The 2008 Young Alumni Trustee nominee Elizabeth Bennett and outgoing Alumni Association President Karen Fesmire became the newest members of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust at its May 16 meeting.
The alumnae will each serve four-year terms, Vanderbilt News Service reported.
Bennett and Fesmire share, among other things, a passion for serving others. Bennett, the top 10 Outstanding Senior Award finalist who graduated last week with a double major in human and organizational development and economics, has volunteered extensively with Youth Encouragement Services and the Ronald McDonald House, the national philanthropy of her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, in which she has served two officer positions. Bennett was also the president and co-founder of Net Impact, which seeks to make a positive impact on society by forming a community of leaders who will use business to improve the world. She was a member of Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity, a VUceptor for the past three years and participant in Alternative Spring Break. The Franklin, Tenn., native has been a student leader in Every Nation Campus Ministries as well as a member of Mortar Board, Omicron Delta Epsilon, Omicron Delta Kappa and Order of Omega honor societies.
Fesmire, a resident of Germantown, Tenn., helped redesign key alumni initiatives, including ones that reach out to students, during her time in the Alumni Association and is a longtime community volunteer who has been a trained facilitator and program coordinator for Parent to Parent, a program that helps parents be better caregivers and role models for their children. Fesmire has served in this role for several Memphis schools and Germantown Presbyterian Church, where she is also an ordained deacon and elder. She teaches adult, youth and children's education and directs the basketball program for children and youth at her church.
LeBonheur Children's Medical Center has benefited through her work as chairman of the Festival of Trees. During that time, she was a Commercial Appeal Point of Light volunteer. She also was a national officer for Kappa Delta sorority for 10 years. Fesmire graduated from Vanderbilt in 1980 with a bachelor's in business administration. She was an active student leader, serving as chairman of Student Orientation and Panhellenic Rush.
