Vanderbilt University is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the South. The Commodore 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 comprises four undergraduate and six graduate schools, enrolling approximately 12,000 students from all 50 U.S. states and over 90 foreign countries. In its 2009 ranking of universities, U.S. News & World Report placed Vanderbilt 18th among national universities and the schools of education, law, medicine, and nursing were ranked among the top 20 in the country. The Academic Ranking of World Universities listed Vanderbilt as 42nd in the world in its 2008 ranking, which takes into account the number of Nobel prizes and research quality of an institution. The university is among the top 20 recipients of federal research funding with $444.3 million in 2008. Also affiliated with the university are several research centers and institutes, including the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies, Freedom Forum First Amendment Center, Dyer Observatory, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the only Level I trauma center in Middle Tennessee.

With the exception of the off-campus observatory and satellite medical clinics, all of Vanderbilt's facilities are situated on its 330-acre (1.3 km2) campus in the heart of Nashville, only 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from downtown. Despite its urban surroundings, the campus itself is a national arboretum and features over 300 different species of trees and shrubs.

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