Epilogue

Andrew Howard Nichols, senior director of higher education research and data analytics at education nonprofit The Education Trust, died Jan. 26 of brain cancer. His studies of educational gaps and financial aid regularly revealed inequities affecting low-income and minority students. Read More

Vanderbilt Medical School Class of 1956 alumna Alice Hackney Altstatt of Finksburg, Maryland, died Jan. 10. She was 95. Read More

Vanessa K. Valdés and Nathan H. Dize, Vanderbilt graduates in Spanish and Portuguese and French and Italian, respectively, teamed up on a project in the field of Afro-Latinx studies--a translation of Makenzy Orcel’s heartbreaking novel set in Haiti, Les Immortelles, published by SUNY Press. Read More

The success of Aaron Berndtson and Zach Blitz contradicts every parent who has warned their teenager that they can’t make a living playing video games. The 2006 graduates, whose friendship was forged over Madden NFL and NCAA Football, now hold leadership positions on the cutting edge of the video-game industry. Read More

Kimberly Robinson, CEO and executive director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, believes that the nation is on the brink of another exciting Space Age, similar to the 1960s. Read More

The first Black woman to receive an athletic scholarship from Vanderbilt, Bender was a member of the nascent women’s basketball program. Today she is the co-chairperson of the Black and Gold Club, Vanderbilt’s alumni association for former student-athletes. Read More

Dixon McDonald, BA'11, and teammates Jimmy Carroll, Todd Hooper and Jono Mawson rowed approximately 3,000 miles from the Canary Islands, just off the coast of Africa, to the Caribbean nation of Antigua in a boat only 28 feet long and a little more than 3 feet wide last December for the 2020 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. Read More

Jay Larry, BA’14, JD’17, recounts his Vanderbilt story and his involvement to create a more inclusive alumni community as president of LAVA, the LGBTQIA+ Association of Vanderbilt Alumni. Read More

Before he was the first African American from Vanderbilt to play in the National Football League, spending seven seasons with the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants, Doug Nettles was a very bored college cornerback. The frenetic offenses and complex passing games that are commonplace in modern football were no… Read More

As alumni, we can help graduating Commodores prepare for the new chapter in their lives by encouraging and supporting them with mentorship and internship and job opportunities. Let’s show the Class of 2021 what it means to be Vanderbilt for Life. Read More

Melvyn Ivan Semmel of Santa Barbara, Calif., a researcher, educator and 2007 Peabody Distinguished Alumnus, who helped shape the nation’s understanding and policies relating to students with disabilities, died Feb. 25. Read More

Patricia Gail “Trish” Champion Frist, BA’61, of Nashville, who had a great impact as a philanthropist and business advocate, died Jan. 5. Read More

Last November, alumnus Gene Back’s growing list of accomplishments caught the attention of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. The organization, which promotes the art of motion pictures on both sides of the Atlantic, selected him as a Breakthrough Talent. Read More

Alumnus Christopher Tuff, author of bestseller 'The Millennial Whisperer,' says this generation wants to matter to their employers, and they want their work to matter too. Understanding this dynamic results in business tactics that cost zero dollars and provide big paybacks. Read More

Thomas Peterffy of Interactive Brokers, whose philanthropic support endowed the Financial Markets Research Center in 2003, recently renamed it the Hans Stoll Financial Markets Research Center in memory of its founder. Stoll, a pioneer in the field and longtime director of the center who passed away in 2020, was emeritus professor of finance and former holder of the Anne Marie and Thomas B. Walker Jr. Chair of Finance at Owen. Read More

A profile of Graduate School alumnus Thomas G. Burton, whose book 'The Serpent and the Spirit' was the basis for the recent HBO documentary 'Alabama Snake.' Read More

More than 7,600 members of the Vanderbilt community, including alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents and friends, joined together on Giving Day, April 7, to donate more than $5 million to help advance the university’s mission of education, discovery and leadership. Read More

Charles E. Roos, a retired physics professor who built his department’s research in areas ranging from superconducting wire to recycling technology, has died. He was 93. Read More

Vanderbilt University’s Faculty Fellowship Challenge, launched in September 2018 to create fellowships and directorships to fuel research discoveries and expand teaching opportunities, successfully concluded in December 2020 with 36 positions created, supported by 31 unique endowments from alumni and other donors. The university backed the challenge with a matching investment. Read More

Betsega Bekele, MEd'14, helps lead American Portrait, a multiplatform, national storytelling project tied to PBS’ 50th anniversary celebration. The digital-first initiative that launched online in January 2020 is centered on this question: What does it really mean to be an American today? Read More