Zeppos details concerns about reauthorization of Higher Ed Act

From our D.C. office:

Next week, the House of Representatives is planning to consider a massive rewrite of the Higher Education Act (H.R. 4137, the so-called College Opportunity and Affordability Act). Over the last four years, Vanderbilt has joined with its peer institutions and national higher education associations to help shape this legislation. In addition to offering constructive approaches to many of the issues covered in the bill, much of this work has been devoted to fending off an onslaught of unfavorable proposals. There have been many successes, but there also is still much room for improvement.

With the approach of the end-game in the House, Interim Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos wrote last week to each Member of Tennessee’s House delegation, summarizing Vanderbilt’s views on key aspects of the legislation.

Follow the link above for the full scoop.

Live video today of judges who tried ‘Chemical Ali’

Tune in to VUCast at 5:30 p.m. CST today to watch live streaming video of a panel discussion at Vanderbilt by the Iraqi judges who presided over the Anfal genocide proceedings.

The Iraqi dignitaries will provide analysis of the case, which led to the conviction of the infamous Chemical Ali, today at the Vanderbilt Law School.

Read more.

InsideVandy ‘mothership’ garners praise

Vanderbilt Student Communications earned some very nice and well-deserved kudos from Duke’s Next Newsroom project. The article features an in-depth, interesting Q&A with VSC director Chris Carroll, and offers insights into how the very slick and wildly successful InsideVandy got its start, spiced up with some excellent metaphors.

“We were talking of creating this mothership that was the centerpiece for delivery, which was InsideVandy, and creating it as an autonomous sort of Switzerland within our corporate setup,” Carroll said.

Read it.

Vanderbilt takes home five Emmys

That’s right – the Vanderbilt News Service’s own Pat Slattery and Emily Pearce won five Emmys Jan. 26 at the MidSouth Regional Emmy Awards. The awards were in the advanced media categories and won in recognition of Pat and Emily’s stellar online video productions. Read all about it here and watch the winners here. Topping off a wonderful night, Pat was inducted into the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Silver Circle, which recognizes outstanding lifetime achievement in television. Congratulations, Pat and Emily!

Vandy on your iPhone

Wanting to add Vanderbilt to your iPhone homescreen? It’s easy:

Go to http://www.vanderbilt.edu on your iPhone
Touch the + sign
Touch Add to Home
Edit the title as you see fit (Vanderbilt University won’t all fit)
Touch Add

Voila! Thanks to Anna Belle Leiserson in the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center for the idea.

YouTube to be hot topic at NCAA conference

Three thousand NCAA delegates are descending on Nashville as we speak for the association’s 102nd annual convention this weekend at Opryland. A highlight is sure to be a discussion of universities using YouTube, featuring our own Vice Chancellor Mike Schoenfeld, Obadiah Greenberg from YouTube, and peeps from Duke and Berkeley. If you haven’t been to our channel lately, take a gander. Lots of new content with more being added every day.

Earl’s off to the draft

From Vanderbilt Athletics:

Record-breaking Vanderbilt wide receiver Earl Bennett announced today that he intends to make himself available for the 2008 NFL Draft.

Bennett, the Southeastern Conference’s career leader in receptions, made the announcement during a press conference held Thursday on campus attended by Head Coach Bobby Johnson, several Vanderbilt coaches and staffers, and numerous Commodore teammates.

Bennett ends his distinguished Commodore career with 236 receptions, 28 more than the next closest player in SEC history.