Farvardin’s State of Stevens Address

This past Saturday was freshman family weekend and, along with it, President Farvardin’s State of Stevens Address. The event served as a way for the parents of freshmen to get a better understanding of where their tuition money is going, and how well it’s being used. The event also allows current Stevens students and alumni to gauge how well the school is doing, and which direction it is heading in.

The event began with opening remarks from the Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, Marybeth Murphy. Ms. Murphy welcomed all of the parents and students to the opening event for the second day of freshman family weekend. She stated, from her experience as a parent, it is always a great time to be on campus because the students get to see their parents that they may not have had the chance to see in a while. From there she began to speak about how “Stevens is a university on the move” and introduced President Farvardin.

President Farvardin walked onto the stage and welcomed everyone to Stevens. He also began by joking that the auditorium appeared much like his classroom, the majority of people were sitting towards the back. After telling the audience that he welcomes all feedback and telling a couple quick stories, he moved on the reason for gathering everyone together, the state of Stevens.

Farvardin began this by noting the tremendous momentum that Stevens has been making in the roughly seven years he has been president of the university. This began by highlighting the new leadership that has come to Stevens, allowing it to move forward towards the goals of the master plan. This can most notably be seen in the external recognition that Stevens has received. Most recently, Stevens has been ranked 69th by U.S. News and World Report college rankings, making it the second-fastest rising school in the rankings. Although President Farvardin said he is happy about this, he still wants to become the number one fastest rising school in the nation. The second major statistic Farvardin noted was that Stevens has been ranked 10th in Return on Investment among all US colleges, according to PayScale. The other piece of recognition comes not from another source ranking schools, but an article from Forbes magazine about Stevens becoming a turnaround university. It is very rare for a university to get recognition in a high profile magazine like Forbes.

Moving on, Farvardin presented some very unfortunate national news. According to a recent study regarding the economic mobility index in the United States, only 50%  of people are doing better than their parents. But, there was a bright side to all of this. Out of 71 universities that were placed in a select group because they move the most people up in the mobility index, Stevens was ranked number 1. With this, Farvardin noted that “We want to build successful futures” and “offer an education second to none.”

As the presentation moved on, Farvardin went through internal statistics such as the increase in undergraduate applications, up 132%, as well as an increase in undergraduate SAT scores, up 80-130 points. Along with entry rates into Stevens, he noted entry rates into the job market which stand at an unheard of 96%, with the other 4% generally doing volunteer work or traveling abroad. The amount of faculty at Stevens has increased, and the operating revenue is up by 73.3 million dollars.

With this, Farvardin moved to discussing key portions of the ten-year plan, specifically infrastructure. Stevens’s IT has been upgraded to a state of the art level, with only one WiFi dead spot, in the middle of the athletic field. He then moved to discuss all of the upcoming building projects, as well as the recently completed ones. Most notable were the Babbio garage, Gianforte Family Academic Center, and the still under review plans for a new university center and dormitories where Jacobus and Hayden currently sit. The new dormitories are expected to house 800 additional students.

There was then a major discussion about where the school plans to get all of the money required to complete such projects while keeping tuition costs down and gaining new faculty. $150 million is currently being raised by the Power of Stevens campaign, which will allocate $68 million to student scholarships, $48 million for physical infrastructure, and $34 million for faculty recruitment. The campaign is currently above its expected fundraising rates.

Finally, President Farvardin gave some closing remarks, noting that the incoming class of 2021 will greatly benefit from all of this. According to Farvardin, “Stevens is on the rise.”