Releases

Decades ago Halloween meant visiting a handful of houses, always prepared to earn a treat with a clever homemade costume and a friendly Halloween greeting. Today many families feel trick-or-treating is an exercise in excess at a time when obesity is one of the nation's top health concerns. Read More

Juvenile defenders from all 50 states, juvenile justice advocates and legal experts will convene in Nashville Oct. 22-24 for the national Juvenile Defender Leadership Summit. The summit is held in a different city each year and is co-sponsored this year by the Vanderbilt Child and Family Policy Center. Read More

One week before American voters decide whether to retain George W. Bush as president or make a change with Sen. John Kerry, political analyst and author Joe Klein will speak at Vanderbilt University. Read More

Carole Brookins, the World Bank's executive director for the United States, will speak about "Tennessee and the World Bank: Partners in Development" at Vanderbilt University on Oct. 20. Read More

There are many terms that can be used to define Monica J. Casper, the new director of the women's studies program at Vanderbilt University ñ feminist scholar, bioethicist, medical sociologist and mom. Indeed, Casper's varied roles reflect one of her major goals since joining the university this fall ñ to expand people's definition of women's studies. Read More

Annette S. Eskind, chairman of the Nashville Public Education Foundation, announced that the foundation is establishing a $1,000,000 endowed fund at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University that will create a permanent collaborative relationship between Peabody, Vanderbilt and Metro Public Schools to help meet the professional development needs of Metro Schools teachers and principals. Read More

The "down low" black male quickly became a cultural touchstone after the publication of On the Down Low by J.L. King and its subsequent promotion in the national print and television media. Read More

The longest continuous Holocaust lecture series at an American university begins its 27th year on Thursday, Oct. 21, at Vanderbilt University and will expand to consider genocides beyond those perpetrated by the Nazis. Read More

Vanderbilt University students will gather Wednesday evening to watch the final and perhaps decisive presidential debate. Read More

French scholar Claude Pichois, one of the world's foremost scholars of French letters and a Vanderbilt University professor since 1970, died Tuesday at a Paris hospital of heart failure. He was 79. Read More

Controversial Vietnam veteran and Vanderbilt alumnus B.G. "Jug" Burkett will speak on campus Oct. 21 about "The Myths of the Vietnam War ñ Then and Now." Read More

A three-year collaborative research project exploring the relationship between religion and the economy will be outlined by members of an interdisciplinary faculty research team commissioned by the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture at Vanderbilt University. Read More

With the United States' military involvement in Iraq playing a key role in the hotly contested presidential race between George W. Bush and John Kerry, Pierre Gassmann's insight could prove invaluable to voters trying to sort through the rhetoric. Gassmann, who until July served as head of the Baghdad delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), will discuss "Humanitarianism and the Global War on Terror: Does Neutrality Still Make Sense?" on Oct. 12 at Vanderbilt. Read More

In post-Sept. 11 America, prisons are increasingly holding people, some of them indefinitely, for reasons of security, asylum and migration. But neither George Bush nor John Kerry is talking about immigration issues, which "should be at the very forefront of the debates," says Robert Barsky, an immigration issues expert and Vanderbilt University professor. Read More

There has not been a personnel change on the Supreme Court in 10 years ñ the longest the body has gone unchanged since the 1820s. If President George W. Bush replaces a liberal justice or Sen. John Kerry replaces a conservative justice, there is a significant opportunity for change within this closely divided Supreme Court, says Suzanna Sherry, Cal Turner Professor of Law and Leadership at Vanderbilt University. Read More

In the aftermath of a deadly fire at a University of Mississippi fraternity house in August, Vanderbilt University officials have ordered all fraternity and sorority houses on its campus to install fire sprinklers. Read More

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Suskind will speak at Vanderbilt University on Thursday, Oct. 14, delivering a lecture titled "In Search of George W. Bush: Informed Consent in the Age of Spin." Suskind's book, "The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House and the Education of Paul O'Neill," published earlier this year, is a candid assessment of the Bush presidency by former U.S. Treasury Secretary O'Neill, the only member of Bush's innermost circle to leave and then agree to speak frankly about the inner workings of the administration. Read More

Call it the illuminated brain cell: Imagine a neuron decked out with thousands of tiny red, yellow, green and blue lights. As the neuron fires and recovers, visualize these lights as blinking on and off, moving this way and that, revealing the location and movement of the nerve's molecular machinery in action. Read More

The nationally televised debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards will be the only opportunity voters have to see the vice presidential candidates go head to head before the election, and a trio of Vanderbilt University students will experience the action live from the debate floor. Erin Brown, Susan Mader and Alex Kwak will be on hand at Case Western Reserve University to see how Cheney and Edwards use this moment in the spotlight to reinforce the messages of the men atop their respective tickets. Read More

A good performance in the vice presidential debate by Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina could be a factor in a win by Kerry on Nov. 2 in one or more Southern states, despite predictions that the Bush campaign is practically assured of victory there. While more Southern states are likely to be red than blue this November, the Democrats' campaign strategy may succeed by carrying just a few Southern states, says Vanderbilt Fellow Kareem Crayton. Read More