Vanderbilt Magazine

Credit: U.S. NAVAL HISTORICAL FOUNDATION By Brenda Ellis On April 10, 1963, the nuclear submarine USS Thresher departed Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, headed for a rendezvous with the submarine rescue ship USS Skylark, which would accompany it during deep-dive tests. Designed to hunt and destroy… Read More

Attorney Chris Frohlich, BS’06, has parlayed a lifelong love of fishing into a thriving charter company based in Punta Gorda, Fla. When he’s not catch-and-release tarpon fishing for his own pleasure, he’s taking others out on the water or overseeing his staff of eight fishing guides. Photo by Perry James… Read More

Tiffiny Tung, associate professor of anthropology, is on familiar terms with the dead. She may not know their names, but she can tell you a surprising amount of information about how they lived—and even, on occasion, how they died. That they drew their last breaths more… Read More

Hyman’s burial urn, by Susan DeMay (Credit: Steve Green) When Sylvia Hyman died Dec. 23, 2012, at age 95, the visual artist renowned for her strikingly realistic ceramic pieces realized her last request. She became a physical part of the medium she had practiced for more than… Read More

Kristen Findley (JOHN RUSSELL)   If Kristen Findley had gotten her wish, she might never have set foot on a track, or at least not to compete. Growing up near the snow-capped mountains of Boise, Idaho, she dreamt of becoming a downhill skier one day. She was so taken… Read More

Helen Tuel and Sgt. Dan Stein with “Imp,” Dan’s four-legged therapist. Dan, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in the Army, now volunteers two days a week at TRRC helping children with physical and mental disabilities as part of his own recovery. (Credit: James Ferry) For millennia… Read More

Credit: SIMON PEMBERTON By Will Tarnell, Class of 2015 Let me tell you what happened to all the other pigs, how I became the last pig. It is true, the other pigs were mostly all eaten. But before the last pigs, the very last group to be… Read More

PHOTO BY STEVE YOUNG   During our Vanderbilt Alumni Association-sponsored  “Cuba Libre” trip in March, we visited an organic farm—they even cultivate their own worms—in the  Alamar district on the outskirts of Havana. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans live there in a huge housing project of prefabricated concrete… Read More

Credit: John Russell Eagle-eyed observers and Luddites accustomed to marking time by a campus landmark were the first to notice something amiss in early June. The clock atop Kirkland Hall’s tower had stopped keeping time. Until then, the clock’s motor, installed in 1966, had run continuously for… Read More

Three of Vanderbilt’s graduate and professional schools have new deans. M. Eric Johnson rejoins Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, while Linda Norman takes the top job at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and the Rev. Emilie Townes leads… Read More

The old coal smokestack will be dismantled as Vanderbilt moves to a natural-gas power plant. (Credit: Joe Howell) Vanderbilt will replace its coal-fired cogeneration facility, converting to natural gas to meet power needs of the university and medical center. The university’s Board of Trust approved… Read More

Pastor Rob Taylor, center, poses with Mark Schoenfield, chair of Vanderbilt’s Department of English, right, and his son, Michael. The Schoenfields performed CPR on Taylor after he collapsed near his home. (Credit: Steve Green) Mark Schoenfield, chair of Vanderbilt’s Department of English, and his family… Read More

Credit: DOUG ROSS John Lutz began work at Vanderbilt April 15 and hasn’t come up for air since. Lutz, an information technology and financial management expert who most recently served as president of IBM Canada, is Vanderbilt’s first vice chancellor for information technology. Lutz’s areas of responsibility… Read More

Capt. Joseph “Dick” Robertson, a barge pilot on the Mississippi River, has worked for Ingram Barge Co. for 41 years. The Vanderbilt Sleep Center is partnering with Ingram Barge to provide sleep apnea screening, treatment and coaching for its employees. (Credit: KEVIN LORENZI) While at the helm… Read More

Tennesseans strongly support charter schools, but their feelings about school vouchers are more divided, according to a poll from the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at Vanderbilt. “A solid 66 percent of those polled support charter schools,” says John Geer,… Read More

Guatemala has become a hub for service-learning opportunities that benefit both Vanderbilt students and the local population. (Credit: Armen Henderson) Vanderbilt’s expanded commitment to research and sustainable development in Guatemala took a giant step forward this past spring with the opening of a Guatemala City field station… Read More

During Sasser’s stint as ambassador to China, he was trapped in the embassy for four days after Beijing erupted in violence following an inadvertent American-led NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. (Credit: Greg Baker - AP/Wide World Photos) James R. Sasser, former U.S. senator and… Read More

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) and other digital learning platforms are the focus of a new institute being launched this fall. The Institute for Digital Learning will be led by Douglas Fisher, associate professor of computer science and computer engineering at the School of Engineering. It will be… Read More

Credit: SUSAN URMY Vanderbilt Libraries and two student groups that help adoptable dogs teamed up between final exams last spring. “Smooch a Pooch” offered students the opportunity to greet, hug and leash-walk dogs in need of loving homes. The event took place outside the Central… Read More

Everybody Has a Story is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, FYE, iTunes and Walmart, as well as at Children’s Hospital in The Friends Shop. A compilation of songs written in music therapy sessions at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and recorded by… Read More