Sandy Childress (pictured above, far right), administrative officer in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Harold Kendrick (second from left), family/guest services representative at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, are recipients of the 2008 Commodore Award, Vanderbilt’s highest staff honor. The award is given to staff whose performance reflects a high level of service, dedication, conscientiousness, compassion and skill. Childress and Kendrick each received a cash prize of $5,000 and an engraved crystal bowl. They were recognized by Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos during halftime of the Sept. 13 Vanderbilt football game, as well as at the Service Recognition Ceremony on Sept. 24. Also pictured is Susie Lyons (far left), manager of employee programs at Vanderbilt Medical Center.

Kudos
Paul Conkin, Distinguished Professor of History, Emeritus, has written A Revolution Down on the Farm: The Transformation of American Agriculture Since 1929, published by The University Press of Kentucky.

Tony Fort has been named director of architecture and construction in the Department of Campus Planning and Construction, replacing Edward Belbusti, who left Vanderbilt earlier this year. Keith Loiseau has been named university architect.

Beth Fortune, interim vice chancellor for public affairs, was recognized with a 2008 EXCEL Award by the Nashville chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators.

Jonathan Gilligan, associate director for research of the Vanderbilt Climate Change Research Network and senior lecturer and research assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences, was an invited distinguished panel speaker at the Beckman Scholars 10th Annual Symposium held in Irvine, Calif. Gilligan’s talk, “From the Laboratory to the Legislature: Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Environmental Science and Policy,” was part of the panel “Climate Change and Impact: A Global Perspective.”

Terryl Hallquist, associate professor of theatre and co-director of Vanderbilt University Theatre, was invited to participate in the First International Thornton Wilder Conference held at The College of New Jersey. Hallquist presented a paper and moderated a panel on directing.

Vanderbilt’s internal communications program, which includes the MyVU Web site and the Vanderbilt View, has been recognized with a Silver Quill Award for the Southern Region of the International Association of Business Communicators.


Lecture Series
Panel of survivors highlight 2008 Holocaust Lecture Series
A panel discussion by Vanderbilt alumni who survived the Holocaust will highlight the 31st Annual Vanderbilt University Holocaust Lecture Series, the longest continuous Holocaust lecture series at an American university. This year’s theme, “(over) Sites of Memory,” will examine places that are infused with memories of genocide and the challenge to find effective ways to honor those memories. The series will include sessions on the genocide of Native Americans, a documentary film about Israeli pornographic novels set in prisoner-of-war camps, and a ballet performance by the StillPoint Dance Theatre. All events are free and open to the public, and podcasts of selected events will be available at www.vanderbilt.edu/news.

Oct. 12, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., Ingram Hall
“Voices from the Ground: A Modern Ballet Dedicated to the Victims of the Jewish Holocaust in World War II,” performed by the StillPoint Dance Theatre

Oct. 23, 7 p.m., Sarratt Cinema
“Spain and the Holocaust,” a lecture by Maureen Tobin Stanley, associate professor of Spanish language, literature and culture at the University of Minnesota-Duluth

Oct. 28, 7 p.m., Sarratt Cinema
“American Holocaust: The Destruction of America’s Native Peoples,” a lecture by David Stannard, professor and chair of the American studies department at the University of Hawaii

Nov. 2, 6 p.m., Sarratt Cinema
Screening of the documentary film Stalags, which explores the early-1960s Israeli phenomenon in which short novels detailing sensational tales of the torture and rape of male prisoner-of-war detainees by female Nazi guards rapidly rose from marginal pulp reading to mass-market popularity

Nov. 9, 6 p.m., Multipurpose Room at The Commons
“Escape from Destruction: Four Holocaust Survivors and Refugees,” a panel featuring four Vanderbilt alumni who were barely teens when World War II began. Panelists will share stories and answer questions from the audience about their wartime experiences.

Nov. 11, 7 p.m., Sarratt Cinema
“The Price Tag of Peace,” a lecture by David A. Andelman, editor of the World Policy Journal and a veteran foreign and domestic correspondent and former editor for The New York Times. His lecture will focus on American corporate profiteers who became wealthy on the outcome of World War I, leading to the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany.

Nov. 16, 6 p.m., Sarratt Cinema
“Art and Remembrance: Connecting the Past and the Present,” a lecture by Renata Stih, artist and professor at the University of Applied Sciences, Berlin; and Frieder Schnock, artist and art historian. Stih and Schnock have spent more than 15 years redefining the concept and function of a traditional memorial. This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Art.

For more information, visit www.vanderbilt.edu/religiouslife/hls/index.html.

On Campus
Vanderbilt celebrated its inaugural Athletic Hall of Fame class with a banquet at the Student Life Center on Sept. 12 and a recognition ceremony during halftime of the home football game on Sept. 13. Pictured (l-r) are Clyde Lee, Perry Wallace, Chantelle Anderson, John Hall, John Rich, Lee Brown (representing her father, the late Fred Russell), Roy Kramer, Ryan Tolbert Jackson, Peggy Brady, Bill Wade and June Stewart, along with Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos and Vice Chancellor for University Affairs and Athletics David Williams. The late Dan McGugin is also an inductee. To watch video of the induction banquet, visit http://vucommodores.cstv.com/genrel/091308aad.html.

March to stop violence against women set for Oct. 13
Vanderbilt’s ninth annual Take Back the Night march and rally is scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 13 at Olin Field. Project Safe is sponsoring the event to protest sexual and domestic violence and to support and memorialize victims.

Three exhibits will be on display: the Clothesline Project, featuring T-shirts representing victims of various domestic and sexual crimes; the “Silent Witness” exhibit, featuring silhouettes of women who have been killed by their husbands or boyfriends in the past year; and “These Hands Don’t Hurt,” featuring the handprints and signatures of men who have pledged not to use violence in their own relationships. Following the rally at Olin Field, the group will march to Centennial Park.

The event is free and open to the public. Free parking will be available in the 25th Avenue Garage. Vans will be on hand at Centennial Park to shuttle participants back to Peabody College, The Commons and the 25th Avenue Garage.

Saturday University explores Latin America
Some of Vanderbilt’s top experts on Latin America will share insights during a Saturday-morning lecture series this fall. The series is being presented in collaboration with the Center for Latin American Studies at Vanderbilt and will be held from 9:30 to 11 a.m. on consecutive Saturdays beginning Oct. 25 through Nov. 22. Saturday University is open to the public, and the cost to attend the entire series is $99. For more information, visit www.vanderbilt.edu/mlas/commons.html.

Oct. 25: “Why Brazil Matters” by Marshall Eakin, professor of history

Nov. 1: “Mexican Muralist Painters” by Leonard Folgarait, professor of history of art

Nov. 8: “Gabriel García Márquez and Latin American Literature” by René Prieto, professor of Spanish

Nov. 15: “The Rise and Fall of Ancient Mayan Civilization” by Arthur Demarest, Ingram Professor of Anthropology

Nov. 22: “Music and Culture of the Mexican Borderlands” by Helena Simonett, adjunct assistant professor of music history and literature

On Campus
Technology company Google brought its interactive school bus to The Commons campus on Sept. 18 as part of a campaign to get more university students, faculty and staff using the free Google Apps for Education, which include Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Talk calls and instant messaging, and Google Sites Web site builder. Pictured, Google’s Cindy Chin explains the new applications to graduate student Whit Schrader.


In the News
Vanderbilt 42nd among top 500 world universities
Vanderbilt placed 42nd in an academic ranking of the top 500 world universities by China’s Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which compiles one of the leading international indexes of major universities. Vanderbilt also ranked 34th on a breakdown of the top 100 North and Latin American universities. Universities are ranked by several indicators of academic or research performance, including the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes or Fields Medals, the number of highly cited researchers, the number of articles published in the leading international journals Nature and Science, peer-reviewed articles published by faculty and students, and the overall research productivity of the faculty. To see the full rankings, visit www.arwu.org/rank2008/EN2008.htm.

Employee discount available for Music City Star
Tickets for the Music City Star commuter train are now available for purchase at the Office of Traffic and Parking located in the Wesley Place Garage. University faculty and staff may buy individual-trip tickets or 10-trip ticket packages at a 60 percent discount. Rail stops include Lebanon, Martha, Mount Juliet, Hermitage and Donelson, Tenn. Train schedules and other information are available at www.rta-ride.org or by calling Traffic and Parking at 322-2554.

Room reservations now available online
Campus meeting space may now be reserved online at www.vanderbilt.edu/reservations. The site allows users to check room availability, search for space and book rooms 24 hours a day. All requests are still approved through the Office of Reservations and Events. Currently, all rooms at the Sarratt Student Center, the Student Life Center and The Commons Center can be booked online, as well as some rooms in Buttrick, Calhoun and Furman halls and at Vanderbilt Divinity School. More rooms may be added throughout the academic year.

On Campus
Bruce Cole (right), chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, spoke at the Student Life Center Sept. 5 about the need to restore humanities in higher education and civil discourse, and the NEH’s stepped-up efforts to digitize its vast library. Cole spoke in honor of the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities’ 20th anniversary, and as part of the Vanderbilt Chancellor’s Lecture Series.



Class of 2012 most academically prepared, diverse in Vanderbilt history
This year’s first-year students comprise the most academically prepared class in Vanderbilt’s history by all measures, including high school ranking, number of National Merit scholars, leadership potential and test scores. It is also the most ethnically and geographically diverse, and its selection was the most competitive, with 16,944 students vying for the 1,569 slots in the entering class.

“It is gratifying to know that more and more top students are recognizing that Vanderbilt offers a unique educational experience, and that they are seeking to become a part of it,” Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos said. “Each of these students was chosen for his or her particular talents and ability to further enrich the Vanderbilt experience.” The Class of 2012 is the first to participate in The Commons, Vanderbilt’s living and learning program for first-year students.

More than 84 percent of the first-year students were in the top 10 percent of their high school classes, and more than 130 were valedictorians or salutatorians. There are 170 National Merit scholars in the entering class and eight National Achievement scholars.

Vanderbilt’s SAT scores have increased dramatically as well. The average SAT score for the 2008 entering class is 1400, with 25 percent of the class scoring 1500 or higher. This year’s average is a 21-point increase over 2007’s. In 2000, the average was 1313.

The class also boasts exceptional and wide-ranging leadership experience, according to Douglas Christiansen, associate provost for enrollment and dean of admissions. “This year, it is amazing the number of students who have held significant leadership roles on the national and regional level, as well as within their communities and high schools,” he said.

Vanderbilt also has experienced significant increases in diversity in recent years. Minority students make up 23.3 percent of the entering class, compared to 17.4 percent in 2000. The entering class also is more geographically diverse, with the most dramatic change in the past five years coming in the number of students hailing from the Northeast: 25.3 percent, up from 18.6 in 2003.

“Our commitment to building an ethnically, culturally and socially diverse community is appealing to more and more outstanding high school candidates each year,” Christiansen said.

Vanderbilt received a record number of applications in 2008 – 16,944, up 31 percent from 12,910 the previous year. With the surge in applications, the admit rate moved from 32.8 percent in 2007 to 25.3 percent in 2008.

“This year’s dramatic increase in applications helped us to offer admission to the most selective class in our school’s history,” Christiansen said.

The total fall enrollment at Vanderbilt for 2008 is 12,093, a 2.1 percent increase over last year’s enrollment of 11,847. Total undergraduate enrollment is 6,637, up 1.6 percent from last year’s enrollment of 6,531. Total post-baccalaureate enrollment is 5,456, up 2.7 percent from last year’s enrollment of 5,315.

Send your news and notes to notes@vanderbilt.edu.

compiled by Kara Furlong

Posted 10/01/08