Author: Jim Patterson
Recent Books, Fall 2019
Nov. 25, 2019—Seventh Flag: A Novel (2019, SparkPress) by Sid Balman Jr., BA’80. No place is immune from radicalism, including the small West Texas town of Dell City, where four generations of an iconic American family and a Syrian Muslim family carve a farming empire out of the unforgiving high desert. Their partnership is as unlikely as...
Lauren Mandel, BA’15: The Art of the Possible
Nov. 7, 2019—Like many people her age, Lauren Mandel developed her funny bone to the antics of comedians like Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader and Maya Rudolph on Saturday Night Live. That Mandel, an aspiring entertainer since childhood, would one day work behind the scenes at that iconic sketch show—first as a page and then as the writers’...
Amanda Iovino, BA’08: Pushing for Positive Change
Nov. 7, 2019—Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in June 1919, and the amendment became law Aug. 26, 1920, giving American women the right to vote after a decades-long fight. This year, the centennial of women gaining the right to vote, a record number of women are serving in the U.S. Congress, many elected...
Accolade: Mel Chin named ‘genius’ artist
Nov. 7, 2019—Visionary artist Mel Chin, BA’75, was named Sept. 25 among the class of 26 MacArthur Fellows for 2019. Given by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and known colloquially as the “genius” grant, the fellowship honors “extraordinary originality” and comes with a no-strings-attached grant of $625,000, to be distributed over five years. Chin,...
‘Borne Back’: Richard Webb provides evidence for Gatsby’s locale in Connecticut
Nov. 7, 2019—As a boy in Westport, Connecticut, Richard Webb, BA’85, was haunted by the ghosts of artists. His affluent waterfront town, about 50 miles from New York City, had once been a rural haven for Jazz Age creatives; in fact, Webb grew up near a summer cottage where F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald honeymooned for five...
Mind’s Eye: Vanderbilt performing arts groups put on a show for first-year students
Nov. 7, 2019—During their first week at Vanderbilt, first-year students are met with an overwhelming number of organizations vying for their attention. However, the Vanderbilt Performing Arts Community grabs the interest of new students the old-fashioned, time-tested way: They put on a show. VPAC has been producing the Spotlight Showcase for several years to demonstrate the breadth...
Dr. John Oates: Iconic leader, physician, scientist
Nov. 7, 2019—Dr. John Oates, an internationally known physician at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and a founder of the discipline of clinical pharmacology, died July 30 in Nashville after a short illness. He was 87. The Thomas F. Frist Sr. Professor of Medicine, he founded the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at Vanderbilt in 1963 as a...
Accolades
Nov. 7, 2019—Michael Alec Rose, associate professor of composition, had the premiere of his musical drama, Lolly Willowes, based on the novel by Sylvia Townsend Warner, in April at the MATCH–Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston. In July he was interviewed about the work and his life as a composer by Nashville Public Radio. His Seventh String...
Emerita Faculty Leader Continues to Inspire through Opportunity Vanderbilt Scholarship
Nov. 7, 2019—It wasn’t the unfamiliarity of a new city or the intimidation of a new faculty position that stood out to Fräncille Bergquist when she first came to Vanderbilt in 1977. The new professor of Spanish was taken aback by the rolling hills and green trees of Middle Tennessee—a stark contrast from the dry, flat landscape...
Virginia Shepherd and Charles Brau: Promoting STEM Education
Nov. 7, 2019—Virginia Shepherd knew in eighth grade that she wanted to become a scientist. Her education and training eventually led to a tenured research scientist position at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Nashville’s Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Shepherd’s passion for science education grew after she attended a national meeting where top scientists encouraged participation in the...
Message from the Alumni Association President
Nov. 7, 2019—Vanderbilt Alumni Impact the World One of my great pleasures as president of the Vanderbilt Alumni Association Board is to highlight some of the Commodores who are leading positive change in the lives of people around the world. When Justin Miller, BS’09, was a student at Vanderbilt, he witnessed firsthand the grim reality for AIDS...
Martin Katahn: The Rotation Diet
Nov. 7, 2019—Martin Katahn, a retired psychology professor and best-selling author who wrote The Rotation Diet and other books promoting healthy weight loss and lifestyle, died Sept. 17. He was 90. Katahn, who was known to his family and friends as Dick, was born in Utica, New York, in 1928. He began performing with the violin at...