Epilogue
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Olatunde Osinaike, BS’15: The Algorithm of Poetry
School of Engineering alumnus Olatunde Osinaike is one of five winners of the 2022 National Poetry Series. His debut collection, 'Tender Headed,' is being published by Akashic Press in December. He will be on campus for an alumni reading event Oct. 24, co-sponsored by the Vanderbilt Creative Writing Program and the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center. He returns to Nashville Jan. 25, 2024, for a reading with The Porch, a literary nonprofit. Read MoreOct 3, 2023
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WATCH: Chemistry major pursues passions in poetry, dance through Immersion Vanderbilt
JaHyne “JJ” Johnson, BA’23, came to Vanderbilt as a QuestBridge Scholar, ready to “do the work” and come out with a solid career path. What the chemistry major didn’t realize then was that the opportunities he pursued through classes, activities and Immersion Vanderbilt would allow him to write poetry, conduct research, dance in a ballet, launch a podcast and more. Read MoreAug 23, 2023
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Vanderbilt Alumni Association board celebrates new and returning alumni leaders
The Vanderbilt Alumni Association has welcomed new and returning alumni leaders to its board for three-year terms that started July 1. The Alumni Association’s mission is to engage Vanderbilt alumni in the life of the university, encourage lifelong connections and support the university’s goals. Read MoreJul 28, 2023
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Ken Roberts: Visionary Community and Business Leader
Obituary for Kenneth Lewis “Ken” Roberts, BA’54, JD’59, of Nashville, emeritus member of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust and an active and engaged leader in the Nashville community. Read MoreJun 15, 2023
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Joseph C. Hough Jr., Vanderbilt Divinity School dean in the 1990s, has died
Joseph C. Hough Jr., who led the Vanderbilt Divinity School from 1990 to 1999, died May 15 in Claremont, California, after a long illness. He was 89. Read MoreJun 6, 2023
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BVU Career Accelerator Program celebrates inaugural semester
The Black Vanderbilt University Career Accelerator Program recently concluded its inaugural semester, and 12 participating students were recognized at a celebration dinner. Black Vanderbilt alumni envisioned and partnered with the Career Center to develop and present the program, which aims to empower Black students in their career journeys. Read MoreMay 19, 2023
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Eagle Eyes
Jane Hughes Coble, BA’64, and Bill Coble, BE’54, contributed to conservation efforts in the 1990s led by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency by allowing the TWRA to use their farm in the Bells Bend area to reintroduce bald eagles to the environment. After a few years of anxious waiting, a pair of mature eagles returned and have raised their young there for 25 years. Read MoreMay 18, 2023
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Why I Give: Bob Matthews, MD’86
Dr. Bob Matthews recently established a planned gift in support of the Rugby Club at Vanderbilt, where he made some of his best friends in life. He hopes to inspire others to consider a planned gift in support of a cause they are passionate about. Read MoreMay 18, 2023
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Derrick R. Spires, MA’05, PhD’12: Citizenship Across Space and Time
Derrick R. Spires, an associate professor of literatures in English at Cornell University, has a talent for making 19th-century newspapers and pamphlets feel as accessible as the latest social media feed. He explores the culture of the early 19th-century Black press in his 2019 book 'The Practice of Citizenship: Black Politics and Print Culture in the Early United States' (University of Pennsylvania Press), which was recently released in paperback. Read MoreApr 26, 2023
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Dawn Bennett, MDiv’18: A Call to The Table
Dawn Bennett has found paths to servant leadership throughout her life, but it was decades before she made a leap of faith and enrolled in Vanderbilt Divinity School. In January 2020, she was ordained by Bishop Kevin Strickland to remain in Nashville and build The Table, a faith collective centered on LGBTQIA+ people and vulnerable identities. Read MoreApr 11, 2023
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Michael Quillen, BA’72: At the Wheel for Ukraine
Michael Quillen, BA'72, took the wheel, literally and figuratively, to deliver ambulances to the front line of the war in Ukraine. The undertaking was launched in spring 2022 when Rotary International raised $15 million in relief funds for Ukraine. Longtime Rotary member Quillen worked with two Rotary districts in Virginia to apply for a $50,000 grant to buy three ambulances. Read MoreMar 27, 2023
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Stephanie DeVane-Johnson, MSN’97: Nurturing Black Maternal Health
As she teaches the next generation of nurse-midwives, Vanderbilt School of Nursing faculty member and alumna Stephanie DeVane-Johnson looks at ways to increase the number of Black doulas, who provide emotional and physical support to women in pregnancy, during birth and throughout the postpartum period. Read MoreMar 24, 2023
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Digital wellness activist Larissa May, BA’16, empowers teens on their social media journey
A mental health battle with internet addiction and the ruinous effects of unfiltered social media nearly ravaged a talented entrepreneur while she was a student at Vanderbilt. But Larissa May, BA’16, has turned her healing journey into an influential, youth-based digital advocacy and empowerment platform, #HalfTheStory. May returned to Vanderbilt March 4 to speak as part of the Clinton Global Initiative University annual meeting. Read MoreMar 6, 2023
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Somtochukwu Dimobi Okoye, BE’19, creates allyships to help others realize their potential
When Somto Dimobi Okoye, BE’19, was growing up in Lagos, Nigeria, her mother would open their home to people who needed help—instilling a philosophy of building strength and community through a tightly woven support system. Okoye continues that philosophy by creating ways to help colleagues and Vanderbilt students realize and exercise their full potential. Read MoreFeb 24, 2023
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Extracurricular experiences shaped alumnus from Syria’s career in interfaith diversity
When Syrian native Musbah Shaheen, BA’17, traveled to the U.S. for the first time to attend Vanderbilt, he had no idea how the university’s cornerstone philosophies of equity, diversity and belonging would stretch him personally or shape his professional future and Ph.D. research. Read MoreDec 12, 2022
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Krystal Grant Folkestad, BMus’05: More Than Music
Blair alumna Krystal Grant Folkestad uses her musical skills to serve multiple audiences while focusing on how life affects art and art influences activism. Read MoreDec 5, 2022
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Compassionate care drives alumna Anana Upton to pursue pediatric nursing career
Growing up, Anana Upton, BS’21, spent endless hours in hospitals as her younger brother underwent care. That experience spurred a passionate drive in her to elevate the quality of health care available to underserved communities while also educating them about their medical choices and affording them the dignity they deserve. Read MoreNov 18, 2022
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Bess Parks continues a teaching legacy
To continue the legacy in education to which Bess Parks owes her own career, she wants to give back to those who need help paying for higher education. Through the establishment of two charitable remainder unitrusts and a retirement plan beneficiary designation, she’s found a way to do that and honor the memory of her mother, also a teacher. Read MoreNov 7, 2022
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Terrance Dean, MTS’14, MA’18, PhD’19: Gifted Educator and Author
Terrance Dean, assistant professor at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, died Aug. 11 after an illness. He was 53. Read MoreNov 4, 2022