Initiatives

Enhanced Financial Aid

Vanderbilt has committed to replace all need-based student loans with grant and scholarship assistance while continuing to fully meet the demonstrated need of its undergraduates. The funding for the ambitious initiative is being raised through institutional reallocations and $100 million in new scholarship endowment over the next several years. The move strengthens the policy of admitting students based on talents and ability without regard for ability to pay.

College Halls at Vanderbilt

College Halls at Vanderbilt is a transformation of the undergraduate student experience. The program has begun with first-year students, who live at The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons at Vanderbilt, the first phase of College Halls. Select faculty are living in apartments among students and participating in student-driven programming. The Ingram Commons represents a $150 million investment and further construction is being planned to transform the rest of the campus through this concept.

Graduate Education

Substantial resources are being devoted to the growth of graduate education at Vanderbilt. The tradition dates back to 1879, when the university issued its first M.A. degrees in English, Greek and Latin, and its first Ph.D. (in chemistry). The connection between research and graduate education is strong at Vanderbilt, which is on a short list of U.S. universities to rank among the top 25 on both the U.S. News & World Report list of national universities and grant and contract awards for science and engineering research and development from the U.S. government.

International Education

Individual and institutional connections are increasingly important to Vanderbilt, which established the Vanderbilt International Office in 2006. The university is aggressively working to recruit international students; develop international research collaborations and exchanges; facilitate connections between schools, departments, and offices to promote internationalization; identify funding opportunities for international research; assist in the coordination of visiting delegations; and integrate international experiences into Vanderbilt curricula.

Research

Over the last five years, federal and corporate support for research at Vanderbilt has grown significantly despite a challenging national research funding environment. Internally, the university supports faculty research through initiatives such as the IDEAS (Innovation and Discovery in Engineering And Science) Program, the Research Scholars Grant Program and the Discovery Grant Program, enabling Vanderbilt researchers to pursue pioneering research and encouraging interdisciplinary endeavors. Vanderbilt is committed to supporting researchers who ask questions, explore solutions, and develop life-changing cures and innovations that advance our collective wisdom and transform the world.

Energy & Environment

The conservation of the environment and energy are the focus of a number of campaigns at the university. The Think One energy conservation education campaign educates the Vanderbilt community about individual actions each person can take to help reduce power usage. Recycling of paper, plastic and aluminum is widely available in buildings throughout campus, and containers have been provided for the first time this year at commencement and athletics events. Campus Planning is committed to green building efforts and plans are currently underway to refit some older buildings on campus to make them greener. In addition to offering free rides to work on MTA buses and discounted tickets on the commuter railway, a special matching software program enables Vanderbilt employees to find carpool and vanpool ride matches.