'Vanderbilt University' is a
private,
nonsectarian,
coeducational research university in
Nashville,
Tennessee,
USA. Founded in
1873, the university is named for
shipping and
rail magnate
"Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial
$1 million endowment despite having never been to the
South. The Commodore hoped that his gift and the greater work of the university would help to heal the sectional wounds inflicted by the
Civil War.
[2]
Today, Vanderbilt comprises four undergraduate and six graduate schools, enrolling approximately 11,600 students from all 50
U.S. states and over 50 foreign countries.
[3] In its 2008 ranking of universities, ''
U.S. News & World Report'' placed Vanderbilt 19th overall, and ranked the schools of education, law, medicine, and nursing among the top 20 in the country.
[4][5] The university is among the top 25 recipients of federal educational research funds.
[6] Also affiliated with the university are several research institutes, the
Freedom Forum First Amendment Center, the
Dyer Observatory, and the comprehensive
Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), the only
Level I trauma center in Middle Tennessee.
[7]
With the exception of the off-campus observatory, all of Vanderbilt's facilities are situated on a plot in the heart of Nashville, only from downtown. Despite its urban surroundings, the campus itself is a national arboretum and features over 300 species of trees and shrubs.
7 Tucked among the trees, however, is an institution that continues to grow. As part of its transition to a
residential college system, Vanderbilt is creating a new living area for freshmen, called The Commons, that will comprise 10 new or newly-renovated residence halls. The Commons is expected to open in the fall of 2008, at a cost of over $150 million.
[8]
History
Cornelius Vanderbilt
In the years prior to the American Civil War, the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South had been considering creating a regional university for the training of ministers located centrally for the congregations of the church. Through the lobbying of Nashville bishop
Holland McTyeire, church leaders voted in 1872 to create "Central University" in Nashville. However, lack of funds and the war-ravaged state of the South delayed the opening of the college.
The following year, on a medical trip to
New York City, McTyeire stayed at the residence of Cornelius Vanderbilt, whose second wife was the cousin of McTyeire's wife. Vanderbilt, the wealthiest man in America at the time, had been considering philanthropic causes as he was at an advanced age. His original plan was to establish a university on
Staten Island,
New York, in honor of his mother. McTyeire, however, successfully convinced him to donate $500,000 to endow Central University in order to "contribute to strengthening the ties which should exist between all sections of our common country."
2
The endowment (later increased to $1 million) would be Vanderbilt's only philanthropy. Though the Commodore never expressed any desire to have the university named after himself, McTyeire and his fellow trustees soon rechristened the school as "the Vanderbilt University." Vanderbilt died in 1877 having never even visited the school named after him.
Bishop Holland McTyeire
In the fall of 1875, about 200 students enrolled at Vanderbilt; the university was dedicated in October of that year. Bishop McTyeire, who had been named chairman of the Board of Trust for life by Vanderbilt as a stipulation of his endowment, named
Landon Garland, his mentor from
Randolph-Macon College in
Virginia and then-
Chancellor of the
University of Mississippi, as chancellor. Garland shaped the school's structure and hired the school's faculty, many of whom were renowned scholars in their respective fields.
However, most of this crop of star faculty left after disputes with Bishop McTyeire.
For the first 40 years, the Board of Trust (and therefore the university itself) was under the control of the General Conference (the governing body) of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. However, tensions began rising between the university administration and the Conference over the future of the school, particularly over the methods by which members of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust would be chosen.
Conflicts escalated with the appointment of James Kirkland as chancellor in 1893. The final straw, at least in the mind of Kirkland, was a failed campaign to raise $300,000 from Southern Methodist congregations (only $50,000 was raised). Further disputes between the bishops and Kirkland, which erupted into litigation in 1912, led the Methodist conference to sever all ties with Vanderbilt University in June 1914.
Vanderbilt enjoyed early intellectual influence during the 1920s and 1930s when it hosted two partly overlapping groups of scholars who had a large impact on American thought and letters: the
Fugitives and the
Agrarians. During the same period,
Ernest William Goodpasture and his colleagues in the Medical School invented methods for cultivating
viruses and
rickettsiae in fertilized chicken eggs. This work made possible the production of vaccines against
chicken pox,
smallpox,
yellow fever,
typhus,
Rocky mountain spotted fever and other diseases caused by agents that only propagate in living cells.
In the late 1950s, the
Vanderbilt Divinity School became something of a hotbed of the emerging Civil Rights movement, and the university expelled one of its leaders,
James Lawson. Much later, in 2005, he was made a Distinguished Alumnus for his achievements and re-hired as a Distinguished University Professor for the 2006-07 academic year.
[9]
As with Lawson, the university drew national attention in 1966, when it recruited the first African American athlete in the Southeastern Conference, Perry Wallace.
[10] Wallace, from Nashville, played varsity basketball for Vanderbilt from 1967-1970, and faced considerable opposition from segregationists when playing at other SEC venues. In 2004, a student-led drive to have Wallace's jersey retired finally succeeded.
Harold Vanderbilt was president of the Board of Trust between 1955 and 1968 when
racial integration was a very prominent topic at the school. Today a statue of him in front of Buttrick Hall memorializes his efforts.
In 1966, Oberlin Graduate School of Theology moved from Ohio to Nashville, in order to merge with the
Vanderbilt Divinity School. In 1979, Vanderbilt absorbed its neighbor,
Peabody College.
Memorial Hall, located on the Peabody campus, was the subject of a lawsuit to remove the word "Confederate" from its façade.
History, race, and civil rights issues again came to the fore on the campus in 2002, when the university decided to rename a dormitory on the Peabody campus, Confederate Memorial Hall, to Memorial Hall.
[11] Nationwide attention resulted, in part due to a lawsuit by the Tennessee chapter of the
United Daughters of the Confederacy, who had helped pay for the building's construction in 1933 with a $50,000 contribution.
[12]
The Davidson County Chancery Court dismissed the lawsuit in 2003, but the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled in May 2005 that the university would have to pay damages based on the present value of the United Daughters of the Confederacy's contribution if an inscription bearing the name "Confederate Memorial Hall" were to be removed from the building or altered.
[13]
In late July 2005, the university announced that although it has officially renamed the building and all university publications and offices will refer to it solely as "Memorial Hall," the university would neither appeal the matter further nor remove the inscription and pay damages.
[14]
Organization
Administration
Old Main (1875), photographed before it burned in 1905
Vanderbilt University, as a private corporation, is wholly governed by an independent, self-perpetuating Board of Trust. The board comprises 45 regular members (plus any number of trustees emeriti) and the
chancellor, the university's
chief executive officer. Each trustee serves a five-year term (except for four recently-graduated undergraduates, who serve four-year terms). A complete, up-to-date listing of the members of the Board of Trust can be found
here.
Martha Rivers Ingram is the board's current
chairman.
Nicholas S. Zeppos currently serves as interim chancellor of Vanderbilt University. He was appointed to replace the departing
Gordon Gee who left to assume the presidency of
The Ohio State University on
August 1,
2007.
[15]
Gee had been appointed Chancellor by the Board of Trust in February 2000. Prior to this appointment, he was the president of
Brown University in
Providence,
Rhode Island. Controversy arose in 2006 over Gee's spending during his tenure at Vanderbilt, including the over $6 million spent on remodeling his university-owned house. An article in ''
The Wall Street Journal'' in September of that year criticizing the spending of college and university executives used Gee and Vanderbilt as an example of the lax oversight common to higher education. The article also revealed that Gee's wife, a tenured professor, smoked marijuana in their home. The Board of Trust has since established a committee to monitor more closely Gee's spending.
[16]
Since the opening of the university in 1875, only six other individuals have served as chancellor.
[17] Landon Garland was the university's first chancellor, serving from 1875 to 1893. Garland organized the university and hired its first faculty. Garland Hall, an academic building on campus, is named in his honor.
After the fire, Old Main was rebuilt with one tower and renamed Kirkland Hall. It is currently home to Vanderbilt's administration.
The next chancellor was
James H. Kirkland—serving from 1893 to 1937, he had the longest tenure of any Vanderbilt chancellor. He was responsible for severing the university's ties with the Methodist church and relocating the medical school to the main campus. Vanderbilt's Main Building was renamed Kirkland Hall after Kirkland left in 1937.
The longest-tenured chancellor was followed by the second shortest-tenured.
Oliver Carmichael served Vanderbilt for just 9 years, 1937 to 1946. Carmichael developed the graduate school, and established the Joint University Libraries for Vanderbilt, Peabody, and Scarritt College. Carmichael Towers, a set of high-rise dormitories on the northern edge of campus, were named for Chancellor Carmichael.
Carmichael's successor was
Harvie Branscomb. Branscomb presided over a period of major growth and improvement at the university that lasted from 1946 until 1963. He was responsible for opening the admissions policy to all races. Branscomb Quadrangle is a residence hall complex named for the chancellor.
Alexander Heard, for whom the campus library system is named, served as chancellor from 1963 to 1982. During his twenty-year tenure, the
Owen Graduate School of Management was founded, and Vanderbilt's merger with Peabody College was negotiated. He also survived calls for his ouster because of his accommodating stance on desegregation.
Joe B. Wyatt was the chancellor who served immediately before Gee, from 1982 until 2000. Wyatt oversaw a great increase in the university's endowment, an increase in student diversity, and the renovation of many campus buildings. The Wyatt Center on Peabody's campus is named for Wyatt and his wife.
Medical Center
The
Vanderbilt University Medical Center is a vital component of the university. It comprises the following units:
[18]
Entrance to the Vanderbilt School of Medicine
★ Vanderbilt University Hospital
★ Monroe Carell, Jr., Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt
★ Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
★ The Vanderbilt Clinic
★ Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center
★ Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital
★ Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital
★ Eskind Biomedical Library
★ Vanderbilt Sports Medicine
★ Dayani Human Performance Center
★ Vanderbilt Page Campbell Heart Institute
★ Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
★ Vanderbilt University School of Nursing
With over 20,500 employees (including 2,689 full-time faculty), Vanderbilt is the largest private employer in Middle Tennessee and the second largest in the state (after
FedEx, headquartered in
Memphis). Approximately 74% of the university's faculty and staff are employed by the Medical Center.
7
In 2003, the medical center was placed on the Honor Roll of ''
U.S. News & World Report's annual rating of the nation's best hospitals, and 17 of the faculty were members of one of the
National Academies. In 2004, the university reported that 24.1% of non-Medical Center faculty were women, while 14.4% were of a racial or ethnic minority.
Students and faculty
Profile
As of December 2006, Vanderbilt had an enrollment of 6,378 undergraduate and 5,229 graduate and professional students. Students from all 50 states attend Vanderbilt, with 54% of the total student body coming from outside the Southeast; 8% of students are from outside the United States.
7 Moreover, 24% of the undergraduate class of 2010 was non-Caucasian, while roughly half were women.
[19]
Vanderbilt offers undergraduates the chance to pursue 70 majors in its four undergraduate schools and colleges: the
College of Arts and Science, the
School of Engineering,
Peabody College of Education and Human Development, and
Blair School of Music. The university also has six graduate and professional schools, including the
Divinity School,
Graduate School,
Law School,
School of Medicine,
School of Nursing, and
Owen Graduate School of Management.
The university's undergraduate programs are highly selective: in 2006, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions accepted 34% of applicants. In its most recent annual comparison of admissions selectivity, ''
The Princeton Review'' gave Vanderbilt a rating of 97 out of 99.
[20] The freshmen in the Class of 2010 had standardized test scores that were well above average: the middle 50% range of
SAT scores was 1930–2190 (1300–1470 under the old scale), while the middle 50% range of
ACT scores was 29–32.
19
Research
As with any large research institution, Vanderbilt investigators work in a broad range of disciplines. However, among its more unusual activities, the university has institutes devoted to the study of coffee and of
bridge. Indeed, the modern form of the latter was developed by
Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, a former president of the university's Board of Trust and a great-grandson of the Commodore. In addition, in mid-2004 it was announced that Vanderbilt's chemical biology research may have serendipitously opened the door to the breeding of a
blue rose, something that has long been coveted by
horticulturalists and rose lovers.
[21]
Vanderbilt's research record is blemished, however, by a study university researchers conducted on
iron metabolism during
pregnancy in the 1940s. Between 1945 and
1949, over 800 pregnant women were given
radioactive iron. Standards of
informed consent for research subjects were not rigorously enforced at that time,
[22] and many of the women were not informed of the potential risks. The injections were later suspected to have caused cancer in at least three of the children who were born to these mothers.
[23] In 1998, the university settled a
class action lawsuit with the mothers and surviving children for $10.3 million.
[24]
''
Exploration'' is the university's online research magazine. It publishes multimedia stories that explain campus research projects ranging from archeology to zoology, probe the motives of the explorers that perform these studies, and describe the experiences of Vanderbilt students who become involved in scientific research. Vanderbilt undergraduates also publish
a journal of original research. Vanderbilt is a member of
Oak Ridge Associated Universities and
Universities Space Research Association.
Rankings
In its 2008 edition, ''
U.S. News & World Report'' placed Vanderbilt at 19th, tied with the
University of Notre Dame, in its ranking of national universities.
4 In the same publication's 2007 graduate program rankings, Peabody College was listed at 3rd among schools of education, the Vanderbilt Law School was listed at 16th, the School of Medicine was listed at 18th among research-oriented
medical schools, the School of Nursing was listed at 19th, and the Owen Graduate School of Management was listed at 34th among business schools.
5 Additionally, Vanderbilt is ranked 1st in the nation in the fields of
special education[25] and
audiology.
[26]
In ''
The Times Higher Education Supplement 2006'', Vanderbilt is ranked 26th in North America and 53rd worldwide.
[27] The 2007
Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, a measure of the scholarly output of the faculty of nearly 7,300 doctoral programs around the United States, ranked Vanderbilt 8th among large research universities, and 1st in the areas of
comparative literature,
educational leadership,
pharmacology,
Portuguese,
Spanish, and
special education.
[28]
''
The Wall Street Journal'' ranked Owen second among "smaller" business schools in 2004.
[29]
Campus
The Vanderbilt campus is located approximately west of downtown in the West End neighborhood of midtown Nashville. It has an area of , though this figure includes large tracts of sparsely used land in the southwest part of the main campus, as well as the Medical Center. The historical core of campus encompasses approximately . Vanderbilt is located at . (
Click here to see a campus map.)
Layout
Benson Science Hall, one of the first campus buildings, has not been used for science classes in many years.
The Vanderbilt campus is roughly fan-shaped (with the point at the corner of West End and 21st Avenues) and reflects the university's gradual expansion to the south and to the west. The campus is fairly compact, however, and the farthest distance on campus takes about 25 minutes to walk.
Main campus
Bicentennial Oak, facing Buttrick Hall
In the northeast corner of the campus (the "base" of the fan) is the original campus. The first college buildings, including Kirkland Hall, were erected here in the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s. This section stretches from West End Avenue south to the Stevenson Center and west from 21st Avenue to Alumni Lawn. The majority of the buildings of the arts and humanities departments of the College of Arts and Science, as well as the facilities of the Law School, Owen Graduate School of Management, and the Divinity School, are located in the original campus. Additionally, the Central Library (known to alumni as the JUL, or Joint University Library) and Sarratt Student Center/Rand Hall can be found on the original campus.
Flanking the original campus to the south are the Stevenson Center for Science and Mathematics and the School of Engineering complex (Jacobs Hall-Featheringill Hall). Housing the Science Library, the School of Engineering, and all the science and math departments of the College of Arts and Science, save for psychology, this complex sits between the original campus and the Medical Center. The Vanderbilt University Medical Center itself takes up the southeastern part of the campus. Besides the various associated hospitals and clinics and the facilities of the Schools of Medicine and Nursing, the medical center also houses many major research facilities.
West of the original campus and the Medical Center, Greek Row and the bulk of the Vanderbilt residence halls are found. From north to south, Carmichael Towers, Greek Row, Branscomb Quadrangle, and Highland Quadrangle house the vast majority of on-campus residents in facilities ranging from the double-occupancy shared-bathroom dorms in Branscomb and Towers to the apartments and lodges in Highland Quadrangle. This part of campus is newer than the others; Vanderbilt's westward growth did not start until the 1950s. This portion of campus was built by tearing down small single family houses and duplexes dating from the early 20
th century, and so the area has significantly less green space than the arboretum on the original campus and is more indicative of the university's urban locale.
Memorial Gymnasium,
Vanderbilt Stadium,
Hawkins Field, McGugin Center, and all the other varsity athletic fields and facilities are to be found in the extreme west of campus. The Student Recreation Center and its associated intramural fields are located south of the varsity facilities.
Peabody campus
Directly across 21st Avenue from the Medical Center sits the campus of the Peabody College of Education and Human Development. Due to their separate histories until the merger, the Peabody campus was configured in a radically different style than the original Vanderbilt campus. Whereas the latter has an unplanned organic design with buildings scattered throughout, Peabody campus was planned as a geometric design, similar to the
Jeffersonian style of the
University of Virginia. The campus is home not only to Peabody College but also to the future Commons, where all freshmen will live together as part of the
College Halls plan.
Arboretum
National Arboretum plaque
The oldest part of the Vanderbilt campus is known for its abundance of trees and green space, which stand in contrast to the surrounding cityscape of urban Nashville. Over 300 species of trees and shrubs can be found on campus, including at least one specimen of every tree that is indigenous to the state of Tennessee.
7
One tree, the Bicentennial Oak between Rand Hall and Garland Hall, is certified to have lived during the
American Revolution and is the oldest thing on the campus.
The campus was designated by the Association of Botanical Gardens and Aboreta as a national
arboretum in 1988, a status that the university does not take lightly. One interesting consequence of this designation that any visitor might notice is the length to which trees at Vanderbilt are protected. Signs posted on the trees by various student groups are bound to the trees with wire instead of being nailed to the tree, as it is unlawful to cause damage to any tree in a national arboretum.
Student life
Organizations
Sailing Club Regatta
The university recognizes nearly 400 student organizations, ranging from academic major societies and honoraries to recreational sports clubs, the oldest of which is the
Vanderbilt Sailing Club.
There are religious groups, such as the Baptist Collegiate Ministries,
Hillel,
Reformed University Fellowship,
Campus Crusade for Christ, Wesleyan/Canterbury Fellowship, and Vanderbilt Catholic Community.
Despite the lack of an organized journalism curriculum, no less than ten editorially-independent media outlets are produced and controlled by students. Eight print publications, a broadcast radio station and a closed-circuit television station provide a forum for student opinion and issues. One publication, ''The Vanderbilt Hustler'', was established in 1888 and is the oldest continuously published newspaper in
Nashville (the newspaper's name supposedly references another nickname for the Commodore based on his cutthroat business practices, ''i.e.'', that he "hustled" people out of their money). The on-campus radio station,
WRVU, represents the student body by playing a range of music from bluegrass to choral, with a focus on non-mainstream music,
[30] while the campus television station, Vanderbilt Television (VTV), showcases student-produced films, skits, and news and entertainment-based shows. These student media divisions are organized and controlled by Vanderbilt Student Communications, Inc., which maintains an up-to-date listing of student publications
here. In addition, students at the
Vanderbilt University Law School publish three
law reviews; the flagship journal is the ''
Vanderbilt Law Review''.
Vanderbilt's Homecoming Queen and King have consistently been members of Greek organizations.
There are also more than thirty service organizations on campus, giving students the opportunity to perform community service across the country and around the world, including the Vanderbilt-founded
Alternative Spring Break.
Greeks are an active part of the social scene on and off campus. Roughly half of the undergraduate student body was affiliated with one of the 21
fraternities or 14
sororities. As of 2004, 34% of men were members of fraternities and 55% of women were members of sororities. More recently, several new chapters have been colonized at Vanderbilt, demonstrating the continued demand for available memberships. In addition, an independent fraternity, PSK (Pages, Squires, Knights), existed between 1965 and 1975.
[31]
Honor Code
Since the first classes began at Vanderbilt, the Honor System has served to strengthen the academic integrity of the university. Its principles were outlined in a famous quote by long-time Dean of Students Madison Sarratt:
[32]
As a part of their first act together as a class, each Vanderbilt class meets together at the Honor Code Signing Ceremony, where every member of the class pledges their honor and signs the code. The signature pages are then hung in the Student Center. The ceremony is one of only two occasions where a class will be congregated in a single place at the same time (the other being Commencement).
The Undergraduate Honor Council was formed to help enforce and protect the tradition of the Honor Code. Today, the Honor Council serves two simultaneous aims: to enforce and protect the Honor Code and to inform members of the Vanderbilt community about the Honor System.
Student housing
Kissam Hall was a men's dormitory from 1901 until it was razed in 1958. The baths were all in the basement.
All undergraduate students not living with relatives in
Davidson County are required to live on campus all four years to the extent that on-campus student housing facilities can accommodate them. In practice, though, approximately 83% of undergraduates—freshmen, sophomores, nearly all juniors and most seniors—currently live on campus. The remaining undergraduates join graduate and professional students in living off-campus. Student life at Vanderbilt is consequently heavily intertwined with campus life.
However, the on-campus residential system is currently undergoing a radical change. The new system, announced by the administration in
2002, would change the current structure of quadrangle-based residence halls to a new system of
residential colleges, to be called "College Halls". Similar to the residential structures at
Caltech,
Harvard,
Rice, and
Yale, the new College Halls system would create residence halls where students and faculty would live together in a self-contained environment, complete with study rooms, cafeterias, laundry facilities, and stores. This project is now underway and is scheduled to be completed within the next twenty years.
The first step in the College Halls system will be The Commons, a collection of ten residential halls on the Peabody campus that will house all first-year students beginning in the fall of 2008. While the university currently houses freshmen in three separate and distinct residential areas, it is hoped that The Commons will give first-year students a unified (and unifying) living-learning experience. Five existing dormitories on Peabody have been renovated, and the university is in the process of building five new ones. Two of the new residence halls have received
LEED silver certification, making Vanderbilt the only university in the state to be recognized by the
U.S. Green Building Council.
[29] The university expects all five of the new residence halls, one renovated residence hall, and the new Commons Dining Center to all receive LEED certification.
[34]
With the addition of these new residence halls, the university will be able to house all undergraduate students on campus. Since university policy requires undergraduates to live on campus when possible, Vanderbilt's Office of Housing and Residential Education will no longer grant students permission to live off campus, beginning with the class graduating in 2009.
[35] Many current students who came to Vanderbilt with the understanding that seniors were generally allowed to live off campus are now disappointed that they must live on campus all four years.
[36] However, university administrators believe the undergraduate community receives the greatest benefit from living in on-campus residence halls, citing increased interaction with faculty, better academic performance, and stronger interpersonal relationships.
35
Myths
Vanderbilt's long history has given birth to several myths and urban legends. Some of the more well known:
[37]
★ Furman Hall, the single stone building among the brick structures of the old campus, was built because a confused architect was designing buildings for both
Duke University and Vanderbilt at the same time.
:Fact: Although Furman Hall’s grey stone composition is in sharp contrast to adjacent brick buildings, it and the surrounding buildings were not built in the same era.
★ The administration at Vanderbilt has canceled classes only twice, once because of a loose bull on campus.
:Fact: Vanderbilt has canceled classes many times over its history, but not because of a loose bull.
★ There is no bell at the top of Kirkland Hall, just a stereo system that imitates chimes.
:Fact: After Kirkland Hall burned in 1905, Nashville schoolchildren collected money for a new 2,000-pound bell, which still chimes on the hour from Kirkland Tower.
★ The teacher in ''
Dead Poets Society'' is based on Vanderbilt professor John Lachs.
:Fact: The film's screenplay was written by
Tom Schulman, who is a Vanderbilt alumnus, but he based the story on his experiences at
Montgomery Bell Academy, a Nashville area prep school.
Athletics
Main articles: Vanderbilt Commodores
Vanderbilt's basketball teams play in Memorial Gymnasium.
Vanderbilt is a charter member of the
Southeastern Conference and is the conference's only private school. With fewer than 6,400 undergraduates, the school is also the smallest in the conference;
University of Mississippi has nearly twice as many undergraduate students. Vanderbilt therefore fields fewer teams than any of its rivals—only 16—and sometimes lacks the national prominence enjoyed by schools such as the
University of Florida or the
University of Kentucky. Additionally, the school is a member of the
American Lacrosse Conference for
women's lacrosse, as the SEC does not sponsor that sport. Conversely, Vanderbilt is the only league school not to field teams in
softball and
volleyball, but has discussed adding either or both sports in the future.
[38]
Men's and women's
tennis and men's and women's
basketball are traditionally Vanderbilt's strongest sports, with the more recently founded women's
lacrosse and
bowling programs as well as the long-standing men's
baseball program experiencing moderate national success. After enjoying success in the first half of the 20th century, the
football program has struggled in more recent times.
Athletics restructuring
Hawkins Field in June 2007
In September 2003, Vanderbilt earned national attention when it announced that it was eliminating its athletic department. Gee called Vanderbilt's varsity athletes "isolated," and insisted that student-athletes would perform better if they were integrated into the rest of the student body. So rather than administer athletics separately from student life, Gee folded the university's varsity teams into the Office of Student Life, the same group that oversees all student organizations. The university is unique in Division I in this regard.
[39] Despite fears that Vanderbilt would lose coaches and recruits or would be forced out of the SEC, the university has experienced considerable success since the change; 2006–2007 was one of the best in the school's athletic history. At one point, seven of Vanderbilt's 16 teams were ranked in the Top 25 of their respective sports.
[29] Women's bowling won the NCAA championship, bringing the university its first and only team championship since the advent of the NCAA.
[41] The baseball team qualified for the NCAA Super Regionals in 2004, had the nation's top recruiting class in 2005 according to ''
Baseball America'',
[42] made the NCAA field again in 2006, and won the 2007 SEC regular-season and tournament championships. Vanderbilt was ranked first in most polls for a large portion of the 2007 season, and the team secured the top seed in the
2007 NCAA tournament.
[29]
Mascot
Vanderbilt's intercollegiate athletics teams are nicknamed the Commodores, in honor of the nickname given to Cornelius Vanderbilt, who made his fortune in shipping. Students and alumni refer to Vanderbilt athletic teams as "Dores" or use the cheer "Go Dores!"
The term ''
commodore'' was used by the
Navy during the mid- to late-nineteenth century. A commodore was the commanding officer of a task force of ships, and therefore higher in rank than a captain but lower in rank than an admiral. The closest parallel to this now-defunct rank is
rear admiral lower-half. Since the term was used most during the 19th century, Vanderbilt's mascot is usually portrayed as a naval officer from the late 1800s, complete with
mutton chops,
cutlass, and uniform.
Notable faculty and alumni
Main articles: List of Vanderbilt University people
Vanderbilt has approximately 118,000 living alumni, with 31 alumni clubs established worldwide.
7 Many Vanderbilt alumni have gone on to make significant contributions in politics, in the arts, and in the sciences.
Lamar Alexander (
B.A. 1962) is a former
Governor of Tennessee and a current U.S. senator; he filled the seat left vacant by the retirement of
Fred Thompson (J.D.
1971).
[44] Two former
vice presidents,
John Nance Garner and
Al Gore, Jr., attended the university, but did not graduate.
[45][46] However, Gore's wife,
Tipper, is herself an alumna, receiving a
master's degree from Peabody in
1975.
[47] Other alumni who are or have been involved in politics include former
United States Supreme Court Associate Justice
James Clark McReynolds (B.S.
1882); Congressman
Steve Cohen (B.A.
1971);
David Boaz (B.A.
1975), Executive Vice President of the
Cato Institute;
44[48][49] and
John R. Steelman (M.A.
1924), former
White House Chief of Staff.
Given the university's location in Nashville, it is not surprising that many of its alumni become involved in the music industry.
Dinah Shore (B.A.
1938),
Rosanne Cash (B.A.
1979),
Amy Grant (B.A.
1982), and
Dierks Bentley (B.A.
1997) are all alumni.
[50] Shore later went on to star in a variety of films; other Vanderbilt alumni with Hollywood connections include Academy Award-winners
Delbert Mann (B.A.
1941) and
Tom Schulman (B.A.
1972) and actors
Molly Sims (B.S.
1995) and
Joe Bob Briggs (B.A.
1974).
50[51]
In addition, the university has a rich literary and journalistic legacy. Three
U.S. Poet Laureates are Vanderbilt alums:
Allen Tate (B.A.
1922),
Robert Penn Warren (B.A.
1925), and
Randall Jarrell (M.A.
1938). Warren later went on to the win the
Pulitzer Prize. Novelists
James Dickey (B.A.
1949) and
James Patterson (M.A.
1970) also graduated from Vanderbilt.
50 Two well-known sportswriters,
Grantland Rice (B.A.
1901) and
Fred Russell (B.A.
1927), have a scholarship named after them at the university.
51[52] Journalist
David Brinkley attended briefly.
[53]
Two alumni, biochemist
Stanford Moore (B.A.
1935) and economist
Muhammad Yunus (
Ph.D. 1971), have won the
Nobel Prize.
[54][55] Four current or former members of the faculty also share that distinction: biochemist
Stanley Cohen, neuroscientist
Paul Greengard, physiologist
Earl Sutherland, and pioneer molecular biologist
Max Delbruck.
7
References
1. Wright named chief investment officer Jim Patterson
2. The History of Vanderbilt
3. Students
4. National Universities: Top Schools
5. Graduate Schools: Index
6. VU gains ground in competition for federal research dollars David F Salisbury
7. RE:VU: Quick Facts about Vanderbilt
8. Living and learning at Vanderbilt to undergo major transformation Princine Lewis
9. The Rev James Lawson to return as visiting professor Jim Patterson
10. Perry Wallace
11. Confederate Memorial Hall renamed Memorial Hall Vanderbilt University
12. Court ruling supports Vanderbilt decision to change name of building Elizabeth P Latt
13. Appeals court rules on Memorial Hall dispute Vanderbilt University
14. Vanderbilt drops suit over Memorial Hall Vanderbilt University
15. Gee to leave Vanderbilt for Ohio State Ralph Loos
16. WSJ: Vandy Making Sure Gee isn't Puffing Away Millions Walker Duncan
17. History of the Office
18. Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Visitors
19. Class of 2010
20. Vanderbilt University: General Info
21. A true scientific breakthrough: the blue rose David Harrison
22. See article on the Declaration of Helsinki.
23. Scientists Share in Pain Of Experiment Debates Keith Schneider
24. Vanderbilt University Radiation Class Action
25. Education: Special Education
26. National rankings laud Medical, Nursing schools Craig Boerner
27. World University Rankings 2006 John, ed O'Leary
28. A New Standard for Measuring Doctoral Programs Piper Fogg
29.
30. Letter: Greer column fails to mention diversity of campus radio station Kelly Taylor
31. Student Affairs, Record Group 700
32. Honor Quotes
33.
34. Seven Vanderbilt buildings to get 'green' certification Chas Sisk
35. Class of 2009 will not live off campus Christine Brown
36. Administrators should work with students to resolve housing problems Jason Levine
37. Traditions & Lore
38. Success may add teams at Vandy Maurice Patton
39. A Process of Elimination: Vanderbilt has found greater sports success since losing its athletics department Mark Bechtel
40.
41. Vanderbilt Bowlers Make History
42. Vandy Recruits Stay For Top Recruiting Class
43.
44. Notable Alumni: Politics/Government
45. Garner, John Nance
46. Al's Bio
47. White House Biography
48. Biography of Congressman Steve Cohen
49. Presidential Scholars 1971
50. Notable Alumni: Arts & Entertainment
51. Notable Alumni: Media
52. Merit-based Aid
53. David Brinkley, Elder Statesman of TV News, Dies at 82 Richard Severo
54. Notable Alumni: Science/Medicine
55. Notable Alumni: Philanthropy/Social Activism
See also
★
Cornelius Vanderbilt
★
Holland McTyeire
★
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
★
Vanderbilt Commodores
★
Southern Ivy
External links
★
Vanderbilt University homepage
★
Vanderbilt University Office of Undergraduate Admissions homepage
★
Vanderbilt University Athletics homepage
★
Vanderbilt University Alumni homepage
★
Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities at Vanderbilt University
★
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
★
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
★
Vanderbilt Children's Hospital
★
Panoramic photograph of Vanderbilt published in 1909
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