Cornelia Clark Sworn in as Tennessee Chief Justice
The Hon. Cornelia A. Clark, BA’71, JD’79, became the second woman in the state’s history to serve as chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court when she was sworn into office Sept. 1.
She took the oath at the historic Williamson County Courthouse in Franklin, succeeding current Chief Justice Janice Holder, who administered the oath. It was the same courthouse where Clark first appeared as a lawyer and where she presided as a trial judge for more than 10 years.
Clark was appointed to Tennessee’s Supreme Court in September 2005 and then elected to a full eight-year term in August 2006.
Engineering Professor Receives Inaugural Award
William Robinson, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer engineering, was one of 40 honorees granted Florida A&M University’s inaugural Young Alumni Award during that university’s homecoming weekend on Oct. 29. The new award goes to alumni who are 40 years of age or younger and who have achieved significant career advancement in their professional fields.
Robinson joined the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Vanderbilt as an assistant professor in 2003, and was promoted to associate professor in 2010. He is a member of the Radiation Effects and Reliability (RER) research group and collaborates with both the Institute for Space and Defense Electronics (ISDE) and the Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS) at Vanderbilt. Robinson’s major honors include a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and selection for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Computer Science Study Panel.
Alumnae Win Fulbright Scholarships
Four recent alumnae have received Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarships to travel abroad during 2010–11. Annelyse Freyman, BA’10, is teaching English as a foreign language in Colombia. Katherine McAllister, BA’10, is studying modern history in Germany. Doctoral candidate Angela Sutton, MA’09, is studying history in the Netherlands. Leslie Esbrook, BA’10, is teaching English in Turkey.
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program, which is administered by the Institute of International Education, promotes mutual understanding and respect between U.S. citizens and the people of more than 155 other countries.