Vanderbilt’s liberal arts curriculum and deep roots in the humanities advantageously position us to contemplate the world’s most complex challenges and offer grand solutions.
All who teach and discover on our campus, from biomedical research to literature or philosophy, ultimately seek to understand our humanity, our place, our world, and our universe. We are all humanists engaged in finding solutions that bring great benefit to our society and the world that surrounds and supports us.
Vanderbilt’s past and future rest on our incredible strength in the humanities and our nuanced understanding of their potential for lifting up and bettering the human experience. Our distinguished faculty and the nationally recognized Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities burnish our reputation, while our commitment to continued investments in humanistic endeavors illuminates the road ahead.
To help determine how Vanderbilt can strategically build on its reputation of a research powerhouse embedded in an arts and humanities environment, a Humanities Committee was appointed during the 2016-17 academic year, After an in-depth study of the university’s many current endeavors and an examination of the strengths of the best national models, the committee has produced a report exemplified by its bold recommendations and inspiring vision of the elevated role that humanistic inquiry can play in advancing our scholarship, research and the service we render to humankind. The committee’s recommendations are currently under advisement, and we look forward to charting a path forward for the future of the humanities at Vanderbilt.
Through a humanistic approach and a confidence inspired by the diligent work of this committee, we will enhance and strengthen our mission of educating the whole person and aiding and improving society through discovery, scholarship, and service.