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UT’s newest building on campus — which features a state-of-the-art entrepreneurship center and high tech cybersecurity labs — will be open to the public during an open house on Thursday, Sept. 3, at 10 a.m. The building also includes campus safety offices, innovative classrooms, study spaces, faculty offices and a Starbucks store.

The open house will feature opportunities to interview UT entrepreneurship students active in the Spartan Accelerator, cybersecurity and entrepreneurship program staff and faculty, community incubator businesses, building donors, entrepreneurs-in-residence and UT administration. UT’s Hult Prize finalist team, Tembo, will also have representatives in attendance.

The Innovation and Collaboration Building (ICB) — located at the corner of Kennedy and North boulevards — is an eight-story structure that successfully combines administrative and academic functions. The building features three floors of academic and administrative space, including a new, state-of-the-art home for the John P. Lowth Entrepreneurship Center, and four floors of parking that is accessed by a bridge that arches over North A Street.

In fact, a student theoretically could park, enjoy a cup of coffee, meet with a study group, go to class, visit a professor and attend an executive business seminar on entrepreneurship — all without leaving the ICB.

The ICB adds a total of 511 classroom seats for students, 31 faculty offices, 386 parking spaces and 10 student gathering areas. The three academic and administrative floors add 65,000 square feet, plus approximately 148,000 square feet of parking, for a total of 213,000 square feet.

FLOOR ONE
 
Cybersecurity — Last December, UT announced a major and minor undergraduate degree program in cybersecurity starting this fall. That program, which is part of the Sykes College of Business, is housed in state-of-the-art facilities in the ICB.

Students in the program will learn to protect the confidentiality, availability and integrity of information and information systems that support modern organizations. The facility includes a cybersecurity classroom, advanced lab and technical support area where students will have extensive hands-on experience using industry standard tools. A dedicated server network has been built, and sophisticated software installed, to allow students to engage in real-time practice and research in a real cyber network.

Campus Safety — The Campus Safety Center is equipped with the functionality necessary to allow the 38 campus safety personnel to respond to any incident on campus. The center includes a lobby, meeting and interview rooms, video monitoring room, evidence processing space, equipment lockers, a training room, a walk-up window and a 24-hour dispatch center.

Starbucks — Starbucks in the ICB provides a comfortable and relaxed indoor and patio gathering space for UT community members. It is adjacent to large meeting and study areas, one of which is on the second floor and accessed by a stairway from Starbucks.

In addition to Starbucks’ menu of food and handcrafted beverages, this store will offer Starbucks Reserve®, a special collection of unique, small-lot coffees which are selected from farms all over the world by Starbucks’ experienced coffee team.

In addition, Fizzio™ handcrafted sodas, made-to-order from premium ingredients, will be available, as will grab-and-go snacks, warm sandwiches and a Wall of Chill that features bistro boxes, fruit cups, ready-to-drink beverages, waters and Evolution Fresh juices.

During regular academic semesters, Starbucks in the ICB will be open Monday–Friday from 7 a.m.–1 a.m., Saturday 9 a.m.–1 a.m. and Sunday 9 a.m.–11 p.m.

FLOOR TWO
 
The second floor of the ICB includes classrooms, study spaces and 22 faculty offices. The classrooms were constructed with active learning in mind, with built-in multimedia projectors, A/V systems and flexible seating arrangements.

FLOORS THREE TO SEVEN
 
Parking Garage Expansion — The Thomas Parking Garage was expanded into the ICB, adding 386 parking spaces, for a total of 1,111 spaces. While there is a third floor in the ICB, you can’t stop there. That “floor” is actually a three-foot space between the second floor and the parking deck. The space allows for noise dampening.

FLOOR EIGHT
 
John P. Lowth Entrepreneurship Center — The John P. Lowth Entrepreneurship Center was designed to be a model entrepreneurship space in incorporating state-of-the-art design elements to enhance creativity, inquiry, introspection and innovative thinking and learning. It’s intended to bring together prospective student entrepreneurs, educators and experienced entrepreneurs to generate, refine and develop entrepreneurial concepts, which could lead to the launch of new ventures.

The space encourages crossing of domains, field experience and experimentation, and allows UT to carve out a unique educational niche and better serve both the Tampa Bay region and UT’s entrepreneurially minded students.

This space will provide significant benefits to The University of Tampa and the Tampa Bay region. With this additional space, UT expects to double the number of majors and minors in entrepreneurship, significantly increase the number of students from across disciplines who engage in entrepreneurial efforts, keep more bright young minds in the Tampa Bay region after graduation, and contribute to economic development and startups in the Tampa Bay region.

The center includes such features as:

• Executive Seminar Room — a dedicated, tiered room that seats 84.
• Pitch Room — a tiered space with an A/V booth to allow for presentations, recording and rating of pitches.
• Collaboration Kitchen — Since many of the best ideas are formed at the home, the Entrepreneurship Center also has its own home-like kitchen. Meant to be a playful, relaxing space, this kitchen can be used to retrieve lunch, while also hatching a world-changing idea. Former students’ entrepreneurial ideas are also on display in the kitchen.
• Four Spartan Accelerators — large spaces with flexible layouts for student entrepreneurs to work on their startups.
• Community Incubator — a live lab where up to nine community businesses in early stages of development will be hosted. Business owners will be able to attend seminars, seek assistance from faculty, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs-in-residence, and work with student consulting teams assigned to assist them. Currently, these business include CLASSUITE, Avatar DSS, Outer Action, Sauce Digital, Tembo, Midnight Waxers, and DJ Dayve & Associates.
• Pop-Up Pitch Area — a tiered, multimedia presentation and practice space.
• Two Think Pods — custom-built spaces for private or small group contemplation.
• Resource Center — features sample past business plans, white papers on important entrepreneurship topics, key references and workspaces.
• Reception Deck — a contemplative space affording expansive views of Tampa Bay and downtown Tampa.
• Lobby — includes touch screens and videos overviewing programs and activities.
• Contemplation Loft — a loft area for reflection, inspiration and creative play.
• Graphics — Throughout the space, graphics are intended to inspire, educate and enhance this unique learning environment. A unique changeable display wall features national and local entrepreneurs who have participated in certain program speaking opportunities.

The Entrepreneurship Center is named after John P. Lowth, a member of the UT class of 1982. Lowth, of Long Island, NY, and Palm Beach Gardens, FL, is currently the president of Arnone, Lowth, Wilson, Leibowitz, Andriano & Greco LLC, which is a life insurance firm specializing in estate planning and business continuity planning for high net worth estates.

A GREEN ICB
 
In alignment with UT’s commitment to environmental stewardship, the ICB has been designed and constructed to be a candidate for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification of the U.S. Green Building Council. A few of the ICB’s sustainable features:

• The ICB is more than 30 percent more efficient than a comparable building;
• More than 30 percent of building materials came from local sources;
• The ICB is connected to UT’s new high-efficiency chiller plant offering significant energy cost savings;
• Abundant daylight is maximized through lighting controls to use natural light whenever possible, and low voltage lighting and sensors are used throughout to promote energy efficiency;
• More than 4,000 LED fixtures light the ICB; and,
• All plumbing fixtures utilize high efficiency design to reduce water waste.