Dr. David Dodd Retires

On Monday, November 4, it was officially announced that Dr. David Dodd, our longtime Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, would be retiring. His retirement will go into full effect at the end of 2019. Since 2012, Dr. David Dodd has served our school in his dual role as both our first Vice President for Information Technology and our first Chief Information Officer. When he first joined Stevens, he brought with him 30 years of industry experience in IT and academics. Previously, he served as the Vice President for Information Resources and Chief Information Officer of Xavier University, Vice Chancellor for IT and CIO at the University of South Carolina Upstate, and the Executive Director of IT at University of North Carolina Wilmington. His education also speaks volumes. He holds a B.A. from West Virginia University, a M.A. from SUNY Binghamton, and a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from Ohio University, with a specialization in the use of structured and unstructured information in decision support.

During his years in academia, he has received numerous awards for his vision and leadership in building strong IT frameworks in higher education. For his work at Xavier University, he achieved the Best Website in the Nation award from the Web Marketing Association in 2006. Moreover, he received the Grand Gold Award from the Council for the Achievement and Support of Education in 2009. When he first came to Stevens, hopes were high, with President Farvardin even going so far to say in a 2012 nj.com article that “over the next decade, Stevens will building an international reputation for its technology-centric educational programs and David will be a critical element of our success.” Throughout his time at Stevens, our Division of Information Technology has developed by leaps and bounds. According to the Stevens website, Dr. David Dodd “led a transformation to achieve a level of organizational excellence for the division.” Under his leadership, Stevens launched the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), became a Workday Student Design Partner Program, and implemented a state-of-the-art Data Center. Additionally, Stevens has transitioned to using Canvas, Office 365, Zoom, Duo Multi-factor authentication system, and Workday HCM. Dr. Dodd played a pivotal role in helping modernize our school by developing a successful grant proposal that resulted in a $7.25 million grant from the State of New Jersey to overhaul our fiber optic network, roll out a campus-wide wireless network, and transitioned to a modern voice over IP system.

More recently, Dr. David Dodd carried out the monumental task of recovering from the vicious malware attack earlier this year. While there is still progress to be made in the recovery effort, Stevens was able to open for Fall 2019 classes on time despite the attack occurring only three weeks prior. According to the announcement by the school, Dr. David Dodd will be retiring in order to move back down to North Carolina in order to care for his elderly parents and spend more time with his family. Moreover, the Stevens administration will soon be conducting a search for his replacement.