Month: April 2011

When the residents of Lwala, Kenya, raised $900 for a one-way ticket to send Milton Ochieng' to college in the United States nearly a decade ago, they could not have envisioned that he would return to build a medical clinic in the heart of their rural village near the shores of Lake Victoria. Read More

Retail therapy is how many shoppers justify their bulging closets, but that new purse or coat purchased in the Friends Shop at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is truly part of the healing process — the source of the toy or balloon that brightens a patient’s stay,… Read More

Cheryl Major, R.N., may have saved more babies than anyone in the state of Tennessee. Some of them she has saved in person as a neonatal nurse. Many more she has saved by providing lifesaving skills to others who care for fragile newborns. If you spend any time at all… Read More

New research finds principals at non-charter schools are not motivated by competition from charter schools, debunking a commonly held perception about one of the impacts of charter schools on a school system. Read More

Researchers have identified a gene associated with accelerated evolution in humans that may increase some women's risk to deliver their baby prematurely. Read More

The discovery of a new gene that can influence a person's risk for developing epilepsy could improve diagnostic tools and open the door for new therapies. Read More

Holly Tucker, an associate professor of French, has written a fascinating early history of blood transfusions that reads like an eerie murder mystery. Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution has implications for modern ethical dilemmas such as cloning and stem cell procedures. Read More

Vanderbilt Heart will soon begin testing the safety of a novel, non-surgical approach to treating aortic stenosis, a common heart problem caused by an abnormal narrowing of the heart's aortic valve. Read More

A new partnership between a Texas school district and the National Center on Scaling Up Effective Schools at Peabody College aims to identify what factors make some high schools more effective at reaching low-performing students. Read More

Kristen Keely-Dinger, BS’98, remembers March snow falling on the streets of New York, the sounds of babies crying and people screaming, and the stench of urine in the housing projects as she carried hot meals up flight after flight of stairs. As a Vanderbilt sophomore who had signed up for… Read More

Legal experts Nancy J. King and Joseph Hoffmann propose a new approach to habeas corpus cases, in this op-ed which ran in the April 17, 2011, New York Times. Read More

On a chilly Friday night last November, the area underneath the wide expanse of the Jefferson Street Bridge in downtown Nashville became a scene of rare opportunity for the city’s homeless. Read More

Kristen Keely-Dinger, BS’98, remembers March snow falling on the streets of New York, the sounds of babies crying and people screaming, and the stench of urine in the housing projects as she carried hot meals up flight after flight of stairs. As a Vanderbilt sophomore who had signed up for… Read More

By Bonnie Arant Ertelt As university traditions go, music has charms to do more than soothe the savage breast. In fact, music has the ability to invoke nostalgia for the old “alma mater,” pump up school spirit at athletic events, and stitch together collegiate memories in ways that override the… Read More

Do you know the name of the popular hangout shown in this 1953 photograph? Go here to find out if you’re right. Read More

Chef James Bistro, dedicated in 2008 as part of Rand Dining Center, is named in honor of Chef Bill James and his 39-year career at Vanderbilt. James started working at Vanderbilt in 1954 as a pot washer, and worked his way up to Certified Executive Chef and assistant director of… Read More

A range of never-before-offered career resources for alumni is being rolled out, thanks to a strategic partnership between the Vanderbilt Alumni Association and the Vanderbilt Career Center. This collaboration, which began informally in 2009 with the creation of the Career Moves program, seeks to better serve the needs of alumni… Read More

New Head Football Coach James Franklin (flanked by former Alumni Association President Karen Fesmire, BS’80, and Memphis Chapter President Julie Maroda, BA’82, MEd’84) attended an educational event sponsored in February by the Memphis Vanderbilt Chapter that featured a lecture about the history of Motown music by Vice Chancellor David Williams… Read More

Mike Dorr, BS’99, MBA’05, talks with seniors Victor de Paiva Buischi (left) and Diego Fernandez Barbara (center) at a recent “Opening Dores” event focused on careers in finance. “Opening Dores” is a series of informal, intimate on-campus dinners—20 of them are planned for this year alone—at which alumni offer advice… Read More

This year the expanded Vanderbilt travel program offers a little something for everyone. From seasoned Vanderbilt alumni travelers to those who have never taken a Vanderbilt trip before, trips are designed to fit any lifestyle, educational travel interest and budget. Each trip pairs unique educational opportunities with the exceptional destinations… Read More