Bryant University announced a significant campus expansion due to a generous real estate donation from neighboring Fidelity Investments. Fidelity donated 100 Salem Street, which is part of their Smithfield corporate campus just across the street from the existing Bryant campus entrance.
This acquisition marks the most significant real estate gift to Bryant University since Earl Tupper gifted his farmland to create Bryant’s Smithfield campus in 1967. And the university had moved to Smithfield from its original Providence location.
The donation also propels Bryant’s Vision 2030 plan forward by reimaging Bryant’s campus to include a state-of-the-art facility to house its top-ranking College of Business, the Graduate Programs office, the Executive Education and Career Accelerator, and the Women’s Leadership Institute. And this new facility will also support extracurricular activities and provide gathering space for all Bryant students.
Bryant’s campus expansion – along with Vision 2030 strategic facilities investments – is going to support innovative learning hubs and enhanced emphasis on experiential learning, data analytics, and the business of health across the entire university and enable greater identification and distinction for the College of Business, College of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Health and Behavioral Sciences. Plus the extended campus bolsters the bold initiatives put forward by Vision 2030, which includes continued investment in academic excellence, deep experiential learning, and Top 1% student outcomes, including high earnings and economic mobility.
Bryant University is going to build out the 250,000-square-foot building to include classrooms, entrepreneurial innovation space, and state-of-the-art labs and engage students in design thinking, professional sales, fintech, AI, and data analytics. And the facility will also include faculty and administrative office space and meeting and gathering spaces.
This additional square footage that the campus expansion provides will allow the creation of the “Innovative and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem” initiative that takes ambitious projects from ideation and incubation to venture capital funding. This new Center for Entrepreneurship will enhance collaboration between students, faculty, and industry throughout Rhode Island.
