alumni
Colgate U’s Charles Melichar named Vanderbilt associate vice chancellor
Jun. 30, 2010—Charles J. Melichar, a senior communications officer at Colgate University, has been selected as associate vice chancellor for communications in the Division of Development and Alumni Relations at Vanderbilt University.
Wartime memories of Vanderbilt community preserved through oral history project
Jun. 22, 2010—Website offers audio interviews and transcripts World War II memories that include historic battles, hide-outs from the Nazis and campus war relief projects have been preserved through the Vandy Goes to War oral history project, which can be heard on the Vanderbilt University Libraries’ website. “Vandy Goes to War is one way we document the...
‘Extreme’ Generosity
Aug. 5, 2009—On each episode of ABC’s popular Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, the show’s designers and a cast of hundreds of volunteers race against time to transform—and often rebuild—the home of a family in need in just seven days. This year’s season finale, which aired May 17, focused on a single father of three sons whose Indianapolis...
Against All Odds
Aug. 5, 2009—“Welcome to Germany. Just three weeks until you’ll be in Bosnia,” I was told by my battalion’s personnel sergeant upon my 1993 arrival in Frankfurt. I never imagined then how my longing to experience the adventures of transformational Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) would lead me through the dense complexities of nation building and the...
Game Face
Aug. 5, 2009—“When I was making my 3,000th copy on the second day of my first job, I realized the one course they didn’t teach at Vanderbilt was how to fix the copier,” says Mark Loomis. That first job, with ABC Sports, saw Loomis running errands, making lots of copies, and sharing hotel rooms on assignment with...
The Business of Love
Aug. 5, 2009—Making time for personal relationships while juggling the demands of a busy professional life led attorney Jasbina Ahluwalia down a new career path several years ago. The second-generation Indian American is founder of Intersections Matchmaking, which caters to single South Asian professionals nationwide. “Finding time for a personal life can be a common issue for...
Pass It Along
Mar. 16, 2009—One teacher’s interest made all the difference in the life of Paul Manners. A native of Dover, Tenn., Manners grew up during the Great Depression and was the top student in his high school class. A high school English teacher, Lillian Bayer, encouraged him and offered to help pay his way if he got accepted...
Green Planet Blues
Mar. 16, 2009— “Gripes, kudos, inspired ideas for future stories? Put ’em here,” read the Vanderbilt Magazine voluntary subscription card I received in the mail last year. Having long fancied myself an enlightened environmentalist with a throbbing social consciousness, I wondered whether the Vanderbilt I attended had evolved along with me. At my Vandy, which wasn’t even...
Capitol Idea
Oct. 31, 2008—“The best things in life are free … tours.” That’s the favorite quote of Brody Davis and Ben Hindman, entrepreneurs and founders of DC by Foot Tours. Their 90-minute “More than Monuments” tour is entirely tip-based. Former Vanderbilt fraternity brothers Davis, a political science and history major from Sarasota, Fla., and Hindman, a human and organizational...
Dirty Dozen
Oct. 31, 2008—“You must be Catholic.” It’s the most common reaction I hear when someone finds out I’m the youngest of 12 children. (And they’re right—we’re Catholic, raised by the Sisters of Mercy.) The next most common reactions: “Your parents did know what causes pregnancy, didn’t they?” (I guess so—but, really, I try not to dwell on...
American Eclectic
Oct. 31, 2008—Toward the end of high school in Margate, Fla., a small strip of suburbia just north of Fort Lauderdale, Daniel Bernard Roumain managed to land two internships that prefigured his future musical career crossbreeding hip-hop and classical music. For a couple of summers in the late 1980s, he worked in the ticket office of the...
Johns Hopkins Surgeon Named Vanderbilt Distinguished Alumnus
Jul. 13, 2008—Dr. Levi Watkins Jr., MD’70, associate dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and professor of cardiac surgery, is this year’s recipient of the highest honor bestowed upon an alumnus of the university: the Vanderbilt Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumnus Award. First presented in 1996, the award recognizes an alumnus or alumna whose accomplishments...