Winter 2013

  • The Piano Man

    The Piano Man

    PHOTO: Richard Danielpour, standing, rehearses with Blair School of Music Dean Mark Wait at the piano prior to the debut of Danielpour’s Dec. 4 premiere of 12 new piano études. PHOTO BY JOHN RUSSELL   What are the odds a conversation about 12 new piano études will veer off to… Read More

    Jan 21, 2013

  • Questions of Faith

    Questions of Faith

    The Rev. Mark Forrester, MDiv’83, has been named university chaplain and director of the Office of Religious Life. Forrester has been a United Methodist chaplain affiliated with Vanderbilt’s Office of Religious Life since 1994. He assumed the new role Sept. 1 at a critical point in… Read More

    Jan 21, 2013

  • Feature: Rescued Hearts

    Feature: Rescued Hearts

    BY KATHY WHITNEY HEART PHOTO BY ROBERT CLARK / INSTITUTE   A 53-year-old patient arrives at Vanderbilt University Hospital early one morning for a procedure to open up a blockage in his left anterior descending artery by placing a single stent to his heart via the radial artery in his… Read More

    Jan 21, 2013

  • Vanderbilt University

    Roster: The Walk On

    Marc Panu (JOHN RUSSELL)   Four years ago Marc Panu walked on to Vanderbilt’s football team. He sweated through the sweltering summer training camp. He spent grueling hours lifting weights. He studied game plans and watched endless film. His reward was slow in coming. In 2009 he didn’t play… Read More

    Jan 21, 2013

  • Vanderbilt University

    Landscape Shadows

    Most people think of printmaking as a means to multiples, but Nicole Pietrantoni, BS’03, uses the techniques of printmaking—specifically screen printing—as a means to an end. Pietrantoni, who won Vanderbilt’s prestigious Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Award in 2003, screen-prints on acrylic plates, stacks the plates in… Read More

    Jan 15, 2013

  • How to tear down a dorm: Expert advice from Vanderbilt Campus Planning

    How to tear down a dorm: Expert advice from Vanderbilt Campus Planning

    In May 2012 Vanderbilt broke ground on College Halls at Kissam, two residential colleges that together will house about 660 upperclassmen starting in 2014. Tony Fort considers the project to be among the most ambitious during his 27 years at the university. “This is the single… Read More

    Jan 15, 2013

  • Midnight 911

    Midnight 911

    Mia Bransford, a nurse in the pediatric emergency department at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, was one of the few trained health care workers on the scene last July when a mass shooting in Aurora, Colo., left 12 dead and 58 injured. Bransford, in Colorado for a… Read More

    Jan 15, 2013

  • Same Page

    Same Page

    ILLUSTRATION BY EDEL RODRIGUEZ   A tradition among first-year students to read and discuss a common text has inspired an effort to foster dialogue about gender and sexuality across the Vanderbilt community. Themes explored in the 2012 Commons Reading, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, is being… Read More

    Jan 15, 2013

  • Open House Today

    Open House Today

    EDITOR’S LETTER By GayNelle Doll   Let’s say you’ve lived for quite some time in a custom-built home you really like and a neighborhood you love. Through the years this house has become a beloved gathering place with great memories in every room. Sure, the place could use a facelift—trim back… Read More

    Jan 15, 2013

  • photo of James Patterson

    James Patterson, MA’70, Sets His Sights on Cultivating the Next Generation of Readers

    James Patterson, MA’70, breathes rare air. His books line the walls in airport shops. They’re tucked into beach bags amid the towels and sunscreen. They’re on sidewalk kiosks and bedside tables around the world. In 2010 he sold more books than John Grisham, Stephen King and Danielle Steele combined. Read More

    Jan 15, 2013

  • Vanderbilt University

    Collective Memory: Through History’s Lens

    BY ROB HAMMOND, BA’71 ABOVE PHOTO: President John F. Kennedy reads the program for Vanderbilt's 90th anniversary convocation in 1963. (Photo by Cecil Stoughton) When I was in sixth grade, John F. Kennedy became one of my boyhood heroes. During his 1960 campaign he came to my hometown of LaGrange, Ga.,… Read More

    Jan 15, 2013

  • Birdie Boogie

    Birdie Boogie

    Professional golfer and Vanderbilt alumnus Brandt Snedeker, BA’03, climbed into the top 10 of the world rankings for the first time in his career last fall. The Nashville native jumped eight spots to No. 10 after winning the Tour Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club… Read More

    Jan 15, 2013

  • Pea-Brained

    Pea-Brained

    ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID PLUNKERT   Take a millionth of a human brain, and squeeze it into a chamber the size of a mustard seed. Next, link it to a second chamber filled with cerebral spinal fluid, and thread both of them with artificial blood vessels to create a microenvironment that… Read More

    Jan 15, 2013

  • Up in the Air

    Up in the Air

    Archaeological sites that take years to map will be completed in minutes if tests of a new system being developed at Vanderbilt go well. The Skate SUAS (Small Unmanned Aerial System), created by Aurora Flight Sciences, will be integrated into a larger system that combines a flying device that can… Read More

    Jan 15, 2013

  • Vanderbilt University

    A Lesson Before Dying

    Roy looked like he was 15 at most. He looked like a water boy for a varsity sports team. But without him, my platoon was culturally blind and deaf. Read More

    Jan 15, 2013

  • Poem #8 by Rick Hilles

    Poem #8 by Rick Hilles

    Section #8 of “Nights and Days of 2007: Autumn” is from A Map of the Lost World by Rick Hilles, Read More

    Jan 14, 2013

  • Vanderbilt University

    Reader Photo: Bubble

    As my friend and I walked back from an open-air market in the St. Germain district, we stumbled upon a professional bubble-blower. (Who knew they existed?) Mesmerized by the sheer size and magical quality of his work, I tried to capture the moment before it burst into the Parisian air. Read More

    Jan 14, 2013

  • Vanderbilt University

    Research Roundup, Winter 2013

    International Trial Tests Hybrid Stroke Therapy | Playmates Can Help Sedentary Kids Become More Active | Water for a Small Planet Read More

    Jan 14, 2013

  • Photo of football players celebrating

    Vanderbilt Football Celebrates Victory against Ole Miss

    In the final 52 seconds of the Nov. 10 contest against Ole Miss, Vanderbilt took the lead for the first time in the game, winning 27–26. Read More

    Jan 14, 2013

  • Vanderbilt University

    Obituary: John H. Venable Jr., Teacher and Administrator

    John H. “Jack” Venable Jr., professor of biological sciences, emeritus, and dean of the College of Arts and Science, emeritus, of Nashville died July 16, 2012. During his time at Vanderbilt, he also served as associate provost for faculty affairs. Read More

    Jan 14, 2013