Admitted Student Experience

The Kanbar Campus Center is the center of campus life and activity for students, faculty and staff. The 72,000 square foot, state-of-the-art hub is home to Common Thread cafeteria, Ted’s Barista, Ram Mart convenience store, Campus Bookstore, Kanbar Performance Space, Information Desk and University mailroom. It is also home base for the Offices of Student Government Association, Student Engagement, International Student Programs, Study Away, Accessibility Services and Counseling Services, as well as the Career Services Center. It’s also where you’ll find the Ramily Market, which provides free, non-perishable food and hygiene products to students in need.

Named for alumnus Maurice Kanbar ’52, H ’03–the inventor of Skyy Vodka–the Campus Center’s signature architectural design includes a “living room” with floor-to-ceiling windows and a fireplace. Students often use this area to discuss class projects and hang out.

Built to LEED standards, the Design, Engineering and Commerce Center offers flexible learning spaces that are great for studio time or team projects, as well as a Forum for seminars and lectures.

Every space inside the DEC Center was designed to advance the project-based learning and problem-solving curriculum of its namesake, the Kanbar College of Design, Engineering & Commerce. Based on a balance of practical knowledge and real-world, collaborative, hands-on experiences, we call this award-winning approach Nexus Learning™ and have implemented it across the university, making it a hallmark of a Jefferson education for students of all majors.

The Center’s benefactor, Larry Field, was a real estate entrepreneur and philanthropist who supported our University’s innovative vision.

Hayward Hall is one of the University’s main academic buildings and features an assortment of learning environments. The lower level and ground floors have engineering labs and studios for graphic design, web design, animation, and fashion design, as well as our Fashion and Textiles Futures Center. The Futures Center is a maker’s paradise with the looms of the textile design department, the wood and metal shops of our industrial designers, design studios and showcases displaying student work.

Hayward Hall’s top floor houses classrooms and labs for life science, health science and psychology majors.

The Kay and Harold Ronson Health and Applied Science Center is the newest addition to campus. The 60,000 square foot building is attached by an interior bridge to Hayward Hall, and includes several advanced labs and team-learning environments. There is also a health innovation maker space, six Nexus Learning™ hubs and faculty office space.  

The Ravenhill side of campus begins when you cross Henry Avenue and School House Lane. It is home to several historic academic buildings, including the namesake Ravenhill Mansion and Chapel; University residence halls; and the Ravenhill Dining Hall.

The Tuttleman Center has state-of-the-art classrooms, desktop computer stations and a 300-seat auditorium. It is home to the School of Business and the School of Continuing & Professional Studies.

The Smith House is home to the Landscape Architecture program and has administrative offices, classrooms and studios. Landscape Architecture promotes sustainable landscape planning, design and restoration, with particular emphasis on the urban environment.

The Ravenhill Dining Hall is a 350-seat dining hall serves meals in an “all you care to eat” fashion. It has an excellent reputation among students for offering a wide variety of cuisines and food stations–theme nights are common–and the facility hosts the much-anticipated Midnight Breakfast before exam week during fall semesters. Students also love Ravenhill Dining Hall’s comfortable surroundings, including large windows that overlook campus, and textiles on display from the University’s extensive collection. On the lower level of the building is RavenHub, a lounge where students hang out, study and relax.

Ravenhill Mansion, constructed in 1802 as the Ravenhill Academy, is home to classrooms and faculty and administrative offices and is a prime example of Jefferson’s commitment to preserving our campus’s rich history and some of the most beautiful architecture in Philadelphia. Fun fact: one of Ravenhill Academy’s most famous students was Grace Kelly!

Partridge Hall is a coed three-story residence hall that mainly houses first-year students.

Ronson Hall is a residence hall that accommodates 309 student residents in five section called “houses.” Each house has two wings with predominantly two-person rooms, a community kitchen/social lounge and common-area bathroom facilities. Three houses are coed with a wing each for men and women, one house is all male and one house is all female. There is an interior central court area with a security check-in desk and a student lounge; laundry facilities are on the basement level.

Fortess Hall, located next to Ravenhill Mansion, is a three-story residence hall for female freshmen and transfer students. Its 181 residents live in one- to four-person occupancy rooms and share a study lounge with kitchen, laundry facilities and common-area bathroom facilities.

Search Hall is a second home to the Office of Information Resources and Computing Center, as well as faculty and administrative offices. It also has studios, a photography lab and classrooms for the College of Architecture & the Built Environment. This building is named for Theodore Search, who founded The Philadelphia Textile Institute in 1884, the first textile school in the United States. That Institute went on to become Philadelphia University, which merged with Jefferson in 2017. When it was built in 1967, Search Hall was the world’s first apparel research center.

The Architecture and Design Center is in the hearth of Jefferson’s Main Campus. Built in 1967, it transformed the University’s first library into the home of our distinguished College of Architecture and the Built Environment. Outstanding student work is displayed throughout the building. All junior, senior and fifth-year architecture and interior design majors have individual studio space here and are given after-hours access to the building.

The hub of Jefferson athletics, the Gallagher Athletic, Recreation & Convocation Center is named for the longest-serving president in University history, Dr. James P. Gallagher. It boasts the Herb Magee court, which seats 1,200 fans and is named for the men’s basketball coach–the second winningest coach in NCAA history! The Center also has two full-sized auxiliary courts, including the Bucky Harris Gymnasium, which is used for basketball, volleyball and intramural sports; a racquetball court; an aerobics studio; a 1/8-mile jogging track elevated above the basketball courts; a glass-enclosed fitness facility; locker rooms; and an underground parking garage.