Find Vanderbilt Events at a Chapter Near You Connect with fellow Vanderbilt alumni and friends at chapter events in your area. Cities with February chapter events include: Atlanta Huntsville, AL  Nashville Raleigh, NC Austin, TX Indianapolis New York City Richmond, VA Boston Kansas City, MO Paducah, KY San Diego Chicago Los Angeles Philadelphia Washington, D.C. Houston Louisville, KY Phoenix   Click here for the current calendar of all events planned in your area, and check back frequently because new events are always being added.

Get Commodore Career Connected in 2008
Network with more than 13,000 Vanderbilt alumni globally. Sign up to be a mentor, and offer students and fellow alumni career advice via Commodore Career Connection. Vanderbilt alumni and students can access this free online community through Dore2Dore. Get connected! 

Sicily: Crossroads of Mediterranean Civilizations 

Circumnavigate Sicily Sept. 24–Oct. 2 aboard the small deluxe ship Corinthian II and discover more than 3,000 years of diverse cultural innovation. Professor Carter Philips, BA’65, leads the way through a treasure trove of ancient Greek and Roman temples, great cities, captivating villages, and extraordinary works of art. Prices start at $5,495 per person. Contact the Vanderbilt Travel Program at 615/322-2929 with questions. 

From the Campus

 

Admission Applications Rise 30 Percent 
Students seeking admission to Vanderbilt’s fall 2008 freshman class rose 30 percent in one year, far exceeding past undergraduate application records. The university saw a comparable increase among diverse populations as well as rises in all geographic regions, with the largest increases coming from outside the South region.

 

Freshman African American Enrollment Up More Than 12 Percent

The percentage of African Americans in the fall 2007 freshman class at Vanderbilt increased 12.3 percent in the fall of 2007, placing Vanderbilt fourth among the highest-ranking universities in the United States. “The progress at Vanderbilt University over the past decade has been extraordinary,” said The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education last month.

 

Vanderbilt Discovers “Black Gold” of Composting
The beautiful results of a successful composting project were recently witnessed when the first batch of rich, dark compost was loaded into trucks and returned across campus to be spread under the trees that shed those leaves several seasons ago. Working together with Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Recycling, Vanderbilt hired Marcus Kerske to make the composting project happen. 

Galaxy May Hold Hundreds of Rogue Black Holes 
If the latest simulation of what happens when black holes merge is correct, there could be hundreds of rogue black holes, each weighing several thousand times the mass of the sun, roaming around the Milky Way galaxy. “Rogue black holes like this would be very difficult to spot,” says Vanderbilt astronomer Kelly Holley-Bockelmann.

Psychologist Wins Prestigious National Academy of Science Award

Vanderbilt psychologist Isabel Gauthier has been named a 2008 Troland Research Award winner by the National Academy of Science. The annual awards include a prize of $50,000 each and are given to two researchers to recognize unusual achievement and to further their research within experimental psychology.

 

Vanderbilt Announces Largest Free-Streaming Archive of East African Music 

The Digital Collection of East African Recordings, the first database in a planned series of databases in the Global Music Archive, is the largest streaming audio archive of East African music. It consists of more than 2,000 musical performances. The artists provide written consent, allowing Vanderbilt the freedom to license and share the music with the world via the Internet. 

Vanderbilt Named Autism Treatment Network Site by National Group

The nation’s leading autism advocacy organization is funding Vanderbilt University Medical Center to become one of a handful of nationwide Autism Treatment Network sites--a new and prestigious designation in the important field of autism treatment and research. Autism Speaks approved $450,000 over three years for Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt in the News

 

Web Opens More Colleges to World Stage

The Tennessean--Vanderbilt jumped on the wagon early among universities using technology to not only enhance the classroom but also to reach past their brick-and-mortar walls to the greater public. Online classes, blogs, video and audio podcasts — this is a new frontier of establishing a niche in the virtual world.

  

Long Lines at College Gates
Washington Post--For many top colleges, the application process has been roiled by changes, among them a dramatic shift in financial aid, an end to early-admission programs, and the largest applicant base in history. Vanderbilt is noted for its 30 percent increase in applications. This story also ran in the Chicago Tribune.

  

This Bus Is Plugged In
U.S. News & World Report--Vanderbilt Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry Billy Hudson’s project to outfit school buses in his native Arkansas with wireless educational technology is a hit among the young students. Julie Hudson, associate professor of anesthesiology, is Hudson’s wife and partner in the project and is mentioned.

 

Aggression as Rewarding as Sex, Food and Drugs 

ABC News--Researchers at Vanderbilt have found that the "reward pathway" in the brain that responds to aggression is the same one that responds to sex, food and drugs. Craig Kennedy, chair of special education, is one of the authors of the study and is quoted. Click here for an Exploration story about the study.

 

VU Trains Officers for Student Security Upgrade
The Tennessean--Vanderbilt's police department took a unique student security upgrade this month by training its officers to handle barricades, hostage situations or anything requiring the quick response of a SWAT team. Members of the Metro Police Department's SWAT unit trained 15 members of the Vanderbilt police force in special operations in January.

  

Sports News

 

Senior Bowl Proves Boon for Vanderbilt Lineman 
The Tennessean--The Senior Bowl was a good week for Vanderbilt offensive lineman Chris Williams. “Chris met with just about every team except maybe two, and the feedback we've gotten is he has solidified himself as an absolute first-round selection in this draft,” Williams’ agent said.

Corbin Builds Whole New Program
Vanderbilt View--Self-proclaimed “regular guy” Tim Corbin has transformed an average Vanderbilt baseball program into a national superpower. Vanderbilt’s plainspoken head baseball coach, the product of a working-class New England community, has built Commodore baseball into one of the strongest programs in the country in just five seasons.

 

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