Spring2012

Singer Chris Mann is a finalist on NBC's The Voice. Singer Chris Mann, BMus’04, knows what it’s like to have the rug pulled out from under him. Just six weeks before his first album was scheduled to come out, the record company canceled the project. “I had already recorded the… Read More

Ken Diehl, BS’75 (left), and his brother, Robert, ’77 In the early summer of 2009, Ken Diehl started feeling poorly. He had been diagnosed with hypertension and IgA nephropathy—a kidney disease—several years earlier, but had been leading a normal life. For some reason, though, the disease became aggressive. “My kidneys… Read More

KATIE PEIFER BARTLEY, BS’00 Bartley with Campbell (now 6), Rider (now 2) and Keller (now 4) Before her first child was born in 2005, Katie Peifer Bartley was terrified she’d never sleep again. She created a plan, though, and soon her daughter was, well, sleeping like a baby. After… Read More

GABRIELLE WESTBROOK, BA’11 Gabrielle Westbrook left her mark on Vanderbilt as a student. Today she’s leaving her mark on Washington, D.C., as a teacher. As a senior, she wrote the resolution adopted by Vanderbilt Student Government successfully urging the administration to suspend classes on Martin Luther King Jr. Read More

I grew up in the Harry Potter generation. I dreamt of careening through forbidden forests on a bewitched broomstick and leading my house in a friendly game of Quidditch—probably akin to how previous generations imagined fighting droids (Star Wars), boldly going where no one has gone before (Star Trek), or… Read More

I am a lucky girl. With the minor exception of once wishing I looked like Julie Christie, I have never wanted to be anyone but me. The best part is that I know why I am this way: I was raised by my Granny Jo. In 1966, when my own… Read More

You see Vanderbilt engineers very often moving into leadership positions. I think that’s because of the broader education they get at Vanderbilt.” —Dean Ken Galloway, Vanderbilt School of Engineering Ken Galloway, dean of Vanderbilt’s School of Engineering for 16 years, will transition to full-time faculty member July 1. Read More

A rendering of the renovated Alumni Hall’s west elevation One of the most architecturally significant and underused buildings on campus is about to get a whole lot busier. The Vanderbilt Board of Trust’s Executive Committee has voted to begin significant renovations to Alumni Hall in order to create flexible spaces… Read More

When the human genome was sequenced in 2003, scientists around the world turned their collective attention to discovering what roles genetic variation plays in human health and illness. Their goal: to use that knowledge to tailor disease treatment and prevention strategies based on an individual’s own DNA blueprint, a concept… Read More

The School of Nursing welcomed its largest class ever this academic year, including pre-specialty nursing students Audrey Pyle, left, and Brittany Powell, BA’11. A total of 486 students are pursuing master’s, doctor of nurse practice or Ph.D. degrees. Vanderbilt has received a record 28,306 undergraduate applications for the fall 2012… Read More

Three College of Arts and Science students have been selected as top scholars by prestigious national institutions. Katie Ullmann has been named a 2011 Udall Scholar in recognition of her past commitment to environmental issues and her demonstrated commitment to a career in the environmental field. An American studies major… Read More

The closing of Borders Bookstore on West End Avenue last May as part of the company’s bankruptcy reorganization ushered in a dark chapter for lovers of the printed word, leaving much of Nashville—which had also seen the closing of Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Green Hills a few months earlier—without a bookstore,… Read More

Heaven forfend, now those kids are eating and drinking in the library. And the librarians aren’t lifting a finger to stop it. Food-friendly policies have taken effect throughout Vanderbilt’s Jean and Alexander Heard Library system since the recent addition of the Food for Thought Café in the Central Library. Food… Read More

Yeatman Magazine Honors LifeFlight Director Jeanne Yeatman, director of Vanderbilt LifeFlight, has been named by HealthLeaders magazine among its top 20 people nationwide who are “changing health care for the better.” The annual HealthLeaders 20 list profiles people who are playing a crucial role in making the health care industry… Read More

Editor’s Note: Dr. Jerry Reves retired June 30, 2010, as vice president for medical affairs and dean of the College of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina. The next spring he and his wife of 43 years, Jenny, and their black Labrador retriever, ACE, embarked on a yearlong… Read More

The Office of Alumni Relations is seeking nominations for the Distinguished Alumni Award, the university’s most prestigious alumni honor. Sponsored by the Vanderbilt Alumni Association, the award was first presented by Vanderbilt in 1996 to Bangladeshi microlending pioneer Muhammad Yunus, PhD’71, and has been awarded only nine other times since. Read More

If your graduating class year ends in 2 or 7, then you’re having a Reunion in 2012—and we need your help to ensure it’s a huge success! Please volunteer today to serve on a Reunion class committee. Contact the Reunion Weekend office for more information at (615) 322-6034 or… Read More

COVER: Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital patient Ansley McLaurin gets a backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry House from Rascal Flatts members Jay DeMarcus, Joe Don Rooney and Gary LeVox. Rascal Flatts, who recently became the newest members of the Opry, personifies the growing trend of Nashville entertainers who… Read More

Franklin The first year of the James Franklin-coached Vanderbilt football saga got off to an exciting start as the Commodores finished the regular season with a 6–6 record, two SEC wins, and a postseason bowl berth. Franklin was named head coach of the Vanderbilt football program in December 2010 following… Read More

A complete team effort resulted in Vanderbilt’s first SEC championship in women’s cross country. The Vanderbilt women’s cross country team ran away with its first Southeastern Conference championship during October in Maryville, Tenn. Five Commodores finished in the top nine for a total of 30 points, far ahead of second-place… Read More