Undergraduate Reunion Classes Surpass Goal 
It was a banner year for alumni giving to their Reunion classes. Almost 5,000 members of the 10 celebrating classes and the distinguished Quinqs raised more than $46.58 million in honor of Reunion, surpassing the 2007 goal and marking new levels of generosity to Vanderbilt. We thank all alumni who are instrumental in Vanderbilt's continued success.

 

Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball Enjoys Best Start in History
The Vanderbilt men’s basketball team has opened the season with 15 straight wins, the best start in the program's 108-year history. Vanderbilt’s previous best start was in 2003-04, when the Commodores won their first 12 games en route to the regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. Vanderbilt is one of just six college basketball teams still undefeated. Vanderbilt hosts South Carolina Wednesday night and then travels to Kentucky for Saturday’s CBS split nationally-televised game with the Wildcats. (Approximately half of the country will receive the Vanderbilt-Kentucky game and the remaining half will see Texas Tech-Oklahoma.)

 

News from Alumni Relations

Find Vanderbilt Events at a Chapter Near You Connect with fellow Vanderbilt alumni and friends at chapter events in your area. Cities with January chapter events include: Atlanta Kansas City  Richmond Austin Nashville San Diego Boston New York City  San Francisco Charlotte Philadelphia St. Louis Cincinnati     Click here for the current calendar of all events planned in your area, and check back frequently because new events are always being added.

Tell Us About Your New Family Addition
Share your joy. Post your newborn news and photos in the online Class Notes section of Dore2Dore, then adorn your baby with the Vanderbilt onesie you’ll receive as a special gift from the interim chancellor. Share all your good news (weddings, job promotions, etc.) as class notes and stay in touch with others on Dore2Dore. 

Take Your Family on a Voyage to the Land of Gods and Heroes 

Discover the wonders of classical antiquity with your family on a 10-day cruise including Athens, Greek Islands, southern Italy and Rome, July 9-20. Professor Barbara Tsakirgis will help weave the tale of ancient civilizations, myth and history, providing the ultimate learning adventure. Contact the Vanderbilt Travel program by clicking here or by phoning 615/322-2929 with questions.

From the Campus

Zeppos, Lawson Discuss How Nashville and Vanderbilt Can Work Together 
“A university that is aloof from its campus and the community cannot thrive and survive,” Interim Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos said about the importance of “town-gown” relationships and the work of the Vanderbilt’s new Center for Nashville Studies. The interim chancellor and the Rev. James Lawson, Distinguished University Professor, both spoke at the Visions of Change event Dec. 4 on campus. 

 

University’s Quality Enhancement Plan Dubbed “Bold”
Vanderbilt’s plan to improve the quality of education it offers is a bold initiative that may affect the way other colleges and universities do business, said reviewers from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools who have granted the university reaccreditation. The reaccreditation process is required by the SACS about once a decade.

 Vanderbilt Faculty Rank Among Most Productive in Nation

Academic Analytics, a for-profit company that ranks faculty productivity, has once again placed multiple Vanderbilt programs in its top 10. The Peabody special education and evaluation and research programs both ranked No. 1. 

New Book Reveals History of Vanderbilt Law School
From its birth in the late 1800’s to its rise as one of the top law schools in the nation, Vanderbilt Law School’s history is now chronicled in Vanderbilt Law School: Aspirations and Realities. The book was written by the law school’s associate dean for administration and professor of law, Don Welch.

Managing Nuclear Wastes for the Millennia

U.S. Courts have decreed that the federal government must come up with a system for managing nuclear wastes that will ensure the safety of the public and environment for one million years. On Jan. 7-8, a symposium titled “Uncertainty in Long-Term Planning—Nuclear Waste Management, A Case Study” brought experts to the Vanderbilt campus in order to address the problem.

 

Guest Apartment at The Commons Named in Honor of Wiltshire 

The germ of the idea that became The Commons came from a young teacher who spent a week in 1974 living in a Branscomb Quadrangle apartment and mixing informally with students. In recognition of how far her inspiration has spread more than three decades later, the guest room at The Commons will be named in honor of Susan Ford Wiltshire, professor emerita of classics. 

Grant helps spur pursuit of new Parkinson’s drugs

A drug discovery team at Vanderbilt University Medical Center led by Jeffrey Conn, Ph.D., has been awarded a $4.4 million “LEAPS” grant by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research to jump-start development of a new class of Parkinson's disease drugs.

New Smartpen to Assist Blind Students

A new smartpen and paper technology that works with touch and records classroom audio aims to bring such subjects as calculus, physics and biology to life for blind students. Andy Van Schaack, a Vanderbilt University lecturer, and Joshua Miele, a blind researcher at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, have received a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to apply the new technology to this effort.

 

Blair School of Music Professor Nominated for Grammy

Greg Barz, associate professor of ethnomusicology at Blair, received a Grammy award nomination in the Best Traditional World Music Album category for his album Singing for Life: Songs of Hope, Healing, and HIV/AIDS in Uganda. The CD shares the Singing for Life title with a 2006 book Barz wrote about the role music and storytelling is playing in efforts to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa. 

 

Vanderbilt in the News

 

Vanderbilt Goes Country
BUSINESSWEEK--MBAs with an ear for music and a creative streak will have a chance to cash in on the changes happening in the recording industry, says Tim DuBois, music veteran and new clinical professor of management at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management.

  

VU Student Helps Turn Food Scraps into Compost
THE TENNESSEAN--Brent Fitzgerald, co-president of Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Recycling at Vanderbilt, saw an opportunity for the campus to "go green" that had been overlooked: composting. SPEAR began to work with various organizations on campus, most notably Campus Dining, which agreed to contribute food for the compost piles.

  

Newer Sedative Might Help Patients on Ventilators

WASHINGTON POST--Doctors routinely use sedatives on patients who are hooked up to mechanical ventilators in intensive care units, but some experts worry that too much sedation might slow down recovery and leave patients in an unnecessary fog. Now, Vanderbilt researcher Dr. Pratik Pandharipande reports that by substituting a newer medication doctors could reduce the amount of time patients experience delirium and coma.

 

Vanderbilt to Receive 150 Warhol Photographs 

THE TENNESSEAN--The Andy Warhol Foundation will donate approximately 150 photographs and prints by the famed artist to Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery by February. The Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program will distribute Warhol photographs to a total of 183 college and university museums. Plans for a public exhibition at Vanderbilt are likely, but have yet to be announced.

 

New Treatment Boosts Odds of Surviving Trauma
THE TENNESSEAN--Chances of surviving a car accident or other traumatic injury where large amounts of blood are lost are increasing thanks to research conducted by trauma specialists at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The research team is led by Dr. Bryan Cotton, assistant professor in the Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care.

  

Vanderbilt Anthropology Team’s Discovery Ranks Among Top 10
ARCHAEOLOGY MAGAZINE--The discovery and dating of farming tools and squash seeds in the Andes by anthropology chair Tom Dillehay and his team suggest that agriculture developed in the New World not long after it appeared in the Middle East.

 

Sports News

Saucy Aussie Dishes Up Vanderbilt Wins 
THE TENNESSEAN--You can't keep a good man Down Under. Especially when he doesn't want to stay. Before he was even 10 years old, A.J. Ogilvy knew he wanted to leave his native Sydney, Australia, and play college basketball in the United States. The talented 6-10 freshman center is averaging more than 19 points per game.

 

Eyes on the Prize 
Vanderbilt bowling coach John Williamson has his sights set on another national championship.

 

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