Author: Jim Patterson
Benjamin D. Schulman, BE’38, Fostering Diversity
Aug. 20, 2019—The vision and thoughtful generosity of Benjamin D. Schulman, who died June 2, helped Vanderbilt become a more nurturing and diverse community. Schulman, of Carlsbad, California, was 102 at the time of his death. He had returned to campus in January 2017 for a 100th birthday celebration that included a Shabbat dinner and birthday brunch...
Dr. W. Bedford Waters, BA’70, MD’74, Barrier Breaker
Aug. 20, 2019—Dr. W. Bedford Waters, president of the Vanderbilt Medical Alumni Association and the second African American to graduate from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, died May 25. He was 71. Waters completed his internship and one-year residency in general surgery at the University of California, San Diego. He became the chief resident in urology at...
The Hindles: Leading by Example
Aug. 20, 2019—The establishment of the Hindle Family Scholarship in 2014 was one more way for John Hindle, BA’68, PhD’81, and his wife, Joan Barr Hindle, to pay forward the lifelong success they have achieved, which John credits in large measure to his Vanderbilt education. At the time they created the fund as part of Opportunity Vanderbilt,...
Bill Yoast, MA’56, EDS’61, Legendary Coach
Aug. 20, 2019—William “Bill” Yoast, the high school coach who helped unify a racially divided Alexandria, Virginia, during the 1971 football season, died May 23. He was 94 years old. The relationship between Yoast and coach Herman Boone is the crux of the 2000 film Remember the Titans, which followed T.C. Williams High School’s 1971 integration and...
A Focus on Women’s Health: Sarah Vaillancourt, MSN’18
Aug. 20, 2019—Sarah Vaillancourt’s mission—to help women get the care they need—far predated her nursing degree. “I knew I wanted to work in women’s health before I knew exactly what I wanted to do or how I wanted to do it,” says Vaillancourt, who earned her master of science degree last year. Having also considered medical school...
Recent Books, Spring 2019
May. 23, 2019—The Technology Fallacy: How People Are the Real Key to Digital Transformation (2019, MIT Press) by Gerald C. Kane, Anh Nguyen Phillips, Jonathan R. Copulsky and Garth R. Andrus, EdD’88 Digital technologies are disrupting organizations of every size and shape, leaving managers scrambling to find a technology fix that will help their organizations compete. This...
Dr. Constance Mobley, PhD’98, MD’03 Transplant trailblazer
May. 23, 2019—As a molecular physiology and biophysics doctoral student at Vanderbilt, Dr. Constance Mobley never had designs on practicing medicine. Her passions were in the lab. The young scholar was infinitely more interested in clinical research. “I wanted to discover how to cure everything in the world,” she says. “I was always interested in science, and...
First Love: From TV to novels, Melissa Scrivner Love loves writing, first and foremost
May. 23, 2019—Like many children who grew up in the 1980s, Melissa Scrivner Love, BA’02, was raised on James Bond films. That cinematic introduction to the KGB led her to double major in Russian and theater, and to consider two possible career paths: working for the CIA or acting. “Truthfully, though, I was in denial about the...
Song Stylist: Deanna Walker’s new podcast brings her “Blair Hit Songwriter Series” to the masses
May. 23, 2019—Deanna Walker was initiated into the world of hit Nashville songwriting in the usual way. She suffered a broken heart. In the 1990s, Walker’s best friend went through a contentious divorce. An ugly custody battle ensued, which had a traumatizing effect on Walker’s 2-year-old goddaughter. “I just went home and started crying,” Walker recalls. “I...
Mind’s Eye: Piece by Piece
May. 23, 2019—Mosaic artists convene in Nashville, bringing two exhibits to Vanderbilt Mosaics were originally invented about 4,000 years ago to create durable and inexpensive flooring, but they quickly became more art than craft. A highly refined technique developed during the Early Christian (260–525 C.E.) and Byzantine (fourth–15th centuries C.E.) eras, mosaics were used by the new...
Kim Le, BA’98, Animated Storyteller
May. 23, 2019—After spending nearly two decades as a storyboard artist for Hollywood film and television production companies, Kim Le is guided by a singular imperative: “I want to tell a good story, entertain people, and hopefully make them laugh.” As creative types go, storyboard artists are often the unsung force behind a production’s success. “We basically...
Jarred Amato, BA’09, Watering ‘Book Deserts’
May. 23, 2019—Reading, and a child’s access to books, is a precursor to success by all yardsticks. But the lack of reading materials in many neighborhoods across America—regions known as “book deserts”—threatens the educational achievements of countless students. English teacher Jarred Amato decided to do something about it. In 2016 he and students at Nashville’s Maplewood High...