Alumni-feature

John Hall, former chair of Vanderbilt’s Board of Trust, who gained international recognition for his leadership style, approach to crisis management and philanthropy, is the subject of a new, hour-long Kentucky Educational Television documentary titled John Hall: The Kentucky Commodore. Hall established the John R. and Donna S. Hall Engineering Lecture Series… Read More

As Cuba and the U.S. renew diplomatic ties, a tropical island paradise beckons American tourists and businesses long excluded from its shores. Which is exactly what concerns Dan Whittle. The senior attorney for the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, an advocacy group known for its work on ecosystem restoration and oceans,… Read More

One of life’s universal joys is making a child smile. Another is bringing tears of gratitude to the eyes of that child’s parents. For more than 20 years, Dr. Brett Snyder has experienced both by providing volunteer pediatric craniofacial care to children overseas and in his community. With their son,… Read More

Vanderbilt alumni share a passion for lifelong learning and often request educational programs. Read More

Vanderbilt University's first-ever Giving Day has raised more than $1.3 million and secured $200,000 in challenge gifts to Opportunity Vanderbilt—the university’s initiative to replace all need-based undergraduate student loans with scholarships and grant assistance. Read More

Professor of History Marshall Eakin has received the 2016 Vanderbilt Alumni Education Award. The alumni association's board of directors selected Eakin for his significant contributions to educational programming as a speaker for Commodore Classrooms and the Vanderbilt Travel Program. Read More

Three Vanderbilt alumni--the co-founder of a digital innovation company, the founder of a creative services agency specializing in crowdfunding, and an education reformer--have been named to Forbes' “30 Under 30” list. Read More

After wowing 2016 Consumer Electronics Show visitors and appearing in a slew of tech news articles,WiseWear soon will be recognized for what it is: a fitness monitoring, security alert and business management system encased in a piece of art. Jerry Wilmink [BE’02, MS’04, PhD’07] designed the unique technology that allows… Read More

Maria Renz, MBA’96, technical adviser to the CEO of Amazon.com, recently returned to Nashville to attend an Owen Alumni Board meeting. During her visit she also spoke during an Opening Bell event and sat down with Dean Johnson for a video interview that covers leadership, career and how technology is… Read More

Steve Buchanan, BS’80, MBA’85, arrived on Vanderbilt’s campus in 1975 with plans to become an environmental engineer. His experience on the university’s concert committee opened his eyes to a career in the country music industry. Billboard.com profiles Buchanan’s executive producer role on the television show Nashville and his work to… Read More

James Hill, MS’06, PhD’09, an associate professor of computer and information science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, has become one of the youngest African Americans to become a tenured professor in computer science at a research university in the United States. Read More

Justin Cox, BE’04, faced a conundrum four years ago – keep working at a steady, prestigious job with the federal government or turn his home brewing passion into a business. The Vanderbilt University School of Engineering alumnus decided he wanted no regrets as an old man and chose the latter. Read More

Katrina Markoff, BA’97, co-founded the pioneering boutique chocolate label Vosges Haut-Chocolat. Read More

Before winning NBC’s The Sing Off last December with his fellow Melodores, Ted Moock, BS’15, had already been cast to play a Treblemaker in the movie Pitch Perfect 2, currently out in theatres. Read More

Helen Tuel, EdD’85, is the 2015 recipient of the 2015 Vanderbilt Alumni Association Board of Director’s Alumni Public Service Award. Read More

David Price, ’09, is the recipient of the 2015 Vanderbilt University Alumni Association Board’s Young Professional Achievement Award. Read More

John “Buddy” Fisher, BA’50, is the recipient of the 2015 Vanderbilt University Alumni Association Board’s Alumni Volunteer Award. Read More

The law career of Judge Martha Daughtrey, BA’64, JD’68, is highlighted by a number of firsts. The first woman to serve as assistant U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Tennessee in 1968. The first woman to teach on the Vanderbilt Law School faculty in 1972. The first woman to serve on the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1990. The Tennessean shares her inspiring story in the article “Tennessee judge's epic firsts are historic, unparalleled.” Read More

After building successful careers and raising three children, Vicki Simons Heyman, BA’79, MBA’80, and Bruce Heyman, BA’79, MBA’80, were ready for more. “You reach a point in your life,” Bruce explains, “when you’ve done well—but now can you go do good?” So when President Barack Obama asked Bruce to serve… Read More

Like a lot of people, Dan Stephenson developed a taste for macaroni and cheese at a young age, but the “blue-box variety,” as he puts it, didn’t hold his interest for long. Early on he started experimenting with adventurous flavor combinations that eventually would become the hallmark of his business,… Read More