Spring 2008

  • Alumni Association Honors Professor Tom Schwartz

    Alumni Association Honors Professor Tom Schwartz

    Thomas Schwartz, professor of history, has received the Faculty Alumni Education Award, presented by the Alumni Association Board of Directors last November. First given in 1982, the award includes a prize of $2,500 and an engraved julep cup. Since 2003, Schwartz has lectured at nine alumni education events for… Read More

    Mar 13, 2008

  • A Million Thanks to all the Reunion 2007 Volunteers

    A Million Thanks to all the Reunion 2007 Volunteers

    Click here to view a slideshow of pictures from Reunion 2007 Because of your hard work, Reunion 2007 giving surpassed its goals, providing new levels of support for Vanderbilt. In fact, the final tally was over $46 million. The generosity of the… Read More

    Mar 12, 2008

  • Lord of the Pointy Ears

    Lord of the Pointy Ears

    Outfitters to Wookiees and Warlocks: Paul Bielaczyc, BS’02, MS’04 (standing), and his brother, Michael, only use their special powers for good, helping solve the age-old problem of what to wear to your next Renaissance festival or science fiction convention. The brothers create ogre masks, elf ears, faun pants, fangs,… Read More

    Mar 12, 2008

  • Biology, Behavior, and the Tools of Law

    Biology, Behavior, and the Tools of Law

    A childhood fascination with animal behavior led Owen Jones on a path to becoming one of the country’s foremost experts in the field of law and behavioral biology. Today he is one among a handful of academics in the country holding faculty appointments in law and biology and conducting… Read More

    Mar 11, 2008

  • Sports Roundup

    Sports Roundup

    Graduate student Karthik Subramanian keeps his eye on the birdie as president and player with the Badminton Club. Soccer: Three Named to All-SEC Team Junior Katie Schulz and freshmen Molly Kinsella and Mary Rachel Reynolds were named All-SEC players in the fall. Schulz, a midfielder, was a second-team pick… Read More

    Mar 11, 2008

  • Where are they now?

    Where are they now?

    Kenny Diehl, BS’75, took to the hardwood courts of Memorial Gymnasium as Mr. Commodore in the days before mute mascots with huge foam heads and comical antics–and was one among a long line of cheerleaders who donned the chivalrous costume as the vocal leader of the Commodore faithful. Kenny… Read More

    Mar 11, 2008

  • Football 2007

    Football 2007

    Wide receiver Earl Bennett The 2007 version of Commodore football finished with a 5-7 record, but that was good enough to earn All-SEC honors for four players and attract a suitor for the head coach. Four Commodores were named to the All-Southeastern Conference team by the league’s 12 coaches. Read More

    Mar 11, 2008

  • Extreme Makeover, Commodore Edition

    Extreme Makeover, Commodore Edition

    The three faces of Mr. C are Sam Newman (in gold), Mike Fagan (in black), and a third student who prefers to hide behind the anonymity of the Commodore mask. Photo by John Russell It was quite the conundrum. Mr. Commodore, the “face” of Vanderbilt athletics, had gone missing. Read More

    Mar 11, 2008

  • Top Picks: Sevin, Johnson

    Top Picks: Sevin, Johnson

    Sevin Awarded Germany’s Cross of the Order of Merit Dieter Sevin, professor of Germanic languages and literatures and chair of the department, has been awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is the only order awarded by the president of that… Read More

    Mar 11, 2008

  • www.youtube.com/vanderbilt

    www.youtube.com/vanderbilt

    Vanderbilt has launched its own channel on YouTube, the wildly popular video-sharing site. The channel features a broad range of offerings, including lectures, concerts and news pieces, and content straight from the classroom. Vanderbilt is one among just a handful of universities nationally with a branded YouTube channel. Read More

    Mar 11, 2008

  • Vaccine Research Receives $24M Booster Shot

    Vaccine Research Receives $24M Booster Shot

    Kathryn Edwards works to find a vaccine that would protect everyone from a pandemic flu. Photo by Dana Johnson Vanderbilt University Medical Center will receive nearly $24 million from the federal government over the next seven years to continue evaluating innovative vaccines for pandemic flu, malaria and other infections. Read More

    Mar 11, 2008

  • New Policy Halts Industry Perks

    New Policy Halts Industry Perks

    In a major policy shift, Vanderbilt University Medical Center will no longer allow faculty, staff, residents or students to accept personal gifts from industry, regardless of the nature or value of the gift. The policy is a response to patient concerns nationwide that medical decisions are influenced by drug companies. “A… Read More

    Mar 11, 2008

  • Gifted Kids Get SAVY

    Gifted Kids Get SAVY

    The Saturday Academy at Vanderbilt for the Young raises the bar for top students. Photo by Rusty Russell Not every child would want to spend Saturdays in school. But these aren’t your average kids, and SAVY isn’t your average school. Beginning in January and continuing through early March, gifted… Read More

    Mar 11, 2008

  • Letters to the Editor

    Letters to the Editor

    Thumbs Up for Residential Education I read with great interest Whitney Weeks’ piece on the College Halls initiative [Fall 2007 issue, “Common Ground,” p. 52]. The article was informative and gave me a good overview of the entire College Halls vision. In particular, the sentence “Disengaged students… Read More

    Mar 11, 2008

  • Growth Spurt

    Growth Spurt

      Teacher Mary Laurens Seely helps Tyler Rowland with his studies at the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital School, where young patients keep up with schoolwork. Photo by Dana Johnson Like most 4-year-olds, the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt is growing like a weed. Although the free-standing hospital was just… Read More

    Mar 11, 2008

  • From the Editor: Age of Consent

    From the Editor: Age of Consent

    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

    Mar 11, 2008

  • Compost Happens

    Compost Happens

    SPEAR volunteers turn last year’s leaves into next year’s compost. Photo by John Russell Vanderbilt has more trees than undergraduate students–an estimated 7,500 leaf- producing specimens on its 330-acre campus. Until recently, all the leaves collected from autumns past were stockpiled at Natchez Triangle because nobody could figure out… Read More

    Mar 11, 2008

  • Contributors for the Spring 2008 Issue

    Contributors for the Spring 2008 Issue

      Lisa Robbins Lisa Robbins earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia and worked as a reporter in Jerusalem and Chicago. When a newspaper editor instructed her to stop conducting interviews in person and to do all her reporting from behind a desk, she decided to… Read More

    Mar 11, 2008

  • Enrollment Numbers Soar

    Enrollment Numbers Soar

    Enrollment of African American students has more than doubled in the past decade. Photo by Kathleen Smith Barry The percentage of African Americans in the fall 2007 freshman class increased by 12.3 percent over the previous fall, placing Vanderbilt fourth among the highest-ranking U.S. universities, according to The Journal… Read More

    Mar 11, 2008

  • Vanderbilt Chooses Eighth Chancellor

    Vanderbilt Chooses Eighth Chancellor

    Nicholas S. Zeppos was named Vanderbilt’s chancellor March 1 following the Board of Trust’s winter meeting. The unanimous election of Zeppos, who had served as Vanderbilt’s chief academic officer since 2002 and interim chancellor since last summer, marks the first time in 70 years that Vanderbilt has… Read More

    Mar 11, 2008