Spring 2013

BY JIM PATTERSON PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANIEL DUBOIS, ANNE RAYNER, JOHN RUSSELL AND SUSAN URMY You might expect to find a game ball from Vanderbilt’s 41–18 defeat of Tennessee last season in the spacious, wood-paneled office of Vanderbilt Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos. Sure enough, it’s there. In fact, Zeppos… Read More

BY ROD WILLIAMSON ILLUSTRATION BY SHAW NIELSEN In December 2010, a relatively unknown Maryland assistant football coach named James Franklin arrived in Nashville to occupy a hot seat that had scorched a long list of more seasoned men—that of Vanderbilt University’s head football coach. In the football-crazy… Read More

[gofullscreen][featuresection] BY JOHN HOWSER AND KATHY RIVERS After Colleen Conway married in 1984, she signed an informal written agreement with her husband, Ted Welch, stating that she would resign as dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing after five years. Eight years later… Read More

[gofullscreen][featuresection] PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANIEL DUBOIS, LAUREN HOLLAND, JOE HOWELL and JOHN RUSSELL “Living–learning community” is a phrase bandied about Vanderbilt frequently these days, particularly since inception of the College Halls residential college system and construction of The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons in 2008. But it’s hardly… Read More

Credit: GWENDA KACZOR Our cover story marks the fifth anniversary of Nicholas S. Zeppos’ tenure as chancellor. While reading Jim Patterson’s account of the past five years, what struck me most was the number of major changes at Vanderbilt during that short span of time,… Read More

Credit: GORDON STUDER BY PROFESSOR DOUGLAS C. SCHMIDT During the past decade I’ve taught software design and programming courses to roughly 600 undergraduate and graduate students at Vanderbilt. Our low faculty-to-student ratio is one of the reasons I like my work—it’s gratifying to watch students’ progress and envision… Read More

Credit: Joe Howell Few faculty lives intersect with as many Vanderbilt students as that of Fräncille Bergquist, associate professor of Spanish and associate dean of the College of Arts and Science. Bergquist, who helped establish McTyeire International House, retires this spring… Read More

Credit: LAUREN SIMKIN BERKE BY JOANNE LAMPHERE BECKHAM, BA’62 Nearly 50 years ago Robert J. Moore watched the countryside pass by his window during a long bus ride from Richmond, Va., to Nashville. As he traveled west, Moore wondered how he would be received as one of… Read More

Photo by John Russell Named America’s friendliest city for three years running, Nashville has suddenly become a media darling, garnering rave reviews from The Today Show, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, GQ, Condé Nast Traveler and more in recent months. Music City is also the setting for the ABC… Read More

Credit: Harry Campbell Vanderbilt Motorsports, an extracurricular team of School of Engineering undergraduates, will compete in May 2014 in the annual Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) event at Michigan International Speedway near Detroit. The event is the culmination of a yearlong process… Read More

McKinnis, right, with Price at Tampa Bay Rays spring training in Port Charlotte, Fla. (Credit: Christina Kuhns)   On New Year’s Eve, as Congress was busy negotiating a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, baseball agent Bo McKinnis was involved in an urgent negotiation of his own. Read More

Elkington at the original B.B. King’s Blues Club in Memphis (Credit: Daniel Dubois) Thirty years ago John Elkington stood near the Mississippi River and looked east down historic Beale Street. The legendary jazz district, where blues pioneers W.C. Handy, Muddy Waters and B.B. King once played uniquely… Read More

Credit: MARGARET BERG BY ROY BLOUNT JR., BA’63 If you don’t know Professor Vereen Bell—and you probably do if you’ve taken English courses or been involved in student media at Vanderbilt within living memory—what can I tell you? I have been friends with him for… Read More

Credit: MURPHY BYRNE AND BOSLEY JARRETT Sponsored by the Vanderbilt Masala-South Asian Cultural Exchange, the annual festival of Holi is celebrated on Wilson Lawn. A Hindu tradition that welcomes spring, Holi is often called the festival of colors. At the event students threw colored powder… Read More

Credit: JOHN HERSEY Tennessee reaps enormous benefits from Vanderbilt’s presence in the state, according to a report that measures economic activity for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012. Analysis prepared by Austin, Texas-based TXP Inc. reports that Vanderbilt, the second-largest private employer based in the state,… Read More

Expelled from Vanderbilt in 1960, James Lawson returned as a distinguished visiting professor nearly 50 years later. (Credit: Neil Brake) The Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. has donated a significant portion of his papers to Vanderbilt Libraries’ Special Collections. Lawson joins several other important civil rights figures… Read More

Opportunity Vanderbilt is the epitome of a community effort. As of April 2013, the initiative has received nearly $150 million to support undergraduate scholarship endowment, thanks to the generosity of alumni, parents and other supporters. Undertaken in 2008, Opportunity Vanderbilt is the biggest investment in financial aid in Vanderbilt history. Read More

Audiologist René H. Gifford, left, adjusts the external sound processor worn by patient and study subject Ally Sisler-Dinwiddie, AuD’07. Having her cochlear implant remapped has made a huge difference in her quality of life, says Sisler-Dinwiddie. (Credit: John Russell) Imagine hearing the words and tone of your… Read More

Credit: John Russell After eight years at the helm of Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, James W. Bradford Jr. will exit as dean when the academic year closes. Bradford was named Owen’s fifth dean in 2005 after having served as acting dean… Read More

Credit: Vanderbilt University The former deputy general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security arrived at Vanderbilt in March to become the university’s new general counsel. Audrey J. Anderson, who previously was a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm Hogan and Hartson LLP, brings a… Read More