Vanderbilt Magazine

A report released by the Institute of Medicine last September confirms the safety of eight vaccines studied by a committee of experts convened in 2009 to review epidemiological, clinical and biological evidence regarding adverse health events. The committee—chaired by Vanderbilt’s Dr. Ellen Wright Clayton, the Craig–Weaver Chair in Pediatrics, professor… Read More

One factor will go a long way toward determining whether President Obama—or any incumbent president—is re-elected, claims a Vanderbilt political scientist. Here it is: If the real disposable incomes of voters are growing—even modestly—in the six months before Election Day, Obama is likely to win. If they aren’t, he is… Read More

Easy Money, Hard Lessons This is the best article [“Missteps to Mayhem,” Summer 2011] I have read concerning our current financial situation and the hard choices that must be made. Human nature ignores the truth when it involves hard decisions and sacrifice, but Dr. Burry… Read More

Vanderbilt Magazine's first cover after the last redesign in 2002. This issue of Vanderbilt Magazine represents the last of its kind—but by no means signals the end of Vanderbilt’s flagship publication. This year we are rethinking and redesigning the magazine, an undertaking I find both thrilling and humbling. The current… Read More

As the first class to have begun its Vanderbilt education experience at The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons, the Class of 2012 has grown accustomed to having the spotlight on it. Now, as members of that class prepare to receive their diplomas in May, they already are demonstrating leadership and innovation… Read More

Irène Mathieu received a Canby Robinson Society scholarship. As a Fulbright scholar in the Dominican Republic, Irène Mathieu developed a passion for global health. But she knew attending medical school would likely leave her with substantial debt. A native of Virginia and graduate of The College of William & Mary,… Read More

Dr. W. Bedford Waters celebrates with his mother, Irene Georgia Bedford Waters, on her 90th birthday. Dr. W. Bedford Waters, BA’70, MD’74, established the Irene Georgia Bedford Waters Scholarship in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine to honor his mother, whose compassion and encouragement brightened the world around her. Irene… Read More

Santisteban in his Franklin, Tenn., studio Jose Santisteban—beads of perspiration glistening on his brow—rotates a long, thin metal tube tipped with a bubble of honey-colored molten glass inside a furnace that’s been heated to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. As African jazz plays in the background, Santisteban removes the pipe from the… Read More

The year 2011 was a very good one for writer Kevin Wilson, BA’00. His first novel, The Family Fang, was published by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins, in August to glowing reviews, and he was the subject of an admiring profile in The New York Times. He did a 12-city… Read More

Not Here, Not Now, Not That! Protest over Art and Culture in America by Steven Tepper, associate professor of sociology and associate director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy (2011, University of Chicago Press) Tepper’s book suggests that artists who simply cite the First Amendment,… Read More

Singer Chris Mann is a finalist on NBC's The Voice. Singer Chris Mann, BMus’04, knows what it’s like to have the rug pulled out from under him. Just six weeks before his first album was scheduled to come out, the record company canceled the project. “I had already recorded the… Read More

Ken Diehl, BS’75 (left), and his brother, Robert, ’77 In the early summer of 2009, Ken Diehl started feeling poorly. He had been diagnosed with hypertension and IgA nephropathy—a kidney disease—several years earlier, but had been leading a normal life. For some reason, though, the disease became aggressive. “My kidneys… Read More

KATIE PEIFER BARTLEY, BS’00 Bartley with Campbell (now 6), Rider (now 2) and Keller (now 4) Before her first child was born in 2005, Katie Peifer Bartley was terrified she’d never sleep again. She created a plan, though, and soon her daughter was, well, sleeping like a baby. After… Read More

GABRIELLE WESTBROOK, BA’11 Gabrielle Westbrook left her mark on Vanderbilt as a student. Today she’s leaving her mark on Washington, D.C., as a teacher. As a senior, she wrote the resolution adopted by Vanderbilt Student Government successfully urging the administration to suspend classes on Martin Luther King Jr. Read More

I grew up in the Harry Potter generation. I dreamt of careening through forbidden forests on a bewitched broomstick and leading my house in a friendly game of Quidditch—probably akin to how previous generations imagined fighting droids (Star Wars), boldly going where no one has gone before (Star Trek), or… Read More

I am a lucky girl. With the minor exception of once wishing I looked like Julie Christie, I have never wanted to be anyone but me. The best part is that I know why I am this way: I was raised by my Granny Jo. In 1966, when my own… Read More

You see Vanderbilt engineers very often moving into leadership positions. I think that’s because of the broader education they get at Vanderbilt.” —Dean Ken Galloway, Vanderbilt School of Engineering Ken Galloway, dean of Vanderbilt’s School of Engineering for 16 years, will transition to full-time faculty member July 1. Read More

A rendering of the renovated Alumni Hall’s west elevation One of the most architecturally significant and underused buildings on campus is about to get a whole lot busier. The Vanderbilt Board of Trust’s Executive Committee has voted to begin significant renovations to Alumni Hall in order to create flexible spaces… Read More

When the human genome was sequenced in 2003, scientists around the world turned their collective attention to discovering what roles genetic variation plays in human health and illness. Their goal: to use that knowledge to tailor disease treatment and prevention strategies based on an individual’s own DNA blueprint, a concept… Read More

The School of Nursing welcomed its largest class ever this academic year, including pre-specialty nursing students Audrey Pyle, left, and Brittany Powell, BA’11. A total of 486 students are pursuing master’s, doctor of nurse practice or Ph.D. degrees. Vanderbilt has received a record 28,306 undergraduate applications for the fall 2012… Read More