UTampa begins construction of largest-ever academic facility

The University of Tampa celebrated the official groundbreaking Wednesday for its new Dickey Science Innovation Center — a building the university calls the “most significant academic facility” to be built in its 94-year history. 

City of Tampa Mayor Jane Castor was joined by university officials and community leaders during Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony at the building’s future site along the banks of the Hillsborough River. 

The five-story, 153,000-square-foot facility will feature state-of-the art teaching and research laboratories and serve as the central academic hub for the College of Natural and Health Sciences. By centralizing science teaching and research spaces, which are currently spread across the University of Tampa campus, the new facility will foster collaboration and interdisciplinary learning, a release says, enhancing connections among students, faculty and disciplines. 

“The Science Center is a transformative, forward-facing facility that represents a major step forward for UTampa’s science programs and for the university as a whole,” Mike Stephenson, University of Tampa's provost and chief academic officer, says in the release. “It will enhance our ability to attract talented students and faculty and provide a collaborative environment where teaching and research can thrive.”

Scheduled to open in Spring 2029, the Dickey Science Innovation Center is meant to prepare students for careers in high-demand fields such as healthcare, sustainability, biotechnology and related sciences. It will house the departments of biology and chemistry and biochemistry, along with programs in forensic science and marine science. The building will also support allied health, computational science, environmental science and other science-driven fields critical to today’s workforce.

“This Science Center will make our students more competitive for internships, graduate school and employment, while also enabling faculty to remain leaders in their respective fields,” Paul Greenwood, dean of the College of Natural and Health Sciences, says in the release. “It reflects UTampa’s sustained commitment to academic quality and investment in the sciences.”

The building itself will house teaching and research laboratories, three microscopy rooms, four aquarium research labs, and a bioinformatics and computational sciences classroom. Designs also include 73 faculty offices. 

The Science Center’s construction is supported in part by a generational gift from Stephen and Marsha Dickey, although a specific amount has not been disclosed by the university. The Dickeys are longtime benefactors of the university and the namesakes of the University of Tampa’s Dickey Health and Wellness Center, built in 2011. Stephen Dickey is a trustee emeritus for the university and the founder of Tampa-based Doctor’s Walk-In Clinic.