When most people think of jazz music, a few words come to mind. There’s improvisation: an extemporaneous process to create, innovate and discover … to grow from the present into the new. Another might be ensemble, as in to bring together a group of many who act as one.
Is it any surprise, then, that jazz is an area in which Vanderbilt excels? And what does it mean to excel? To surpass, outperform, rise above—to achieve more.
Excellence is the first principle set forth in the updated Code of Bylaws approved at the start of this academic year by Vanderbilt’s Board of Trust. Along with our other two guiding principles—academic freedom and free expression, and growth and development—excellence drives our core purpose: to provide transformative education and pathbreaking research. It is our foremost commitment and our steadfast promise in all that we do.
You could even say it’s who we are. The quality of working together to achieve more—and then even more—is inherent to our community. It is so much a part of our nature that to exceed expectations is the Vanderbilt norm.
It’s a theme that pervades every page of this issue. Like the vision of our alumni at Blue Origin who are working together to make space travel routine, the extraordinary is Vanderbilt’s aspiration. We like to set our goals high, break right through them and keep going. When our Dare to Grow philanthropic campaign broke its ambitious initial fundraising goal of $3.2 billion many months ahead of schedule, our only question was “How high will we go now?”
Breaking our own records is also the standard among our Commodore student-athletes and coaches. When the evolving landscape of college athletics poses new challenges, we evolve right along with it. They challenge and support one another as they become ever better—and as their historic victories and top rankings rise, they unite our entire community along the way.
And while unity may not be a common experience in society today, initiatives like Dialogue Vanderbilt and The Future of Free Speech are doing the work to help make it so. Last year, we held our highly successful inaugural Global Free Speech Summit, and this issue’s interview with Jacob Mchangama explains how our second summit will do even more to restore the civil discourse that is urgently needed in these polarized times. And as the interview with Major Jackson advises, reading poetry has the great power to break down barriers and foster understanding too. In other words, it is yet another way to dare to grow—and if you’re new to it, his expertise will help you take it on.
Much like an improvisational jazz ensemble, the Vanderbilt community explores new territory, together. And in a time when uncertainties for universities abound, Vanderbilt’s dare to grow era is as limitless as the potential of our every performance—and it extends with every new thing we create.
From our plans for new campuses in West Palm Beach and New York City, to establishing our College of Connected Computing, to our Institute of National Security—our remarkable momentum shows no signs of stopping. Indeed, true to Vanderbilt form, it will only grow more.
—DANIEL DIERMEIER, CHANCELLOR
