Vanderbilt University today announced plans to establish an academic campus in San Francisco beginning in 2027, subject to necessary regulatory approvals. This is a significant expansion of the university’s national presence and reinforces its commitment to innovative education, interdisciplinary collaboration and global engagement.
Vanderbilt’s planned San Francisco campus expects to serve about 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students and support sustained faculty, staff and academic activity. It represents the next step in Vanderbilt’s strategic growth and builds on the university’s recent expansions in New York City and West Palm Beach by extending Vanderbilt’s distinctive academic model into one of the world’s leading centers of creativity, technology and entrepreneurship.
Vanderbilt and the California College of the Arts have agreed for Vanderbilt to acquire the campus of CCA after the wind-down of CCA’s operations in 2027, subject to regulatory and transactional requirements. This path enables the location to be a center for academic innovation after CCA closes, and for Vanderbilt to honor CCA’s century-long legacy in the Bay Area in numerous ways—including plans to operate a California College of the Arts Institute at Vanderbilt, which will include the Wattis Institute of Contemporary Arts. Vanderbilt also will support exhibitions and presentations on contemporary art and other topics that honor CCA’s historical significance, will maintain the college’s archival materials, and will serve as a vehicle for alumni engagement. Investment in the site’s existing infrastructure will support Vanderbilt’s academic offerings, including interdisciplinary programs that foster innovation and creativity.
“San Francisco offers an extraordinary environment for learning at the intersection of innovation, creativity and technology, and it provides an unparalleled setting for Vanderbilt to shape the future of higher education,” Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said. “By establishing a significant full-time presence here, Vanderbilt is expanding the ways our students and faculty engage with the world’s most innovative cities and advancing our core mission of education and discovery. We are grateful to Mayor Lurie for his leadership and support, and we look forward to being a long-term partner in San Francisco as Vanderbilt continues to grow its reach and impact. At the same time, we recognize the enduring contributions of the California College of the Arts and are committed to honoring and celebrating the creative legacy the CCA community has built over more than a century.”
“Vanderbilt’s decision to invest in our city is a powerful testament to the fact that San Francisco is on the rise,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said. “My administration is building a thriving city core where people live, work, play and learn, and now we’re welcoming another institution that will invest for the long term. As Vanderbilt establishes its presence, they will carry forward CCA’s legacy and continue the work of educating the next generation of creative leaders in our city.”
Vanderbilt plans to apply for all necessary approvals to operate in California. The San Francisco campus will reflect Vanderbilt’s emphasis on academic excellence, interdisciplinary learning and real-world engagement, and it will contribute to the potential of one of the world’s most creative and innovative cities, where technology and art continue to thrive.
Building on San Francisco’s long-standing role as a center for innovation and entrepreneurship and creativity, Vanderbilt’s interdisciplinary model will integrate engineering, entrepreneurship and design with a strong foundation in the arts, humanities, social sciences and natural sciences—blending creativity and analysis in ways that ignite breakthroughs and allow innovation to thrive. In San Francisco, Vanderbilt will define a new approach to innovation in higher education, cultivating visionary creators and inventive thinkers who are prepared to make a difference in the Bay Area and beyond. The new campus also will educate artists, makers and designers whose work bridges creative expression and technological innovation, preparing graduates to translate ideas into cultural, civic and real-world impact. Students will gain immersive learning experiences rooted in one of the world’s most dynamic urban environments. Academic programming is in development and will undergo the appropriate accrediting bodies’ review and approval processes.
“Vanderbilt is a top-tier research university with a global faculty base and the ability to sustain long-term research and teaching investments in a way few other educational institutions can,” said Supervisor Matt Dorsey. “Kudos to Mayor Lurie and his team for attracting this kind of educational partnership for San Francisco. I know there’s a lot of excitement about this announcement in the Showplace Square area and adjacent District 6 neighborhoods. This is a generational investment that offers some incredible opportunities for collaboration in technology, design, life sciences and more.”
The San Francisco initiative builds on Vanderbilt’s expanding national footprint. As Vanderbilt extends its reach beyond its home campus and community in Nashville, new centers of learning and collaboration are taking shape in New York City and West Palm Beach.
Vanderbilt is committed to supporting the California College of the Arts as it winds down its activities. The college intends to continue instruction and operations through the 2026–27 academic year, allowing students to progress in and/or complete their programs. Vanderbilt anticipates opening its San Francisco campus for students in the 2027–28 academic year, pending necessary approvals by regulatory bodies and other processes. Additional information about California College of the Arts as an institution will be communicated directly by CCA.
“On behalf of CCA’s Board of Trustees, I want to acknowledge both the challenge of this moment, as well as the opportunity,” said Dr. Calvin Wheeler, CCA Board Chair. “For nearly 120 years, CCA has been providing an innovative arts and design education to students from the San Francisco Bay Area, across California and around the world. CCA’s impact is demonstrated through our global alumni of artists and creative professionals. At the same time, given our financial challenges, we recognize that this agreement with Vanderbilt is the best opportunity to carry forward this legacy, and we are grateful to Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier and Mayor Daniel Lurie for supporting our work during this time.”
Details about timing, facilities, faculty participation and academic programming will be announced as Vanderbilt advances planning and works with the city of San Francisco on the next steps.
Faculty engagement and shared governance will be central to the development of Vanderbilt’s San Francisco campus. A faculty advisory committee, chaired by Jonathan Metzl of the College of Arts and Science, is working closely with university leadership to help shape the academic vision, guiding principles and pathways for academic programming. Consistent with Vanderbilt’s shared governance processes, all academic programs will undergo appropriate faculty review and approval, as well as review by relevant accrediting and regulatory bodies.
The committee members are:
- Maria Magdalena “Magda” Campos-Pons, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Art, College of Arts and Science
- Kevin Galloway, Research Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering
- Major Jackson, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English, Director of Creative Writing, College of Arts and Science
- Shaul Kelner, Professor of Jewish Studies and Sociology, Associate Professor of Culture, Advocacy and Leadership and German, Russian and East European Studies, College of Arts and Science
- Jonathan Metzl, Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry, College of Arts and Science, committee chair
- Vesna Pavlović, Paul E. Schwab Professor in Fine Arts, Chair of the Department of Art, College of Arts and Science
- Nilanjan Sarkar, Senior Associate Dean and Vice Dean of the School of Engineering, David K. Wilson Professor of Engineering, Professor of Computer Science, School of Engineering and College of Connected Computing
- Julian Wuerth, Chair of the Department of Philosophy, Associate Professor of Philosophy, College of Arts and Science
- Catherine Loss (ex officio), Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, Associate Professor of the Practice of Leadership, Policy and Organizations, Peabody College
- Tiffiny Tung (ex officio), Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Ingram Professor in Anthropology, College of Arts and Science
- Duane Watson (ex officio), Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, Frank W. Mayborn Professor in Cognitive Science and professor of psychology and human development, Peabody College
Learn more about Vanderbilt’s growth initiatives.
