The undergraduate experience at Vanderbilt University is undergoing its most significant transformation with its new campus within a campus for first-year students, The Commons, opening Saturday, Aug. 16.
Chemistry professors aren’t the only ones trying to perfect formulas on college campuses. Faculty and student life officials are increasingly working together to achieve the right mix of intellectual and social life for student success. About nine years ago, Vanderbilt faculty, students and university administrators began asking themselves how best to strike this balance and their answer was a new living-learning environment dubbed The Commons.
First-year students entering Vanderbilt this fall will no longer live in residence halls located on three different parts of campus, but together in a campus community where they will live among 10 faculty and the dean of The Commons.
The idea is that a living-learning community will make students more successful earlier in their college careers. It eases the transition to university life by fostering closer ties among students and enriches the intellectual life of both students and faculty by extending learning outside the classroom.
"Vanderbilt in so many ways is already a great place for undergraduates, and The Commons is the answer to the question of ‘How do we improve on a proven recipe for success?’ Our graduates accomplish amazing things, and our faculty are top researchers and excellent teachers; however, we wanted to challenge ourselves to define a new model of residential education for the 21st century, one that educates the whole student," Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos said.
In 1999, Zeppos, then an associate provost, chaired the original committee of faculty, staff and students that began exploring the idea of bringing this form of residential education to Vanderbilt. The concept was incorporated as a significant philanthropic priority of the university’s ongoing Shape the Future campaign, and The Commons was built with a combination of university investment and philanthropy.
As universities become more selective they are working harder to be sure students are engaged academically and socially, which research has shown results in higher retention rates and better overall satisfaction with the undergraduate experience. Vanderbilt is taking the lead in this national discussion by seeking new ways of educating students intellectually, ethically, socially and psychologically.
Vanderbilt incorporated considerable student input during the planning stages for The Commons – from reviewing surveys showing that students wanted more faculty interaction to getting their feedback about everything from the location of laundry rooms to the contents of curriculum and the appointments of the dean and faculty in residence.
In The Commons, students will live within 10 residence halls known as "houses," which will be led by a faculty member who will live in an apartment in each house. The dean of The Commons will also live there with his family in a separate residence. Among the families living on campus, twins seem to be a theme, with one faculty member and his wife moving in with infant twins and the dean’s teenage twin daughters also taking up residence there.
Each house will feature student-driven programming designed to promote intellectual exchange and leadership development. The dean’s house and faculty apartments are expected to be centers of activity for students two to three times a week – whether it’s hearing from an author, watching the Final Four or tuning in for election night results.
"We might have a major speaker come to campus and have dinner with students at the dean’s residence, or invite distinguished physicians from our medical center over to an apartment to chat informally about how they became doctors – and we definitely will watch Vanderbilt sports teams on TV at my house," Frank Wcislo, dean of The Commons, said.
In addition to the faculty living in The Commons, more than 90 faculty have signed on to lead Vanderbilt Visions, a semester-long university core program introducing first-year students to the university, and still another 50 faculty have committed to be Faculty Associates by having dinner regularly with students at The Commons Center, the new dining hall which also includes meeting space and a fitness facility. The participating faculty members represent the university’s varied disciplines at the undergraduate level and the business, law, divinity, nursing and medical schools.
For more information about The Commons, visit http://commons.vanderbilt.edu/.
Media Contact: Princine Lewis, (615) 322-NEWS
princine.lewis@vanderbilt.edu