This fall, Muhammad Yunus, PhD'71, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work combating poverty through a Bangladeshi bank that gives small loans to poor people.

"Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty," the Nobel Committee said in awarding the $1.36 million prize. "Microcredit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights."

Yunus first arrived in Nashville in 1965, entering the Vanderbilt graduate program in economic development in the Department of Economics after receiving a one-year Fulbright Fellowship. But he was encouraged to remain at Vanderbilt to earn a doctorate, receiving support from the university and becoming teaching assistant to Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, then Vanderbilt Distinguished Professor of Economics.