The Classes

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

JUSTIN MILLER, BS’09 NICK GORDON, BE’09 Justin Miller (left), Nick Gordon (right) and Michael—a CARE for AIDS client in Kamirithu, Kenya, whom fellow clients call “The Chairman”—help build a chicken coop for a church. A contractor by trade, Michael organized a group of clients to start a craft-making business and… Read More

ANDREA BOUCHEY YOUNG, BA’00 “Horses and the jockeys who ride them are some of the most remarkable athletes I’ve encountered in my career,” says Andréa Bouchey Young, president and COO of Sam Houston Race Park in Houston. Young, a lifelong sports fan, has seen some great athletes. Before joining Sam… Read More

Richard Chenoweth, BS’79 RICHARD CHENOWETH, BS’79 In 1814 the U.S. Capitol building was burned by the British, destroying what Thomas Jefferson had called “the handsomest room in the world”: the Hall of Representatives, which had been completed just a few years earlier by architect Benjamin Latrobe. Sadly, no visual… Read More

W. Hibbett Neel, BE’63 W. HIBBETT NEEL, BE’63 “When you love what you do, it’s not work,” says Hibbett Neel. “I still get excited about coming to the office and helping to improve my community. If there’s ever a point when I’m not excited about it, then I’ll quit.” Neel,… Read More

Goodman is interviewed by anchor Chuck Roberts on CNN’s companion news channel HLN. DEANNE GOODMAN, BA’04 Deanne Goodman calls herself a “backpack journalist”—and she could well be the face of 21st-century journalism. As local editor for AOL Patch in Carlsbad, Calif., Goodman shoots video, takes photos and writes news… Read More

Lawson Aschenbach, right, celebrates a Street Tuner championship in September with team co-driver David Thilenius at Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City. LAWSON ASCHENBACH, BS’06 “There’s no better feeling than crossing the finish line first,” says professional racecar driver Lawson Aschenbach. He started racing go-karts at age 8,… Read More

Thirty Vanderbilt alumnae from 13 states—and nearly all from the Class of 1982—gathered in May to celebrate their collective 50th birthdays with a “Women on Wheels” reunion and bicycle trip through California’s wine country. During the trip, which was organized by Liz Schwartz Hale, BSN’83, and her family’s Berkeley, Calif.,… Read More

MURRAY FISHER, BA’98 Murray Fisher, founder and program director of the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School, has been interested since childhood in protecting the natural world and bringing back its former abundance and diversity. At his first job, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s environmental group Riverkeeper, Fisher shouldered… Read More

Dr. Melvyn Koby returns the watch he pilfered 50 years ago. DR. MELVYN KOBY, BA’60 Fifty years ago Vanderbilt senior Melvyn Koby made off with a little piece of Vanderbilt history: a pocket watch from the statue of Francis Furman that stands on the landing inside Furman Hall. “It… Read More

Leslie Lava on the court with her doubles partner, a San Quentin State Prison inmate. Leslie Lava, BA’78 San Quentin State Prison. Opened in 1852, it’s California’s oldest prison and the stuff of legend. Overlooking San Francisco Bay on 275 acres of waterfront property, the prison is home to 5,400… Read More

Dr. Alexis Rodriguez with Dr. Liliana Belskus, another volunteer, after a successful emergency C-section. Dr. Alexis Rodriguez, BA’05 Dr. Alexis Rodriguez had just earned his medical degree from the University of Illinois when he headed to the Guatemalan highlands last fall for three months’ work as a volunteer physician at… Read More

Anna Curry with her father, Ashley, at the summit. Anna Curry, BA’02 In January 2007, Anna Curry stunned friends and family when she announced her intentions to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the world’s highest freestanding mountain. Curry has osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, a genetic disorder characterized by fragile bones. Read More

Muhammad Ali whispers to his wife, Lonnie, as she testifies at a U.S. Senate hearing in 2002.   LONNIE WILLIAMS ALI, BA’78 When Lonnie Williams married the world’s most famous athlete in 1986, she knew little about the degenerative neurological condition that was just beginning to grip Muhammad Ali’s… Read More

JIM MORGAN, BA’69 “We believe there’s a greater purpose in life than selling doughnuts,” says Jim Morgan. “During the past two years, we’ve committed to a new mission of taking this incredible product and brand and using it as an instrument through which to touch and enhance lives.” Morgan… Read More

WILLIE GEIST, BA’97 It’s fitting that one of the shows Willie Geist hosts on MSNBC is called Way Too Early. If there’s one gripe he has about his job, it’s the necessity of waking up in the wee hours of the morning. “When the alarm clock goes off at… Read More

Sarah Pohlmann Johnson, BS’97 SARAH POHLMANN JOHNSON, BS’97 When a woman leaves an abusive relationship for the protection of a domestic violence shelter, she has already made a courageous and often difficult first step. But how does she regain the power and control over her life that’s been stripped away… Read More

Gene Cook, BA'94 GENE COOK, BA’94 In little more than a decade, eBay has grown into the world’s largest online marketplace, with more than 88 million users worldwide. As the company’s director of buyer experience, Gene Cook has the task of ensuring that users have a good experience when searching… Read More