Q & A

In this conversation with Vanderbilt Magazine, Dean Matthew Johnson-Roberson discusses his vision for the new College of Connected Computing, the integration of AI across disciplines and why “connected computing” represents the future of technology education. Read More

Five questions with Jacob Mchangama, one of the world’s leading authorities on the fundamental freedom of free speech Read More

Elizabeth “Betsy” Sanner Ayala, BA’99, is the executive in charge behind many popular TV shows across the Warner Bros. Discovery portfolio of networks. After joining HGTV in 2016 and advancing her career to head Food Network in 2022, she now oversees the creation, production and release of all Food Network programming and operations. Read More

Jad Abumrad, Distinguished Research Professor of Communication of Science and Technology and creator of Vanderbilt’s Quantum Potential series, talks to Vanderbilt Magazine about this groundbreaking project, described as a collection of wild but precise portraits of the scholars, scientists and students at Vanderbilt who are finding new ways to understand the world—and change it. Read More

In April, at the outset of its yearlong Sesquicentennial celebration, Vanderbilt launched a bold giving campaign called Dare to Grow, which aims to empower and support students, advance pathbreaking discoveries and promote radical collaboration across the university. As its volunteer co-chairs, trustees Steven Madden and Mark Mays will help bring the campaign’s goals to life. Read More

As head of the Metro Nashville Coronavirus Task Force, Jahangir has helped coordinate local health systems and community groups, addressed the city at daily media briefings, set up COVID test sites and advised policymakers on combatting the virus, all while maintaining his normal duties at Vanderbilt. Read More

Abby and Jon became involved in the Parents Leadership Committee, later serving as co-chairs for the 2011–2012 Vanderbilt Parents Campaign. Jon, now a Vanderbilt trustee who is co-CEO of TPG Capital and the former co-president of Goldman Sachs, joined the Board of Trust in 2012. Read More

Dorothy J. Wingfield Phillips, BA’67, the first African American woman to receive an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt and a member of the inaugural class of Vanderbilt Trailblazers, recently was interviewed by the American Chemical Society about her career as a chemist and the importance of making the physical sciences more inclusive for women and underrepresented minorities. Read More

Moller has served as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, handling cases of financial fraud and other white-collar crimes. She also was the first-ever chief of compliance and oversight for the New York City Police Department, where she helped reform its policies. Read More

Ariel taps into the emotions evoked by his customers’ favorite foods through Goldbelly, delivering one-of-a-kind regional dishes nationwide from more than 450 partnering businesses. Read More

Gary H. Cheek, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, joined Vanderbilt in April to direct the newly created Bass Military Scholars Program, established in 2018 with a $25 million gift from the Lee and Ramona Bass Foundation. Read More

Huggins, a former student government president and Posse Scholar, continues to drum up enthusiasm for Vanderbilt nearly 30 years after arriving on campus. Read More

As the global initiatives director for Human Rights Watch, Worden curates and implements international outreach and advocacy campaigns and is now mobilizing the world of sport to tackle global abuses. Read More

Glazier discusses the evolving business model of the music industry—one that’s gone from selling tens of millions of CDs in thousands of stores to now getting billions of streams from just a handful of companies—and what music listeners can expect on the horizon. Read More

Patti Early White, BA’76, and her husband, George White, have established the Early–White International Scholarship to provide need-based support to undergraduate international students who are from the U.K. or European Union member countries and enrolled in the College of Arts and Science. Read More

Hulu’s chief marketing officer looks for heart at the intersection of entertainment and tech DANIEL BAXTER   Campbell As the ways we consume media continue to change, viewers have more choices than ever before. In 2012, Disney, NBC Universal (now Comcast) and 21st Century Fox banded together to… Read More

George Matouk, BA'91, talks about his family's business, John Matouk & Co., which has emerged as one of the premier luxury brands in bed and bath linens. Read More

PHOTO BY AARON CLAMAGE, PHOTOGRAPHER IN WASHINGTON, D.C.   This year’s recipient of the Vanderbilt Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Professional Achievement Award, Zakiya Smith, BS’06, has dedicated her career to easing the complications and financial burden associated with paying for a college education—first as a senior… Read More

Professor of Law Ganesh Sitaraman believes the United States is facing a stark choice: Either continue along the current path of rising economic inequality and risk oligarchy, or rebuild the middle class and reclaim the republic that the Founding Fathers originally envisioned. Read More

Guided by little more than a desire to learn sign language and perhaps some divine intervention, longtime Atlanta television news personality Karen Graham, BA’87, has launched a digital news network for the deaf community. Read More