Community Building
Vanderbilt’s campus is more diverse and dynamic than ever before. With this exciting progress comes a heightened responsibility—and opportunity—to enrich the connections, camaraderie and support among our evolving community.
Vanderbilt’s residential colleges—E. Bronson Ingram College, Moore College, Nicholas S. Zeppos College, Rothschild College, and Warren College—are at the heart of this pursuit. From their “college council” model of shared governance to their robust calendar of in-house events, residential colleges are designed to foster unity and togetherness while also ensuring that each resident is positioned for personal success.
Inspired by the success of The Ingram Commons, Vanderbilt’s living-learning residential model for first-year students, the five upper-division residential colleges extend the same sense of immersion and fellowship to upper-division students while also introducing new opportunities for engagement, collaboration and leadership.
Student residents and selection process
Vanderbilt utilizes a seniority-driven, random selection process to determine which students will reside in the residential colleges.
The ultimate goal is to create communities where students can meet people they might not otherwise know, engage in new conversations, expand their mindset and approach the world with newfound perspectives and compassion.
Faculty and shared governance
Faculty
Residential colleges are guided by faculty heads of college, leaders who reside in their respective college, allowing them to interact with students regularly and build community. Learn more about the faculty heads »
College Councils
Each college is also governed by a college council that includes a president and public relations chair as well as several college representatives. Elections and appointments for these positions take place annually during the start of the fall semester.
Community Events
From keynote speeches to informal weekly meetings, community events are a hallmark of Vanderbilt’s residential colleges.
College-specific events
Each college hosts weekly study break events organized by the faculty heads of college. “Bronson Breaks,” “CosMOOREpolitan,” “Roth ‘n’ Roll,” “Warren Wednesdays,” and “Zeppos Zone NightZ,” are all examples of the weekly gatherings that establish camaraderie and specific traditions within each college community.
Faculty heads also facilitate small group meetings with guest speakers, to enrich residents’ interactions with the wider Vanderbilt community. Recent examples include E. Bronson Ingram’s meet-and-greet with Claudine Taafe, Senior Lecturer in African American Studies and Diaspora Studies, and Moore College’s dinner with David Owens, the Evans Family Executive Director of the Wond’ry.
Community programs
Additional events have been established to foster cross-pollination and fellowship among all four of the residential colleges. Including “Welcome Back” events at the beginning of the academic year, these special occasions strengthen ties among the entire residential college community, forging new pathways for dialogue and discovery.