Sesquicentennial Grant Program

The Vanderbilt English Language Center recently launched “Let’s Keep Talking: Immersive Small Talk to Support Networking Skills," a pilot project created to offer guidance and experience in “professional small talk” for students and scholars who use English as an additional language. ELC applied for and was awarded a Vanderbilt University Sesquicentennial Grant to fund the project. Read More

See how more than 200 students and faculty came together through 19 interdisciplinary hands-on courses to turn the historic Vaughn home into a living laboratory, unveiling "hidden narratives" of Vanderbilt's and Nashville's past. Read More

Join students and faculty from the Department of Anthropology to learn more about Vanderbilt’s early history through archaeological excavation on the grounds of a service workers’ cabin once located behind the first faculty residences on campus. Ongoing investigations at the Vaughn Home (currently the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities) will be open to the public on Saturday, Oct. 14, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Read More

Grace Kirtley, a law, history and society major with a minor in Arabic, served in the key leadership role of platoon sergeant during an intensive training mission. Read More

Vanderbilt Law School professor Daniel Sharfstein will host a conversation with the National Trail of Tears Association’s Tory Wayne Poteete and the Oklahoma Historical Society’s Charles Tate on Thursday, Sept. 21, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Central Library Community Room. They will discuss research that contributed to Cherokee and Chickasaw Students at Vanderbilt, 1885–1899, an exhibit on display at Central Library through Sept. 29. Read More

Daniel Sharfstein, the Dick and Martha Lansden Professor of Law and professor of history, will lead a conversation focused on Cherokee and Chickasaw students at Vanderbilt in the 1880s and 1890s, on Thursday, Aug. 31, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Central Library Community Room. The talk complements an exhibit currently on display in the lobby of Central Library.  Read More

Nashville Children’s Theatre will present the world premiere of Strong Inside, a stage adaptation of Andrew Maraniss’ acclaimed biography of SEC basketball and civil rights pioneer Perry Wallace, in a unique collaboration with Vanderbilt University. Tickets are on sale now, and members of the Vanderbilt community can receive a 50 percent discount to select performances. Read More

In 2022, as Vanderbilt’s 150th anniversary approached, recent graduates Allen Zeng, BA’23, and Richard Zhang, BA’23, set out to capture the essence of the university by photographing its community members. Collaborating with Professor of Art Vesna Pavlović and librarian Yvonne Boyer, the two developed the “Vanderbilt Self-Portrait” project, supported by a Sesquicentennial Grant from the chancellor’s office and a Buchanan Library Fellowship. Read More

By Amy Wolf It all started late one night in a first-year residence hall. A group of students were brainstorming ideas for an innovative project to collaborate on, and amid all the ambitious suggestions getting tossed around, one engineering major’s idea stood out: What if they built a miniature nuclear fusion reactor? In typical Vanderbilt... Read More

By Amy Wolf It all started late one night in a first-year residence hall. A group of students were brainstorming ideas for an innovative project to collaborate on, and amid all the ambitious suggestions getting tossed around, one engineering major’s idea stood out: What if they built a miniature nuclear fusion reactor? In typical Vanderbilt... Read More

The Vanderbilt Fusion Project, an initiative involving 40 undergraduates from 22 majors across three schools, is seeking to build a miniature nuclear fusion reactor—and make history. Read More

As Vanderbilt’s yearlong celebration of its 150th anniversary continues, the Office of the Chancellor has announced the second group of Sesquicentennial Grant award winners. Read More

Vanderbilt is launching a second round of grants to mark the 150th anniversary of the university’s founding and help community members explore aspects of Vanderbilt’s past and future. The deadline for proposals for the spring cycle of the Vanderbilt Sesquicentennial Grant is Monday, Jan. 23. Read More

The fall 2022 Sesquicentennial grant cycle has funded 15 proposals, with awards being made to projects led by individuals and teams of faculty, staff, postdoctoral scholars and students. Read More

As Vanderbilt prepares to mark its sesquicentennial—the 150th anniversary of the university’s founding—in 2023, a new program will support exploration of the university’s past and future. The Office of the Chancellor is launching the Sesquicentennial Grant Program to fund activities and projects that engage with the university’s history, look to its future and explore what makes Vanderbilt distinctive and unique. Read More