Michael Lee Woodard

Michael Lee Woodard, BS'90, came to Vanderbilt in 1978 on a football scholarship. In 1982 he left college to enter military flight training, later returning to complete his education. Woodard has spent his adult life involved in military flying all over the world and has also found time to earn a master's degree in political science from American Military University. He enjoys triathlons, reading ancient history, and flying with the Tennessee Army National Guard.

Ray Waddle

Ray Waddle, MA'81, lives in Connecticut, where he is editor of Reflections, the theological journal of Yale Divinity School. A journalist for more than 20 years, Waddle from 1984 to 2001 was religion editor of The Tennessean, to which he continues to contribute pieces about religion. His work has taken him deep into the Bible Belt and as far away as Yugoslavia and the West Bank. The author of Against the Grain: Unconventional Wisdom from Ecclesiastes, he also contributed a chapter on religion for the book Nashville: An American Self-Portrait.

Taylor Holliday

Taylor Holliday is a Nashville-based writer and editor who specializes in the arts, food and travel. She earned a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University with a focus in media and communications. A former Wall Street Journal arts editor, she now freelances regularly for the Journal as well as The New York Times and other national publications.

Hugh Owen Nash Jr.

Hugh Owen Nash Jr., BE'67, is the author of Patriot Sons, Patriot Brothers, which tells the story of American Revolution figures Abner Nash and Francis Nash, and how three Nashvilles--including Tennessee's capital--came to be named for Francis Nash. A native of Savannah, Ga., Hugh Nash is a partner in the Nashville engineering firm Nash Lipsey Burch LLC. He received his master's degree in electrical engineering from Tennessee State University.

Ario Hosseini

Ario Hosseini is a rising senior in the College of Arts and Science and the recipient of the Bernard Fensterwald Memorial Scholarship. He was born and reared in Lexington, Ky., after his parents left Iran in the wake of the Islamic Revolution. A neuroscience major, he is applying to medical schools this summer. At Vanderbilt he founded and served as president of the Iranian Cultural Society, president of the Aikido Club, executive member of the Neuromajors Society and the Middle Eastern Student Association, a member of the Multicultural Leadership Council, and a volunteer for teaching children in Nashville about science and mentoring high-school youth.

Additional Contributors:

Melissa Carro, Stephen Doster, Lisa A. DuBois, Brenda Ellis, Jessica Ennis, Frye Gaillard, Larry Leathers, Jenny Mandeville, Ann Marie Deer Owens, Missy Pankake, Jim Patterson, Kami Rice, Lisa Robbins, David F. Salisbury, Ryan Schulz, Bill Snyder, Cindy Thomsen, Whitney Weeks, Amy Wolf

Lisa Robbins

Lisa Robbins earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia and worked as a reporter in Jerusalem and Chicago. When a newspaper editor instructed her to stop conducting interviews in person and to do all her reporting from behind a desk, she decided to give freelancing a try. Though she has dabbled in other work since, she always finds herself back at a keyboard. She lives in Nashville and recently has written for the Travel Channel, Nashville Scene and Peabody Reflector.

Dwayne O'Brien

Dwayne O'Brien, MA'05, is a Grammy-nominated musician and songwriter. After earning a bachelor's degree in chemistry from East Central University, the Oklahoman moved to Nashville to pursue a music career. A founding member of the group Little Texas, he and the band have sold more than 6 million albums and topped the charts with 15 top-10 and three No. 1 hits. O'Brien was the first person to earn a master's degree in the communication of science, engineering and technology at Vanderbilt, where he is a regular contributor to Exploration, Vanderbilt's online research magazine.

Claire Suddath

Claire Suddath, BA'04, worked three years at the Nashville Scene alternative weekly newspaper after leaving Vanderbilt. She currently attends Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and lives in a tiny apartment in New York City with her dog, Molly. When she's not writing, Suddath spends most of her time taking the wrong subway and getting yelled at by New Yorkers.

Frye Gaillard

Frye Gaillard, BA'68, was born in the Deep South and has been writing about the region for almost 40 years. His latest book, With Music and Justice for All: Some Southerners and Their Passions (Vanderbilt University Press, 2008), is an anthology of some of his most compelling works, including several pieces originally published in Vanderbilt Magazine. Gaillard is writer-in-residence at the University of South Alabama and the author of 17 additional works of nonfiction.

Lisa A. DuBois

Lisa A. DuBois has penned stories for newspapers, magazines, radio and video. She received a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master's degree in biomedical communications from Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She recently completed a history of the founding of Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, More Than a Place (Providence House Publishers, 2007).

Additional Contributors:

Carole Bartoo, Joanne L. Beckham, Richard Blackett, Craig Boerner, Bruce Buchanan, Kelly Finan, Angela Fox, Kara Furlong, Rose Mary Gorman, Paul Govern, Rob Heller, John Howser, Lynne Hutchison, Elizabeth Latt, Princine Lewis, Melanie Moran, Ann Marie Owens, Melissa Pankake, Jim Patterson, Emily Pearce, David F. Salisbury, Jason Silvers, Bill Snyder, Cindy Steine, Michelle Miller Sulikowski, Whitney Weeks, Amy Wolf