Vanderbilt University announced Tuesday plans to establish a San Francisco presence beginning in the 2027-28 academic year.
According to a release, the VU campus is expected to serve about 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students and support faculty, staff and academic activity.
Daniel Diermeier
Photo: Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt will acquire the California College of the Arts campus (see here) after the wind-down of CCA’s operations in 2027, subject to regulatory and transactional requirements. Relatedly, VU plans to operate a California College of the Arts Institute at Vanderbilt, which will include the Wattis Institute of Contemporary Arts.
In addition, Vanderbilt will support exhibitions and presentations on contemporary art and other topics that honor CCA’s historical significance, will maintain the private college’s archival materials, and will serve as a vehicle for alumni engagement.
Details about timing, costs, campus acquisition price, facilities, faculty participation and academic programming will be announced as Vanderbilt advances planning and works with the city of San Francisco, the release notes.
Founded in Berkeley, California, in 1907, CCA moved to Oakland in 1922. The college opened a second campus in San Francisco in 1996, later closing (in 2022) the Oakland campus.
CCA enrolls a collective approximately 1,200 undergraduate and graduate students, according to its website.
“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 in the release.
“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.”
Diermeier thanked San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and noted VU is committed to “honoring and celebrating the creative legacy the CCA community has built over more than a century.”
California College of the Arts 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, as noted, in the 2027–28 academic year.
The announcement comes as Vanderbilt plans campuses in New York City (read here) and West Palm Beach, Florida (read here).