Vanderbilt University

VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY IS a private, nonsectar—ian, coeducational research university located in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the university with its initial $1 million endowment, despite having never been to the South. Vanderbilt hoped that his gift and the greater work of the university would help to heal the sectional wounds inflicted by the Civil War. Today, Vanderbilt makes up four undergraduate and six graduate schools, enrolling approximately 11,600 students from all 50 U.S. states and over 50 foreign countries. In its 2008 ranking of universities, U.S. News & World Report placed Vanderbilt 19th overall and ranked the schools of education, law, medicine, and nursing among the top 20 in the country. The ...