Dear College of Arts and Science friends:

When I deliver the school’s annual State of the College address to different groups, I delight to note how generous our alums and friends are when it comes to many initiatives that have been important in the upward trajectory of the College and Vanderbilt as a whole. From support of Opportunity Vanderbilt to endowing named chairs to gifts to individual departments, the generosity of so many of you—the giving back—is both humbling and inspiring. I am grateful.

I want also to express my deep gratitude for the other ways so many give back by building our alumni networks and by helping out in a variety of means. To the multitudes of you—like Frank Nash, BA’73, Jackie Ross, BA’00, and Myra Washington, BA’03, MEd’05—who assist in interviewing prospective students; to those like Chad Gervich, BA’96, and Dan Lovinger, BA’87, who have worked to establish internship tracks; and to those like Lee Jenkins, BA’99, who have helped edit and rethink writing and resumes for our graduates as they make their way into the job market, I express my great thanks.

In building and maintaining these types of networks, the members of the Arts and Science family continue to help one another and as a result, continue to advance this institution. We use the phrase “One Vanderbilt” on campus to refer to our efforts to make the different elements of the university work together as one. I like to reflect on how all of you, in so many ways, expand the meaning of that phrase.

Thank you and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

John M. Sloop

Bond of brothers

Linebacker Nigel Bowden wears dog tags and carries a slightly blood-stained wallet as constant connections to his older brother who died in Iraq. The Arts and Science student talks about honoring his brother by succeeding in academics and football.

A&S in the News

NBC News liked Steve Wernke’s aerial acrobatics over archeological sites; CSPAN aired a lecture by Sarah Igo about the societal shift that occurred due to modernization, and international media talked with Tom Schwartz about the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.