Vanderbilt Magazine

Peggy Ann Brainerd Way (VANDERBILT SPECIAL COLLECTIONS) Peggy Ann Brainerd Way, a scholar in pastoral care and the first woman appointed to a full-time position on the Vanderbilt Divinity School faculty, died July 9 in Nashville after a brief battle with cancer. She was 84. Way accepted a position… Read More

MEMORIAL HALL On Aug. 15, 1955, a young woman donned in academic regalia was ready to graduate from George Peabody College and become the first African American ever to do so. She deliberately sought out a classmate to take a picture of her standing on the steps of Confederate… Read More

Although generations of alumni may be lamenting the passing of the old Vanderbilt and Barnard residence halls along Alumni Lawn, there’s plenty of interest and excitement about the new facilities under construction. Read More

Each fall students from Vanderbilt’s theatre department team up with members of the Student Alumni Board, an on-campus organization that fosters ties between current undergraduates and Vanderbilt alumni, to host the Legends Tour. Read More

In April, when the fiscal separation of Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center was completed, Larry Marnett—the University Professor of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacology and Mary Geddes Stahlman Professor of Cancer Research—assumed a new role as the School of Medicine’s first dean of basic sciences, reporting directly to the provost. Read More

enior Vanderbilt administrators, including vice chancellors David Williams, Susie Stalcup and Beth Fortune, attended a recent reception honoring emeritus Board of Trust Chair John R. Hall, BE’55. Read More

Art G. Demmas, legendary NFL referee and former Vanderbilt football standout from 1952 to 1956, died Aug. 6 in Nashville. He was 82. Read More

For many Vanderbilt students, the summer is a chance to exchange the classroom for an internship—but it also can be a time to start networking with alumni. The Summer Open Dores series helps make those connections possible. Read More

Civil rights leader E. Melvin Porter, one of the first African American graduates of Vanderbilt Law School and the first African American to be elected state senator of Oklahoma, died July 26 in Oklahoma City. He was 86. Read More

Drawing on her passion for technology solutions, Havard launched Health:ELT in 2014 with her business partner and father, L. Cade Havard. Read More

Huggins passed away in March at age 73 from complications of leukemia, and through his generosity, his legacy will live on through the Harold Louis Huggins Basketball Scholarship. Read More

As a Ph.D. student at MIT, Barr came up with the idea of creating transparent coating that would convert light into power. Today his company, Ubiquitous Energy, is in the business of making “solar technology invisible,” as Barr puts it. Read More

For the past 110 years, the hourly tolling of Kirkland Hall’s signature bell has alerted generations of students that they’ve overslept for economics class or that kickoff was imminent. And for more than a third of those 110 years, the task of keeping the tower’s clock ticking—and its 2,000-pound bell in good working order—has fallen to Paul Young. Read More

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) has launched two new donor societies: the John E. Chapman, M.D. Society, which supports clinical programs and endowed faculty chairs, and the Discovery Circle, which supports the basic sciences. Read More

Virginia “Sis” Holladay, BA’46; Lillian B. Jenkins, BA’45; Mary Elizabeth “Libba” Johnson, BA’46; and Katherine White, BA’46 met at Vanderbilt in 1942 and still get together 70 years later. Read More

In each issue, Vanderbilt Magazine publishes a handful of social media posts from alumni, students, faculty, staff and Commodore fans that include the hashtag #Vandygram. Read More

Check out the latest book offerings from Vanderbilt alumni and faculty. Read More

It has been 47 years since Ben Shahn’s mosaic Peabody—1968 was dedicated in the Hobbs Human Development Laboratory on what was then the campus of George Peabody College for Teachers. The effort to commission Shahn, an artist well known for his advocacy for the poor, was spearheaded by Susan Gray, professor of psychology, emerita, and an advocate for children, particularly those held back developmentally by poverty. Read More

Michael Rinne (far right) as bassist Lum York, with actor Tom Hiddleston (center) as Hank Williams and members of the film version of Williams’ band, The Drifting Cowboys. Photo by Sam Emerson/Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics   Bassist Michael Rinne, BMus’10, is a busy guy. He has recorded with artists Caitlin… Read More

Vanderbilt boasts two winners of Guggenheim fellowships this year: Beth Bachmann, writer-in-residence in English, received a fellowship in poetry, and John Powers, BA’01, assistant professor of sculpture at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, received a fellowship in the fine arts division for his sculpture. Read More