Year: 2013

James Patterson, MA’70, breathes rare air. His books line the walls in airport shops. They’re tucked into beach bags amid the towels and sunscreen. They’re on sidewalk kiosks and bedside tables around the world. In 2010 he sold more books than John Grisham, Stephen King and Danielle Steele combined. Read More

BY ROB HAMMOND, BA’71 ABOVE PHOTO: President John F. Kennedy reads the program for Vanderbilt's 90th anniversary convocation in 1963. (Photo by Cecil Stoughton) When I was in sixth grade, John F. Kennedy became one of my boyhood heroes. During his 1960 campaign he came to my hometown of LaGrange, Ga.,… Read More

Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has a robust 68 percent job approval rating in his state, including the approval of 60 percent of Democratic voters, according to the Vanderbilt Poll. Read More

Professional golfer and Vanderbilt alumnus Brandt Snedeker, BA’03, climbed into the top 10 of the world rankings for the first time in his career last fall. The Nashville native jumped eight spots to No. 10 after winning the Tour Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club… Read More

ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID PLUNKERT   Take a millionth of a human brain, and squeeze it into a chamber the size of a mustard seed. Next, link it to a second chamber filled with cerebral spinal fluid, and thread both of them with artificial blood vessels to create a microenvironment that… Read More

Archaeological sites that take years to map will be completed in minutes if tests of a new system being developed at Vanderbilt go well. The Skate SUAS (Small Unmanned Aerial System), created by Aurora Flight Sciences, will be integrated into a larger system that combines a flying device that can… Read More

Roy looked like he was 15 at most. He looked like a water boy for a varsity sports team. But without him, my platoon was culturally blind and deaf. Read More

Section #8 of “Nights and Days of 2007: Autumn” is from A Map of the Lost World by Rick Hilles, Read More

As my friend and I walked back from an open-air market in the St. Germain district, we stumbled upon a professional bubble-blower. (Who knew they existed?) Mesmerized by the sheer size and magical quality of his work, I tried to capture the moment before it burst into the Parisian air. Read More

International Trial Tests Hybrid Stroke Therapy | Playmates Can Help Sedentary Kids Become More Active | Water for a Small Planet Read More

In the final 52 seconds of the Nov. 10 contest against Ole Miss, Vanderbilt took the lead for the first time in the game, winning 27–26. Read More

John H. “Jack” Venable Jr., professor of biological sciences, emeritus, and dean of the College of Arts and Science, emeritus, of Nashville died July 16, 2012. During his time at Vanderbilt, he also served as associate provost for faculty affairs. Read More

Mary Eleanor McClure Taylor, BA’52, of Nashville died Aug. 5, 2012. She had a 57-year career at Vanderbilt and was best known as the university receptionist in Kirkland Hall. Read More

Ann Scott Carell of Nashville died Aug. 20, 2012. She and her husband, the late Monroe Carell Jr., BE’59, former Vanderbilt Board of Trust member, were longtime philanthropic leaders. Read More

“I’ve contributed to the Senior Class Fund because I want other students to have access to the opportunities I’ve been given.” The words used by Vanderbilt senior Aladine Elsamadicy to explain his financial support of the undergraduate experience also provide inspiration behind the efforts that drive the Senior Class Fund. Read More

Rear Adm. Nora Tyson, BA’79, vice director of the Joint Staff and the first female commander of a U.S. Navy carrier strike group, has received the Distinguished Alumna Award, the highest honor bestowed upon a member of the Vanderbilt alumni community. Read More

The spirit of mentorship and support shown to one medical student decades ago has come full circle in a bequest to establish a full scholarship at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Read More

Rodger Dinwiddie, recently named president of the International Bullying Prevention Association, never dreamed he would become an expert on the topic when he was a first-grade teacher at Tom Joy Elementary School in Nashville in the late ’70s. Read More

When Zakiya Smith was studying political science and education at Vanderbilt, she dreamed of someday working for the U.S. Department of Education. Not only did she fulfill that dream, but she became a senior adviser on education policy to President Barack Obama. Read More

On the Discovery network’s show Moonshiners, whiskey makers stay one step ahead of the law as they tend backwoods stills. Troy Ball is also a moonshiner, but the similarities between her and the Appalachia moonshiners featured on the show are few. Ball’s whiskey is legal and, by all accounts, some of the best on the market. Read More