December 9, 1997 Contact: Elizabeth Latt, 615-322-2706 elizabeth.p.latt@vanderbilt.edu

Kingsbury joins Vanderbilt Media Relations Division

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Vanderbilt alumnus Paul Kingsbury has joined Vanderbilt University's Media Relations Division as senior editor and editor-in-chief of the Vanderbilt Register, the weekly newspaper of the Vanderbilt community. Kingsbury succeeds Jamie Lawson Reeves, who has served as editor since 1995 and will become a public affairs officer in the News Service.

"Paul is one of the most talented and respected editors in Nashville," said Vice Chancellor for Media Relations Michael Schoenfeld. "He brings to an already excellent newspaper a new level of quality that will keep the campus community informed about Vanderbilt's many ideas and activities."

A noted authority on country music, Kingsbury was most recently editor of the Journal of Country Music, published by the Country Music Foundation. He is the author of The Grand Ole Opry History of Country Music and the editor of several books, including The Country Reader, and has worked closely with the Vanderbilt University Press on its acclaimed country music series. Kingsbury's latest project, The Encyclopedia of Country Music, will be the most comprehensive scholarly reference book on the genre. It will be published in 1998 by Oxford University Press.

Before joining the Country Music Foundation, Kingsbury was a writer and editor for Vanderbilt's alumni publications. He is a frequent contributor to national publications, including Entertainment Weekly, US and CD Review, and has written album liner notes for such artists as Patsy Cline and George Strait.

"It's an exciting time to be back at the University," said Kingsbury, a 1980 graduate of the College of Arts and Science. "Vanderbilt has clearly emerged as one of the premier research universities in the country, and I look forward to working with Mike Schoenfeld's team to tell Vanderbilt's ongoing story in ways that do justice to the important efforts here."

With a weekly circulation of nearly 15,000, the Vanderbilt Register is one of the largest publications in the Nashville area. In the past year, the Register has expanded to include Register OnLine, the World Wide Web version of the newspaper, and Register Express, a free e-mail digest with several hundred subscribers around the world.

-VU-

Vanderbilt University is a private research university of approximately 5,800 undergraduates and 4,200 graduate and professional students. Founded in 1873, the University comprises 10 schools, a public policy institute, a distinguished medical center and The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center. Vanderbilt offers undergraduate programs in the liberal arts and sciences, education and human development, engineering and music, and a full range of graduate and professional degrees.

For more news about Vanderbilt, visit the News and Public Affairs home page on the Internet at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/News.