Epilogue

As founder and CEO of UpSmith, Wyatt Smith, BS'10, uses technology to help builders and technicians be more productive, master new skills to stay in the workforce longer and help solve the skilled workforce shortage. Read More

Jim Emison is dedicated to seeking justice for Elbert Williams, the first known NAACP member to be racially terrorized and slain. Read More

Joanna Winston Foley, BA’65, brings the lack of racial representation in public art to light through advocacy and her website Representation Matters. Read More

Ann Marie, BA’64, and Martin McNamara III, BA’58, and their family recognized their many ties with Vanderbilt by creating the Martin F. McNamara Jr. Scholarship in honor of Martin’s father, a student-athlete who graduated in 1932. The scholarship benefits College of Arts and Science undergraduates. Read More

By Jenna Somers Alex Astrella At age two Alex Astrella, MEd’23, was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. His parents were told that he had little chance of graduating high school or becoming financially independent. Today, Astrella is the founder and CEO of Blu Star Productions, an award-winning film studio… Read More

Journalist Lauren Egan, BA'17, reports on politics in D.C. for The Bulwark and formerly for Politico. She got her start on-air from war-torn Ukraine for NBC News. Read More

Jen Bailey, MDiv'14, founded Faith Matters Network, perhaps best known as one of the co-founding organizations of The People’s Supper, gatherings where people “build trust across lines of difference”—political, ideological, social, racial, generational, socioeconomic and religious—by sharing a meal, discovering commonalities and working through differences. Read More

Aneesh Sohoni Aneesh Sohoni, MPP’13, will become chief executive officer of Teach for America beginning April 15. Sohoni has held several education leadership positions of increasing responsibility since earning his master of public policy in education policy at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development. Read More

Vanderbilt alumni Jake Aronskind, BA’19, and Andrew Roth, BS’21, were named to the 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 for creating and scaling successful businesses. Aronskind is CEO and co-founder of Pepper, a recipe sharing app. He earned his bachelor's degree in economics from the College of Arts and Science. Roth is the CEO and founder of dcdx, a global marketing research and strategy firm. He earned his bachelor’s degree in human and organizational development from Peabody College of education and human development. Read More

Charlotte Froese Fischer, a pioneer in the field of atomic structure calculations and an emerita research professor of computer science at Vanderbilt University, died Feb. 8, 2024. Read More

Through Vanderbilt’s remarkable progress in its ongoing historic Dare to Grow campaign, we are charting a collective course that connects great minds with opportunities to offer solutions to the world’s biggest challenges. We are stronger together, and that strength continues through your alumni journey as Vanderbilt for Life. Read More

How well do you know VU? Try your hand at Vanderbilt trivia with our Dare to Grow crossword puzzle. Read More

K.C. Potter, JD’64, dean emeritus of residential and judicial affairs, died Aug. 26. Potter had an indelible impact on the life of the university and its students over more than three decades of service; he was 85 years old. Read More

What connects Vanderbilt to a crisp craft ale from one of Nashville’s premiere breweries? The vibrant vision and collaborative spirit of Vanderbilt alumna Bailey Spaulding. Read More

Helen Iola McClellan Manoogian, nursing missionary to the Middle East and founder of a nursing school in Lebanon, died March 16, 2024, in Richmond, Virginia. She was 102. Read More

John Lachs, professor emeritus of philosophy and Centennial Professor Emeritus, died November 14, 2023, in Nashville. He was 89. Read More

The Honorable Richard H. Dinkins, JD'77, who served on the Tennessee Court of Appeals from 2008 until his retirement in 2022, died October 1, 2023, in Nashville. He was 71. Read More

Joseph Cunningham, 82, an accomplished administrator and professor at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development, passed away peacefully on March 8, 2024, at his home in Lake City, Pennsylvania. Read More

Tamara Baynham, BE'93, an active, long-standing alumni leader across the university, including leadership roles as president of the Association of Vanderbilt Black Alumni, member of Vanderbilt Alumni Association Board and of the Engineering Board of Visitors, was inducted into the School of Engineering’s Academy of Distinguished Alumni in April. Read More

Amanda Headley Piper (Anne Rayner/Vanderbilt University) “If you want to make a difference in the world, meet a need,” Amanda Headley Piper’s grandmother once said, and Piper heeded those words of wisdom. She is the first pediatric audiologist from her twin-island home of Trinidad and Tobago, where… Read More