Vanderbilt Magazine – Featured

Psychologists and psychiatrists have sometimes struggled to keep up with the multiplying mental health challenges posed by the pandemic and other recent events, but through studies and interventions, Vanderbilt faculty members are providing new insights into the crisis—as well as the best evidence-based solutions for overcoming it. Read More

This past May, despite skeptics, politics and a global pandemic, Ingram’s Nashville SC opened the doors of the largest soccer-specific stadium in North America: Geodis Park, a 30,000-seat facility. Already a success in the league, having made the playoffs in their first two MLS seasons while playing elsewhere, the “Boys in Gold” finally have a home of their own, where they hope not only to become a community institution but also someday lift trophies. Read More

Megan Piphus Peace, BA’14, MSF’15, is an accomplished ventriloquist and puppeteer who has performed in front of audiences across the nation, including on The Tonight Show and America’s Got Talent. In 2021, she made history as the first Black female puppeteer to work on the long-running children’s television show Sesame Street. Read More

In two unique courses offered by the Divinity School, students explore issues around incarceration and punishment alongside 14 death row inmates at Tennessee’s Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. Read More

Gross never let supposed boundaries get in her way on the lacrosse field—which turns out to be a good way to redefine what is possible in any field. At Vanderbilt, the honorable mention All-American is not only helping to shape a program emerging as a national contender but also pursuing a passion for engineering that will shape her future. Read More

If you play tennis against Vanderbilt this spring, you will likely see a Ross on the other side of the net. Men’s or women’s tennis, it doesn’t much matter. And whether it’s Anna, a junior, or Michael, a freshman, you’re also likely to be on the wrong end of the score.   Read More

Kate Daniels has long been captivated by the connection between writing and the healing process. After earning her bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia, Daniels worked as a nurse’s aide at UVA Medical Center while she was in the process of applying to graduate school. The job was grueling,… Read More

Photography by Marc Olivier Le Blanc The opening poem in Focal Point, the debut collection by Jenny Qi, BA’11, navigates the fraught emotional space between a loving daughter’s grief over her mother’s death and a scientist’s clear-eyed inquiry into the disease-cancer-that caused it. Qi writes of “nights at a microscope in… Read More

Illustrations by Gary Bates From the Civil War to the battle over civil rights, the United States has seen levels of conflict in the past that have threatened to tear the country apart. But watching the violent attack on the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, Professor of Political Science… Read More

Brothers André, Keith and Kevin Churchwell, who were together for 15 years at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, are among the most accomplished physicians and administrators in the country. All three credit their father, Robert Churchwell, the first Black reporter at the Nashville Banner newspaper, as the inspiration for their success. Read More

From The New York Times. © 2021 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved. Used under license. The last live performance I attended before the lockdown last year featured excerpts from Nkeiru Okoye’s gripping 2014 opera Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom. The score takes listeners… Read More

In a spirit of expanding our knowledge, I offer the following observations about how we made decisions as an organization, built trust within our community, and bolstered Vanderbilt’s reputation as an institution willing to confront difficult circumstances with hard work, compassion and commitment. Read More

General Motors' announcement that it would phase out combustion engines—the heart of its cars and trucks for more than 100 years—and move to an all-electric fleet by 2035 could have monumental implications for the global auto industry and broad efforts to combat climate change. The success of the initiative will depend on Vanderbilt alumni who hold key positions in the company. Read More

Vanderbilt’s partnership with the recently opened National Museum of African American Music promises the potential of community-building discussions involving music, race, history and storytelling. Read More

By Graham Hays As an otherwise unremarkable women’s soccer practice at the University of Pennsylvania came to a close more than a decade ago, Darren Ambrose was frustrated. Maybe even ticked off.The Ivy League program’s coach at the time, Ambrose wasn’t mad about a defensive miscue, an errant… Read More

The remarkable success of the COVID-19 vaccines began in a Vanderbilt lab decades ago, with the groundbreaking research of alumnus Dr. Barney Graham. Read More

By Lisa Robbins and GayNelle Doll The following is adapted from the story “Deep Roots, Strong Tree,” which originally appeared in the Spring 2010 issue of Vanderbilt Magazine. During his gubernatorial campaign, Lamar Alexander donned a red and black plaid shirt and walked across much of Tennessee to meet voters. Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the entire Vanderbilt community to change its routines. But because of the live-performance nature of music schools, the Blair School has implemented numerous precautions to ensure that faculty and students remain safe—all while maintaining a semblance of the highly personalized instruction for which Blair is known. Read More

In January 2020, the accelerating spread of SARS-CoV-2 made it apparent that VUMC’s two-bed Contagious Disease Response Unit, created for the rare victim of Ebola or other more-isolated emerging pathogen, would not suffice if Nashville were to be hit hard. So administrators began planning for a major outbreak. Read More

In 2020–21, Vanderbilt is welcoming an impressive group of educators and researchers to its faculty, including 26 full-time, tenure-track and tenured faculty members across nine of the schools and colleges. Read More