Stevens Announces its $150 million “Power of Stevens” Campaign

Stevens Institute of Technology announced its $150 million campaign to over 500 distinguished alumni, students, faculty and guests on May 7, 2016. The campaign, titled “Power of Stevens,” began July 1, 2013 and will continue to have a public presence for the next three years.

According to Dawn da Silva, Vice President of Development, the leaders of the campaign aimed to have raised $70 million dollars by December 2015. At this point, the campaign has successfully raised over $85 million dollars, with most support directed towards the Academic Gateway complex project and student scholarships. “Up until now, we have been in the quiet, or leadership phase. The point of Saturday [was] to launch the campaign to as big of an audience as we can, including all of our alumni, the community, our corporate sponsors, and our community partners,” said Alan Skontra, Development Writer in the Office of Development.

The campaign reveal took place in the parking lot next to the Griffith Building alongside the Hudson River. The evening began with a VIP Cocktail hour where distinguished alumni and guests had an opportunity to explore the Innovation Festival, where approximately 20 different student and faculty projects were chosen to showcase the school’s new level of excellence. The projects that were showcased included Dr. Alex Wellerstein’s NUKEMAP, the Stevens Student Managed Investment Fund (SSMIF), Gradarius: Castle Point Learning, and FLASHFLOOD: A Socio-technical Approach to Predictive Flood Modeling and Resilience Design. Each project was stationed at a table with a power outlet as its centerpiece to stress the evening’s theme, which resulted from an extensive facilitated process including input from faculty, staff, and alumni that began prior to 2013.

Hoboken resident and news anchor of the TODAY show Natalie Morales served as the special guest emcee. She guided the audience through the speaking portion of the evening, which began with the announcement of the new Hall of Achievement, which was created to honor Stevens alumni who have and continue to shape their respective fields and enhance the Stevens legacy. The five inductees included internet pioneer David Farber ’56 M.S. ’61 Hon.Eng. ’99; Wharton School economist Elizabeth Bailey M.S. ’66 Hon.Eng. ’00; former Verizon vice chairman and president Lawrence Babbio ’66; and two posthumous inductees, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frederick Reines (Class of 1939, Hon.Eng. ’84) and General Motors co-founder Charles Stewart Mott (Class of 1897, Hon.Eng. ’37).

Dr. Samantha Kleinberg from the Computer Science department and Matthew Heinrich, one of the three valedictorians for the Class of 2016, addressed the audience, preceding a dialogue between President Nariman Favardin and Chairman of the Stevens Board of Trustees Virginia Ruesterholz ’83.

“This campaign will position Stevens to realize our ambitious strategic goals — to become a premier, student-centric research university that is addressing the most pressing problems of the 21^st century,” said President Farvardin.

“[The exchange] between President Farvardin and Chairman Ruesterholz was very powerful as they [addressed] why we’re ready for this campaign,” said da Silva.

Trustees Lawrence Babbio, who serves as the campaign co-chair, and Lisa Mascolo ’82 continued President Farvardin and Chairman Ruesterholz’s sentiments and formally revealed the campaign to the audience.  They noted the campaign’s three main initiatives: Student Success, Faculty Excellence, and a Vibrant Campus. Both thanked those who had already given and encouraged those in attendance to continue their support of the institution.

Skontra argues that this evening was “historic” for Stevens. “Stevens has never tried to do anything this big,” Skontra said. “If we can pull this campaign off, we’re going to have all of the resources to make Stevens into something top-level with the intent that the money raised will support programs that benefit students.”