JWU

Hospitality & Business Facilities & Labs

About the College
Faculty
A person with curly hair and a beard, wearing a gray sweater over a collared shirt, holds a tablet and gestures with one hand while speaking to others in a modern indoor setting.
Students walking up the tree-lined path to the Xavier Academic Complex.
Two people prepare tea using various tea bags and spoons at a kitchen counter with multiple cups and a sink.

Learn the business by running it

At JWU Providence, hospitality and business classes don’t stop at case studies. You’ll manage dinner service for paying guests, track live market data, build retail displays and learn to taste and evaluate beverages the way industry professionals do. Every space below is a working environment first and a classroom second — you practice the job before anyone pays you to do it.

Xavier Academic Complex

29 Claverick Street, Providence

This energetic complex houses a variety of hospitality and business labs while also hosting classrooms, faculty offices, the Schneider Auditorium and student lounge.

  • Finance & Strategy Lab: Features a real-time digital stock ticker to display equity securities and trade information, as well as a whiteboard and rolling lecterns designed to support strategy sessions, presentations and applied case work while facilitating discussions and team-based problem solving.
  • Retail Lab: This lab provides an immersive environment where Fashion Merchandising & Retailing students complete portfolio-ready projects, the lab allows students to gain hands-on experience in merchandise management, trend forecasting and visual merchandising.
  • SEEM Lab: This 2,200-square-foot experiential learning space is designed to mimic a real-world, fast-paced industry environment. The 20-foot-wide screen, moveable classroom layouts and digitized ticker tape help the space emulate a professional sports, entertainment and media hub.  
  • Bigelow Tea Classroom: A beverage appreciation lab where students learn the techniques of sensory perception, how to conduct professional flavor profiles and how to pair food with all types of beverages through tastings, coursework and projects 
  • Bistro 61: A laboratory in the form of a working restaurant, this space lets teams of students manage lunch and dinner service for real guests. In this collaborative environment, hospitality students gain management and leadership skills while culinary students to flex their creative skills designing menus.
  • Nontraditional Workshop Classrooms: Currently under construction for Fall 2026, these dynamic classroom spaces designed for group work of various sizes will include a Create & Collaborate Workshop, a Technology & Consultation Suite and a Corporate Strategy Retreat Suite.

Launch Experience

Launch Experience

Launch Experience

Launch Experience

Launch Experience

Academic Centers

Use this pattern to provide up to 25 words of explanation each about similar link options, to give users enough context to make a choice before they click.

A person leans over a table filled with wine glasses, closely examining a glass of red wine.

Center for Beverage Education & Innovation

The Center for Beverage Education & Innovation connects JWU’s culinary and hospitality programs with beverage industry partners. Every beverage learning space on campus falls under the center, where students study tea, coffee, beer, wine and spirits.

JWU's Center for Entrepreneurship

Larry Friedman Center for Entrepreneurship

The Larry Friedman Center for Entrepreneurship, known as the Launch Pad, is where student ideas become real businesses. Students find mentors, small business support and a shot at Sharkfest, the annual pitch competition.

Real-Time Learning

From tracking and making live investments to running a real dinner service
in our full-service restaurant lab, Bistro 61, JWU students thrive in fast-paced, highly collaborative environments.

A server in a red top stands outside a glass door marked "Bistro 61," holding a tablet and smiling as guests dine inside.
Hospitality students in Bistro 61 delivering another fantastic experience for guests. Photos: Scott Bowers 2025.
Two students sit at a table during a class discussion with a stock market display behind them.
The members of the Wildcat Investment Fund gather in the Strategy Lab during their weekly meeting to discuss their investments. Photos Mike Cohea 2022
Guests dine inside Bistro 61 as seen through the glass entrance with the restaurant logo.
Hospitality students in Bistro 61 delivering another fantastic experience for guests. Photos: Scott Bowers 2025.
Two culinary students prepare ingredients together in a teaching kitchen.
A student arranges clothing on a rack inside a campus retail lab.
Students in Prof. Pat Fisher’s RTL2122 class learn how to conduct market analysis, trend research, buying, and visual merchandising all while under the supervision of faculty with industry expertise. Students also completing hands-on assignments resembling merchandise management activities in a laboratory setting. Photos Mike Cohea 2023
Students wearing hard hats and safety vests walk together through a stadium construction site.
SEEM students and attendees take a tour of the brand new Centreville Bank Stadium – home of the Rhode Island FC. Photos: Scott Bowers 2025.

Visit JWU Providence

There’s so much to do (and see) at JWU! Whether you are exploring the Harborside or Downcity campus, you will get an up-close look at what makes JWU great. Explore where you’ll live, learn and enjoy all campus has to offer. We can’t wait to show you JWU!

Schedule a tour