The Vanderbilt Story
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The BonnaGrannies: They are the coolest grannies at Bonnaroo—and the twenty-somethings love them
For the past four years, Vanderbilt alumnae Alice Ann Barge, BA’48, and Mary Niederhauser, BS’64—along with their friends Laddie Neil (widow of alumnus Albert B. Neil Jr., JD’50) and Nancy Lee Pitts—have been honored guests at Bonnaroo, the giant outdoor music and arts festival held each June on a 700-acre… Read MoreAug 26, 2016
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Allison Brown Jones, BS’91: Addiction to Music
As a kid growing up in Florida, Allison Brown Jones grooved to the beat of Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool & the Gang and Barbara Mandrell. Decades later, as senior vice president for artists and repertoire at Big Machine Label Group in Nashville, she’s influencing new generations of music fans. Read MoreAug 16, 2016
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Hot Streak: Alumnus Temple Baker takes an unexpected career path after being discovered by director Richard Linklater
Temple Baker, BA’15, is not your typical Hollywood success story. He wasn’t a child star, shuffled from audition to audition by pushy parents, nor did he have much interest in becoming an actor during college. In fact, his only real stage experience was a fourth-grade production of Romeo and Juliet, in… Read MoreJul 29, 2016
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Policy Prescriptions: Melinda Buntin brings Washington expertise to the Department of Health Policy
Health care once seemed simple: You got sick, called a doctor, and paid the bill as best you could. Today health care accounts for nearly 20 percent of the total U.S. gross domestic product—about $3 trillion of economic activity annually. It’s also the largest item in the federal budget, making… Read MoreJun 28, 2016
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Pushed to Extremes: Meredith Dolhare, BS’96, Uses the Power of Sports to Help the Homeless
To read Meredith Dolhare’s long list of athletic triumphs, it’s tempting to ask if there’s anything she can’t do. After transferring to join the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team in 1993 following a freshman stint at perennially top-ranked UCLA, Dolhare (along with then-new Head Coach Geoff Macdonald) helped lift the… Read MoreJun 27, 2016
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Spies Like Us: When war disrupted the chance of a lifetime, two future Vanderbilt chancellors proved their mettle
In 1913 a farmer’s son named Oliver Cromwell Carmichael became the first Rhodes Scholar from Alabama. Just 21, he had earned an A.B. from the University of Alabama and had taught German and French there and at Florence Normal School. In 1914 a 20-year-old Methodist minister’s son named Harvie Branscomb… Read MoreJun 23, 2016
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Rising Star: Jedidah Isler is forging new paths in astrophysics—and diversity among aspiring scientists
As a little girl growing up in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Jedidah Isler was obsessed with the sky. “I really just thought it was beautiful,” she says, “and I remember feeling a sense of calm whenever I looked up.” Today that same sense of calm and wonderment continues to help fuel Isler’s… Read MoreJun 22, 2016
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’Dore of Opportunity: Parents’ Example Sparks a Major Commitment to Students’ Financial Needs
Hoping to ensure that the door to a Vanderbilt education is open to every talented student inspired Board of Trust member Dr. Robert Schiff Jr., BS’77, a Cincinnati pediatrician, to make a transformative $10,000,000 commitment to Opportunity Vanderbilt. Begun at the outset of the financial crisis in 2008, Opportunity… Read MoreJun 18, 2016
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Kate the Wasp
Kate Hendricks’ career in comedy started off slowly. In fact, she only realized she wanted to pursue comedy during an interview for a job at an ad agency. So she did what a lot of self-respecting comedians do: She moved to New York City and performed anywhere that would have… Read MoreJun 10, 2016
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Asheeka Desai: Communication Studies Major and Head Resident, Hank Ingram House
I’m graduating in May, and while it will be hard to leave Vanderbilt, it will be even harder to leave The Commons. The Commons has been such a defining part of my Vanderbilt experience, and has been my home here since day one. After my first year I became… Read MoreMay 12, 2016
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Dr. Annabelle de St. Maurice, MPH’15: Disease Detective
Dr. Annabelle de St. Maurice rapidly is ascending to the cutting edge of addressing the practical problems of world-impacting diseases. After earning her master’s degree in public health at Vanderbilt, in July 2015 she began work in Atlanta at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an Epidemic… Read MoreMar 24, 2016
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No Biz Like Show Biz: Vanderbilt Alumni Are Ubiquitous in New York Theater
Vanderbilt alumni are making a splash on Broadway, as evidenced by several recent graduates currently working both behind the scenes and in front of the lights in New York City productions. Many of them worked together as members of Original Cast, Vanderbilt on Broadway and Vanderbilt University Theatre. Some are… Read MoreMar 21, 2016
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James H. Hill is one of the youngest African Americans to become a tenured professor in computer science
James Hill, an associate professor of computer and information science at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, is one of the youngest African Americans to become a tenured professor in computer science at a research university in the United States. He gained the distinction last August, when his tenure appointment in the… Read MoreMar 20, 2016
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10 Questions with Jeremy Price, English major, tour guide and premier “tricker”
Meet Jeremy Price: the senior English major, Tour Guide exec member, and premier “tricker” who (when not in a cast) can be seen doing backflips on Alumni Lawn. The Hustler sat down with Jeremy to hear about his unique amalgamation of majors, what exactly tricking is, tour guide escapades, his… Read MoreMar 18, 2016
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The importance of nurturing literary talent
I was homeless the summer before grad school. Living on the coast of Lake Michigan in the same town where I had gone to undergrad, I was too poor even to pay rent on a $200 room. I spent days working at a local brewery, just trying to save up enough… Read MoreMar 15, 2016
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What’s your story? Meet the student behind #halfthestory
A Vanderbilt University student and entrepreneur is spearheading a social media campaign aimed at helping people be more authentic. Meet Larissa May and #halfthestory. Read MoreMar 2, 2016
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10 Questions with flutist Rama Kumaran
Meet Rama Kumaran, a sophomore who was the winner of the National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition this summer and was featured on National Public Radio’s “From the Top” series at age 16. He talks Harry Potter fan fiction, his strategies to connect with an audience and what drew him… Read MoreMar 1, 2016
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10 Questions with improv comedian Megan Ward
Meet Megan Ward: the actress behind Vanderbilt Off-Broadway’s Elle Woods. Well known on campus as an improv comedian, Pi Phi President and VP of the Business Careers and Entertainment Club, she dons a blonde ‘do and pink heels for her starring performance this weekend. Amidst a crazy rehearsal schedule, the… Read MoreFeb 3, 2016
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10 Questions with Danny McClanahan, mechanical engineering, math and computer science triple major
Meet Danny: mechanical engineering, math and computer science triple major who speaks both Japanese and Russian, has been a committed intern at places like Microsoft and Twitter, and flaunts formerly pink, (but now bright green) hair. Read MoreJan 27, 2016
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Orienting to Owen: Meet just a few of Owen’s remarkable incoming students
The Owen School can say that, too (all our students are talented high achievers), but we tend to not group people together. Each person is individual, unique and vital to the makeup of our student body. Read MoreJan 25, 2016