In 2025, Vanderbilt marked the 150th anniversary of its opening with vibrant, campus-wide Sesquicentennial celebrations that reflected the university’s enduring values and forward-looking spirit. Throughout the fall, students, faculty, staff, alumni and neighbors came together for conversations and performances, traditions and tributes—all honoring Vanderbilt’s past while embracing the promise of its next century and beyond.
SESQUICENTENNIAL CEREMONY AND CELEBRATION
An audience made up of the Board of Trust, Vanderbilt leadership, deans, faculty, staff and students gathered on the afternoon of Oct. 3 as Sen. Lamar Alexander, BA’62, took to the podium. Alexander brought the audience back to his time at Vanderbilt, tracing the university’s history over his work with six of its nine chancellors. He recounted the tumultuous battle over desegregation that included a young Rev. James Lawson and then-Chancellor Bennett Harvie Branscomb. After faculty resignations and a heated campus debate, the Vanderbilt Board of Trust voted to admit all qualified students without regard to race or creed in the spring of 1962.
After Alexander’s remarks, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell took the stage and reflected on the city’s enduring relationship with the university, working together to accomplish major projects. “One hundred and fifty years in, I’m excited to join you on this campus—an arboretum within itself—that bridges ivory towers to city halls and links the city through cross-sector collaboration,” O’Connell said.
Chancellor Daniel Diermeier concluded the ceremony with a few words on the symbolic nature of the university’s founding as an institution that would strengthen ties across the country on the very land that a Union army line of fortification had cut through during the Civil War. “Now, as then, our university is a source of hope and possibility in tumultuous times, with its greatest triumphs ahead,” Diermeier said. “So today we recommit: To honoring our founders’ vision. To living by our enduring values. And to rising to meet our own moment in history, whatever it asks of us.”
The ceremony concluded with a performance of the Alma Mater by Riley Eddins, BMus’25, and the celebratory rain of black and gold streamers from cannons to the sounds of the Spirit of Gold marching band. Guests in attendance enjoyed a complimentary lunch from various food trucks gathered at the event.
VANDERBILT v. ALABAMA
Continuing the festivities in October, the Vanderbilt Programming Board hosted a Movie Night under the Alumni Lawn tent, followed by a watch party as the Dores took on SEC rival University of Alabama.
STRENGTHENING TIES: VANDERBILT @ 150
Brandi Carlile’s soulful vocals washed over the crowd of nearly 2,000 concert attendees on Nov. 9 at The Pinnacle during “Strengthening Ties: Vanderbilt @ 150.”
Backed by duo Chauntee and Monique Ross of SistaStrings, the Grammy Award–winning Carlile followed a fiery performance by fellow Grammy Award winners Alabama Shakes, whose set opened an evening that honored the Sesquicentennial spirit of coming together as One Vanderbilt community.
The concert honored the power of music as a unifying force to bridge divides, a tenet the university strives to uphold through respect for alternative views and voices and open dialogue. All the proceeds from the evening benefited the Nashville Urban Debate League, a nonprofit dedicated to providing opportunities for high school students in the Metro Nashville Public Schools to participate in competitive, research-based policy debate.
TURKEY TOSS
Vanderbilt University concluded its Sesquicentennial celebrations by showing gratitude to more than 2,000 staff, faculty and postdoctoral scholars on Dec. 16 with its annual Turkey Toss extravaganza. The 12-hour employee appreciation event in and around Carmichael College featured snacks, an outdoor s’mores station, crafts, fun photo ops, branded scarves, a Turkey Toss–themed pin drop and more. Diermeier came out to help distribute turkeys, along with more than 80 staff members who volunteered to work the event.
