Providence Campus
Since its opening in 1914, Johnson & Wales University’s original campus in Providence, Rhode Island, has grown from a small business school to a large, international university featuring degree programs in arts and sciences, business, culinary arts, design and engineering, dietetics, education, food innovation, health and wellness, hospitality, nutrition, occupational therapy, and physician assistant studies.
For more information about JWU’s Providence Campus, contact
Admissions
8 Abbott Park Place, Providence, RI 02903
1-800-342-5598
The City
Providence offers big-city sophistication on a welcoming scale, and is often voted one of the country’s best places to live. A historic yet fast-paced city, Providence is located within the highest per capita concentration of colleges and universities in the United States, so it’s alive with things to do.
The major business, financial and retail districts of the city are all within walking distance of the Downcity Campus, which is convenient for students looking for part-time jobs. Also within walking distance are the Providence Performing Arts Center, Providence Public Library, Dunkin’ Donuts Center, Rhode Island Convention Center, Trinity Repertory Company, Providence Place Mall, outdoor skating at The Providence Rink at The Alex + Ani City Center, the Rhode Island State House, Rhode Island School of Design, Brown University, and places of worship of many major religious denominations. Restaurants for every taste and budget, many owned or operated by JWU alumni, can be found throughout the city as well.
Providence’s unique geographic location — only an hour’s drive from both Boston and Cape Cod, and three-hours’ drive from New York City — makes it an inviting place to live. Interstate bus and train stations are within easy reach of the Downcity Campus, and the state airport in Warwick is only about 10 miles to the south.
The Campus
The Downcity Campus is anchored by Gaebe Commons, a popular hub of student activity, and surrounded by a variety of shops, restaurants, cafés, music venues and a picturesque riverfront. This campus is home to students in the College of Hospitality Management, College of Business, College of Engineering & Design, John Hazen White College of Arts & Sciences and College of Health & Wellness.
The nearby Harborside Campus sits on 105 scenic acres along Narragansett Bay, and houses the College of Food Innovation & Technology, Wildcat Center (home of the NCAA Division III Wildcats), and Culinary Arts Museum at JWU. Residential facilities are located throughout Providence and Cranston. JWU provides free shuttle bus service between the campuses and residence halls.
Academic Facilities and Administrative Offices — Downcity Campus
91 FRIENDSHIP STREET houses University Design & Editorial Services, University Marketing, Digital Communications, Institutional Research, University Admissions, The Office of General Counsel and the offices for Equity and Compliance.
115 CEDAR STREET houses the administrative offices of the College of Professional Studies, including the dean's office, as well as Accounts Payable, Accounting, Procurement, and Internal Audit & Risk Management.
THE ACADEMIC CENTER at 138 Mathewson St. houses the College of Health &Wellness offices, classrooms and labs.
The CENTER FOR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT STUDIES at 35 Claverick St. houses classrooms, laboratories, and faculty and directors offices for the Physician Assistant Studies program.
The CITIZENS BANK CENTER FOR STUDENT INVOLVEMENT at 2 Richmond St. houses Student Involvement & Leadership (including the Campus Herald and Johnsonian yearbook offices), Greek Councils, New Student Orientation & Support Programs, Parent Relations and Spiritual Life.
The DEL SESTO BUILDING at 274 Weybosset St. houses Information Technology Operations.
The JOHN HAZEN WHITE COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES at 30 Chestnut St. (corner of Pine and Chestnut Streets) houses the departments of English, English as a Second Language (ESL), Humanities, Mathematics, and Social Sciences, as well as the language laboratory and Arts & Sciences classrooms. It also houses Accessibility Services for the Downcity Campus, the Center for Student Research and Interdisciplinary Collaboration, and the dean’s office and faculty offices. On the second floor is a lounge for students with veteran status. Also, the lower level of the building is the home of the University Bookstore (operated by Follett Higher Education Group).
JOHNSON HALL, located at 59 Chestnut St., includes the Department of Health Sciences faculty offices, the nursing program, several classrooms, Esports Center, and Starbucks®.
The JOHN J. BOWEN CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND INNOVATION at 75 Chestnut St. houses the College of Engineering & Design and features classrooms, the media/graphics department, computer and engineering, faculty offices, the dean’s office, the Technology & Design Center, and the College of Engineering & Design Presentation Room. It also houses College of Arts & Sciences classrooms, life science laboratories, faculty offices, and Willie's Grab & Go.
The JWU PARKING GARAGE at the corner of Pine and Richmond streets offers convenient, affordable parking for all students. Students need their university ID to enter and rates are posted at the entrance. On the first floor is the Admissions Welcome Center and Off-Campus Student Services’s The Den, a multifunction lounge space for commuting Wildcats. The Den has an area of soft seating with numerous mobile device charging stations. There is also a kitchen and dining area, with tables and chairs for dining, a microwave, a refrigerator and vending machines. Wi-Fi is available throughout the space. There is also a Pharos printing system to afford students the opportunity to print, a multipurpose audiovisual system and numerous hi-definition TV monitors.
The RICHMOND BUILDING at 270 Weybosset St. houses Information Technology and the JWU Center for Teaching and Learning, Instructional Design Technology, as well as the Providence Police Department District 1 Substation.
CAMPUS SAFETY & SECURITY administrative and operations headquarters are located at 264 Weybosset St.
The STUDENT SERVICES CENTER at 274 Pine St. houses Student Academic Services, Student Financial Services, student ID cards, inactive records, the Larry Friedman Center for Entrepreneurship, and JWU Global, which contains the International Student Services Office and Study Abroad.
The TACO CENTER FOR BUSINESS AND ARTS & SCIENCES at 10 Abbott Park Place houses classrooms and faculty offices for the economics department, the science department and a media and communications lab on the first floor. Criminal Justice Lab is on the fifth floor.
WALES HALL at 8 Abbott Park Place houses the Downcity fitness center, shower and locker rooms and the commuter lounge on the lower level, and the Pepsi Forum auditorium and Student Payroll on the first floor. The second floor houses Counseling Services and Community Relations. The third floor houses Health Services for the Downcity Campus. The fourth and fifth floors are home to JWU’s Human Resources & Payroll.
The XAVIER COMPLEX at 259 Pine St. (at Broad and Claverick streets) houses classrooms, faculty offices, a variety of computer and word processing labs, and Schneider Auditorium. This complex also houses the College of Hospitality Management and College of Business. The Sports, Entertainment and Event Management lab, Bistro 61 and a hospitality beverage lab are on the first floor.
XAVIER HALL in the Xavier Complex includes an interdenominational chapel; the Bridge for Diversity, Equity & Social Justice; and a residence hall with laundry facilities.
THE YENA CENTER at 111 Dorrance St. houses the main library and library administrative offices, the Academic Success Center, Experiential Education & Career Services, undergraduate Admissions (except culinary), D'Amico Auditorium, Catering and Special Events, and the university’s offices for administration, Advancement & University Relations, and Alumni Relations.
Academic Facilities and Administrative Offices — Harborside Campus
The CUISINART CENTER FOR CULINARY EXCELLENCE at 333 Shipyard St. is where the College of Food Innovation & Technology is based. This also includes College of Food Innovation & Technology faculty offices, deans’ and administrative offices, the Coors Brewing Laboratory and the International Baking & Pastry Institute.
The center includes hot and cold kitchens, bakeshops and pastry shops, dining rooms, meat cutting and meat processing rooms, receiving and storeroom, an oenology and beverage service laboratory, and culinary purchasing offices.
The GRACE WELCOME CENTER at 120 Harborside Blvd. is the location for Culinary and Graduate Admissions. The facility includes a 70-seat presentation room, Galleria of Culinary Artifacts, conference room and welcome area, as well as staff office space.
HARBOR VIEW at 1150 Narragansett Blvd. in Cranston houses a large student dining hall, kitchen and commissary, and a residence hall with laundry facilities. The Auxiliary Services department offices are located on the first floor.
THE HARBORSIDE ACADEMIC CENTER (HAC) at 265 Harborside Blvd. houses department faculty offices for the College of Food Innovation & Technology, Ecolab Center for Culinary Science, Health Services for the Harborside Campus, as well as the department chairs of culinary arts and food service management.
Academic facilities include classrooms, the chocolate and sugar lab, and the baking technology lab. CAFE, the Culinary Arts Foodservice Exposition, is an addition to the Harborside Academic Center and features state-of-the-art kitchens and laboratories, bakeshops, a food science and product development lab, and the Cintas Dining Room used by culinary arts students. HAC also contains a Starbucks®, Harborside Café, the University Office of Culinary Education, microbiology lab, a multimedia center, the HAC Amphitheater, Culinary Special Services and the Harborside Computer Center, containing 156 computers, five computer labs and an administrative staff area.
THE FRIEDMAN CENTER at 321 Harborside Blvd. houses International Student Services and Residential Life offices.
Also located in this building are the Alan Shawn Feinstein Center for Academic Success Center, Culinary Arts Museum at JWU, College of Food Innovation and Technology (CFIT) lab, Harborside Campus Library, Printing & Mailing Services, Harborside Substation of Campus Safety & Security, Liberty Market, Special Events staff, warehouse, administrative offices of Facilities Management, classrooms, Community Standards and Conduct, and department faculty offices for the John Hazen White College of Arts & Sciences, College of Food Innovation & Technology, College of Management, Graduate Studies faculty and Information Technology.
The WILDCAT CENTER at 305 Shipyard St. houses Providence Police Substation for District 13, Athletics, two gymnasiums, student life programming space, game room, fitness center, the university's Harborside Bookstore (operated by Follett Higher Education Group) and Student Engagement.
Computer Laboratories
Johnson & Wales University has computer labs available for students to use email, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, jwuLink and more. Additional labs are available to students enrolled in classes that teach specialty software or technology.
Students must have an active JWU email account to access lab computers. Documents can be saved to student-acquired USB drives or they can be attached to and sent through email. Students cannot save files onto computers in the labs.
Computer labs are at the following locations:
Downcity Campus
Xavier Computer Labs
Xavier Academic Complex — 2nd floor
259 Pine St., Providence, Rhode Island
401-598-1537
Harborside Campus
Harborside Computer Labs
Harborside Academic Center
265 Harborside Blvd., Providence, Rhode Island
401-598-1592
Residence Halls
All halls are coeducational and smoke free. All are cable and internet ready. During the first two weeks of the fall semester, each room is provided with a MicroFridge®, which students may opt to rent for the rest of the year, with the exception of Renaissance Hall and Harborside Village, which feature full-size refrigerators. Students are allowed only one MicroFridge per room.
Downcity Campus
McNulty Hall
101 Pine St., Providence, Rhode Island
401-598-4797
McNulty Hall is located adjacent to The Yena Center (library) at the Pine Street perimeter of Gaebe Commons. McNulty houses first-year students, and features double-, triple- and quad- occupancy rooms, all of which are air conditioned and have private baths. McNulty also features laundry rooms and a variety of common areas for study and recreational use. Student parking is not available at this hall, although private parking is available from vendors in nearby lots.
Snowden Hall
32 Page St., Providence, Rhode Island
401-598-1025
Snowden Hall, available at a slightly higher cost, contains double-, triple- and quad-occupancy rooms with private baths and air conditioning. Residents of this hall are a mix of first-year and upper-class students. It also houses a dining center featuring grilled-to-order items and signature sandwiches at the Clock Tower Deli & Market. Student parking is not available at this hall.
Xavier Hall
60 Broad St., Providence, Rhode Island
401-598-1496
Xavier Hall, adjacent to the Xavier Academic Complex, has a limited number of single-occupancy rooms for upper-class students, and double-, triple- and quad-occupancy rooms available for first-year students. Student parking is not available at this hall.
Harborside Campus
East Hall (401-598-1189)
West Hall (401-598-1155)
South Hall (401-598-4720)
2 Washington Ave., Providence, Rhode Island
East, West and South Halls are neighboring residence halls located on the Harborside Campus near academic and student service facilities. Primarily for culinary and baking & pastry arts students, rooms in East Hall and South Hall house four residents. West Hall offers triple rooms. Each hall has community bathrooms, a laundry room, study room and recreation room. University student parking is available to all with a valid sticker.
Harbor View
1150 Narragansett Blvd., Cranston, Rhode Island
401-598-1154
Harbor View is located on the Cranston-Providence line and overlooks Narragansett Bay. It is within walking distance of the Harborside Campus. Harbor View contains triples and some quads with private baths, as well as a dining center, recreation room with a large-screen TV, and study room. It is reserved for upper-class and some first-year students. There is limited parking available.
Harborside Village
100 Harborside Blvd., Providence, Rhode Island
401-808-6000
Open to juniors and seniors, Harborside Village is comprised of 12 individual buildings with 12 four-person apartment units in each. Apartments are fully furnished and feature four single, private bedrooms; two private bathrooms; an eat-in kitchen; a common room; and a washer/dryer unit (no card or coin required). An on-site community building houses village resident mailboxes, a function room, a game room and the community management office. Parking is available through a lottery process. Residents of Harborside Village are required to agree to abide by a community policy agreement as a condition to residing in Harborside Village. There is no meal plan included at this hall. Students can purchase Wildcat Meals from Student Financial Services.
Centennial House
135 Norwood Ave., Cranston, Rhode Island
Centennial House, located a short distance from the Harborside Campus and open to sophomores and juniors, is a nontraditional housing option, different from that of a residence hall. Opened in 2013, Centennial House houses approximately 35 residents in a cooperative-style living environment focused on self-governance and community service.
Campus Dining
JWU is in a unique position to provide students with quality food service. Culinary arts and hospitality students, as part of their laboratory training, provide much of the food service at the university, under the supervision of professional chef-instructors.
The following dining centers are available for students on a meal plan and their guests: Harbor View Dining Center, Harborside Café, Willie's Grab & Go, Snowden Dining Center/Clock Tower Deli & Market, as well as two Starbucks® which are located on the Downcity and Harborside campuses.
Information on meal plans can be found in the Student Handbook.
University Library Network
The Johnson & Wales University library network is comprised of the libraries on the JWU campuses in Providence, Rhode Island and Charlotte, North Carolina, and combines traditional library services with a dynamic online information environment tailored to meet the needs of Johnson & Wales students on and off campus.
Staffed by graduates of ALA-accredited master’s degree programs in library and information science, the library is committed to the development of lifelong learning skills and information literacy in all JWU graduates. Its key mission is enhancing the pedagogical, professional and scholarly achievements of JWU faculty. During operating hours, staff is available to offer assistance on how to effectively use library resources and find the most pertinent information for assignments.
An important aspect of the library is the access it provides to resources, services and facilities shared by the Higher Education Library Information Network (HELIN), a southern New England consortium of academic libraries.
The main Johnson & Wales University library facility in Providence occupies the first two floors of The Yena Center at 111 Dorrance St. on the Downcity Campus. It houses the largest of the university library network’s book, journal and AV resource collections as well as the administrative offices of the dean of university libraries. Other resources include access to numerous research databases, Mac and Windows computer workstations, wide-bed scanners, group study rooms with LED monitors, private study carrels, soft seating, an electronic classroom, wireless internet connectivity throughout the facility.
Library collections and services at the Harborside Campus are located in The Friedman Center at 321 Harborside Blvd., and primarily support the curricula of the College of Food Innovation & Technology, with resources also available for graduate studies in business and education. Like its Downcity Campus counterpart, this facility provides access to research databases, computer workstations, group study rooms with LED monitors, and wireless internet connectivity, as well as numerous books, periodicals and AV resources. In addition, the library holds an important collection of restaurant menus from around the world. Many of these menus are now available online in the JWU Scholars Archive, an open-access digital repository of faculty publications, student scholarship and image files unique to the university.
Culinary Arts Museum at Johnson & Wales University
As an extension of JWU Library, the Culinary Arts Museum on the Harborside Campus stores and exhibits hundreds of historic artifacts associated with the fields of culinary arts, food studies and hospitality. It serves as a widely recognized educational resource for Johnson & Wales University, food scholars, and practitioners within the food service industry. Its primary objective is to preserve and interpret the broad culinary and hospitality heritage addressed by the university curriculum, showcasing its substantial historic collections as well the work of students, faculty, alumni and distinguished visiting chefs. Through exhibitions and special events, the museum strives to interpret the evolution of food preparation and presentation, development of culinary equipment and technology, diverse menus offered, and places where people dine.
Students and researchers can access digitized images of museum collection objects, and identify book, journal and artifact holdings through the museum’s online catalog. The museum also offers ample seating and bookable presentation space for student use, with Wi-Fi connectivity throughout.
Visit the Providence Campus library web page for links to library and museum online resources, user guides, contact information and hours of operation.