Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was established through a gift from Cornelius Vanderbilt and named in his honor. The university offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs across disciplines including arts and science, engineering, education, law, medicine, nursing, business, and public policy. Vanderbilt is organized into multiple schools and colleges and maintains close ties with Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Its campus is situated near downtown Nashville and includes arboretum-designated grounds. Students are drawn to Vanderbilt University for its combination of research activity, professional education, residential campus experience, and its location in a major cultural and economic center of the Southeast.

Vanderbilt University was founded in 1873 in Nashville, Tennessee, after shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt donated $1 million to establish a university in the post–Civil War South. The institution was initially chartered as Central University and soon renamed in Vanderbilt’s honor. Holland Nimmons McTyeire served as the university’s first president, and Landon Garland became its first chancellor in 1875. During its early decades, Vanderbilt University was affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, until a 1914 Tennessee Supreme Court decision formally established its independence. Under Chancellor James H. Kirkland, who served from 1893 to 1937, the university expanded academically and physically. Over the twentieth century, Vanderbilt University developed graduate and professional schools, strengthened research activity, and integrated its student body. In 2023, the university marked its sesquicentennial, reflecting on 150 years of institutional growth and transformation.