Stevens Institute of Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology is a private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey. Founded in 1870, it is one of the oldest technological universities in the United States and was the first college in America solely dedicated to mechanical engineering. The 55-acre campus encompasses Castle Point, the highest point in Hoboken, a quad, and 43 academic, student and administrative buildings.
Established through an 1868 bequest from Edwin Augustus Stevens, enrollment at Stevens includes more than 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students representing 47 states and 60 countries throughout Asia, Europe and Latin America. Stevens comprises three schools that deliver technology-based STEM degrees and degrees in business, arts, humanities and social sciences: The Charles V. Schaefer Jr., School of Engineering and Science, School of Business, and the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. For undergraduates, Stevens offers the Bachelor of Engineering, Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts. At the graduate level, Stevens offers programs in engineering, science, systems, engineering, management and the liberal arts. Graduate students can pursue advanced degrees in more than 50 different designations ranging from graduate certificates and master's degrees to Ph.D. levels.
Stevens is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity." The university is home to two national Centers of Excellence as designated by the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
History
Establishment & the Stevens Family (1868-1870)
In 1868, Edwin Augustus Stevens died. In his will, he left a bequest for the establishment of an "institution of learning," providing his trustees with land and funds. Edwin's will was executed by surviving wife, Martha Bayard Stevens, who would also serve as a lifetime Trustee of the institute that now bears the family's name. Martha and her brother, Samuel Bayard Dod, are responsible for much of the organization for the institute including the hiring of the first president, Henry Morton. Dod became the first President of the Board of Trustees serving until his death in 1907.The land now occupied by Stevens Institute of Technology was purchased at public auction by John Stevens in 1784. John Stevens was a Revolutionary War Colonel, Continental Congressman, first Treasurer of New Jersey, father of American patent law, steamboat and rail locomotive engineer, and father to Edwin. John built his estate on Castle Point, the Stevens Castle which served as the home to the Stevens family until 1917 when the building was offered to the U.S. Government for WW1 while the family resided in another building on the estate. The Stevens Mansion was then acquired by the university and used as an administrative building until 1959 when the Wesley J. Howe Center was built on its location.
The Stevens family - "America's First Family of inventors" - was influential in founding the university, its early leadership as trustees, and the institute's surrounding community, Hoboken. Edwin A. Stevens' bequest totaled a city block's worth of land, $150,000 for the construction of a building, and a $500,000 endowment.
Early years
Stevens Institute of Technology opened in 1870, offering a rigorous engineering curriculum grounded in scientific principles and the humanities. The original course of study was a single, rigorous curriculum based upon the European Polytechnic model of engineering science, rather than the shop schools that were common at that time. The original degree offered was the mechanical engineer, in addition to a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, chemistry and physics. Stevens granted several doctoral degrees between 1870 and 1900, making it one of the earliest Ph.D.-granting institutions in the United States. The broad-based interdisciplinary philosophy was put into practice by the founders from the first graduating class. Despite the title of the degree and concentration in mechanical engineering, the curriculum included courses in all engineering disciplines of the time: mechanical, civil, chemical and electrical. In 1880, Robert H. Thurston, professor of mechanical engineering, was nominated the first president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.The campus was situated at the periphery of the family estate at Castle Point in Hoboken. It occupied a single building now designated Edwin A. Stevens Hall, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. Stone designs on the building's facade are believed to be derived from a pattern repeated in the floor mosaic of Hagia Sophia, the great cathedral in Istanbul, which Edwin Stevens is believed to have visited in the late 19th century.
1900–1999
In its first century, Stevens grew quickly, evolving from a small, four-year undergraduate engineering college into a comprehensive technological university with strengths in key fields such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence, resilience engineering, robotics, complex systems, healthcare, biomedical research, brain research and fintech. The university produced a Nobel Prize winner and thousands of new technologies, products, services and research insights.In 1906, students, under the guidance of President A.C. Humphreys, created the honor system – a moral and ethical code governing the life of Stevens students and preaching equality and honest work. The student-run system still exists to this day, in which the accused are tried by their peers with a punishment recommended to the faculty. Stevens was the first technical school to implement such a system.
During World War II, Stevens Institute of Applied Science was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program which offered students a path to a Navy commission. During this time, the institute was also honored by the naming of the Victory Ship, SS Stevens Victory, a merchant cargo ship built by the Bethlehem Fairfield Shipyard at Baltimore. Launched on May 29, 1945, the ship was one of 150 named for U.S. colleges and universities.
In 1959, the undergraduate engineering degree was changed to the bachelor of engineering to reflect the broad-based interdisciplinary engineering curriculum.
Also in 1959, the land occupied by the 40-room Victorian mansion, "Castle Stevens" or "Villa on the Hudson", was repurposed for the 14-story administration building completed in 1962, later renamed the Wesley J. Howe Building. Serving as a campus building since in 1911, it was used as a dormitory, cafeteria, and office space. The unsupported cantilevered staircase, with its elegant hand-carved balustrade, was one of only two such "floating staircases" in America.
Stevens' graduate program admitted women for the first time in 1967. Undergraduate women were first admitted in 1971. The Lore-El Center for Women's Leadership promotes the empowerment of women at Stevens.
In 1982, Stevens became the first institution in the U.S. to require all incoming first-year undergraduate students to purchase and use a personal computer. Around this time, an intranet was installed throughout campus, which placed Stevens among the first universities with a campus network.
WCPR: Castle Point Radio, the radio station of Stevens Institute of Technology since 1961, has over 10,000 LPs, one of the largest record collections in New Jersey.
2000 and beyond
Stevens has continued to grow since the turn of the millennium, expanding its enrollment, facilities, partnerships and research programs. The university's collaborations with industry and government include numerous grant awards, contracts and collaborative projects, as well as two National Centers of Excellence designated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense.Since 2010, undergraduate enrollment has increased 67 percent and full-time graduate enrollment has increased 73 percent. Stevens has adapted and expanded to accommodate that growth, with a focus on modernizing campus facilities and infrastructure. Under the 2012–22 university strategic plan, Stevens made AV and IT upgrades to 100 percent of its classrooms. Improvements also included two new anchor facilities. The Gateway Academic Center, an 89,500-square-foot teaching and research facility, opened in 2019. In 2022, Stevens opened the University Center Complex, providing residential housing for approximately 1,000 students, as well as a campus hub with meeting, collaboration, event spaces, a fitness center and dining facilities.
Stevens has also focused on increasing access and opportunity for students from underrepresented groups. Among undergraduates, there was a 98 percent increase in women and 149 percent increase in the number of underrepresented minorities between 2011 and 2021. Initiatives developed to provide financial, academic and professional development support for students – including the Accessing Careers in Engineering and Science, A. James Clark Scholars and Lawrence T. Babbio Pinnacle Scholars programs – have played a role in this growth.
In recognition of the progress Stevens made through its strategic plan, the American Council on Education presented the university with its 2018 ACE/Fidelity Investments Award for Institutional Transformation. The award is given to "institutions that have responded to higher education challenges in innovative and creative ways and achieved dramatic changes in a relatively brief period."
Stevens was named one of the healthiest campuses in the nation by Active Minds, a national nonprofit dedicated to student wellness. It has also been recognized for its commitments to environmental sustainability, including receiving the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education STARS Gold Rating in 2020. In 2021, Stevens announced it would source 100 percent of its electricity from renewable energy starting in that year's fall semester.
In April 2021, Stevens became one of the first higher education institutions in the United States to require COVID-19 vaccination not only for students, but also faculty and staff. In December 2021, the university announced it would require all students, faculty and staff to receive the COVID-19 booster vaccine to be compliant with the rule.