From The Editor

Vanderbilt Magazine's first cover after the last redesign in 2002. This issue of Vanderbilt Magazine represents the last of its kind—but by no means signals the end of Vanderbilt’s flagship publication. This year we are rethinking and redesigning the magazine, an undertaking I find both thrilling and humbling. The current… Read More

A few weeks ago I received a telephone call from Frank Beck, BA’81, with an odd request: Could I help him find a photograph of his mother’s legs? It seemed that back when his mother, Jane Padgett Beck, BA’51, was a Vanderbilt sophomore or junior—Frank wasn’t sure which—a photograph involving… Read More

“Nobody writes letters much anymore,” goes a common lament among alumni magazine editors. Who doesn’t like to receive letters? And who doesn’t enjoy reading a fat, juicy letters section? It’s often the first thing I turn to when I open a magazine, especially when I’m reading a publication I’ve never… Read More

I married my high school sweetheart after my freshman year at a small Iowa liberal arts college. He was several years older, and his work required frequent relocations. I earned a bachelor’s degree in four years by attending three undistinguished colleges. Most of that time I had a long commute… Read More

The rain began in the early morning hours of Saturday, May 1, cleansing a layer of spring pollen from car windshields as students slept or crammed for finals. By the time most Nashvillians stirred, the rain was falling in great unrelenting sheets. I had planned to spend the weekend with… Read More

Dick Dickerson If you ever need to photograph a hairless dog, Dick Dickerson is a good man to know. He will keep you entertained and even bring along a spare hairless dog. When we decided to create a Vanderbilt Magazine cover with a movie-poster look to promote our story… Read More

A recent survey commissioned by the Vanderbilt Office of Alumni Relations and the Vanderbilt Alumni Association Board of Directors ranks this magazine as one of the university’s most effective communication vehicles—you can read more about the survey here. Also in shameless self-promotion news, for the past two years… Read More

Several years ago I had the chance to hear popular Vanderbilt philosophy professor John Lachs deliver a talk titled “The Human Race: Both Better Off and Better” to a small suburban group of perhaps 20 people. Lachs opened his presentation by telling the group that he hoped the evening would… Read More

Last fall I had lunch with a friend whose only child is a sophomore at another university that we refer to around here as one of our “peer” schools. “Oh, Ethan seems happy, and his grades are good,” my friend replied when I asked about her son. “But I hate… 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

Illustration by Ellen Russell Sadler.   Joe B. Wyatt had been chancellor for four years when I came to work at Vanderbilt in 1986, and he had a reputation as an excellent steward of Vanderbilt’s finances. The Texas native didn’t look the part of the academic, with his athletic… Read More

One of the first friends I made after I began work at Vanderbilt in 1986 was Grace Zibart, then editor of The Vanderbilt Lawyer and associate editor of Vanderbilt Magazine. A native New Yorker, she had been assistant fashion editor at The New York Times before she married a… Read More

In every issue of Vanderbilt Magazine, we include an essay written by a student. The most frequent challenge I face as editor of these essays is convincing young writers to share their stories, blemishes and all. One of the first rules of writing is that without conflict, there is no… Read More