Edward Waters University Announces More Than $33M in Campus Investment
As UNCF-member institution Edward Waters University celebrates its 160th anniversary, it announced a landmark $33 million in campus capital investments being made through 2028—the most significant investment in the university’s modern history.
“In the year we celebrate 160 years as Florida’s first HBCU, we are building for the next 160,” said A. Zachary Faison, Jr., Ed.D., J.D., president and CEO, Edward Waters University. “Our students deserve facilities that match the excellence of their aspirations, and that is exactly what this investment delivers.”
The major infrastructure improvements include:
- A new 200-bed student residence hall.
- The university’s first on-campus track and field facility.
- $9 million allocated to modernizing academics and laboratories, student services, historic preservation and upgrades to safety and security infrastructure.
The residence hall and track will be funded through a $25 million capital investment from the U.S. Department of Education’s Historically Black College and University Capital Financing Program. Congress created the program in 1992 because HBCUs faced obstacles to securing capital for campus projects, including discrimination in the bond market.
This will be the first new student housing constructed on campus since 1982, and the largest residential facility.
“I graduated from Edward Waters in 1984, and was a nineteen-year-old sophomore when the last new residence hall opened on this campus,” said Samuel Newby, former president, Jacksonville City Council, and president, Edward Waters University Alumni Leadership Council. “I’m 64-years-old now and to know that this next generation of students will step into a facility built for this century, on the campus that shaped all of us, is a source of enormous pride for me and our whole alumni family.”
The new track and field facility, the university’s first on-campus track, will support the University’s NCAA Division II student athletes and serve the broader community. The City of Jacksonville is providing $2 million to help build it.
Additional infrastructure improvements will be made to Centennial Hall, the oldest building on campus, which houses the university’s library, as well as the second oldest building, the Lee Cousins Administration Building. Other projects include: a new innovation lab being built in Centennial Hall; a chemistry lab being renovated in the Hatcher Stewart Science and Mathematics Building; a new campus student welcome center; enhancements to Milne Auditorium; and upgrades to campus-wide safety, security, resiliency and technology.
Edward Waters University has been experiencing momentous growth and stability. The university has expanded its academic offerings from 8 to 17 degree programs. Since 2018, it has more than tripled its endowment. In 2025, Edward Waters University was ranked 25th in the nation for social mobility by U.S. News & World Report. Fall 2026 enrollment reached the highest level in more than 20 years, with enrollment growing nearly 40% since 2019—making Edward Waters University one of the fastest growing private universities in the region. In May 2026, the university graduated the largest class in its 160-year history. And in August, Edward Waters University was one 12 UNCF-member institutions selected to receive a $1 million endowment gift from the Dimon Foundation.
“Students judge a university by what they see when they walk onto campus,” Faison said. “From our laboratories to our historic buildings to the systems that keep our students safe, these improvements ensure that every corner of this campus reflects who we are and where we are going.”