The Vanderbilt Story

See how a musical pacifier teaches preemies a life-saving skill Why this awesome “kid president” is spending so much time at Vanderbilt Hear the Vandy student wowing judges on America’s Got Talent All this and more in this week’s VUCast, Vanderbilt’s online newscast. Watch now. Read More

The clock on the Kirkland Hall tower is stopped at 12 o'clock. (John Russell/Vanderbilt) [View the story "Great Scott! The week in Vanderbilt social media" on Storify]… Read More

In this week’s VUCast: Bionic Breakthrough: See advances in this robotic hand What Vandy doctors are doing with the military to avoid amputations See a special view of Commodore baseball All this and more in this week’s VUCast, Vanderbilt’s online newscast. Watch now. [vucastblurb]… Read More

Deena Dill is probably one in a million—a busy actress and producer who’d rather work light-hearted sitcoms and game shows than become the next Meryl Streep. “Game shows are certainly not a niche most people in the industry gravitate toward, but it’s what I like,” she says. “I don’t know… Read More

During a 1997 summer internship, Vanderbilt mechanical engineering student Kofi Dadzie had a brilliant idea: Enormous opportunities awaited someone who could bring a combination of business principles and information technology to his homeland, Ghana. Read More

Thirty years ago John Elkington stood near the Mississippi River and looked east down historic Beale Street. The legendary jazz district, where blues pioneers W.C. Handy, Muddy Waters and B.B. King once played uniquely American music, resembled a war zone. The iconic area had become a wasteland of abandoned and… Read More

Lu Zeph believes people with disabilities have both a civil and a human right to develop their abilities in an inclusive community. “The disability rights movement is rooted in the Civil Rights Movement,” she states. Both faced similar opposition, she says, and both have advanced society. Read More

In December 2010, a relatively unknown Maryland assistant football coach named James Franklin arrived in Nashville to occupy a hot seat that had scorched a long list of more seasoned men—that of Vanderbilt University’s head football coach. Read More

“It is often said that Africans excel in relationships. I have discovered over the past two years that it is true. I cherish the relationships that are slowly building here in Kijabe; I feel a part of the staff now, and we have a wonderful time talking, teasing, swapping Swahili…It… Read More

Amy-Jill Levine forgot "after about the first 12 minutes" that she was inside a prison back in 2005 when she first taught at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. Read More

Graduates laughed, cried and left as Vanderbilt alums for life. Re-live Commencement 2013. [vucastblurb]… Read More

Jesse Neugebauer, who graduates from Vanderbilt May 10 with Peabody College’s top undergraduate honor, the Founder’s Medal, knows what it’s like to overcome tough circumstances. His experience will serve him well as he prepares to work with students facing challenges of their own. Read More

Commencement and the excitement leading up to it is a fun time at Vanderbilt. We'll be sharing your Commencement photos, Tweets, Facebook posts and more over the next few days. Read More

Aladine Elsamadicy (Lauren Holland/Vanderbilt) Aladine Elsamadicy says he didn’t feel singled out for his Egyptian heritage or Muslim faith while growing up in Alabama—not until Sept. 11, 2001, that is. He was in the fifth grade at the time. Elsamadicy and his siblings were suddenly more conspicuous at their… Read More

Rebecca Boelzner (Lauren Holland/Vanderbilt) Rebecca Boelzner began playing piano at age 6 and violin at 11 before switching to the viola—a stringed instrument slightly larger than the violin with a deeper sound—as a senior in high school. Pursuing music in some way at college only seemed natural for the… Read More

Elin Bunch (left) and Mara Truslow (Lauren Holland/Vanderbilt) Mara Truslow and Elin Bunch are from different parts of the country—Boise, Idaho, and Signal Mountain, Tenn., respectively—but share a passion for using creative writing to inspire students. Nashville’s Martha O’Bryan Center, which serves to empower children, youth and… Read More

Josh Shannon (Lauren Holland/Vanderbilt) Growing up in Spring Hill, Fla., Josh Shannon did almost everything with his identical twin, Michael. So when it was time for the academically talented brothers to apply to colleges, naturally there was some overlap. “We weren’t set on going to the same school, but… Read More

Shewa Adelekun (Lauren Holland/Vanderbilt) When Shewa Adelekun was 5, her family emigrated from Nigeria to New York City. Her father, a doctor in his native country, took steps to complete his medical residency in the United States. Her mother, a nurse by training, became certified in the United States… Read More

See how a student is saving young women from violence one download at a time. Music therapy hits the big time. Hear stars sing young patients’ songs. How hard does the football… Read More

Heartfelt songs penned by a group of patients of Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt while working with their music therapist are being released May 14 worldwide on a compilation CD featuring some of Nashville’s top recording stars. Read More