Fall 2008

It’s hard to find good smoke patrols. They’re expected to go up to people and explain that they’re violating our rules. ~Ken Browning, director of VUMC Plant Services Don’t even think about lighting up on the Vanderbilt Medical Center campus. On Sept. 1, VUMC enacted a ban reflecting a strong… Read More

Vanderbilt’s football team rocketed to No. 13 in national rankings—no, that’s not a misprint—after beating Auburn University 14-13 on Oct. 4. The game marked the Commodores’ fifth straight win this year and its first win against the Tigers since 1955, giving Vanderbilt a 5-0 season for the first time… Read More

Editor GayNelle Doll Art Director and Designer Donna DeVore Pritchett Editorial Associate Editor and Advertising Manager Phillip B. Tucker Arts and Culture Editor Bonnie Arant Ertelt, BS’81 Class Notes and Sports Editor Nelson Bryan, BA’73 Production and Design Assistant Director, Photography Services… Read More

October 2008: A 62-year-old man, otherwise healthy, notices his heart is beating rapidly and irregularly. When he goes to see his doctor, a common heart-rhythm abnormality called atrial fibrillation is diagnosed. Many therapeutic options are discussed, and the patient elects to try drugs to keep his heart rhythm normal. Read More

Family Ties First, I want to say a word about how much I am enjoying the magazine. The Spring 2008 issue with the Holocaust memories [“In the Face of Destruction”] was very personal because of the real Vanderbilt people involved. The story of Montgomery Bell [Southern Journal, “… Read More

The first magazine I remember enjoying as a child was Reader’s Digest, a family-friendly staple in American middle-class households of the 1960s. The articles were short and accessible. Whole sections of each issue were devoted to jokes: “Life in These United States,” “Humor in Uniform,” “All in a Day’s Work.”… Read More

Eric Etheridge Eric Etheridge, BA’79, grew up in Mississippi and has worked as an editor at several magazines, including Rolling Stone, The New York Observer and Harper’s. For his recent book, Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders, Etheridge paired original mug shots with contemporary portraits, personal… Read More

Eugene Watkins, BS’77, the first president of AVBA Reunion and Homecoming Weekend in October kicked off a yearlong series of events commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Association of Vanderbilt Black Alumni (AVBA). Tremayne Anderson, BE’95, the current AVBA president. AVBA was founded as part of the Vanderbilt Alumni… Read More