Inside The Ingram Commons

Welcome to The Ingram Commons

As dean of Residential Colleges and Residential Education, I am delighted to welcome you to Vanderbilt University. The Ingram Commons is one of the things that makes Vanderbilt special, as it offers a nexus of experiences that involve connecting with many different activities, people, and communities.

You were admitted to Vanderbilt because you are ready for new challenges, and in fact, we think you will thrive here. But now that you have chosen where you will go to college, I’d like to encourage you to consider how you go to college. The difference between college and high school is the breadth and depth of opportunity—to meet new people, study new things, and have entirely new experiences. But there are also things that should look familiar to you as well.

Some of those familiar things might be academic interests and extracurricular experiences that made you choose Vanderbilt in the first place. Continuing to pursue those passions will help the rest of the community learn from you and your unique insights and experiences. But I also want to encourage you to take advantage of the broad range of opportunities you will find here to seek new knowledge and experiences by studying something you didn’t know existed; trying an activity that makes you just a little nervous; talking with someone whose beliefs are different from yours. One of the many strengths of our university—and The Ingram Commons in particular—is the community we create and re-create each time we learn from people who are not exactly like us.

We are excited to live and learn together.

Melissa S. Gresalfi
Dean of Residential Colleges and Residential Education
Dean of The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons
Professor, Department of Teaching & Learning

The Houses

The Ingram Commons is a residential campus for all first-year students. One campus fosters a common experience that encourages class unity and class identity.

A house is a community, a home. Each of the ten houses has a distinct identity that depends on the faculty head of house and his or her vision for the house, the resident advisers and the student affairs professionals who work closely with students and faculty, and even more on the first-year students who live and learn in the house.

The faculty, staff and student residents of each house think their own house is the best, but house assignment is random. To learn more about each house click a name to the right of the map below. To learn more about the housing facilities and residential amenities, visit the Housing and Residential Experience website.

The Neighborhoods

The Historic Neighborhood

East House Gillette House Memorial House North House West House

East House

East House was originally built in the 1920s, a decade after Peabody College moved to its current location.

This was one of the first dorms on the Peabody campus. Prior to that time, students either lived at home or boarded somewhere in the community. However, the rising costs for room and board after World War I prevented many students from attending, which prompted Peabody to build this residence hall. East House has been renovated and updated several times since then and is now a thriving center of community.

FACULTY HEAD: ELIZABETH MEADOWS

Gillette House

Gillette House is named after Frank E. Gillette who was a longtime trustee of Peabody College.

Born in Kansas in 1878, he came to Nashville in 1903 and became one of the leading businessmen and investors in town, as well as a generous philanthropist. With interests ranging from agriculture and education to finance and sports, he maintained a farm in Williamson County, won a Nashville golf championship, and also served as trustee of Meharry Medical College, a historically African American medical school in Nashville.

FACULTY HEAD: BRITTANY CHASE

Memorial House

Memorial House, built in 1935, is the smallest house on The Ingram Commons.

Originally, Memorial House was partially funded by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). In 2002, Vanderbilt sought to change the name “Confederate Memorial Hall”; in 2005 a Tennessee Appeals Court ruled that Vanderbilt could not remove “Confederate” from the building pediment unless Vanderbilt repaid the UDC the current value of its original donation. At the time, Vanderbilt chose not to return the donation, which would be a sizable donation to the UDC. Instead, consistent with the court’s ruling, Vanderbilt renamed the building “Memorial Hall” in all official references and placed “Memorial” nameplates above its entryways. The name “Memorial Hall” is intended to honor all who have lost their lives in armed conflicts of the United States. The inscription was formally changed in 2017, with the assistance of several anonymous donors who’s gifts were designated for this purpose.

FACULTY HEAD: CELSO CASTILHO

North House

North House was originally built in the 1920s, a decade after Peabody College moved to its current location.

This was one of the first dorms on the Peabody campus. Prior to that time, students either lived at home or boarded somewhere in the community. However, the rising costs for room and board after World War I prevented many students from attending, which prompted Peabody to build this residence hall. North House has been renovated and updated several times since then and is now a thriving center of community.

FACULTY HEAD: ANDY FINCH

West House

West House was originally built in the 1920s, a decade after Peabody College moved to its current location.

This was one of the first dorms on the Peabody campus. Prior to that time, students either lived at home or boarded somewhere in the community. However, the rising costs for room and board after World War I prevented many students from attending, which prompted Peabody to build this residence hall. West House has been renovated and updated several times since then and is now a thriving center of community.

FACULTY HEAD: HUILI HONG

The New Neighborhood

Crawford House Hank Ingram House Murray House Stambaugh House Sutherland House

Crawford House

Crawford House is named for Frank Armstrong Crawford, the second wife of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Her parents, expecting a son, named her before her birth. A Southern socialite, she was 45 years his junior when she married Vanderbilt. She is credited with moving her tightfisted millionaire husband from the North toward his only major philanthropy–giving $1 million to Bishop H. N. McTyeire in 1873 to found a university in the South.

FACULTY HEAD: DOUG MCMAHON

Hank Ingram House

Hank Ingram House is named for Orrin Henry (“Hank”) Ingram Sr.

Born in Wisconsin in 1904, he moved to Nashville where he established himself as a successful businessman and philanthropist. He served as vice president of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust from 1952 until his death in 1963. His passion for the university inspired his children and their families to build upon his legacy and play key roles in Vanderbilt’s future.

FACULTY HEAD: ERIC BARTH

Murray House

Murray House is named for the Rev. Walter R. Murray Jr.

He and his close friend Perry Wallace were among the university’s first African American undergraduates when they arrived in 1966. Murray became Vice President of the Student Government Association and a founder of the Afro-American Student Association, and later was the first African American member of the Board of Trust. He also helped found the Association of Vanderbilt Black Alumni.

FACULTY HEAD: RENÃ A.S. ROBINSON

Stambaugh House

Stambaugh House is named for John H. Stambaugh, who studied economics at the University of Chicago before taking a post on the White House foreign economics policy desk during the Eisenhower administration.

From 1956 to 1962, Stambaugh served as vice chancellor for business affairs at Vanderbilt. In 1964, he persuaded Bronson Ingram, the son of his friend Hank, to invest with him in the Tennessee Book Company, which led to the establishment of Ingram Book Group, a division of Ingram Industries Inc.

FACULTY HEAD: JESSICA OSTER

Sutherland House

Sutherland House is named for Earl W. Sutherland Jr., a Nobel Prize winner and professor of physiology at Vanderbilt from 1963 until his death in 1974.

He was born in Kansas in 1915 into a family of modest means. In order to pay for his college tuition, Sutherland worked all four years as a medical staff assistant at a local hospital. He received the Nobel Prize in 1971 for his discoveries concerning the mechanisms of the actions of hormones. His work has helped researchers today understand how various hormones affect important functions within organisms.

FACULTY HEAD: JESSIE SPENCER-SMITH

The Commons Center

The Commons Center is the community crossroads of The Ingram Commons living and learning community. It has it all: the Dining Hall and great food; a living room with a concert grade grand piano, and the occasional live musical performance; a small rec room with cardio equipment, free weights, and weight machines; meeting and study rooms; and academic support services like the Writing Studio, the Career Center, and the CASPAR premajor advising center. Students from across campus come here for a meal, a quiet place to study, an event, or a meeting with a professor. The third floor of The Commons Center is the home of the Department of Political Science.

From the lights to the layout, The Commons Center was designed to be extremely eco-friendly and efficient. The building has been awarded a Gold LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

For more information about Vanderbilt’s sustainability efforts, visit FutureVU. Click on the links below to navigate and learn more about different campus services and resources offered in The Commons Center.