IDEAS INTO ACTION
Thank you for “Green, Clean & Lean” in the Winter 2014 issue. I am a 1965 graduate in biology who later earned an MBA from East Tennessee State University with course work leading to a CPA certificate. Through the years I have worked on related problems in ways I would not have imagined upon graduation. I suspect this is also true for many of my fellow alumni/ae.
For example, I’m serving on Greensboro’s Community Sustainability Council, working on a response to Duke Energy’s recent coal-ash spill on the Dan River in North Carolina and Virginia, and promoting some ideas on electricity generation to those interested. Recycling, composting and a hybrid car are part of the daily routine, and my house got an upgrade for energy efficiency last fall.
While reading this article I started wondering if Vanderbilt might be able to facilitate connections between interested graduates and faculty members like the ones mentioned, perhaps via a website with a regularly updated index to help find the right person quickly. For those of us who find ourselves in new and different situations, it might help to have a VU connection, and good ideas could be collected by the university and applied to further its goals.
TOM F. DUCKWALL, BA’65, Greensboro, N.C.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Alumni interested in building networking relationships and sharing career advice should check out Vanderbilt’s online community, VUconnect.
Thank you for your wonderful magazine that does seem to get better, if possible, with every issue. In the winter issue you featured Dr. Hal Moses [MD’62, the 2014 Distinguished Alumnus] on page 51. This is so interesting for me. Hal and I are both Whitley County, Kentuckians and Vandy grads. His career in medicine has been outstanding and interesting to follow.
MARCELLA FAULKNER MOUNTJOY, BA’45, Williamsburg, Ky.
A FINE ROMANCE
Although it was my husband, Mike Kiernan, BA’69, who attended Vanderbilt, it is I who reads and enjoys your magazine. I really enjoyed your editor’s letter [“Kindred Spirits”] in the Winter 2014 issue. I’m not too interested in helicopter parents (my children are ages 30 and 33), but I loved reading about you and your honest account of your return to the dating scene. It was that aspect of the piece that really made your comments come alive. Great writing!
JUDY CUSICK, Arlington, Va.
THE REVIEWS ARE IN
I thoroughly enjoy the magazine. It is extremely high quality with informative articles that keep me abreast of activities and important research at Vanderbilt.
CHARLES HOWARD DAVIS SR., MA’52, PHD’68, Decatur, Ga.
Not all Vanderbilt graduates are intellectual nerds. Seriously, some lighter, readable, informative articles should be well received.
HOWARD D. OREBAUGH, BA’61, Cary, N.C.
Keep up the good work. Speaking up for education and the successes it offers is a real mission. It is so needed in this chaos of change. We need you! Go Vandy!
JEANETTE H. BETTS, BSN’70, Fort Mill, S.C.
Outstanding magazine—we share many of the articles and also give it to prospective students and parents.
JOAN CRITTON RUNNION, BA’70 and CHARLES “TREY” RUNNION, BE’70, Kansas City, Mo.
The new format is an improvement. The magazine is comparable with the others I get from Emory, where I was an undergraduate, and the University of North Carolina, where I was a graduate student. All three of the magazines are first class, and I read all three.
JOHN K. FOLGER, Professor of Education, Emeritus, Nashville
Vanderbilt Magazine’s format is beautiful, the pictures amazing, and the articles are timely, interesting and well written. I look forward to reading it.
KENNETH HEAD, MED’84, EDD’90, Somerset, Ky.
The new format is a huge improvement. So are the articles.
KATHERINE S. HALL, Nashville
I enjoy the magazine very much and can’t believe how much things have changed since my graduation. I am always so proud to say I am a Vanderbilt graduate and NROTC scholar.
RUSSELL J. THORNE, BE’54, Virginia Beach, Va.
We welcome your letters in response to contents of the magazine. We reserve the right to edit for length, style and clarity. Mail signed letters to GayNelle Doll, editor, Vanderbilt Magazine, PMB 357737, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37235-7737; or send us an email.