New Name and New Home for Office of Religious Life
To reflect its dual missions of ministry and oversight of spiritual life on campus, the Office of Religious Life has been renamed Office of University Chaplain and Religious Life. The Reverend Mark Forrester, for many years an affiliated minister at Vanderbilt, has been appointed University Chaplain.
In addition, OUCRL has moved into spacious quarters at 401 24th Avenue South on the corner of its intersection with Kirkland Place, tucked between Branscomb Quadrangle and McTyeire International house. The building previously served as Chancellor’s residence, Undergraduate Admissions, and most recently, the Community Partnership House.
Click here to see more images of our new space, and a pair of historic photos of the building.
The new office is more centrally located than was its previous space, and provides easier access for students, faculty, and staff. The new space enables University Chaplain staff and its office mates The Tennessee Holocaust Commission, Presbyterian Student Fellowship, Reformed University Fellowship, and Chabad Jewish Student Center, to be joined by the affiliated Catholic Chaplain.
The building features a large conference room, library, and a new lobby and reception area where visitors enter the front door. The Fireside Lounge is a space where students and groups can meet, host receptions, and watch television. There is also a work space for students, which houses a computer for student use.
Adjacent to the building is a spacious, shaded patio with outdoor tables and chairs. Behind the building is the Annex, which hosts Muslim prayers daily for practitioners of Islam from across the Vanderbilt Community.
On August 22nd, OUCRL will host an open house and cook out to demonstrate the potential of the new space (additional details in future DOS News). OUCRL expects the space to become a welcoming “home away from home,” a comfortable place to relax, study, read, hang out, meet, discuss and engage one another or our various Chaplains and staff, and a place for respite and relaxation on Vanderbilt’s busy campus.