Welcome to JWU Providence - Downcity Campus

This is the accessibility version designed specifically for users needing extra accessibility features.
Feel free to check out the original experience here.

Welcome to JWU Providence

Tour stop audio transcript

Welcome to Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. You'll find our Downcity campus right in the center of Providence, where more than 5,000 JWU students enjoy the thriving art, tech, food, and entertainment scenes this vibrant city has to offer. And when it comes to academics, JWU Providence has something for everyone with six colleges and more than 55 undergraduate programs to prepare students for almost any industry. This tour focuses on our most unique and innovative spaces where our students learn, create and thrive with the hands-on, experiential education we're known for. Let's get started!

Life on Campus: Gaebe Commons

Tour stop audio transcript

Gaebe Commons is considered the hub of campus, and for good reason. Big events like the Involvement Fair or Ignite the Night fill this greenspace with exciting energy, but frequent smaller events also draw students in with music, icecream and other activities. And, on any given day, you'll find students hanging out with friends, soaking up the sun or tossing a football around on the lush grass. Flanking Gaebe Commons are the Yena Center, McNulty Hall and Snowden Dining Hall. Click the Bonus 360's to learn more about each location.

Center for Media Production

Tour stop audio transcript

Located on the first floor of the TACO Center, our Center for Media Production is one of many places on campus where students can bring their creative ideas to life. This flexible space features two light-controlled studios with green screens, a podcasting studio, a writer's room, editing suites, Mac workstations with industry-standard software and an impressive inventory of cameras, lighting and sound equipment for students to use. Filmmaking, photography, podcasting, editing, writing — it all happens here!

Criminal Justice Labs

Tour stop audio transcript

On the top floor of the TACO Center, you'll find our Criminal Justice Lab spaces, where students learn how to collect, process and analyze evidence to solve crimes. Here in the Crime Scene Room, students enter a detailed mock crime scene to learn how to properly gather evidence. Click the Bonus 360 to see the Crime Lab, where they process and analyze their findings. The Crime Lab features state-of-the-art equipment for forensic fingerprint and blood spatter analysis, bullet trajectory research, and more. By learning from professors who have actually worked in the field, students in this program focus on how we can rethink and improve our justice system.

Xavier Academic Complex

Tour stop audio transcript

Xavier Hall is home to so many things! This building features some of our most dynamic classroom and lab spaces for Business and Hospitality programs, which you'll find in the next few stops. It also houses The Bridge Center, where we offer educational programs, workshops and resources to promote inclusive excellence, human rights and social justice. Last but not least, Schneider Auditorium — our largest presentation space on campus — can also be found here.

Sports, Entertainment, Event Management Lab

Tour stop audio transcript

The Delaware North Sports, Entertainment, Event Management Lab — the SEEM Lab for short — was created thanks to our official education partnership with Delaware North, TD Garden and the Boston Bruins. The entry hall feels like TD Garden with a stunning feature wall, parquet floors like those that are laid down for Celtics games, the iconic Bruins logo and a digital marquee banner. But the best part of the space is the 20-foot-wide interactive video screen which students use for classes.

Bigelow Tea ClassroomLab

Tour stop audio transcript

The Bigelow Tea Classroom, named in recognition of our industry relationship with Bigelow Tea, is often used by students in the Food & Beverage Industry Management program for one of their core classes, Beverage Appreciation. Here, students conduct tastings of beverages such as water, tea, coffee, beer, wine or spirits with the goal of learning the techniques of sensory perception, how to conduct professional flavor profiles, and how to pair food with all types of beverages.

Bistro 61

Tour stop audio transcript

Bistro 61 is an educational lab in the form of a real, functioning restaurant. Hospitality and Culinary students develop the menus, manage the front and back of the house, recommend wine pairings and serve the guests — and it's all a part of their coursework. The guests are JWU students, faculty and staff who can provide feedback on the students' work after the meal. Now that's how you do experiential education!

Retail and Fashion Lab

Tour stop audio transcript

If you've ever been drawn into a store because of a window display, then you know how powerful visual merchandising can be. Fashion Merchandising & Retailing students use this lab to actively practice the art and strategy behind effective visual merchandising. They also learn how to forecast future industry trends, analyze the market, navigate the business of buying products and more. This program is a great example of how students can channel their passions while still learning valuable skills that apply to a variety of industries.

Advertising Lab

Tour stop audio transcript

Our award-winning ADTEAM uses the Advertising Lab as their creative home base to craft and execute campaigns for the American Advertising Federation's National Student Advertising Competition each year. Not to brag, but in the last decade, we've placed in the finals five times and won the championship in 2017. Needless to say, this space has seen some of the most innovative and thoughtful work our students have done, and the lessons learned here have ushered many students into positions in top advertising agencies around the country.

Global Strategies Lab

Tour stop audio transcript

With multiple T.V.'s tuned to the latest stock market updates and a conference room built for collaborative work, the Global Strategies Lab is where Finance and Accounting students spend a lot of their time. It's also a great space for students who manage the Wildcat Investment Value Fund, a real investment fund endowed by JWU. Managing the fund is offered as an internship opportunity, but students can also join the Finance & Investment Academy, which teaches portfolio management and financial modeling skills and even offers the opportunity to compete in a student-managed portfolio competition in New York City.

John J Bowen Center for Science & Innovation

A large scoped view from the street of the modern state-of-the-art John J. Bowen Center for Science and Innovation

Tour stop audio transcript

The John J. Bowen Center for Science and Innovation is one of four buildings on campus that have earned a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold-certification. LEED is the most widely used green-rating system in the world, overseen by the U.S. Green Building Council. Not only is the Bowen Center a symbol of our commitment to sustainability, it's also home to our College of Engineering & Design programs as well as our Biology and Chemistry programs. You can see the spaces in the next few stops.

Science Labs

Tour stop audio transcript

Our science labs offer all the space and equipment you’ll need to conduct a variety of experiments and research related to biology, chemistry, physics and plant cultivation. Here, you can see the Chemistry Lab, where students experiment with chemical bonds and reactions, study the atomic structure of molecules, learn how to design experimental procedures and more. Click on the Bonus 360 to see the Biology Lab, where students can get hands-on with animal dissection, studying organisms under a microscope and more.

Innovation Lab

Tour stop audio transcript

Creativity has no limits in the Innovation Lab, where students can use scanners, laser cutters, 3-D printers, and a CNC machine to design and fabricate some really cool pieces. Our students have created everything from robotic air hockey tables to bicycle food carts, and it’s all a part of their classwork. You’ll often find Engineering & Design students working in this space, but it’s also open to students from any major to use. In fact, the Product Design program often collaborates with the Occupational Therapy Doctorate program to design prototypes to help those with limited mobility or other physical health issues be able to perform everyday tasks.

Robotics Lab

Tour stop audio transcript

Artificial intelligence and robotics are the future, so our students spend the present studying and experimenting in our Robotics Lab. Here, they learn about topics such as circuit analysis, robotic hardware design, software development for real-time applications and programming techniques. They also explore the latest theories in robotics and automation, artificial intelligence, microprocessor development, speech synthesis and more. Some students even use this space to build robots for competition with the JWU Vex Robotics Club, which has competed at the Vex Robotics World Championships.

Graphic Design Gallery

Tour stop audio transcript

This beautiful gallery on the first floor of the John J. Bowen Center displays the amazing work of our Graphic Design students for everyone to enjoy. Their work includes logo and package designs, personal branding, wayfinding signage, infographics and more. The gallery is also the venue for the Reveal Showcase each year, an event where senior Graphic Design students receive awards in various categories and get to share their portfolio with students, faculty, and staff. For many students, it's the first time having their work on display, but with this level of talent we know it won't be the last.

Cybersecurity Lab

Tour stop audio transcript

The Cybersecurity Center is where students in our Cyber Threat & Intelligence Defense and Computer Science programs learn about computer hardware and software, programming, charting, coding, debugging, digital forensics and so much more. It has even been designated as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education by the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security. The field of cybersecurity is rapidly growing and changing as technology becomes more and more a part of our lives, but our students are getting the hands-on experience to make a difference and discover new ways to protect people, businesses and governments from cyber threats.

Occupational Therapy Labs

Tour stop audio transcript

Our Occupational Therapy Doctorate program offers three dedicated lab spaces where students participate in laboratory activities and the simulation portion of level one fieldwork. Here is the Occupations Lab, which features a modified home environment plus a hospital room setting with a simulated patient. Another lab has space to practice rehabilitation skills including a driving simulator and a 3-D printer for the production of splints and adaptive equipment. Students also learn how to work with children in our Pediatric Sensory Lab which includes suspended equipment, a rock wall and sensory play area. Having varied lab spaces allows students to practice situations they will encounter in any occupational therapy setting.

Exercise & Sports Science Labs

Tour stop audio transcript

The Exercise & Sports Science Hub offers two lab spaces with state-of-the-art equipment to study body performance and conduct clinical research. Here, you can see the Human Performance Lab, designed to help athletes work on strength, speed, flexibility, balance and power. Equipment here includes weight racks, a Biodex isokinetic testing device to measure muscle strength, and two Functional Movement Screen devices for assessing injury risk. Click on the Bonus 360 to view the Exercise Science Lab, which features a body composition analysis machine, an electrocardiogram device, wearable metabolic technology for gathering body data, a treadmill with an overhang suspension system and more.

Center for Physician Assistant Studies

Tour stop audio transcript

The Center for Physician Assistant Studies is a high-tech, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold-certified building completely dedicated to our Physician Assistant Studies master's program. Here you can see the Clinical Skills Lab, designed to offer an authentic environment for students to learn how to conduct physical examinations of patients and also practice suturing, venipuncture, casting and splinting skills. If you click on the bonus 360, you can also view the Anatomy Lab, where students perform dissections on real cadavers to gain true experience and a deeper understanding of the human body.

Parking/Transportation

Tour stop audio transcript

You'll see our Wildcat Wheels busses all over the city of Providence, bringing students back and forth from Downcity to our Harborside Campus a few minutes away. And for commuters and students who have cars on campus, JWU has a parking garage Downcity so you won't have to fight for street parking or use public lots. There are two dedicated spaces for commuters to hang out in between classes: The Den, located on the ground floor of the parking garage and The Lounge, located on the first floor of Wales Hall.

Explore Harborside

An eagle view image of our Harborside campus, featuring our Wildcat Center and greenspace in the front.

Tour stop audio transcript

Harborside, the second part of our Providence Campus and just minutes from Downcity, is home to our culinary buildings, athletic fields, Wildcat Center and more. You can hop over to our Harborside tour now to explore. But remember, the best way to experience JWU is to come visit us in person. We hope you'll plan a visit to Providence soon!

Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames