Vanderbilt Magazine

Research from Vanderbilt shows for the first time that the brain processes aggression as a reward–much like sex, food and drugs–offering insights into our propensity to fight and our fascination with violent sports like boxing and football. The research was published online the week of Jan. 14 by the… Read More

Illustration by Bruno Budrovic A few years ago I taught a non-majors chemistry course at Vanderbilt. I wanted to make the class relevant, so I had the students write a paper about the application of chemistry to everyday things. Students wrote about Dead Sea salts, Gatorade, NASCAR tires,… Read More

lockwise from top: Max Notowitz is the first boy standing on the left end of a group of Jewish boys wearing Star of David armbands as they shovel snow; Notowitz (in white suit) with a friend before the war; Fred Westfield's identity card; Inge Smith in 1936; Star of David… Read More

Ted Hildreth, BE’89 (standing, right), with Terry Moran, co-anchor of ABC News’ Nightline. Photo by Sgt. Jack W. Carlson III If North Korea or Iran shot an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at the United States, most of us would be blissfully unaware. But for Lt. Col. Ted Hildreth, this… Read More

Marc Hamburger, BA’64 Photo by Daniel Dubois People who collect stamps or coins have it easy–they can add to their collections whenever their budget allows. But for car collectors like Marc Hamburger, space is always a consideration. Of the seven cars in his collection, those nearest and dearest to… Read More

John Hunter, “Hear Me,” linoleum block print Vanderbilt senior Aimee Casey’s oil painting “Explosion” was featured at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in December. The Frist Center for the Visual Arts exhibition Future/Now: Mid-State Art Majors featured the work of nine Vanderbilt students last winter among… Read More

Great Performances at Vanderbilt and its director will help the National Dance Project set the agenda for dance in America when it becomes one of 10 “hub sites” that guides the organization. “I am pleased that we are now in the room as one of the top 10 curators,” says… Read More

Greg Barz, associate professor of ethnomusicology in the Blair School of Music, was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Traditional World Music Album category for his album Singing for Life: Songs of Hope, Healing, and HIV/AIDS in Uganda. Singing for Life, released last February by Smithsonian… Read More

Scott Schoenherr, “Times Totem,” Diane and Sandy Besser Collection, Arizona State University Photo by Craig Smith Sandy Besser, BA’58, has enjoyed a successful career in investment management, while earning national recognition as an art collector. Both pursuits took root almost simultaneously at Vanderbilt. “I don’t recall taking art courses… Read More

Photo by John Rosenthal If you’re having a conversation with Elizabeth Spencer, MA’43, the first thing you’ll notice is her accent. It’s one that is increasingly–and sadly–rare these days. To say that it’s Southern is merely scratching the surface. It is old-fashioned, to be sure. Sophisticated. Educated. And… Read More

Photo by John Russell To many musicians the piano accompanist is the equivalent of a second-string player, a backup to the real star. In fact, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Accompanying provides the definitive service to musicianship. It is an art form unto itself. Daphne Nicar… Read More

Rehearsing and performing with the José Limón Dance Company was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Vanderbilt Dance Program students. Photo by Steve Green For a university that doesn’t offer a dance major or minor, Vanderbilt attracts its fair share of dancers. In fact, more than 800 dancers from the Vanderbilt… Read More

Fifteen years ago Michael Ainslie, then president and CEO of Sotheby’s Holdings, learned about an effort to help inner-city kids succeed in college. “It was so simple and so beautiful and so obvious,” he remembers thinking. “Young people coming from some of the worst high schools to some of… Read More

Terry Grier, superintendent of 71,000-student Guilford County, N.C., Schools (which serves Greensboro/High Point), doesn’t claim to have solved the dropout problem, but he is making headway–and earning national attention for his efforts. Grier, EdD’83, has made keeping students in school his top priority, instituting a number of innovative dropout-prevention… Read More

Billy Hudson is living testament to the power of teachers. Hudson, who once seemed destined to spend his life working in the cotton fields of Arkansas, is an internationally known scientist who helped discover the molecular underpinnings of autoimmune and hereditary kidney diseases. Now 66, the Elliot V. Newman… Read More

Never underestimate the power of a good dose of outrage. About 12 years ago Chris Barbic got angry–really angry. In 1992 Barbic had graduated from Vanderbilt and signed on through Teach for America as a sixth-grade math teacher in the Houston inner-city schools. Finding the experience rewarding, he decided… Read More

Photo by Steve Green For children ages 1 to 4, the Susan Gray School provides intimate classes where typically developing children learn, play and grow alongside children with special needs. The education and environment at SGS are acceptance-based and allow children at all levels of physical and social development… Read More

I was born in Trinidad, educated in England, and moved to Nashville in 2002 to teach history at Vanderbilt. My research focuses on African Americans in the Atlantic world of the 19th century. Wherever I live, I also try to do a bit of research into local history. My… Read More

Elyn Saks feels right at home on the University of Southern California campus. There is something about the leafy-green trees and ivy-covered walls, the slate-roofed buildings, and the perpetual warmth of the California climate that has put her at ease almost from the start. But even here in… Read More

Few people have a greater impact on Vanderbilt than the person who manages the university’s $3.5 billion endowment. Last summer Philadelphia native Matthew Wright, then just 39, left his position as director of investments at Emory University to become vice chancellor for investments at Vanderbilt, succeeding Bill Spitz, who… Read More