Could an answer to America’s shortage of science and math (STEM) students be as simple as being able to do meaningful research as undergraduates? Students in the SyBBURE Searle initative are already on the path to research careers.

In Lacy Overby’s final years, he began telling his wife of 45 years and children stories they’d never heard.

International travel isn’t foreign to the Deromedi family—it’s essential. Roger Deromedi, BA’75, has visited 70 of the near 200 countries in the world. His wife, Sandra, and their three children joined him in Paris and Switzerland while Roger worked for Kraft Foods in Europe.

Last spring, when the youngest of Steven and Arlene Grushkin’s three children graduated from the College of Arts and Science, the final family trip to Vanderbilt University was bittersweet. There was the sweetness of accomplishment as Jonathan, BA’09, walked the stage like his brother Brian, BA’05, had done four years prior.

A funny thing became clear when we contacted a representative group of Arts and Science alumni about their regular contributions to the college. Not one of them thought their steady, modest gifts were worth talking about. We disagree. We know the power of many small gifts coming from the pockets and hearts of many generous [...]

“When we got the news of the no-loan program, we said ‘That’s it. That is the cause’—the most important thing that Vanderbilt has done since we’ve been involved with the school,” says Conner Searcy, BA’96. That’s when the couple decided to endow a need-based scholarship in the College of Arts and Science as a way of sharing their success and in hope that their gift will influence the recipients and fellow alumni to do the same and “pay it forward.”

Cows and crops dominated the area that is now Brentwood, Tenn. In the 1930s, the way of life was rural and times were hard. For a farm girl from Brentwood, attending the College of Arts and Science at Vanderbilt was a life-changing experience. When it changed Dorothy N. Niederhauser Wallman, BA’39, it started a legacy [...]

J. Thomas Bentley, BA’71, has included the College of Arts and Science in his estate plans. His $1 million bequest will endow the J. Thomas Bentley Scholarship Fund. Cecil D. Conlee, BA’58, a member of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust and the College of Arts and Science Board of Visitors, has made an additional [...]

“We saw it as a way of giving back and supporting the Jewish experience.” — Cindy Edelman For Cynthia “Cindy” Greener Edelman, BA’74, her Vanderbilt experience provided a good education and special connections. Cindy and a roommate spent the summer between junior and senior years helping with freshman orientation. They decided to learn to cook [...]