Nashville And Community

On a Sunday afternoon in a neighborhood studio, students and neighbors lean over fabric squares, trading stories as they stitch. Across town, a campus dining team loads trays for a local shelter while student-athletes set out donation boxes. These moments offer a glimpse of how our campus community steps beyond the university’s boundaries to serve alongside our Nashville neighbors. Read More

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Vanderbilt invites the community to a new season of discovery, connection and fun with a dynamic lineup of winter courses and programs to keep your mind active and your spirit warm.  Whether you’re diving into science, literature or music, or exploring global perspectives through courses on Japan, Sicily and the Abrahamic faiths, you’ll find something to spark your curiosity. This winter also features returning favorites like Tai Chi and Gentle Yoga, new opportunities to learn Mahjong, and creative arts offerings from landscape painting to the always-popular Steel Drum Band and Chorale.  Read More

Vanderbilt hosted the 11th annual Blue Ribbon Teacher Awards in collaboration with the Nashville Public Education Foundation on Oct. 30. Twenty-five Metro Nashville Public Schools educators—including several Peabody College alumni—were recognized for excellence in student success, opportunity, instruction and leadership. Honorees received a $2,000 cash prize, professional headshots, a trophy and two round-trip Southwest Airlines vouchers. Read More

What connects Vanderbilt with the city it calls home? For students, faculty, staff and neighbors alike, it begins with working together toward a shared purpose and developing community partnerships. Vanderbilt has launched Vanderbilt in the Nashville Community, a new webpage highlighting the university’s collaborations and offering a starting point for engagement. The page offers resources, stories and tools that make Vanderbilt’s community work visible and accessible to all. Read More

Collaboration, community and love for the written word were celebrated at the 2025 Southern Festival of Books, presented by Vanderbilt University in partnership with Humanities Tennessee Oct. 18–19 in downtown Nashville. The free event, the 37th in festival history, brought hundreds of prominent national authors together in dialogue with fellow writers, readers and thousands of Middle Tennesseans. It also marked the first year of an expanded partnership between the festival and Vanderbilt, evidence of the university’s deepening investment in the cultural fabric of the region. Read More

When John Warren is seeking inspiration, he walks and observes. Wandering the streets of Nashville with a 16mm Bolex film camera, the lecturer in art is constantly on the hunt for his next project. Warren filmed on and off for seven years, with many of his shots taking place from 2017-2018. The resulting project is a 16mm experimental film loop called Future Tense that is currently featured in a Frist Art Museum exhibit, Avenues to a Great City, running now through December 14. Read More

With just a few clicks, Vanderbilt students, faculty and staff can connect with volunteer opportunities across Nashville, thanks to the university’s new Get Connected platform.  Read More

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Vanderbilt is offering an inspiring lineup of fall courses and activities that reflect the spirit of lifelong learning and connection. Whether you’re diving into science, literature, music or exploring global perspectives through the highly requested new course on India, you’ll find something to spark your curiosity.  Read More

The Division of Government and Community Relations has announced the opening of applications for the Community Engagement Collaboration Fund. The fund aims to foster capacity for deeper collaboration among university partners and local community organizations.   Read More

“Stitched Stories: A Children’s Literature and Quilting Journey” took place over six weeks and brought upper-elementary students together with members of the Zuri Quilting Circle, a collective of local Black women quilters who use fabric to tell stories about their lives and traditions. The students read and discussed four picture books about quilting before designing their own quilts and learning hands-on techniques to assemble and sew them. Read More

Nashville is a city bustling with activity during the sweltering summer months. From cultural celebrations to arts exhibitions to live dance and music offerings, there is something in store for everyone. Vanderbilt University is proud to support numerous nonprofit and community organizations that provide activities and events throughout the season. Read More

“Creating cuisines is about building community through agriculture and bridging the local with the global,” said Ted Fischer, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Anthropology, during the opening session of “Food for Thought”—a free program presented by Vanderbilt University and the Frist Art Museum. This series brings together Vanderbilt faculty, Frist curators and local leaders to explore cultural and societal issues through art. The Spring 2025 season focused on two Frist exhibitions: Farm to Table: Art, Food, and Identity in the Age of Impressionism and Tennessee Harvest. Read More

On April 8, the alliance held an event at the Student Life Center focused on building our city’s local technology workforce: “Tech Talent at Scale: World-Class Expertise for Upskilling Nashville’s Workforce.” With discussions on strengthening Nashville’s tech talent pipeline and insights from distinguished experts and industry leaders, this event identified novel collaborative solutions to help bring higher-paying jobs to more Nashvillians and to position the region as a premier center for innovation. Read More

From garden tours to musical bingo, spring in Nashville is full of opportunities to come together. Vanderbilt University is proud to partner with local nonprofits and cultural organizations to offer events that welcome students, faculty, staff—and the broader Nashville community. Read More

Vanderbilt University’s Division of Government and Community Relations, in partnership with the Office of Data and Strategic Analytics, has released the FY 2024 District Impact Report—an interactive dashboard that illustrates the university’s contributions to each of Tennessee’s nine congressional districts, 99 state House districts and 33 state Senate districts.  Read More

Eighteen months since taking office, Mayor Freddie O’Connell continues to enjoy broad public approval. The 2025 Vanderbilt Poll–Nashville found his favorability among Nashville residents at 67 percent—a very high level of approval for any elected politician that underscores the success of his first year and a half in office. O’Connell’s positive assessment aligns with the emerging consensus that Nashville is headed in a better direction than it was a few years ago.  Read More

Summer is just around the corner, and Vanderbilt University is offering a wide-ranging variety of summer camps and programs for kids. From athletics to academics and arts, there is something for everyone to enjoy and learn—all within Vanderbilt's supportive and enriching environment.  Read More

From the meditative practice of Tai Chi, to the exploration of the iconic movies that shaped the boomer generation, to the creative art of watercolor painting, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Vanderbilt is offering an exciting lineup of spring courses to invite the 50-plus community to rediscover the joy of learning.  Read More

Nearly 100 community members gathered outside of MLK Academic Magnet School, formerly Pearl High School, to celebrate Ridley’s legacy. Funded by Vanderbilt Athletics, the Metro Historical Commission marker was the latest expression of Vanderbilt’s support for the North Nashville neighborhood around Pearl High. Alumni Perry Wallace and Walter Murray, valedictorian and salutatorian of the segregated high school’s class of 1966, went on to have pioneering careers as students at Vanderbilt. Read More

What does a better-connected Nashville look like? For Vanderbilt University, it means a campus that is seamlessly linked to the city through frequent, reliable public transit, safer sidewalks and smarter traffic signals—all of which are on the horizon with the approval of the “Choose How You Move” transportation referendum. On Nov. 5, voters in Davidson County approved the $3.1 billion transit plan; 66 percent of ballots cast were in favor of the city’s transportation system overhaul. Approval of the referendum triggers a half-cent increase in sales tax that will take effect Feb. 1.  Read More