Peabody College’s Web site at http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/ Bonnie Arant Ertelt, Editor Donna Pritchett, Art Director Michael Smeltzer, Designer Nelson Bryan, Class Notes Editor Contributors: Kurt Brobeck, Sue Erickson, Kara Furlong, Stacy Gardner, Jennifer Johnston, Camilla Meek, Melanie Moran, Jan Read, Rob Simbeck, Cindy Thomsen, Tom… Read More