Fall 2007

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

From the moment they step onto campus next August, the 1,550 students in the Class of 2012 will be pioneers in one of the most comprehensive changes in Vanderbilt history. Each incoming student will live in one of 10 residential “houses” led by a faculty head who lives with… Read More

In the City, you don’t stargaze. You don’t dig through wildflower field guides for the name of that brilliant trumpet burst of blue you saw on your morning walk. You don’t hunt for animal tracks in the snow or pause in that same frozen forest, eyes closed, listening for… Read More

Gordon Gee never was one to follow the playbook. Past Vanderbilt chancellors have always pursued a more or less predictable exit strategy: After a couple of decades leading the university to ever-greater heights, they quietly retire to spend their days serving on foundations and advisory boards, growing more silver-haired… Read More

Last winter Shane Thurman, a 42-year-old construction worker from Crossville, Tenn., became one among an estimated 45 million Americans without health insurance when he was dropped from the rolls of TennCare, Tennessee’s state-run Medicaid insurance program. Thurman’s employer didn’t provide health insurance, and his income wasn’t sufficient to meet… Read More

Just before plunging into their studies, medical students of the Class of 2011 cool off at an orientation party. The 104 incoming first-year medical students come from 30 U.S. states, Canada, Ethiopia, India, Republic of Korea, Poland, Taiwan and Thailand. Photo by Anne Rayser. Read More

Spring Accolades In the most recent issue of Vanderbilt Magazine was an article about the undergraduate admissions process [Spring 2007 issue, “Getting In,” p. 28]. I read it with interest–as I have a rising high school senior and took a “college road trip” with her earlier in the summer–and have… Read More