Vanderbilt Magazine

Erwin Charles Hargrove Jr., professor of political science, emeritus, and a former director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies, died Oct. 11 in Nashville. Read More

On a weekend blessed by perfect fall weather, nearly 6,000 alumni and their guests returned to Vanderbilt Oct. 6–9 for Reunion, the first since 2019. Read More

Alexis Garcia, BA'99, is executive vice president for the film group at Fifth Season, formerly Endeavor Content, the production company behind movies such as Cha Cha Real Smooth, Ambulance, The Peanut Butter Falcon and the Academy Award-recognized The Lost Daughter. Read More

Vanderbilt-related authors will have a strong presence at the 2022 Southern Festival of Books: A Celebration of the Written Word, which takes place at War Memorial Plaza and Nashville Public Library Oct. 14–16. Read More

The Vanderbilt Blair School of Music has secured $5 million in funding for the pilot phase of a comprehensive scholarship, the Blair Community Scholars Program, which will recruit highly talented students from underrepresented and vulnerable backgrounds. 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

Vanderbilt held 52 Commodore Launch events this summer to welcome members of the Class of 2026, incoming transfer students and their families. Hosted by Vanderbilt alumni and parents, the annual gatherings are an opportunity to introduce new undergraduate students and families to the university community. Read More

Jim Schifman, BS'90, and his wife, Melissa, launched Project Hive Pet Company last year, selling dog toys and treats that directly contribute to rebuilding bee habitats. Their beehive-themed dog toys are sustainably manufactured in the United States and the company donates 1 percent of gross sales to the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund, which works with private, public and corporate partners to help establish and manage pollinator habitats on their lands. Read More

Chris Webb, BE'90, is the CEO and co-founder of Foresight Augmented Reality, a cutting-edge technology that allows those with visual impairments to live more independently. Read More

Paul K. Conkin, Distinguished Professor of History, Emeritus, former chair of the Department of History and author of more than 20 books on a wide range of American intellectual history, died July 23 in Nashville. Read More

Vanderbilt has named Leah Lowe, a theatre department faculty member who has developed and strengthened ties between the university and Nashville arts community, as director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy. 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

At the beginning of 2022, the School of Medicine launched a $5 million Dean’s Scholarship Challenge to help ensure that tomorrow’s leaders in medicine are educated at Vanderbilt. The success of the early months of the effort has prompted the university to boost the available matching funds by $5 million. Read More

Alumna Prisca Mojica Rodriguez rebuilt the framework for understanding her identity after enrolling at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Now as a published author, she speaks at colleges and universities around the country and continues to monitor “Latina Rebels,” an Instagram account she started while at VDS, that now numbers more than 200,000 followers and functions as a place to question and explore the complexities of Latinidad. Read More

Imani Ellis, BA'12, went from being an NBC page to vice president in 10 short years. As the NBCUniversal’s vice president of communications, she leads a team that creates comprehensive press strategies and media campaigns for unscripted shows across the NBCU portfolio.  Read More

In March, Vanderbilt University launched a refreshed visual identity designed to reflect the university’s forward momentum and to build pride and visibility across the institution, including its athletics program.”As we prepare to celebrate our 150th anniversary next year, it’s time for Vanderbilt to sharpen our expression of who we are… Read More

As steward of Vanderbilt's arboretum, University Landscape Architect James Moore works not only to beautify campus and preserve its botanical diversity, but also to study the resilience of campus trees to disease and better understand how they absorb heat and stormwater for midtown Nashville. Read More

Angela Boutté, PhD'05, has been no stranger to breakthroughs in brain research and medical care. In January 2022, she became director of clinical chemistry for renegade.bio, a San Francisco-based public benefit corporation working to make diagnostic testing accessible to all. In 2019, she founded Aries Biotech to assist other brain disease and injury researchers with fine-tuning their work. Read More

The spirit of “daring to grow” is inherent to our Vanderbilt way of life, and it extends to every member of our community. It is behind every groundbreaking discovery made by our faculty members, whether in the laboratory, clinic or conference room or within a single line of music or stroke of paint. It lives among our coaches and student-athletes as they continually raise the bar for their own accomplishments. It is exemplified by our staff members, whose dedication to our collaborative culture of excellence helps to create the environment in which we all thrive. And it is especially present among our alumni as they help one another to strive for, and achieve, new ambitions. At Vanderbilt, we learn for life. Read More

A poem by Bryan Byrdlong, BA'15 Read More