Vanderbilt Magazine

The Commodores extended their year well beyond the regular season and came within one game of moving on to the College World Series. The team finished with a 46–20 overall record. After a 40–15 regular season finish, Vanderbilt exited the SEC Tournament with losses to LSU and Florida, but won… Read More

MATT FREIJE, BA’04 It’s autumn in Middle Tennessee, and Matt Freije, BA’04, is enjoying the cooler weather and outdoor chores at his home in Brentwood. He also enjoys the company of his wife, Amy, and their newborn son, Benton Matthew, born in March. “He’s keeping me busy,” Freije admits with… Read More

Ten new members were inducted into the Vanderbilt Athletics Hall of Fame on Sept. 3, 2010. They make up the third class to be named to the hall. The new members are: Ernest “Bucky” Curtis, BA’51 (football, 1947–1950), first-team All-American in 1950, when he led the nation in receiving. Shan… Read More

With his head down, Steve Tchiengang nonchalantly ambles through a group of students on the sidewalk near Rand Hall. His trip is interesting to watch. And at 6 foot 9 inches, it’s hard to miss, too. With a few graceful strides, he’s through the pack and well on his way… Read More

First-year students mix it up at the Student Organizations Fair held in August. Read More

This little goldfinch adds a bit of life and color to the “Tree of Learning” sculpture just outside the Central Library. The sculpture by Greg Wyatt is the centerpiece of the Garden of Great Ideas, bronzes sponsored by the Newington Cropsey Foundation and scattered throughout campus. Read More

Performance Pay Alone Doesn’t Raise Scores Rewarding teachers with bonus pay, in the absence of any other support programs, does not raise student test scores, according to a study by the National Center on Performance Incentives at Peabody College. This and other findings from a three-year experiment—the first scientific study… Read More

Vanderbilt’s commitment to graduate education is paying big dividends. Applications have risen by 36 percent during the past five years, from 5,203 in 2005 to 7,109 in 2010. The university made offers of admission to 13 percent of applicants in 2010, as compared to 17 percent in 2005. The… Read More

Vanderbilt’s Department of Pediatrics, in partnership with the Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County Department of Parks and Recreation, has been awarded a $12 million, seven-year grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) for an ambitious project aimed at stopping obesity in preschoolers before it can take hold. The project,… Read More

Vanderbilt is among the top 20 medium-sized colleges and universities contributing the greatest number of graduating seniors to Teach for America’s 2010 teaching corps. According to Teach for America’s recently released annual rankings, Vanderbilt tied for 10th, up from 17th last year, with 36 graduates teaching this fall in urban… Read More

A 68-year-old male with advanced prostate cancer lies on the operating table. A 1,500-pound contraption looms over him, its metal arms extending like tentacles into tiny holes in his abdomen. At the opposite side of the room, his surgeon sits with face pressed into a large console, hands and feet… Read More

A new national center based at Peabody College is tasked with identifying key elements that make some high schools in urban districts more effective at improving outcomes for low-income and minority students, as well as English language learners. The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has awarded $13.6 million over five… Read More

Vanderbilt’s new expanded aid program has resulted in the most selective class in the university’s history. Beginning in the fall of 2009, Vanderbilt eliminated all need-based loans for admitted students, choosing to substitute scholarships and grants for those with demonstrated need. Applications jumped to 21,811 for the Class of 2014,… Read More

“If we don’t educate girls, communities will never, never change.” —Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time, speaking Sept. 22 on The Commons. His best-selling book was given to all members of Vanderbilt’s first-year class to… Read More

Beloved Commodore Coach Roy Skinner passed away Oct. 25 of respiratory failure at Southern Hills Medical Center in Nashville. He was 80. The Skinner years as men’s basketball coach spanned the ’60s and ’70s and were marked by major milestones and achievements as yet unequaled by his successors. He compiled… Read More

During the next two years, Vanderbilt will create 60 new endowed faculty chairs, bringing the total number of endowed chairs at the university to 267. Endowed chairs, the highest honor Vanderbilt can give to a faculty member, help attract and retain distinguished senior scholars. In the academic world they represent… Read More

Major League Writers Please add to your list of accomplished Vanderbilt sports writers [Summer 2010, “Shooting from the Lip”] the name of my good friend and Alpha Epsilon Pi brother Henry Hecht, BA’69. Henry was the major league baseball beat writer for The New York Post during the tumultuous… Read More

I married my high school sweetheart after my freshman year at a small Iowa liberal arts college. He was several years older, and his work required frequent relocations. I earned a bachelor’s degree in four years by attending three undistinguished colleges. Most of that time I had a long commute… Read More

“I used to be a little defensive about studying such weird-looking animals,” says Ken Catania, pictured holding a juvenile Nile crocodile. “But then I realized that what makes these animals so strange is their extreme specialization and, for that very reason, there is a great deal we can learn from… Read More

A few years ago, ohana—for me—basically meant my mom, my dad and my brother. Since losing my mother to a rare form of cancer, ohana has come to mean much more. As a child I was constantly afraid that one day I would wake up and my mom would be… Read More