Many Senior Design classes have been without a classroom since the beginning of the school year due to the delayed opening of the anticipated Gateway Academic Center. “[The building] was delayed due to many issues, but a large one being the hack,” Jason Chlus, President of the Student Government Association, stated in an email. This delay particularly affected the Senior Design classes because they were intended to meet in the newly-constructed building.
Eric Williams, an assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering, is not too concerned. “The delays are unfortunate, but not as bad as you might expect,” he wrote in an email interview. “The primary focus of the course is work on the projects and since we are still a few weeks from the first deadline I would imagine it won’t change too much from previous years.”
However, there is one professor who is concerned about the lack of a designated meeting location and time, hindering the quality and speed of work that needs to be done. One professor, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity for fear of being identified, said in an interview, “There are certain oral presentations required for Senior Design. I don’t know when I can schedule those because I need a classroom in order to do that,” they said.
Furthermore, their Senior Design class relies on external sponsors for their projects. “When I solicit my sponsors, I make it clear to them the meeting times are Tuesday and Thursday afternoons,” they said. “I can’t go back and say to them that because Stevens didn’t schedule classes, we have to change that.”
This situation, the professor said, is “totally unprofessional.”
They went on to say that the registrar offered to give their class a meeting time on Wednesday during academic break, but they considered that to be unacceptable, given that it would interfere with their own and their students’ established schedules. Additionally, they pointed out that “meeting for 110 minutes once a week isn’t meeting the ABET criteria that is required for a 3 credit course.”
Chlus stated, “My knowledge is that many D7 classes were cancelled in the first week and have taken creative alternatives to have these classes in the following weeks. I know fraternities have hosted small classes.” The Senior Design professor said that they were not notified of the lack of a classroom until the first day of class. “I basically have no classroom as of this point,” according to my source, who has had to schedule meeting times with every group individually, working around all of their schedules in order to kick off their projects. Currently, it seems that the registrar’s plan is to wait until the new building is finished, as construction is expected to end on October 1, at which point “classes will move into the complex,” said Chlus.
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