Affiliated Chaplains

A staff of chaplains represents several faiths on campus including Baptist, Episcopal, Jewish (Chabad & Hillel), Presbyterian, Reformed University Fellowship, Catholic, and United Methodist. Each chaplain or director provides worship opportunities, counseling, study, action, retreats, and fellowship for his/her constituency. Together the staff of chaplains cooperates with the Office of Religious Life in offering programs of ecumenical and interfaith interest to the Vanderbilt community.

Affiliated Chaplains and Directors

Father John Sims Baker

University Catholic Chaplain
E-Mail

University Catholic exists to glorify God primarily by serving the sacramental and spiritual needs of the Catholic students of the university.  In fulfilling this end, the traditions of the Church in worship, spirituality, and the intellectual life are the sources.  Fr. John Sims Baker, a priest of the Diocese of Nashville, is the chaplain, who coordinates the spiritual activities and serves the Catholic student organization.

Rev. William S. Croft

Reformed University Fellowship
E-Mail

Stacey is a Texan who moved to Nashville from Jackson, Mississippi, where he received his degree from Reformed Theological Seminary. It was during his time in undergrad at Baylor University when Stacey and his wife Megan met on a blind date. After graduation he was the youth director at Christ the King Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Houston for two years. Stacey went on to be the youth director at Park Cities Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Dallas before moving to Jackson to finish seminary. Ministering to college students has been a love for Stacey and Megan for quite some time. They are thankful to be on the campus of Vanderbilt doing what the Lord has truly called them to do.

Check out RUF’s page on Facebook!

Ari Dubin, M.A.

Executive Director, Ben Schulman Center for Jewish Life
Vanderbilt Hillel
E-Mail

The Ben Schulman Center for Jewish Life on campus is a vibrant community that provides many opportunities for Jewish experience – spiritual, intellectual, social, communal. We are committed to the diversity of religious expression within Judaism, and we embrace and seek interfaith understanding among the many traditions represented at Vanderbilt.

See Ari’s Facebook Page.

 

Nancy Hawthorne

Interim United Methodist Campus Minister
E-Mail

Nancy is the interim minister for the United Methodist/Wesley side of Wesley/Canterbury Fellowship.  She is a certified candidate for ordained ministry in the UMC and is in her last year of course work for a Masters of Divinity at Vanderbilt Divinity School.  Through the Cal Turner Jr. Fellowship program, Nancy is also a pastoral intern at West End UMC.  She received her BA in music, with an emphasis in Ethnomusicology, from Florida State University and one of her deepest passions is to share and experience music with people from all nations and walks of life.  She also likes to bake and eat cupcakes, play ultimate frisbee, be outside near a body of water, and laugh.

Alan Bancroft

Presbyterian Campus Minister
E-Mail

Check out PSF’s Facebook Page!

Presbyterian Student Fellowship (PSF) is a ministry of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and has been an active part of the Vanderbilt Community for over eighty years. Realizing that we all have questions about our faith in God, we invite you to come and explore your faith with us as we worship, learn, grow, serve, hang out and have fun together.  This year’s theme is ROOTED. Come join us on Tuesdays at 6:00 for worship in St. Augustine’s Chapel.  Immediately following worship (7:00) is a FREE home-cooked meal, provided by a local church.  Hope to see you at PSF!

Rabbi Shlomo Rothstein

Campus Chabad Chaplain
E-Mail
Facebook Page!
Chabad representative to Vanderbilt University, Rabbi Shlomo and his wife Nechama Rothstein, with their son, Menachem Mendel.

Rabbi Rothstein was raised in Baltimore, MD, the oldest of eight children. He traveled the world for school, living in Chicago, Montreal, Melbourne, and New York before landing in Tennessee.

The Chabad Jewish Student Center at Vanderbilt University is based on the ideology of Chabad and fueled by the inspiration and teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, which have at their foundation the encompassing mitzvah “to love every Jew as one loves himself” and the mandate to concretize that love with Acts of Kindness and Mitzvahs. It’s our belief that every individual Jew has an indispensable contribution to make to the totality of the Jewish people. Chabad welcomes all Jews at their own pace and comfort level through innovative educational programs in all areas of Jewish life.

Becca Stevens, M.Div.

University Episcopal Chaplain
E-Mail

St. Augustine’s Chapel on the Vanderbilt Campus is a vibrant and hard working community of people that consists of students, faculty, and staff as well as about 200 people from the greater Nashville Community. We provide opportunities for worship, fellowship, learning and outreach to anyone who is interested.

Thistle Farms

Thom Thornton

Baptist Campus Chaplain
BaptistCollegiateMinistry
E-Mail

Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) exists to help students and the university community know God through Bible study, worship and discipleship and to make God known through fellowship, community ministry, outreach and missions. Come join us on Thursday nights at 8:15 at the BCM for our weekly worship/Bible study or just stop by the building. Our doors are always open to you. Grace and peace.

Check out BCM’s page on Facebook.