On July 19, an email announcement was sent by President Nariman Favardin to the Stevens community stating that Dr. Jianmin Qu had been selected as the next Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, effective September 1. This comes after President Favardin’s earlier announcement on September 15, 2020 stating that Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Christophe Pierre would be stepping down.
The provost is the highest ranking university official after the president. The responsibilities of the provost include acting as the chief academic officer, collaborating on the budget process with the university’s chief financial officer, and working to implement plans to further develop the university’s goals.
Dr. Qu came to Stevens following his previous role as the Dean of the School of Engineering at Tufts University. As Dean, Dr. Qu led many initiatives that led to the development of the School of Engineering at Tufts, including securing a $10 million naming gift to create the Tufts Entrepreneurship Center and an $8 million gift to create the Tufts Institute for Research on Learning and Instruction. Dr. Qu also worked to create the first cooperative education program at Tufts and increased the number of research awards greater than $1 million received per year. Dr. Qu also led the development of the first Strategic Plan and Diversity and Action Plan for the School of Engineering. According to Dr. Qu, he and his colleagues were motivated to implement many initiatives to adapt to the rapidly changing social landscape of the United States; “Now that the fourth industrial revolution is upon us, higher education is again at a crossroads. To survive and thrive, universities must adapt to meet the new socioeconomic needs of the 21st century. It is this existential urgency that motivated my colleagues and me to implement many initiatives over a relatively short period of time.”
Dr. Qu received his B.S. in Mathematics from Jilin University in China. He then went on to earn his M.S. and Ph.D. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Northwestern University. According to Dr. Qu, he was inspired to pursue mathematics in college by fellow Professor Jingrun Chen and his work on Goldbach’s conjecture. Dr. Qu’s interests in mathematics later led him to pursue degrees in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, an interdisciplinary field that involves using mathematics to study both natural and engineered systems. Additionally, Dr. Qu’s research involves many areas of theoretical and applied mechanics, including micromechanics of composites, fatigue and creep damage in solder alloys, and ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation of advanced engineering materials.
The process of selecting a new Provost involved the formation of a search committee including Stevens faculty, students, administrators, and trustees as well as the help of an outside search firm. According to Dr. Qu, after the search firm reached out to him, he submitted his application to become Provost. After multiple rounds of interviewing with members of the Stevens community and giving a school-wide presentation about his views regarding higher education in the United States, Dr. Qu was selected as the new Provost.
According to Dr. Qu, what attracted him to Stevens was the opportunities, as he described Stevens as being in a “Goldilocks” zone. He stated, “In most small liberal arts colleges, students do not have access to cutting-edge research, because research is not expected of their faculty. In large research universities, undergraduate students rarely get much individual attention. At Stevens, students can enjoy the intimate and high-touch learning experience typical of small liberal arts colleges, while still being exposed to the most advanced scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs in their own professors’ labs.” Additionally, Dr. Qu was attracted to Stevens’ technology-focused education with a broad exposure to business, arts, and humanities as well as Hoboken’s proximity to the opportunities offered by New York City.
Dr. Qu states that while he enjoys teaching and hopes to teach courses at Stevens, he would like to spend his first year at Stevens getting to know the school’s community and learning about the culture and history of Stevens. While Dr. Qu’s background is in engineering, he appreciates the value of liberal arts education. “To survive and thrive in this rapidly changing, technology-driven society, STEM-focused professionals in engineering, the sciences, business, and the arts – as the creators and stewards of technologies – must be lifelong learners. They need strong leadership, communication, and social skills […] in other words, a 21st century STEM education needs strong liberal arts programs.”
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