Commencement 2020 Profiles

As the Vanderbilt campus braced itself to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 through a series of proactive measures in March, School of Medicine class president Varun Menon, MD'20, shared some thoughts on his experience of being a medical student during the unprecedented outbreak. Read More

Qisen Song, BA'20, reflects on the unexpected ending of his senior year at Vanderbilt, and the meaning of home and family during difficult times. Read More

Brittany Hunter didn’t follow a traditional path to Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management. But one thing she can list on her résumé is: “excels at taking a new perspective.” Read More

In high school Andrew Brodsky wanted to become a middle school or high school science teacher. He chose Vanderbilt because of Peabody College’s top rankings, and enrolled as a secondary education and chemistry double major. But sometimes plans change. Read More

Tamee Livermont was eager to begin working as a public health liaison with the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Health Board even before completing her studies at Vanderbilt. But just a week after starting her new position, instead of shaping policy, she was directly involved with the fight against COVID-19. Read More

Hannah Miller welcomes a challenge—whether it’s leading route reconnaissance and convoy security missions, participating in multinational military training exercises, or preparing to serve in the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General Corps. Read More

Psychology and communications studies double-major Tommy Oswalt came to Vanderbilt as a first-generation college student with a dream of finding a creative and supportive community like the large Cuban family he left in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Read More

The first baby Vernicia Winford helped deliver into the world as a certified nurse-midwife was her own niece, born just a few days after the nursing graduate student passed her American Midwifery Certification Board exam last December. Read More

Jonathan Dallas is many things: a graduating medical student, a promising neurosurgeon, a researcher, an advocate. He’s also an amputee. Read More

During his first year at Vanderbilt, Vineet Desai was majoring in biomedical engineering. However, an Alternative Spring Break trip to Nicaragua, where he volunteered at a rural elementary school, changed the course of his college experience. Read More

One weekend program convinced Nnamdi Okabuonye that Vanderbilt was where he wanted to be. A second initiative validated his choice early during his first year as an engineering student. Read More

When applying to colleges, Rachel Miles wanted to keep her options open. Vanderbilt proved to be the perfect fit for the Brunswick, Ohio, native, who majored in oboe performance through the Blair School and minored in chemistry and biological sciences through the College of Arts and Science. Read More

In seventh grade Eve Moll was an active dancer, but then a diagnosis of adolescent scoliosis in her spine threw her for a curve—literally. Read More

Abbey Carlson focused her time at Vanderbilt on two passions: athletics and engineering. In July the mechanical engineering graduate heads to Boeing to join its Advanced Design and Prototype Solutions team in Huntsville, Alabama. Read More

From Rosa Parks to the Freedom Riders, buses have been a potent symbol of change in Dara Johnson’s hometown, and she’s working to become the next person to deliver transformation through transportation—in the form of a mobile dental clinic. Read More