VANDERBILT

Landon C. Garland served as Vanderbilt’s first chancellor from 1875 – 1893. Under Garland’s plan, Vanderbilt had four departments (schools in the present sense): Biblical; Literature; Science and Philosophy; Law and Medical.

Kate Lupton Wilkinson received her diploma in private in 1879, silently breaking the gender barrier as she became the first woman to graduate from Vanderbilt.

From 1892 – 1901, women legally gained access to campus except for the dorms. In 1894, the faculty and board allowed women to compete for academic prizes. By 1897, four-five women entered with each freshman class.

The bronze statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt by Italian sculptor Giuseppe Moretti was first displayed near the Parthenon replica in what is now Centennial Park during the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. When the Exposition closed that fall, the statue was installed on campus and currently stands in front of Kirkland Hall.

On April 20, 1905, fire broke out in Old Main, the heart and soul of Vanderbilt life. Throughout the afternoon, while the fire raged, students made every effort to save books by throwing them out the window. Their efforts resulted in saving 4,000 books. The Vanderbilt community persevered and created makeshift classrooms across the campus until permanent classrooms were repaired.

For the first 40 years of its existence, Vanderbilt was under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The Vanderbilt Board of Trust severed its ties with the church in June 1914 as a result of a dispute with the bishops over who would appoint university trustees.

Tracing their origins back to 1879, the Vanderbilt Schools of Dentistry and Pharmacy permanently closed in the 1920s from a lack of enrollment following World War I.

Vanderbilt celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1925 through ceremonies, meetings and lectures, and the dedication of the new Medical School and Hospital.

Vanderbilt modernized its graduate studies in 1935 by establishing a separate Graduate School with its own dean. Oliver C. Carmichael served as the first dean of the Graduate School.

The construction of Memorial Gym began in 1950 and the dedication game was played on Dec. 6, 1952, against the University of Virginia — a 90-83 victory for the Commodores. Originally designed to hold 6,583 spectators, the gym has since undergone multiple expansions and has more than doubled its seating capacity to 14,316. The unique design of the building creates a unique home-court advantage for the men’s and women’s basketball teams known as Memorial Magic.

Alexander Heard served as the fifth chancellor from 1963 – 1982. Heard successfully led a historic campaign which raised $180 million. When Heard joined Vanderbilt in 1963, he had inherited seven schools; by the end of his tenure as chancellor in 1982, Vanderbilt’s current complement of ten schools was in place. A lifelong proponent of free speech, Chancellor Heard believed that “the university’s obligation is not to protect students from ideas, but rather to expose them to ideas, and to help make them capable of handling and, hopefully, having ideas.”

Vanderbilt celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1973. The centennial celebration lasted two and half years featuring ceremonies, exhibits, and the planting of the Centennial oak.

Established in the 1960s, the Blair School of Music merged with Vanderbilt University in the 1980s. The Board of Trust authorized the development of Blair to the status of a degree-granting school of the university and the first class of Bachelor of Music students matriculate.

The history of the arboretum can be traced back to the university’s founding. Shortly after the university’s founding, Bishop Holland McTyeire carried out one of the largest tree planting campaigns planting over 200 trees in a one month period. By the 1890s, the campus was an island of trees surrounded by flat agricultural fields. In 1989, Vanderbilt was granted official arboretum status by the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta. Today, the arboretum boasts 190 species of trees and shrubs.

Martha Rivers Ingram chaired the Vanderbilt Board of Trust from 1999 – 2011. As Vanderbilt’s first female Board Chair, Mrs. Ingram was responsible for the establishment of the Residential College system at Vanderbilt and an instrumental figure in the launch of Opportunity Vanderbilt, furthering the university’s commitment to equitable and affordable education.

Vanderbilt University and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center separated legally and financially. Overseen by the Board of Trust, the separation was a strategic and prescient decision where both institutions continue to realize growth and success.

The upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to opportunities to step up, such as the Vanderbilt’s Vaccine Center playing an instrumental role in developing the AstraZeneca vaccine and the rapid creation of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s COVID-19 unit.

Launched in 2021, Vandy United is the largest undertaking of its kind in school history and represents a bold step for Vanderbilt Athletics. A $300 million investment in student athletes and athletics programs, the Vandy United Fund will support major facilities and operational enhancements.

In April 2023, Vanderbilt launched the $3.2 billion Dare to Grow campaign — the most ambitious fundraising initiative in its history. The Dare to Grow campaign, including Vandy United, will power the university’s most exciting and essential work to date. The campaign embodies three essential pathways for giving: Destination Vanderbilt, Discovery Vanderbilt, and One Vanderbilt.