Top: SyBBURE Searle Director Kevin Seale, left, and rising senior Jake Brady study leukocytes from trauma patients using a computer-controlled and automated Nikon microscope funded by D. Gideon Searle last year; bottom: Katherine Roth with Professor John Wikswo. The rising senior plans a career in immunology.

Undergraduates in Vanderbilt’s Systems Biology and Bioengineering Undergraduate Research Experience (SyBBURE) Searle Undergraduate Research Initiative work side-by-side with internationally recognized experts. One of only a handful of multiyear, year-round undergraduate research programs in the nation, SyBBURE Searle prepares students—primarily from the College of Arts and Science and the School of Engineering—for careers in research. SyBBURE Searle alumni can be found in labs and medical schools ranging from Stanford, Berkeley and Rice to Northwestern, MIT, the University of Washington, Cambridge and Vanderbilt.

SyBBURE Searle participants explore science at the intersection of systems biology and bioengineering. To date, about 110 undergraduates have participated in the program, which owes its existence to the financial support of D. Gideon Searle, BS’75.

In 2006, Searle committed to funding the Searle Undergraduate Research Initiative within the Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative Biosystems Research and Education. The aim of the initiative is to provide undergraduate students with mentored experiences in advanced scientific investigation with some of the university’s leading faculty. Searle, who doubled majored in sociology and psychology, continues the interest in science and research that was the hallmark of his great-great-grandfather, G.D. Searle, founder of the pharmaceutical giant that bore his name (the company is now part of Pfizer Inc.). Gideon Paul (G.P.) Searle, BA’07, D. Gideon Searle’s son, also graduated from the College of Arts and Science.

While SyBBURE Searle is open to any Vanderbilt undergraduate, most participants are nascent scientists and researchers who crave more focused educational experience. The majority are selected by Kevin Seale, MS’97, PhD’00, SyBBURE Searle’s director, and John Wikswo, who directs VIIBRE.

Puzzles and Answers

Wikswo says that SyBBURE Searle’s success stems from its selection of students who have a passion for scientific inquiry, and who persevere in viewing failure as just another step in the process and integral to advancing knowledge.

“In class, students know the professor knows the answers to the questions. Here we’re asking questions to which no one knows the answers. How do you measure this? What does that mean?” says Wikswo, Gordon A. Cain University Professor, A.B. Learned Professor of Living State Physics, and professor of biomedical engineering, molecular physiology and biophysics, and physics. “SyBBURE Searle is a place where it’s totally acceptable to be ignorant. There are no stupid questions.”

Although most SyBBURE Searle participants are high achievers, selection for the experience isn’t based on GPA or transcripts alone, explains Seale, assistant professor of the practice of biomedical engineering.

“We look for people who can take responsibility, who are self-starters,” he says. “We try to involve students as freshmen so we can have them as long as possible. That’s different than in most labs, where the belief is that younger students don’t know enough to be helpful.”

Katherine Roth, a rising senior majoring in molecular and cellular biology, is passionate about questions and challenges. A SyBBURE Searle student since her sophomore year, Roth says, “I like the puzzle research presents. It’s like following a chain of questions and answers. The answers just bring up more questions.”

Roth was drawn to SyBBURE Searle by its balance of independent work and access to mentors and research-motivated graduate students and undergraduates. She comes by her curiosity naturally: Her father, Brad J. Roth, MS’85, PhD’87, is a professor of physics at Oakland University. Wikswo was his dissertation adviser here, and Katherine’s mother, Shirley Oyog Roth, MS’86, also earned her degree in physics at Vanderbilt.

Katherine Roth has her sights set on obtaining a doctorate in immunology. Her research, which involves manipulating yeast cells so they produce specific proteins, has the potential to help explain cell activity.

“We don’t understand how many biological and disease systems work,” she says. “If we have a better understanding, we have a better chance of changing that behavior.”

Opportunities to Thrive

In addition to receiving stipends, SyBBURE Searle participants benefit from the kind of support and exposure some institutions reserve for graduate or doctoral students. Wikswo notes that the initiative awards prizes for the best research paper and provides funds for undergraduates to attend major conferences. “We have a dozen peer-reviewed publications with SyBBURE Searle students as authors and are filing patents with students as inventors,” he says.

Those experiences have a profound impact. “They become credible instantly,” Seale says. “They find that they have a voice and they have value. It raises their confidence to learn that while they may not necessarily be the best performers in the classroom, they are good at research and innovation.”

For Seale, the program is valuable not only in helping young researchers thrive with basic training and experience, but also in addressing a larger problem.

“There’s a lot of talk about American students not being able to compete in math and science,” he says. “We find the greater issue is that students don’t often get the opportunities they need to grow in these areas. Through SyBBURE Searle, students have that.

“In academia there’s a tendency for there to be ‘stars,’ but in SyBBURE Searle, everyone—undergrads, faculty and graduate students—is an equal player when it comes to discussing research and doing the work.”

Elizabeth “Libby” Overby and Lacy Overby

He talked about being a boy on a tobacco farm lost in the Depression, a mother having a nervous breakdown, a sister’s death from tuberculosis, and the day his father literally dropped him off at the side of the road because he could no longer afford to care for Lacy and his sibling.

Lacy Overby was only 10.

The Lacy Overby his wife and kids knew was an accomplished scholar and researcher known for helping isolate the Hepatitis B and C viruses. He had earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in science and physics at Vanderbilt University (BA’41, MS’45, PhD’51), and had taught chemistry there in the ’40s. He and his wife, Elizabeth “Libby” Hulette Overby, BA’47, deeply instilled the values of education and working for the greater good in their children.

So deeply ingrained are those values that the family has gone on to establish three scholarships in the College of Arts and Science. The first was from a family tragedy in 1959, then a second in Lacy’s name upon his death in 1994, and a third in Libby’s. That third scholarship was established from a bequest in the will of their daughter, Brooke Overby, a Tulane University law professor who died suddenly in 2009 from a brain hemorrhage.

“What they taught us was that education empowered a person to fulfill their dreams, but your dreams should always include making the world a better place,” says Megan Overby, the eldest of the Overby children. “It was a lesson by example. Our father helped create a number of important discoveries that really altered the lives of millions of people.

“As a child, when you have a parent who does that kind of thing, you can’t help but internalize that mindset toward the meaning of life.”

Dream Big

The family received equal inspiration, however, from their mother. At a time when most women who worked were either secretaries or teachers, Libby studied chemistry.

“My mom was an original feminist,” says Ross Overby, who has spent close to 30 years as an environmental engineer and consultant. “Susan B. Anthony would have loved her. She had guts. She always believed if you had an aspiration, a dream of something big, that you should just do it.” Her son has followed that advice and recently ran for Congress.

Libby Overby grew up in a well-to-do home in Frankfort, Ky., and though her father believed money spent on a woman’s education was money wasted, she found a way to earn her degree anyway. Libby Overby also watched her own mother’s independent—yet compassionate—spirit in action, as down-on-their-luck townsfolk knew to meet her on the back porch if they were in need of food.

Lacy and Libby Overby instilled a commitment to learning and giving in their children, from left, Scott, Brooke, Megan and Ross.

When Libby and Lacy Overby, who met while students in the College of Arts and Science, were a young couple, that fire could easily have burned out. They had a son, Stevie, born after Megan, who died from an accidental poisoning at age 3.

“The loss of a child at any age is unimaginable,” Megan Overby says. “But to lose such a young child like Stevie in such a manner? Despite their grieving, throughout my life, I always felt that they were fully engaged in my development and education. The lesson was not to reflect on one’s misfortune, no matter how grievous that may be, but to move ahead…. There will always be people who have more problems than we do.”

The Overbys moved ahead by establishing a scholarship in Stevie’s name before the boy had even been buried.

“It wasn’t like they hemmed and hawed,” Ross Overby says. “It was just, ‘This is what has to be done.’ People were sending sympathy notes and including $5 for the scholarship. There was an immediate need to move on in a constructive manner.”

Find a Unique Path

As the surviving four kids grew up, their parents spoke of Vanderbilt as the place they became themselves. The children were expected to go to college, but not necessarily there. Each was to find a unique path, with the promise that the cost of an undergraduate degree would be covered. There was, however, one stipulation; the family lived in Illinois at the time, and the kids were told to travel out of state for school for the experience.

Scott Overby, the youngest of the Overbys and now a vice president of data warehouse and decision support at Discover Financial Services, applied to Vanderbilt, but attended Emory University after being wait-listed. Megan received a Ph.D. at University of Nebraska-Lincoln in speech-language pathology. Brooke—who got a pass on going out of state since she’d attended boarding school—went to Northwestern University, then became an attorney and highly esteemed professor at Tulane University Law School. And Ross, wanting to head west, earned a bachelor’s at the University of the Pacific and an MBA at the University of Wisconsin.

Yet each member of the family remains connected to the College of Arts and Science through the scholarships and the personal letters they receive from scholarship recipients, as well as the knowledge that without Vanderbilt, no one in their family would have been the same.

Brooke’s decision to honor their mother with a need-based scholarship (plus add funds to the others)—bringing the total value of her bequest to just over $1 million—more than met with family approval.

“We’ve all been impressed with the way Vanderbilt has clearly provided value back to students with these scholarships,” Scott Overby says. “They’re treated as investments. I’ve never personally met any of the kids that have benefited, but it doesn’t matter. The letters from them are so important. I share them with my own kids, too. Maybe they’ll have a little bit of understanding of the legacy my parents created.”

]]> http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/arts-and-science/2011-05/beyond-hardship-tragedy-and-loss-one-familys-legacy-of-hope/feed/ 0 http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/arts-and-science/2010-11/at-home-in-the-world/ http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/arts-and-science/2010-11/at-home-in-the-world/#comments Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:58:22 +0000 kirkwoj http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/arts-and-science/?p=2107 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.]]>

Roger and Sandra Deromedi

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. Family members mark where they’ve been on a map crowded with pushpins. So important are travel and international experiences to them that Roger and Sandra recently created a scholarship at Vanderbilt to help students expand their international knowledge, too.

“Living abroad and traveling allows us to experience how other people see the world,” says Roger, chairman of the board for Pinnacle Foods Group and former CEO of Kraft. “Having been born and raised in Berkeley (California) and then moving to Chattanooga in the late 1960s, I experienced quite a culture change. I went from the height of political and social activism in California to the South. It really heightened my appreciation that we’re all human beings no matter where we live; we just manifest how we do things in different ways.”

In today’s world, however, understanding and appreciating those differences is paramount to success, Roger says—in both business and in life. Therefore, the Chicago-area-based couple developed the Sandra and Roger Deromedi International Service Learning Scholarship in the College of Arts and Science. The scholarship allows students to study abroad without the hardship of loss of income from summer or part-time jobs.

The Deromedis say it was an easy decision to become involved.

“When Roger brought it up, my response was, ‘Send them. Send them, because the students will be better people for their life-changing experiences,’” Sandy Deromedi says.

The Deromedis’ scholarship supports students in the Vanderbilt Initiative for Scholarship and Global Engagement (VISAGE) program, which offers participants a yearlong learning experience regarding a global issue.

Four Key Destinations for a World-View

Roger Deromedi advises students to visit the four countries designated by global economists as the BRIC countries:

Brazil, Russia, India, China

Combined, these four countries currently account for more than 40% of the world’s population and approximately 25% of the global economy and the world’s land area. (Source: BRICs Monthly, May 20, 2010)

Travel Changes One’s World

Neither of the Deromedis traveled abroad as students themselves, though Roger admits living vicariously through his parents’ trips when he was younger. After graduating from the College of Arts and Science with majors in mathematics and economics, he started his career at General Foods, which later merged with Kraft. He was with the companies 29 years, eventually becoming CEO. International roles at Kraft allowed the couple to experience other cultures. They’re thankful that their own children—now ages 16 to 24—were able to catch the global bug when they were young. The Deromedis encouraged local involvement and limited English television wherever they were. “It was just a terrific experience for all of us,” Sandy says.

“Travel changed my world,” Sandy says. She laughs that Roger proposed in Paris—and then the couple squeezed in travel to five countries in two weeks.

Living overseas later, however, taught her about being American.

“Before then, I’d have to say, I never called myself an American,” she admits. “We’re such a melting pot here. When people would want to know what my nationality was, I would say, ‘50 percent Scottish’ and da-da-da-da. It was an acceptable answer. But after going overseas and meeting people who were Scottish and who were German, no longer did my 50 percent seem so important. It became, ‘I’m from the United States.’ ‘Oh, I’m an American,’ and what a wonderful thing to be.”

Listen to Other Cultures

While Roger Deromedi worked his way up the Kraft ladder, he visited factories and grocery stores in various regions and countries. There also were in-home visits with consumers, talking about how the company’s products fit into their lifestyles. Deromedi relished those opportunities.

“It’s critical that we understand how other people think and live their lives,” Roger says. “The American paradigm is not always right. I’ve learned that you have to listen, and not assume the way you may approach something is correct.”

Now he wants the scholarship to give others the same discovery. Roger Deromedi credits Vanderbilt with allowing him to engage in the program’s design in addition to offering funding. He has met several times over lunch with students who have participated in VISAGE to learn ways that the program can be more strategic and relevant.

“I think Vanderbilt has a great understanding of what it takes to develop students to be successful in the world today, and not just in the United States or in the South,” Roger says. “A program like VISAGE shows that they know what it takes to be leaders on a global platform.”

That worldwide platform affects everyone, he notes. Even if a student is going to be a farmer in the United States, he notes, commodity markets are global.

Despite his responsibilities with Pinnacle, which manufactures and markets food brands including Duncan Hines, Vlasic, Armour, Lenders, Birds Eye and Log Cabin, Roger returns to campus each quarter as a guest lecturer. He says his College of Arts and Science background gave him a good grounding and early sense of responsibility for what came next, including an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

“The world is so much more connected now,” Roger says. “We see things on the news instantly. I think if you’re a student today, and you don’t have that global understanding and awareness, you’re going to have a hard time. … You need to understand the dynamics that impact our global society.”

From left, Brian, Arlene, Jonathan, Steven and Lisa Grushkin at Commencement 2009.

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.

“But I remember Arlene being saddened, concerned that we wouldn’t be visiting there as often,” says Steven Grushkin, Arlene’s husband of 34 years.

It was truer than any could have imagined. Within a month of the ceremony, Arlene Grushkin was calling her children with the news that she had been diagnosed with cervical cancer. By mid-July, at age 59, she was gone.

Such was her love of the school, however—not to mention her passion for seeing children in general succeed—that the Grushkin family has continued to “paint the house” they helped build through financial contributions and scholarships. Arlene’s self-described second home will now offer the Arlene H. Grushkin Memorial–Gibor Foundation Scholarship in her honor.

“You can have a beautiful home, and when you move in, everything is fine,” says Steven, a partner at Wofsey, Rosen, Kweskin & Kuriansky, a Connecticut-based law firm. “But you don’t want it to deteriorate. You’ve got to nurture it and paint it, to keep it up so it doesn’t collapse. I believe it’s the same with a university like Vanderbilt. If you want it to continue to expand, to hold its reputation, you’ve got to work at it even after you graduate.”

Passion for Learning

It was an easy sell, then, for the Grushkin children to be on board with a gift in their mother’s honor—even for Lisa, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2001.

“My mom really took pride when we did well in school,” says Lisa Grushkin. “But she loved Vanderbilt, everything from the campus to the social aspects of it. She and my dad made a lot of friends there, and she’d talk about Vanderbilt all the time. It seemed like a great idea to me.”

The Grushkins’ involvement has gone beyond that of many. The couple served six years on the Parents Leadership Committee and another five on the Parents and Family Association Advisory Board. While their sons were still at the College of Arts and Science, a Grushkin-Smith-Gibor Foundation Scholarship for $100,000 was established. An additional scholarship was in the works when Arlene unexpectedly passed away; the decision was easily made for it to bear her name. Her children say Arlene was the kind of mother who would read current events magazines, keep up with the latest sports scores, and listen to contemporary music to connect with them in many different ways beyond normal conversations. She strived to remain involved in her children’s lives through various means, they say, and the scholarship will continue her legacy of involvement for another deserving young adult.

Back at home in New Canaan, Conn., Arlene was an active volunteer in various programs with schoolchildren, including a reading program in the nearby town where she grew up. Reading and learning were her passions, the family members say, in addition to treating all people equally without regard to position or status.

Making It Worthwhile

That’s yet another reason Arlene’s family members believe she would have been excited about the new scholarship. Because of the university’s recent move to replace all need-based undergraduate student loans with scholarships and grant assistance through the expanded financial aid program, the Grushkins can help students and the school as a whole in that area.

Mihir Gandhi, a first-year economics student from New Jersey, is a recipient of the established Grushkin-Smith-Gibor scholarship. “It would probably not be possible for me to attend Vanderbilt without the generosity of such donors,” he says. “A grant like this makes you feel like you have an obligation to do well. I’ve made the dean’s list and am trying to work hard, to make this money I’ve been given worthwhile.”

In the meantime, the Grushkin children have been making their own degrees worthwhile by all working in financial services. Brian lives in Charlotte, N.C., and Jonathan and Lisa in New York. Both brothers graduated from the College of Arts and Science with degrees in economics. Lisa’s degree was in communications; she now works for an investment bank.

Though Arlene was tremendously pleased by her gifted children, Steven says, the reserved mother was not one to boast of them to other parents.

“The children meant everything to her,” Steven says. “But when people asked her about them, she would just say, ‘Everything is fine; they’re doing great.’ We knew that we were so lucky, but she never wanted to come across as comparing our children to others. She didn’t want a ‘my-child-is-better-than-your-child’ type of thing. She respected people, and they admired her.”

Good Soil

Brian Grushkin believes that his mother would have been absolutely thrilled to be able to help someone else’s child go to the College of Arts and Science, “especially someone deserving,” he says. “She loved Vanderbilt, and she knew we did, too. She knew that, without Vanderbilt, we wouldn’t have gotten where we are today. So this is a chance to kind of give back.”

Likewise, younger brother Jonathan, who has been greatly touched by an outpouring of cards, sympathy and support from the school even though he’s no longer there, sees the investment as planting in good soil.

“When there’s an opportunity to give back, you want to give to something that you’re going to get a good return on,” he says. “Not for our sake, but for someone else’s. And with Vanderbilt, the money we’re putting into this scholarship, we know it will be put to good use. After Brian and I had such a good experience there, what better way to give back than to help ensure someone else could do the same?”

As 2009 drew to a close, the Grushkin family put extra effort into being together. It was a time of endings, but also one of beginning a new family dynamic. Steven has taken over the phone check-ins with the children, for example, and has been trying his hand at cooking more.

As with any family loss, the meanings of home are being redefined. But at the Grushkins’ home away from home in Nashville, the other house still stands—and it’s ready to receive that next coat of paint.

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 donors to the College of Arts and Science. We know that regular, consistent donations help fund scholarships, pay salaries, renovate classrooms, support research and keep the lights on. Each year, thousands of alumni make it possible for today’s students to receive the kind of education that those alumni did. And today’s students will, in turn, support the students that come after them.

They do so for a variety of reasons. Gratitude. Affection. Conviction. Loyalty. We call these donors—and the thousands of others like them—heroes. Benefactors. Friends.

“Last year, thousands of alumni, parents and friends gave to the college. Many of these gifts came from people who have regularly given over the years,” says Carolyn Dever, dean of the College of Arts and Science. “As I travel the country and meet with alumni, I hear such great stories about how alumni feel about the college and why they believe in it. These people are so vital to our mission.

“Annual giving allows us to continue investing with robust creativity in our educational mission,” she says. “From funding student trips to hiring outstanding faculty and enhancing our financial aid offerings, these annual gifts make a real difference. All support—in any area, in any amount—counts toward Arts and Science’s success.”

Love Ranks First

So why do alumni who give regularly do so? The top reason is love of Vanderbilt and their time on campus, but also high is the importance of supporting education.

For Mary Louise Tidwell, BA’45, MA’46, both reasons are valid. “I loved my time at Vanderbilt,” she says. “Oh, the professors I had!” She put her English degrees to use as a society reporter for The Tennessean and penning a biography of her father, Tennessean founder Luke Lea. Her longtime work as a community volunteer showed Tidwell that other foundations and organizations see strong alumni giving as an ongoing vote of support for the College of Arts and Science. “I only give a pittance, but I know that it’s important that I give. So I do,” she says.

In fact, the percentage of alumni donating to an institution is one of the factors that influence the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings of universities, notes Dever. “The magazine considers alumni satisfaction as important in the health and value of a university. They look at the percentage of alumni who donate as an indicator of that satisfaction,” the dean says.

Love of family and the university are the reasons that Diane Moore Williams, BA’52, gives. “I’m so proud of my degree, and I loved Vanderbilt,” she says. “I give because it became a habit that was started by my father, who attended Vanderbilt from 1916 to 1918. He loved Vanderbilt, and he supported Vanderbilt. I’m trying to be like him, and it’s a habit that I’m really proud of.”

The avid Commodores fan also supports higher education. “The country would be in a heck of a bad shape without higher education,” she says. “I want to be a part of Vanderbilt’s present and future.”

Support for Education

The university changed the lives of Adam Birenbaum, BA’00, and Dr. Gretchen Sander, BA’00. The two, now married with a baby daughter, met a week into their freshman year and have been together ever since. “Vanderbilt holds a special place in our hearts,” says Birenbaum, now a lawyer. “And it established the foundation for what we’ve accomplished.” Sander says grants she received made it possible for her to attend the College of Arts and Science. “I give because it’s important for me to give other students the chance that I had,” she says. Sander is now a pediatrician and works in an underserved community in St. Louis. That work, her husband says, has been her lifelong dream.

Others give in support of higher education as a whole and of the College of Arts and Science in particular. Lewis Schmidt, BS’81, says Vanderbilt was more than an academic experience for him. “It was the whole nine yards,” he recalls. Along with earning degrees in history and special education, he worked on The Vanderbilt Hustler and the concerts committee, played in the band and was active in theater throughout his university career. “I think it’s important to support what Vanderbilt gave me,” the high school special education teacher says. “And I support education because it helps produce teachers, who make the real difference in the world.”

Geoff McClelland, BA’62, grew up in the Midwest and came to Nashville for something different. He remembers his time here as a learning and growing experience during the Civil Rights era. “I feel blessed that institutions like the ones I went to are still here,” the retired advertising executive says. “My gifts are a very small way to pay back for great teachers, great institutions and the expectation that they will continue.”

Morris “Morry” Edwards, BA’72, attended Vanderbilt because of its excellent reputation regarding the Fugitive and Agrarian groups. “Education is so important to a democracy because a democracy is predicated on its electorate being knowledgeable,” the psychologist says. Of his consistent, steady giving, he says, “I don’t think that I give so much that it makes a real difference. But it’s what I can do, so I do it. I hope the numbers add up.”

The numbers do add up. They matter. They’re the power of the many, year after year.

Conner Searcy speaks to students in the managerial studies program.

“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.”

As high school students in adjacent states in the great American Southwest, Conner and Ginny could hardly foresee that their futures and fortunes would intertwine in the Southeast, surrounded by the rolling hills of Middle Tennessee and under the oak trees of Vanderbilt University. They came by different roads, found common ground, and set out on a journey of success that they now share with those that come behind.

Right from the Start

Virginia “Ginny” Buxton, BA’96, hailed from a small town in Oklahoma, where almost no one left to go away to college. “My cousin was at Vanderbilt a few years ahead of me,” she recounts. “When I was looking for colleges, I looked only at a couple of schools with a focus on math, science and a great liberal arts program—far from home, but not too far from home. I went to visit Vanderbilt and was sold the minute I stepped on campus. I applied for early decision.”

Conner Searcy grew up in Houston, raised by a single working mother. He has a sister who is disabled, and things were tough financially. He was able to attend private schools through financial aid and scholarships, experiences that changed his life for the better. When it came time for college, he knew he wanted a school below the Mason-Dixon Line. “I actually had my heart set on going to Duke,” Conner admits. “I wanted to go to a great academic institution with a good social atmosphere. I visited Duke and then visited Vanderbilt right after that, and said, ‘You know, I think Vanderbilt works for me.’ That’s when I applied for early decision. Vanderbilt’s the only school I applied to, and I was fortunate to receive an academic scholarship.”

They met the year Ginny was a sophomore and Conner, a freshman. Ginny majored in biology before going on to earn a master’s degree in public health administration at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Conner focused his studies on economics. After four years in the workforce in Dallas and marriage, they moved to Boston where Conner earned a master of business degree at Harvard. “I knew I wanted to get my MBA and return to the private equity business,” he says. “I was working in that field when I applied.”

Ginny says they loved the adventure of being in Boston. “Nashville was sort of my first adventure out of Oklahoma, and being in Boston was great for us. We were already married when we went, and it was great to be away on our own for a while,” she says. “Our first year, I told Conner we should stay and make Boston our home. We had a very mild first winter. Then we had a very strenuous second winter—the snow never stopped. We were glad to get back to Texas after that.”

The Searcys—Ginny and Conner, with children Brooks, Will and Ellie.

Family and Travel

Life in Texas is full and active. Ginny found success first in hospital administration and now as the mother of their three children: Will, 4; Brooks, 3; and Ellie, 2. Conner is a triathlete and completed his first Ironman last September. That helps keep him in condition for his day job. “We’re a private equity firm that buys companies in some form of distress with the idea of turning them around and ultimately selling them. Looking at new opportunities and visiting our portfolio companies requires a lot of travel,” he says. “I try to make everything a day trip. I’ve made day trips to New York and Boston. I try not to spend the night anywhere away from home when I can avoid it. Although a day trip to Boston is awfully tough.” 

One day trip Conner makes on a regular basis is back to the College of Arts and Science, where he shares his business experience as a guest lecturer for the managerial studies program. “Ginny and I fundamentally believe that if you’re as fortunate as we have been, and have been afforded the things we’ve been afforded in our lives, we need to pay it forward,” he says.

The Searcy commitment to pay it forward is evident in their community activities as well. Among Ginny’s favorites are the Dallas Child Advocacy Center, Episcopal School of Dallas, Children’s Medical Center and Dallas Museum of Art. “Most of the things we do center on children and education,” Conner says.

Catalyst for the Future

When they learned of Vanderbilt’s commitment to no need-based loans for undergraduates, the couple was moved to become personally involved. “It’s an incredibly noble cause that students not have to worry about paying off a mountain of debt for the rest of their lives,” Conner says. “I firmly think that this is the catalyst that the school leaders have been looking for the last 50 years, and it’ll make Vanderbilt stronger and one of the top-10 academic institutions in the country. This is going to draw in better students and better professors.”

Both their mothers are teachers, Ginny says, and instilled in their children the need to seek out the best opportunities possible and to make them available to those who might not be as fortunate. “In terms of philanthropy, Conner and I thought, ‘we’re now fortunate enough to be in a place where we can start to give back.’ We want to set an example for our friends who may not have started thinking about how—or the vehicles for—giving back.”

Recently, the Searcys hosted a lunch to introduce some of their Vanderbilt friends to Dean Carolyn Dever. “We have a big contingency here in Dallas, and we keep in touch on a regular basis,” Conner says. “Our goal was to invite some of our friends to a luncheon where we could pitch them on giving to the scholarship fund.” He says that their friends love the fact that Vanderbilt is helping students with debt, and that they themselves can help. “Now it’s our job, Ginny and I, whether other folks turn that into giving back,” he says. “We’re working on that.”

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 that continues changing lives today.

From left, Richard Wallman, BE’72, and Amy Wallman meet with scholars past and present Jessica Lewis, BA’03, EdD’07; junior Naila Wahid; and senior Bittu Majmudar.

“Going to Vanderbilt gave my mother confidence and a sense of accomplishment. She was happy I went there,” says Richard Wallman, BE’72. “When I got into graduate school at the University of Chicago, she wasn’t nearly as impressed as when I enrolled at Vanderbilt.” 

Fred Niederhauser, Dorothy’s father, was a farmer who worked to send his four daughters to college. Sisters Helen Niederhauser Parker, ’40, Irma Louise Niederhauser Keisling, BA’41, and Freddie Ann Niederhauser Phillips, BA’51, all followed Richard’s mother, Dorothy, a French and English major, to the College of Arts and Science. 

“Richard’s mother would volunteer every year at registration,” says Richard’s wife, Amy Wallman,  formerly a partner with Ernst & Young. “Vanderbilt was the only school she ever talked about. She had a deep love for the institution.” 

In honor of her love, Amy and Richard established the Dorothy N. and Dick H. Wallman Scholarship. It now is the first of five, need-based, full-tuition scholarships for women in the College of Arts and Science endowed by the Wallmans.

“The scholarships are our way of making a difference in the lives of bright, motivated young women,” says Richard, former chief financial officer of Honeywell International and a new member of the Board of Visitors for the College of Arts and Science.

What a Difference

Jessica King Lewis, BA’03, EdD’07, was the first to receive a Wallman scholarship. “Without the undergraduate scholarship, it would have limited what I could have done in graduate school and maybe caused me to reconsider going at all,” says Lewis, who majored in Spanish and sociology in the College of Arts and Science. Currently a research associate with Peabody’s Center on Performance Incentives, she says she knows tuition debt can limit students’ options.

The Wallmans do more than provide financial support, important as that is. “When I was an undergraduate, Mr. Wallman e-mailed me and wanted to hear how I was doing,” says former recipient Ashley Long, BA’06. “Sometimes, when things weren’t going well, getting a great e-mail from him gave me the encouragement I needed.”

Now a student at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Long says the Wallmans have continued to be friends, supporters and encouragers. “If I hadn’t gotten the Wallman scholarship, I wouldn’t have been able to go to Vanderbilt,” she says frankly.

The relationship between Wallman scholars and the donors is a strong one. As scholarship recipients are chosen, the couple connects with them, eager to hear about their studies, struggles and successes. Each year, Amy and Richard attend a luncheon with their Arts and Science scholars and hear about the young women’s achievements and evolving lives. 

Current scholarship recipient Bittu Majmudar values that connection. “I love the way the Wallmans care about their scholarship recipients,” the senior says. “It’s been a real bonus having the Wallmans on my side. I think of them as my second parents.” Majmudar says that without the scholarship, she would have gone to a state university. Today she’s majoring in neuroscience with dual minors in biology and psychology with the goal of becoming a physician.  

Worthwhile Investments

Amy and Richard Wallman say that when they were in graduate school, the financial aid they received was important to their ability to stay focused on academic success and on cultivating their professional lives. They have chosen to reciprocate by giving a leg up to young women who might otherwise be unable to attend Dorothy Wallman’s beloved institution.

“Vanderbilt is a wonderful school,” Richard says. “I got a good education and learned how to solve problems there. The College of Arts and Science scholarships are our way of doing our part to help keep it a terrific school. Even if you’re not in a position to endow a scholarship, just giving $1,000 or $500 can be a big help to a student who is struggling. Any investment is worthwhile and the payout can be high.”

In 2004, Amy and Richard endowed the Cleo and Fred Niederhauser Scholarship to honor his maternal grandparents.

To commemorate Richard’s 35th Vanderbilt reunion, the couple is endowing three more scholarships in the College of Arts and Science: the Irma Louise Niederhauser and Claude J. Keisling Scholarship in memory of his aunt and uncle, the Eva and Henry Wallman Scholarship in memory of his paternal grandparents, and the Edith and Roy Witte Scholarship in memory of his great-aunt and great-uncle.

The Legacy Continues

The Wallmans say the scholarships pay off twofold. They enable students to receive an outstanding liberal arts education at a top university. At the same time, they create a legacy of generosity that encourages the recipients to also be generous with their time and money and to help others.

“Endowing scholarships is truly the gift that keeps on giving,” says Richard. “Every recipient has said how grateful they are, and that they want to give back when they have the means, whether it is money or volunteerism.”

Lewis concurs, but sees even more worth. “The value of the scholarship isn’t just the money, it’s also the relationship I’ve built with the Wallmans over the years,” the young researcher says. “They are a good reminder of why it’s important to give back. They’re busy, successful professionals. Yet they find the time and resources to help others. I’m looking forward to being at a point where I can help others in the same way the Wallmans have helped me.”

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 commitment of $500,000 to support the Cecil D. Conlee Scholarship in the College of Arts and Science. The new gift is in honor of his upcoming 50th reunion. Conlee also serves as the Reunion Weekend chair for the Class of 1958.

Carol Riddick and Frank Riddick III, BA’78, made a $750,000 commitment to endow the Riddick Family Scholarship in the College of Arts and Science. The gift is in honor of Frank Riddick’s upcoming 30th reunion.

Amy and Richard Wallman, BE’73, have made a commitment to the College of Arts and Science to endow three new, permanent scholarships to commemorate Richard Wallman’s upcoming 35th reunion. The Irma Louise and Claude J. Keisling Scholarship is in memory of his aunt, Irma Louise Niederhauser Keisling, BA’41, and her husband, Claude. The Eva and Henry Wallman Scholarship will be named for Richard’s paternal grandparents and the Edith and Roy Witte Scholarship will be named for his great-aunt and great-uncle. The Wallmans previously established the Dorothy N. and Dick H. Wallman Scholarship and the Cleo and Fred Niederhauser Scholarship in honor of his parents and maternal grandparents.

Barbara Burroughs Wilson, BA’58, and J. Lawrence “Larry” Wilson, BE’58, have made a $600,000 gift to endow the Barbara B. and J. Lawrence Wilson Scholarship in the College of Arts and Science in honor of their upcoming 50th reunion. They previously established a scholarship of the same name, the Barbara and J. Lawrence Wilson Scholarship, in the School of Engineering. Larry is a member of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust and Barbara serves on the Board of Visitors for the College of Arts and Science. The Wilsons are fundraising chairs for the Class of 1958.

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 and planned elaborate meals for interesting guests.
“We invited everybody from Chancellor (Alexander) Heard to the provost to our favorite political science professor. That was one of the most fun summers of our lives,” she recalls. “We were having the full experience of getting to know special people. They didn’t seem to mind that it was a meal cooked in Carmichael Towers.”

Special connections to the university have kept her involved with Vanderbilt in the years since. Along the way, Cindy and her husband, Dan, developed an interest in Jewish studies at the university and supported the then-under-construction Ben Schulman Center for Jewish Life. In 2005, they decided to endow a chair in Jewish studies and name it for Cindy’s attorney father, Eugene Greener Jr., BA’42. 

“We saw it as a way of giving back and supporting the Jewish experience,” Cindy says. “We recognize the importance and value of learning. We saw—and certainly Vanderbilt pointed that out to us, they recognized—a need for this chair.” 

Endowed chairs are a centuries-old tradition in higher education, signifying that the holder leads in scholarly achievement, distinction, discovery, and teaching. They also assist universities in attracting and retaining outstanding faculty. An endowed chair or professorship links exceptional accomplishment with the name of the chair, creating a lasting legacy for the donor or honoree. 

“It was something that struck a chord with us,” Cindy says. “We saw it as a way of honoring our father.” The chair had not yet been established when another connection occurred. 

Giving Thanks

David Wasserstein, a noted expert in medieval Islamic and Jewish topics, moved to Vanderbilt as a professor. Cindy thought that, with his scholarly interests, he and her father should meet each other. The family was getting together for Thanksgiving and planned to tell Eugene Greener of the chair his children were establishing in his name. Since the British-raised Wasserstein had never celebrated an American Thanksgiving, Cindy’s sister, Patrice “Patty” Greener Marks, BA’76, invited him to the Thanksgiving meal at her Nashville home. 

“You never knew whether they would hit it off in their conversation or not at all. Mr. Greener was the type that if he liked you, he’d let you know, and if he didn’t, he probably let you know that too,” Dan says. 

At the Thanksgiving celebration, Greener and Wasserstein holed up in a separate room to talk. “They’re similar. My father had a very outstanding academic career at Vanderbilt and went to Harvard Law,” Cindy says. “They really had a connection, which was so nice to see.”

Their meeting was poignant because Greener suffered a stroke the next year and died before the chair was officially established. On the very day Greener passed away, Wasserstein received official notice that he had been named the Eugene Greener Jr. Professor of Jewish Studies.

“When Dad passed away, the funeral was in Memphis, but they hadn’t lived there in a long time. So at the funeral, most of the people who were there were family friends and people from the legal community and I didn’t really know all the people who had come,” Cindy says. “I looked up and saw this face that looked familiar to me. I assumed it was one of Dad’s lawyer friends. I went up to speak to the gentleman. It was David Wasserstein, who had driven in to attend Dad’s funeral. I was so touched by that gesture.”

Wasserstein followed with a note that talked of the deep impression that meeting Greener had had on him, leaving the scholar “with the feeling that I had met a perfect example both of what made this country great and of how and why Jews have been so successful here. Hard work; modesty; love of family; devotion to tradition, country and people; and more, all were visible in him,” Wasserstein wrote. “His reaction when you told him about the chair here at Vanderbilt spoke volumes about him and makes me all the prouder to be the first holder of a chair that bears his name.”

Family Connection Continues On

It was her father’s connection to Vanderbilt that drew Cindy to begin with. A proud alumnus, Greener made sure his daughters were introduced to the interesting people that he met through the university. A family vacation centered on his trip to his 25th reunion, and his three daughters visited the campus. “I always wanted to go there, but there was no pressure from him that loomed over us,” Cindy recalls. Whatever he did worked. Cindy and Patty both graduated from Vanderbilt.

Through the years and in many ways, Cindy has continued her father’s role as supporter of Vanderbilt. She enthusiastically promotes her own Vanderbilt experience in her career as an art history teacher at The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Fla. While she was unable to persuade her two daughters to attend Vanderbilt, stepson Zachary “saw the light” and will be a freshman in the College of Arts and Science in the fall.

Cindy often thinks back to that Thanksgiving meal, and how significant it was that her father and the scholar who would one day hold the chair named for him were able to get to know each other. “It was marvelous that they got to meet,” she says, noting that the Eugene Greener Jr. Chair in Jewish Studies will always connect her family to the university. In endowing it, she says, “We felt as though that would be an important investment in the future of Vanderbilt as a family.”

Photo by Rusty Russell.