I am delighted to welcome everyone back to campus on this first day of the Spring semester and to share a few updates since my last message.
Yesterday Stevens hosted its third annual MLK Day of Service, which has become an important tradition on our campus. The Stevens community volunteered throughout Hoboken and heard from two remarkable keynote speakers: civil rights activist and movement strategist Tylik McMillan and New Jersey Assemblywoman Linda Carter M.S. ’00. Congratulations to the event organizers for programming a day that honored the life and contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I’d also like to acknowledge the commitment to service from Stevens Athletics, which recently won a National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators community service award for activities during the 2022-2023 academic year. Go Ducks!
Last week, Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Sara Klein co-chaired the inaugural New Jersey Higher Education Mental Health Summit. Held at Seton Hall University, hundreds of professionals and practitioners collaborated across disciplines to support the psychological health and well-being of students. Stevens enjoys and benefits from this continued collaboration with our partners across the state to address this most important initiative.
Stevens has once again raised the bar in research awards, receiving $76.7 million during FY23, a 27% increase from FY22 and a new record for the fourth consecutive year. Meanwhile, Stevens’ FY23 externally sponsored research expenditures — an acknowledged marker of continued research quality and activity — surpassed $50 million, also reaching a record high. We are off to another strong start in the current fiscal year, FY24, with more than $40 million in external research awards as of the end of December 2023.
Faculty from across the university continue to make news on the most relevant issues of our time. ABC News featured HASS Associate Professor Alex Wellerstein in Fallout: Two Nations Under Uranium, a documentary highlighting families at the center of the nuclear arms race. Geoffrey S. Inman Junior Professor at SES and the Director of Stevens Institute for Artificial Intelligence Dr. Brendan Englot was profiled by The Robot Report, in which he discussed his AI predictions for 2024. Also, STAT News published, “Americans are obsessed with health and fitness tracking. It’s time for a data diet,” an op-ed by SES Associate Professor Samantha Kleinberg.
As Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer Sheraine Gilliam noted last week, the Great Place to Work® survey will launch tomorrow. I encourage each of you to help Stevens maintain its certification as a Great Place to Work® and to help guide us toward continual improvement. Please look for the email from Great Place to Work (hello@invite.emprising.com) and complete the survey by Feb. 1.
Lastly, please mark your calendar for two of our community’s premier events: Innovation Expo on April 26 and Commencement on May 22. More details on both events will be forthcoming soon.
I look forward to all we will accomplish together in 2024.
Per aspera ad astra.
