{"id":8856,"date":"2013-04-19T22:00:04","date_gmt":"2013-04-20T02:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=8856"},"modified":"2024-12-04T17:50:55","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T22:50:55","slug":"visit-vanderbilt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=8856","title":{"rendered":"Visit Vanderbilt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"19\"<\/a>Linda Burton posting from Nashville, Tennessee <\/i>\u2013 \u201cYour trip to Nashville is not complete until you visit Vanderbilt.\u201d That\u2019s what it says in their brochure. No kidding, the loveliest bit of tourist info I have in my stack of \u201cthings to do in Nashville\u201d is from Vanderbilt University. You expect bastions of learning to focus on enticements to attract new students, or new donors, and research institutions to tout their contributions to the world and their ranking in the research dollars they pull in every year. You expect institutions with high-profile sports programs \u2013 especially money-makers football and basketball \u2013 to brag and strut. But I\u2019ve never yet come across an institution of learning that invites you to come to its campus simply because it offers so much for a visitor to experience. \u201cVanderbilt is more than a world-class university. It is a playground for the senses, open to anyone with a curious heart and mind and an appreciation for beauty and vibrancy.\u201d That\u2019s downright poetic! The visitor brochure I have in hand unfolds to a 9 x 24-inch display; a matte finish pleasing to the eye; photos show students in various settings: walking beneath sunlit golden trees, studying beside a peaceful fountain; \"19<\/a>cheering a ball game, shopping at the bookstore, playing violin. There are pictures of a historic building, a classroom, a reception hall, the dining room. But even more critical to an actual visit is the information panel \u2013the address and a map; the website and a phone number. It advises where to park, and which building to visit first. Go to Kirkland Hall; the university receptionist can answer questions and talk to you about touring the campus. Vanderbilt wants me to visit, I\u2019m convinced. <\/p>\n

\"19<\/a>Vanderbilt is an urban campus, occupying 330 acres between two main downtown streets \u2013 West End Avenue and 21st<\/sup> Avenue. It\u2019s been around since 1873, when \u201cCommodore\u201d Cornelius Vanderbilt donated a million dollars to help create a university that would \u201cstrengthen the ties that should exist between all sections of our common country\u201d after the Civil War. Today there are about 23,000 students, faculty, staff, patients, and visitors on any given day; they come from every state and countries all around the world. Commodore Vanderbilt, a New Yorker, never saw the University that eventually was named for him; it was one of only two philanthropic causes he supported in his advancing age. I continued reading the elegant brochure, deciding what I\u2019d like to see.<\/p>\n

\"19<\/a>Art. The Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery showcases pieces from the Vanderbilt Collection; European Old Master paintings, modern American prints, and African, Oceanic, and pre-Columbian works. The Sarratt Gallery in the Student Center has works by emerging regional and national artists. Ben Shahn has a mosaic mural here; and there is Dale Chihuly glass.<\/p>\n

Arboretum. The entire campus is a registered arboretum; there are 6,000 trees, including an oak certified to have been growing on the site since before the Revolutionary War.<\/p>\n

Dining. Eat at the Overcup Oak in the Student Center, or eat at Grins, Nashville\u2019s only kosher vegetarian restaurant. There\u2019s a caf\u00e9 in the Peabody Library, the Commons Center, and the Medical Center terrace.<\/p>\n

\"19<\/a>Historic. The Vaughn Home was built as a faculty residence in 1875; it\u2019s now the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities. Old Central is the only building on campus that predates the University; it was built in 1859 as a private residence and stands in a grove of Vanderbilt\u2019s oldest trees with Victorian-style Benson Science Hall. The West Side Row cottages were Vanderbilt\u2019s first student residences; the Old Gym, built in 1889, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Kirkland Hall was constructed in 1905 and features a classic clock tower.<\/p>\n

Performing Arts. Live performances, artists from around the world, homegrown talent from the Blair School of Music and the theatre and dance programs. They\u2019ve thoughtfully provided an online calendar of events. http:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/vuarts\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Shopping. The Barnes & Noble at 25th<\/sup> and West End carries the typical Barnes & Noble stuff, plus books by Vanderbilt faculty and Vanderbilt apparel. The gift shop in the Monroe Carrell Jr Children\u2019s Hospital sells unique gifts and quality toys.<\/p>\n

\"19<\/a>Sports. Vanderbilt is a member of the Southeastern Conference; the Commodore teams compete in baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, soccer, tennis, and track and field. \u201cSEC sporting events are wonderful family outings,\u201d states the brochure.<\/p>\n

Worship. Religious services for people of all faiths; quiet places for prayer and meditation. There\u2019s the Rhea Chapel in the lobby of Vanderbilt Hospital \"19<\/a>and a chapel at Monroe Carrell Jr Children\u2019s Hospital; St Augustine\u2019s Episcopal Chapel on 24th<\/sup> Ave S; the Schulman Center for Jewish Life, Benton Chapel, and All Faith Chapel in the Divinity Quadrangle.<\/p>\n

Vanderbilt was the first university in Tennessee to be recognized for environmentally friendly construction by LEED; the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons is one of the largest collections of LEED certified buildings in the southeast. The Green Screen kiosk in the Commons Center explains the building\u2019s \u201cgreen\u201d features; at Buttrick Hall old biology labs were transformed into bright classrooms and office space with a beautiful atrium, a great example of adaptive reuse.<\/p>\n

\"19<\/a>An urban campus sounds like a great place to be on a warm spring day; the dogwood has just started to bloom; what a sight to see on beautiful campus grounds and city parks. Vanderbilt sits between Centennial Park with its famous replica of the Parthenon, and the blocks and blocks that make \"19<\/a>up Music Row, but Vanderbilt isn\u2019t the only campus in town. Tennessee State University has a huge campus near the river west of Centennial State Park and the state capitol; Fisk University is there too. My map shows Belmont University south of Vanderbilt, Trevecca Nazarene University to the east, and Aquinas College to the west.<\/p>\n

Lucky Nashville, you have great treasures here!<\/p>\n

About Vanderbilt University. Private, research university, http:\/\/www.vanderbilt.edu\/<\/a><\/p>\n

About Tennessee State University. Public, land-grant school, http:\/\/www.tnstate.edu\/<\/a><\/p>\n

About Fisk University. Private, liberal arts, http:\/\/www.fisk.edu\/<\/a><\/p>\n

About Belmont University. Private, liberal arts, http:\/\/www.belmont.edu\/<\/a><\/p>\n

About Trevecca Nazarene University. Private, Christian liberal arts, http:\/\/www.trevecca.edu\/<\/a><\/p>\n

About Aquinas College. Catholic, two and four-year programs, http:\/\/www.aquinascollege.edu\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"19<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linda Burton posting from Nashville, Tennessee \u2013 \u201cYour trip to Nashville is not complete until you visit Vanderbilt.\u201d That\u2019s what it says in their brochure. No kidding, the loveliest bit of tourist info I have in my stack of \u201cthings to do in Nashville\u201d is from Vanderbilt University. You expect bastions of learning to focus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4587,1721],"tags":[2265,2267,2260,2262,2263,3086,2234,2264,2266,2261],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8856"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8856"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8859,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8856\/revisions\/8859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}