Vanderbilt Magazine

Julie Ditty Qualls of Ashland, Kentucky, a member of the Vanderbilt Athletics Hall of Fame who helped the women’s tennis team reach unprecedented heights and distinguished herself as a professional player, died Aug. 31, 2021. Read More

Terence Van Heflin, of McDonough, Georgia, minister, pastor and groundbreaking Vanderbilt student-athlete, died July 9, 2021. He was 62. Read More

Prolific bestselling novelist James Patterson, MA’70, and country music legend Dolly Parton have collaborated on a novel, Run, Rose, Run, to be published March 7 by Little, Brown and Co. Read More

"Enter Exit Enter," a Vanderbilt Divinity School art exhibition celebrating Black History Month, opens virtually Feb. 1. The portraits and photographs by visual artist Donna Woodley can be viewed online. Read More

New research from Sandra Rosenthal, Jack and Pamela Egan Professor of Chemistry and professor of pharmacology and chemical and biomolecular engineering, suggests that the rate of change in solar insolation—that is, the amount of solar radiation that reaches the ground over a specified time in a given location—has a greater impact on these depressive disorders than routine seasonal changes in sunlight. Read More

In my first year as chancellor, I witnessed the extraordinary efforts of everyone in the Vanderbilt community to carry on our mission of scholarship, creative expression and education despite the multiple challenges we faced. It was our proudest moment, but moreover, it clarified my initial impressions of the enduring strength of Vanderbilt’s culture. Read More

More than 3,000 parents, siblings, grandparents, students and others celebrated Family Weekend Oct. 1–3 as Vanderbilt welcomed families to campus for three days of special events. Read More

Photography by Marc Olivier Le Blanc The opening poem in Focal Point, the debut collection by Jenny Qi, BA’11, navigates the fraught emotional space between a loving daughter’s grief over her mother’s death and a scientist’s clear-eyed inquiry into the disease-cancer-that caused it. Qi writes of “nights at a microscope in… Read More

Photos by Richard CartwrightIllustrations by Michelle Pereira Cinematographer Alicia Robbins, BS’01, never planned on working behind the scenes. At Vanderbilt, she aspired to a career in broadcast journalism, appearing in spots for Vanderbilt Television and taking every class related to television and film she could find. Everything changed when her… Read More

Illustrations by Gary Bates From the Civil War to the battle over civil rights, the United States has seen levels of conflict in the past that have threatened to tear the country apart. But watching the violent attack on the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, Professor of Political Science… Read More

Vanderbilt has launched a new alumni affinity group for Vanderbilt’s Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, supporting the diaspora and beyond. The AAPI Association of Vanderbilt Alumni (AAVA) aims to connect alumni with one another as well as with current students and the broader Vanderbilt community.   Read More

Recognizing the long-term historical significance of the signs, posters and stickers encouraging COVID-19 health and safety protocols on campus over the past two years, Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies Shaul Kelner has collected these artifacts in a pop-up art installation on the third floor of Garland Hall. Read More

Vanderbilt University has received a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help Vanderbilt Divinity School establish a project focused on educating pastoral leaders who are exploring alternative pathways in ministry, today and the future. Read More

The School of Medicine has launched a $5 million Dean’s Scholarship Challenge to help ensure that tomorrow’s leaders in medicine are educated at Vanderbilt. Through a combination of donor contributions and a university match, the school hopes to raise a total of $10 million. Read More

Trent Shores, BA'00, who closed out his public career with a 2017 presidential appointment as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma--the country’s only Native American in such a role--has been nationally recognized for his efforts to develop and implement strategic responses to Native American policy.   Read More

Nashville’s newest public high school will be named in honor of the Rev. James Lawson, a civil rights icon and Vanderbilt University Distinguished Professor, emeritus. Read More

In a new book, 'Gilded Age Cocktails: History, Lore, and Recipes from America’s Golden Age,' Cecelia Tichi, research professor of English, explores the history of some of bartending’s most enduring recipes, as well as drinks created for business titans of the day, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt Read More

Al Hubbard, BA’69, and his wife, Kathy Hubbard, have made a $2 million gift to endow the Hubbard Family Chair in the Department of Economics at the College of Arts and Science.  Read More

Jon Parrish Peede, BS’91, former director of the National Endowment for the Humanities, reflects on his respect for the late Vereen Bell. Read More

Brothers André, Keith and Kevin Churchwell, who were together for 15 years at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, are among the most accomplished physicians and administrators in the country. All three credit their father, Robert Churchwell, the first Black reporter at the Nashville Banner newspaper, as the inspiration for their success. Read More