On Wednesday afternoon, faculty and staff gathered in Bissinger, enjoying the finest of Compass One catering to a backdrop of live jazz. The familiar faces of Nelly, Captain Maggi, Dean Nilsen, and others speckled the crowd. At 3:30 pm, President Nariman Farvardin took the stage for opening remarks.
“It is my great pleasure to recognize the achievements and contributions of our colleagues and thank them for all they do to move Stevens forward,” said Farvardin. The next hour was punctuated by handshakes and applause as employees rose to accept awards for their service at Stevens.
The fifth Annual Employee Recognition Ceremony, hosted by the Division of Human Resources, had two main features. First, employees, nominated by colleagues and selected by a committee, received awards in five categories that align with the school’s Strategic Plan, The Future. Ours to Create. Second, staff and faculty were recognized for their time at Stevens in five-year milestones, the highest category being for 50 years of service.
To the sound of the Jordan Pettay jazz quartet, the “Excellence in All We Do” award was presented to Ann Murphy, Associate Professor in the School of Business; John “Johnny” Mauro, Assistant Director for University Events; and Nicholaus Parziale, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
The “Student-Centricity” award went to Michelle Crilly, Director of the School of Business’ Student and Faculty Support Center; Virginia “Ginny” Figueiredo, Assistant Director of Student Accounts; and Police Captain Thomas Maggi.
“Through Collaboration, Impact” went to Margaret “Peggy” Guzzetta, Director of Finance and Administration; and Leah Loscutoff, Head of Archives and Special Collections Librarian.
“Strengthened Reputation, Increased Prestige” went to Henry Du, Professor of Chemical Engineering; and Brendan Englot, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
“Technology at Our Core” went to Dov Kruger, Teaching Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Jeniffer Obando, Senior Instructional Designer for Stevens’ award-winning online platform, WebCampus.
A group award for “Transformative Teamwork” was then conferred on the entire Office of Graduate Admissions.
As the jazz continued and shimmering, golden, chocolate-drizzled strawberries reflected the light of a nearby candelabrum, Maria Ouckama, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, lifted the microphone and announced the recipient of a new distinction. The Lifetime Contribution Award, added this year, honors a retired employee whose impact on Stevens may never be forgotten. It went to Dr. Edward Friedman.
As Friedman rose to the stage, behind him a projector shone some of his achievements. Yet even with text filling the screen, it was a partial list. In a short and humble speech, the emeritus professor reflected on the year 1963, the year he was hired by Stevens and the year he strove to embody the famous words of John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” He took the job as a physics professor, believing that in one year he would leave on an assignment with the Peace Corps.
In his rich and varied career at Stevens, preceded by physics degrees from MIT and Columbia, Friedman has been a professor of physics, technology management, and the humanities; dean of the college; interim Vice President for Academic Affairs; a pioneer of the use of computers in education; the founder of various centers at the university; and a retiree who still shows up to work and teaches. He has done international development work in Afghanistan, propelled the use of computers for healthcare in Africa with the United Nations, and received distinctions from foreign governments. Of course, an incomplete summary like this makes his legacy seem less impressive and meaningful than it is.
“I could never have had a career like this at almost every other institution I can think of. It was the fact that this is a small, intimate, and unique university where people can be flexible,” said Friedman in an interview shortly after he accepted the award.
Other faculty mirrored Friedman’s appraisal of the university. Reflecting on the atmosphere of the event, Professor Alex Wellerstein, who served on the selection committee, said, “You can’t do something like this in, for example, the University of California system. But at Stevens, you can actually know everybody here, and you can know a lot of the students, and students can know each other. And that’s a nice experience.”
On the selection process for the awards, Wellerstein commented that “there is a lot of rigor involved. [Professor Steven Hoffenson] is very careful about conflicts of interest. And, ultimately, it comes down to the nominations.” Hoffenson has chaired the Employee Recognition Committee for three years and earned praise for basing the award selection method on the National Science Foundation. Even so, deciding on recipients was difficult, and many who were not selected still deserve praise.
After the awards, employees were recognized for the length of their stay at the university. Without their names being called, those with five years of service posed on stage for a photograph, followed by those with 10 years of service, then 15, and so on. Some faces were missing from the crowd, notably the two professors honored for 50 years of service.
The absences were not in protest, however. In an interview the next day, Robert Gilman—Professor of Mathematics, Director of the Stevens Algebraic Cryptography Lab, and a leading mind in group theory—reflected on the upward trajectory of the university. Gilman, who has been with Stevens since the fall of 1969, has seen first-hand the school’s financial, administrative, and cultural struggles over the years.
“Since I’ve been here,” said Gilman, “people have always been saying, ‘we want to be a nationally-known research institution.’ The question is, how do you actually accomplish that? It is not only the work of the current administration, but it seems that, right now, the trend is positive. I’m obviously not going to be around forever, but I think the future is looking pretty good.”
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