Vanderbilt Magazine

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

Vanderbilt University has received a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to help Vanderbilt Divinity School establish a project focused on educating pastoral leaders who are exploring alternative pathways in ministry, today and the future. Read More

The School of Medicine has launched a $5 million Dean’s Scholarship Challenge to help ensure that tomorrow’s leaders in medicine are educated at Vanderbilt. Through a combination of donor contributions and a university match, the school hopes to raise a total of $10 million. Read More

Nashville’s newest public high school will be named in honor of the Rev. James Lawson, a civil rights icon and Vanderbilt University Distinguished Professor, emeritus. Read More

In a new book, 'Gilded Age Cocktails: History, Lore, and Recipes from America’s Golden Age,' Cecelia Tichi, research professor of English, explores the history of some of bartending’s most enduring recipes, as well as drinks created for business titans of the day, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt Read More

Jon Parrish Peede, BS’91, former director of the National Endowment for the Humanities, reflects on his respect for the late Vereen Bell. 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

Vanderbilt University School of Nursing Dean Pamela R. Jeffries has been awarded the Valere Potter Distinguished Chair in Nursing. Read More

Years before Vanderbilt basketball head coach Shea Ralph’s generation helped set a standard for women who aspire and act to change the world through sports, her mother, Marsha Lake, traveled to the Soviet Union as part of a team that represented the United States on the world stage for the first time in the Title IX era.   Read More

Reid Hoffman, an accomplished entrepreneur, executive, investor and philanthropist who has played an integral role in building many of today’s leading consumer technology businesses, will receive Vanderbilt University’s prestigious Nichols-Chancellor’s Medal when he delivers the Graduates Day address to the Class of 2022 on May 12. Read More

Author and "New York Times" columnist Margaret Renkl joined Vanderbilt University Press authors Rachel Martin and Steve Haruch and former Nashville mayor and Vanderbilt adjunct professor Bill Purcell on Nov. 9 to discuss the evolution of Nashville and the American South. Read More

Vanderbilt University, which already has taken significant steps in its commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, has joined the Race to Zero—Universities and Colleges coalition. At the same time, Assistant Professor Leah Dundon and 14 students are participating in international climate change negotiations. Read More

As head of the Metro Nashville Coronavirus Task Force, Jahangir has helped coordinate local health systems and community groups, addressed the city at daily media briefings, set up COVID test sites and advised policymakers on combatting the virus, all while maintaining his normal duties at Vanderbilt. Read More

Students and professors from Middle Tennessee State and Vanderbilt universities are working together to uncover new archaeological details about a largely forgotten African American neighborhood that was an important part of Nashville’s post-Civil War history. Read More

Moments after Vanderbilt defeated Alabama to reach the final of the 2021 SEC Men’s Golf Championship at Sea Island Golf Club in Georgia, Scott Limbaugh served up a seemingly innocuous answer to a question posed in a television interview. “We liked our matchups a lot,” Vanderbilt’s head coach told the… Read More

Alumnus and Vanderbilt University Board of Trust member Justin Ishbia, JD’04, has donated $10 million to Vanderbilt Law School to support key strategic priorities within the school and to strengthen its position as one of the nation’s premier institutions for legal scholarship. Read More

A listing of recent books published by Vanderbilt alumni from the latter part of 2020 to fall 2021. Read More

Chronic illness prevented Jens Herman from earning his degree from Peabody more than a decade ago. The pandemic gave him a second chance. Read More

Last fall, five Buchanan Fellows at the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries began a project to research Vanderbilt University’s first decade, from 1875 to 1885, and curate an online exhibit about what they discovered. In the process, the fellows learned how to find supporting materials, interpret historical objects, examine historically significant documents from Special Collections, and place all of them in the context of the university’s—and the nation’s—history. Read More

Lisa Dordal teaches in the Department of English at Vanderbilt and is the author of Mosaic of the Dark (Black Lawrence Press, 2018), which was a finalist for the 2019 Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry, and Water Lessons (forthcoming in April 2022). Read More