Author: Jim Patterson
Patterns: Visual artist Alicia Henry challenges conventions of femininity
Feb. 19, 2019—Paper dolls have long been used to emphasize cultural norms regarding femininity and beauty. As often happens, childhood play subtly reinforces society’s notions of the “ideal.” Once these playthings are cast off and one enters adulthood, these romanticized notions should fall out of our conscience as easily as clothes from paper dolls. Yet, somehow, they...
Accolade: Shadle wins inaugural Cohen/RIPM Award
Feb. 19, 2019—Douglas Shadle, assistant professor of musicology, was presented with the American Musicological Society’s inaugural H. Robert Cohen/RIPM Award at this year’s annual meeting in San Antonio for his book Orchestrating the Nation: The Nineteenth-Century American Symphonic Enterprise (2015, Oxford University Press). The award honors a work of scholarship of exceptional merit based upon 18th-, 19th-,...
Trailblazers and Pioneers: Portrait projects honor Vanderbilt community members who have worked for diversity
Feb. 19, 2019—Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos unveiled four portraits during Reunion weekend in October that are part of a new Vanderbilt Trailblazers portrait series honoring members of the Vanderbilt community who broke barriers at the university and in society at large. The portraits depict Vanderbilt alumni Bishop Joseph Johnson, BDiv’54, PhD’58; the Rev. James Lawson, ’71; the...
Nicole Feliciano, BA’92, Putting Moms First
Feb. 19, 2019—As a working mother of two daughters, Nicole Feliciano, like countless other moms, would love to have an extra hour in the day. “You become more purposeful about how you spend your day after kids come along because you have less time, energy and money,” she says. “You need to be intentional about the things...
No one is an island. We are all connected.
Feb. 19, 2019—Few times in my life has this concept been more evident than while I was a student at Vanderbilt. With access to a broad range of ideas and perspectives, I quickly understood the importance of engaging individuals whose lives and stories could impact my own. At Vanderbilt, I was introduced to a larger world and...
Ana Escobar, BA’92, Advocate for the Underrepresented
Feb. 19, 2019—There were no road maps for Ana Escobar to follow when she was elected Nashville’s first Latina judge in August. Further, the self-described introvert had to step outside her comfort zone to run for the elective post in Davidson County’s General Sessions Court. “I really had to step things up,” says Escobar, who in her...
Todd Miller, BA’88, Entertainment Tiger
Feb. 19, 2019—Entertaining a continent as populous as Asia is no small feat. Todd Miller, CEO of Hong Kong–based Celestial Tiger Entertainment, is doing it with aplomb. “You can think of Celestial as the HBO of Chinese movies,” he says. “We operate six core channels, all of which are programmed primarily or entirely with Asian entertainment and...
Alumna Grateful to Donors Who Help Her Inspire Young Minds
Feb. 19, 2019—A classroom of elementary school students in New York City is receiving a well-rounded education thanks to their teacher, Sarah D’Amico, BS’16, who returned to her neighborhood after graduation to pass the torch of knowledge and ignite passion for learning. While in high school D’Amico did not believe attending Vanderbilt was a possibility—but a donor-funded...
New Fund Helps Make International Travel Accessible to Owen Students
Feb. 19, 2019—Xiaoyan Jiang, MBA’01, is a strong believer in the transformative power of international travel. While working in global business, she logged addresses in Nashville, Cleveland, Tokyo, Hong Kong and New York. Jiang credits travel as the catalyst that set her on a path to Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management and motivated her to establish...
Claudia Spence Jack, JD’83, Public Defender
Feb. 19, 2019—Claudia Spence Jack, public defender for Tennessee’s 22nd Judicial District, died Nov. 9, 2018. She was 75. A native of Columbia, Tennessee, she graduated from Auburn University in 1965 with a bachelor of science degree in English education, then earned her master’s degree in education from Auburn the following year. She began her career in...
Elizabeth Lee “Betty” Klepper, BA’58, First in Soil Science
Feb. 19, 2019—Elizabeth Lee “Betty” Klepper, a retired scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Columbia Plateau Conservation Research Center in Pendleton, Oregon, died at her home Oct. 26, 2018. She was 82. Born in Memphis, Klepper attended school in Tennessee and graduated summa cum laude in chemistry as Founder’s Medalist for Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and...
Dana Kelley, BMus’12, Music from Within
Feb. 19, 2019—Being a student at the Blair School of Music kept Dana Kelley busy, but being a professional musician in New York City adds a whole new meaning to the word. Kelley is violist with the Argus Quartet, the Juilliard School’s quartet-in-residence, which played on the Blair Concert Series last September. She also recently joined the...