The Campus and Facilities

New College's home is a 115-acre campus, stretching from the intertidal shores of Sarasota Bay to the edge of the Sarasota-Bradenton airfield. There are three named sub-units of the campus—Bayfront, Pei, and Caples. The College lies within a public educational, cultural, and historic district that includes the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and the Asolo Repertory Theatre, now affiliated with Florida State University. The district's four Gilded Age Mansions, three on the campus and one on the museum grounds, are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The campus mansions are in regular use as classrooms, offices, and reception areas.

The campus is also home to modern buildings designed by I.M. Pei. These include a complex of undergraduate student residences, a cafeteria and student center, and classrooms/offices. Most first year undergraduate students live in the Pei-designed residences; a large quadrangle planted with stately royal palms borders the residences and serves as a popular gathering spot for New College students. Dort and Goldstein Residence Halls are connected to the Pei dorms by a walkway lined with Washingtonia Palms.

Five new residential halls were completed in 2007. Four of them provide apartment-style living for about 100 students. These halls feature some beautiful architecture, including high timbered roofs with arched windows and an abundance of natural light. The fifth hall, The Rhoda Pritzker Residence Hall, provides housing for 90 students. The hall features a third story, open-air lounge, and a central courtyard.

The Harry Sudakoff Lecture and Conference Center and the Jane Bancroft Cook Library were added to the campus in the 1980's. The flexible plan of Sudakoff Center allows its 600-seat auditorium to be subdivided into meeting rooms for groups of 50 to 400. A pedestrian bridge between Sudakoff Center and Cook Library spans the highway that bisects the campus. As a group, the bridge, Sudakoff Center, and Cook Library harmonize I.M. Pei's modernist buildings to the east with the traditional estate architecture on the campus bayfront. A professionally-managed indoor fitness center with racquetball courts, Nautilus room, dance/exercise room, and lockers is the centerpiece of a campus recreation area that includes lighted tennis and basketball courts, a 25-meter swimming pool, a whirlpool, and a multipurpose playing field (softball, soccer, Frisbee, etc.). The Caples bayfront (lying south of the Ringling Museum) provides launching for canoes and small sailboats, available on a checkout basis.

Since 1993, the campus has seen the construction of a comprehensive music and art quadrangle at Caples, the R.V. Heiser Natural Sciences Complex, the Rhoda and Jack Pritzker Marine Biology Research Center, the Public Archaeology Laboratory, and the Academic Center.

New College and USF Sarasota-Manatee share some campus facilities and services.

Academic Center and Plaza

New College completed construction in 2011 on an $11 million signature Academic Center and Plaza that boldly announces the entrance to the state's honors college for the arts and sciences. The new building and its spacious interior plaza form the cornerstone of the College's Campus Master Plan and the building has attained LEED gold certification.

Located immediately north of the Jane Bancroft Cook Library, the 35,000 square-foot facility is home to the Division of Humanities. It also houses most faculty offices, classrooms, computer labs, and a small student lounge. The Center, together with a large plaza connecting it with Cook Library, has become the campus hub, the natural meeting point throughout the week for students, faculty, and staff. Its location enables the College to maximize the benefits associated with the organizational and technological changes occurring at the library.

The Jane Bancroft Cook Library

The Jane Bancroft Cook Library, completed in 1986 and honored by the American Institute of Architects for its outstanding design, is central to the academic life of New College of Florida. Its diverse resources, congenial atmosphere, and distinguished collections and programs have all been structured to foster independent work. The Cook Library collections contain several hundred thousand items while access to over 10 million items through the State University Libraries system is available to students, faculty, and staff. A research-level e-resource collection of books, journals, and databases is accessible via the Library website. Most print materials are arranged by Library of Congress classification in an open stack format making materials readily accessible to users. An online catalog and discovery tool of the holdings of the State University System of Florida libraries enables users to borrow materials directly from other SUS libraries. The library offers both traditional and electronic reserve services to students.

Cook Library receives many daily and weekly local, national, and international print and electronic newspapers. The library has numerous current subscriptions to scholarly journals in print and electronic format. Internet access is provided through multiple computer workstations and through wireless connection. Remote access to all electronic resources is available to currently enrolled students, faculty, and staff. Librarians offer extensive instruction to students, both individually and in-group settings, to assist them in learning to navigate the extensive resources that are available. Online Research Guides assist in the location of available reference tools. Librarians are available to assist students, faculty, and staff with library resources. 

Seating adequate to accommodate in excess of 500 persons is available in Cook Library. These areas include a variety of settings such as lounges, display areas, and research carrels. The Helen N. Fagin Holocaust Collection, a special collection of Holocaust and genocide materials, is located on the first floor of the library, while the Keating Special Collections Room is located on the second floor. The College Archives are housed in the Library with many items available online through the digital repository. Two group study rooms and the Thesis Room are also on the first floor of Cook Library along with other designated areas for individual and collaborative study. The Library also houses a microfilm/microfiche collection and a reader with the ability to save images to a USB drive is available for use. There are card-operated printers and photocopiers available on the first floor. A machine for the visually impaired is available on the first floor as well.

The Writing Resource Center, Educational Technology Services, Language Resource Center, and Quantitative Resource Center are located in the Academic Resource Center on the first floor of Cook Library; the Off Campus Study/Study Abroad Office and the Office of Research Programs and Services (ORPS) are located in Cook Library as well.

Cook Library staff welcome the opportunity to serve students at every level of their research need and education process.