The Vanderbilt Story

What is more daring—camping in a remote part of Antarctica for a month doing field research, or directing and performing in a musical revue about the environment? For Earth and Environmental Sciences major Andrew Grant, pushing boundaries to positively impact the Earth, and the people who call it home, are equally thrilling. Read More

Student-athlete Namilla Sanchez is keenly aware of the role proper nutrition plays in performance. She feels the results each time she dives into the pool – and in her ability to succeed in the classroom. Read More

Teams of makers from Vanderbilt and beyond raced the clock to create innovative solutions to the problems facing those living with disabilities as part of Vanderbilt’s Tikkun Olam Makers (TOM) makeathon. Read More

Vanderbilt senior Sloane Chmara is combining a passion for healthy cooking and happy living into a growing online lifestyle brand. Read More

Shortly after graduating from law school, Bailey Spaulding got a harebrained idea: She’d open a brewery and name it the Jackalope Brewing Co., after the mythical rabbit–antelope hybrid that she believed in as a kid. Seven years after the business was launched in Nashville’s Gulch neighborhood, Jackalope makes… Read More

Jan Diner Hildebrandt retired from competitive swimming the day her senior season ended at Vanderbilt. Or so she thought. Nearly 40 years later, Hildebrandt, a 1979 graduate of the School of Engineering, found herself competing in the U.S. Masters Swimming Nationals, a long-course pool meet featuring the best… Read More

Few people have had as much influence on the digital entertainment industry as Mitch Glazier. He first made an impact not long after graduating from Vanderbilt Law School in 1991, at a time when the internet and the challenges it posed to copyright law were… Read More

I wish I had an autographed photo of Irving Berlin for every time I’ve been asked, “My nephew (parole officer/cosmetologist/ exorcist) has written a really good song—how can he/she turn it into a hit?” I always respond: “Do you think if I knew the answer to that question, I’d still… Read More

Men's basketball's Joe Toye, an economics major and the lone senior on the Commodores’ roster, is the embodiment of student-athlete-leader. Read More

Watch as Vanderbilt students and faculty highlight how their passions inspire them to make positive impact in this 2018 public service announcement commercial created by Vanderbilt Communications. Read More

When Nyree Ramsey visited New Orleans in 1995, three words came to mind: “This is home.” “I loved the culture, the food, the sense of community—all things intergenerational,” she says. “My father was a musician, an immigrant from Jamaica, and my mom comes from a… Read More

With more than 14,000 stores in the U.S. and $24 billion in revenue, Dollar General is showing the world that there’s still life in the brick-and-mortar retail sector. In this excerpt from his memoir, My Father’s Business: The Small-Town Values That Built Dollar General into a Billion-Dollar Company, Cal Turner… Read More

Garrett Spiegel long intended to make the design of custom-fabricated orthotics and prosthetics easier and quicker, especially in parts of the world with limited medical resources and high need. His company, Standard Cyborg, which he co-founded in 2015 with Jeffrey Huber, now has a growing customer base for… Read More

Watch as first-generation college students talk about choosing Vanderbilt University and how they contribute to the cultural and intellectual life of the campus community. Read More

Nia Dorsey is the defender on the SEC Champion Commodore soccer team, but her Vanderbilt career has largely been defined by service. Read More

Nashville native J. Lindsy McLean, BA’60, was a self-described “Hillsboro High School junior in charge of the football team’s first-aid kit” when he saw an announcement in the local paper that would forever alter his life. The ad was for a class on sports injuries taught by legendary Vanderbilt… Read More

A serious injury inspired senior student-athlete Sara Tsai to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering and a future in helping others. Read More

Danny Coradazzi strongly believes that the residential college experience plays a vital role in developing the whole student. Read More

During World War II the Women Airforce Service Pilots—known as the WASP—flew and delivered aircraft across the U.S. to docks for shipment to the war zone. Sarah Byrn Evans Rickman is making sure these flyers’ contributions aren’t forgotten. She’s written eight books about them, most recently BJ Erickson:… Read More

Ballet Memphis is no ordinary performing arts space. Its glass exteriors invite passersby to gaze at rehearsals within. Abundant greenery and a courtyard café further entice community members to sit a while. The $21 million, 38,000-square-foot venue opened in August 2018 in the city’s fashionable Overton Square, precisely… Read More