News from Vanderbilt University

New evidence from the Monte Verde archaeological site in southern Chile confirms its status as the earliest known human settlement in the Americas and provides additional support for the theory that one early migration route followed the Pacific Coast more than 14,000 years ago.

Graduating seniors should become "the new American revolutionaries" aiming for the stars even if they find themselves sometimes lying in the gutter, said musician and social activist Bob Geldof, who gave the Senior Day address Thursday to Vanderbilt graduates.

A roundup of news and feature items related to Vanderbilt Commencement, May 7-9, 2008.

Terry B. Grier will receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of education and human development during Commencement ceremonies on Friday, May 9. Grier is the new superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District, in San Diego.

There is a threat of severe weather on Thursday, May 8. Senior Class Day events will be moved indoors. Video of the event will be streamed live from this Web site at 10 a.m.

Read a selection of profiles of some of the stellar members of the Class of 2008.

La Chureca, the city dump on the outskirts of Managua, Nicaragua, could be the setting for a dreary, futuristic movie. A city of scavengers, many of them orphans, they live in the filthy heaps of refuse at this municipal garbage dump. Clothed in rags, they rummage for food, scrounging out a meager existence by selling the small trinkets or recyclables they find, or sometimes selling their own bodies to survive.

Vanderbilt basketball star Shan Foster, who will receive a degree in human and organizational development from Vanderbilt’s Peabody College on May 9, is the kind of student who gives teachers hope that the next generation is in good hands, said Sharon Shields, professor in the practice of human and organizational development. “He embodies the idea that learning should be transformational,” Shields said. “And it was for him. But he also transformed those around him.”

Vanderbilt University has partnered with the University of Memphis and East Tennessee State University to host a statewide, free electronics recycling event May 14 to 17. The LP Field parking lots will be the collection point for Middle Tennessee.