spotlight
Jacquelyn Olson, BA’20: Exploring German and Austrian Culture
Jan. 5, 2021—Jacquelyn Olson–a German Studies and Law, History, and Society double major–began studying German her first year at Vanderbilt and lived on the German hall at McTyeire International House. Now a Fulbright scholar in Vienna, Austria, she says her language skills have been crucial in helping her navigate a new country. Even more important? The confidence...
Devon Akers, BA’15: Translating the Russian Language to Programming Language
Nov. 13, 2020—Senior Software Engineer, Capital One A Russian and Philosophy major, Devon is now a Washington, D.C.-based software engineer for one of the nation’s biggest banks. “Studying Russian at Vanderbilt gave me so many more skills than just the language. I learned to think critically, and now I can apply a rigorous thought process to solve any...
Mark Pettus, BA’00: From Dostoevsky to the Princeton Faculty
Nov. 13, 2020—Lecturer, Princeton University As a first-year Vanderbilt undergraduate, Mark signed up for a seminar on the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky out of sheer curiosity. He was so impressed by this first encounter with Russian literature that he was determined to read it one day in the original. The following semester, he signed up for Russian...