Vanderbilt Magazine

Visual Arts At first glance, the basement of Sylvia Hyman’s home looks much like any other clay artist’s studio. A shelf running along the wall holds jar after jar of oxides, silicates, fluxes and other materials used in the preparation of ceramic glazes. A large kiln sits in one… Read More

Their Own Receive Them Not: African American Lesbians and Gays in Black Churches(Pilgrim Press) by Horace L.Griffin, MA’93, PhD’95. “Their Own Receive Them Not cuts through the Gordian knot of homophobia in the Black Church with compelling, substantive arguments,” comments Sylvia Rhue, director of religious affairs and… Read More

In hip-hop music and videos, young black women are consistently portrayed as sexually insatiable vixens willing to debase themselves for the privilege of even the shortest ride on the music industry party train. Despite the lack of respect, young black women play an enthusiastic part in hiphop culture, as… Read More

The toddler entertainment market has exploded in recent years: Infants, toddlers and preschoolers in the United States watch an average of one to three hours of video media and television programming per day. But new research suggests parents should choose videos with high interactive content if they want their… Read More

Illegal immigration is hurting African Americans, according to research by a Vanderbilt professor of law and political science. In Debating Immigration, a book of essays that Carol Swain edited and contributed to, she says African Americans are losing more jobs to illegal immigrants than other racial or ethnic groups;… Read More

Women who undergo breast augmentation surgery are nearly three times as likely to commit suicide, according to a study published in the August issue of Annals of Plastic Surgery. This research confirms previously seen links between breast implants and a high risk of suicide, as well as deaths from alcohol… Read More

Winnter Reynolds may have within her body a clue to the legendary Hatfield- McCoy feud. The 11-year-old is a descendant of McCoys who harken from West Virginia and are, according to her grandmother, Goldie, kin to the family known for its long-running clash with the Hatfield family. Winnter… Read More

Combine a mechanical arm with a miniature rocket motor, and the result is the closest thing yet to a bionic arm.Vanderbilt mechanical engineers have developed a radically designed prototype as part of a $30 million federal program. “Our design is closer in terms of function and power to… Read More

The Vanderbilt Alumni Association will soon select new members to its board of directors. Do you know the perfect candidate? Someone actively involved in your local Vanderbilt activities? We need your help identifying fellow alumni to serve your interests on the board. The board includes a minimum of 18 regional… Read More

Editor, Gaynelle Doll Art Director and Designer, Donna DeVore Pritchett Editorial Read More

This year thousands of alumni assisted Vanderbilt in recruiting topnotch scholars by interviewing prospective students and attending college fairs. The Alumni Interviewing Program (AIP) allows undergraduate applicants to request interviews with alumni who live in their areas. Students contact alumni directly via e-mail to request and arrange for these… Read More

Take three best friends forever. Let’s make them blonde, with Southern accents. One night over a dinner of martinis and mini-burgers, the trio happens upon an idea that grows into an international success story–Passport Panties.Turns out tiny pieces of lingerie equal big business.You can find them in more than… Read More

In 2005 Katharine Carroll was beginning her career as a professional cyclist. She just missed a top-10 finish in her first race, the Athens Twilight Criterium, and then placed fourth in the Joe Martin Stage Race. Just two years later–a very short time in the cycling world–she won both… Read More

Alumni Association News Remember when you were a Vanderbilt student, not quite sure where you would land after graduation or how you were going to make the transition from the classroom to the work world? Wouldn’t it have been great to connect with former students who had at… Read More

After Herschel Gower retired in 1985 as an English professor at Vanderbilt, he figured he’d take it easy and refinish furniture. “I’ve done no refinishing at all,”Gower says.”Working for one’s wife is certainly hazardous.” The two now live in Dallas, where Dona is executive director of the Athena… Read More

Nicotiana tabacum. It’s a lovely plant, really–large, bright green leaves on a central stem that reaches 6 feet or more.Mid-season, a fat cluster of nearly white tube flowers crown the stem. It’s a hardy plant, too, resistant to both heat and drought. Perfect for the land I call home. Read More

We never know when one small incident will change lives. It was reading a National Geographic article one September afternoon during my sophomore year at Vanderbilt that changed mine. Reading the article “Twenty-First Century Slaves” in my dorm room that day, I was horrified and heartbroken to learn there… Read More

The day of the Virginia Tech shootings, I realized that the weather was gorgeous in Nashville– almost as gorgeous as it was on Sept. 11, 2001, in Washington, D.C. There’s something sick in the fact that I made that comparison.Why couldn’t I just focus on the thing in front… Read More

Ever since she graduated from Vanderbilt School of Nursing in 1975 with a master’s degree in psych-mental health nursing, Carol Etherington has been providing care to people grasping at life in the midst of unfathomable tragedy. She has responded to victims of the killing fields of Cambodia, floods in… Read More

On the surface, the group of freshmen who showed up at Vanderbilt in the fall of 1973 didn’t seem that different from any other.They were bright, to be sure. Eager and excited about starting this new adventure called college.And as they unpacked, settled in, and started finding their way… Read More