Stevens Institute of Technology
PA-2: Sustainability Planning

The Stevens 2032 Strategic Plan has the following 10-year target under Goal 3: Research and Innovation:

Build five new interdisciplinary centers in areas of high societal impact and growing importance such as life sciences and healthcare (specifically, at the interface between medicine, engineering and informatics), quantum technologies, automation and robotics, human-robot interaction, financial technology, sustainable energy and environment and other emerging opportunities (a joint metric with Goal 5: Partnerships)

The Stevens 2032 Strategic Plan includes Goal 7: University Culture, which states:

Foster a vibrant, supportive and sustainable culture where students, faculty, staff and alumni from all backgrounds engage in ongoing activities that strongly connect them to the university and where all constituencies are mutually committed to helping each other achieve their full potential to advance the mission of Stevens.

Two of the Key Initiatives/Strategies of Goal 7 is:

Expand sponsorship and collaborative activities with Hoboken and local communities to provide opportunities for faculty, staff, students, and alumni to participate in collaborative and service engagements

Continue to host events, such as the President’s Distinguished Lecture Series and the Excellence Through Diversity Lecture Series, that encourage open and honest dialogue in the community and provide meaningful and diverse perspectives and relationship building

The metrics and 10-year targets for Goal 7:

Increase the response rate and percentage of positive responses by students, faculty, staff and alumni across relevant demographic groups on surveys used to measure engagement, satisfaction, communication and pride.

Continuously improve the outcomes of a defined Student Experience Index based on a set of questions from a combination of university surveys (the Student Experience Index will capture key aspects of the student experience such as student-faculty interaction, student-staff interaction, academic advising, career services, athletics and intramural sports, residential life and extracurricular activities)

Goal 8 of the Stevens 2032 Strategic Plan is Infrastructure and Sustainability.

Optimize the university’s resources by continuing to strengthen its financial position and outlook, to modernize and efficiently utilize its physical and cyber infrastructure and embrace clean energy technologies and best practices.

The key initiatives/strategies for Goal 8:

Expand upon the university’s efforts to align and optimize operating and capital finances to support strategic endeavors and critical needs via regular analyses of expenditures

Proactively evaluate, optimize and add to our current space with a focus on the accessibility, usage and experience of students, faculty, staff and visitors, and use our technology tools to enable data-driven decision making

Harness the university’s cyber, physical, technical and financial resources to expand on its 100% renewable electricity commitment and transform the Stevens campus into a living test bed to support and advance our commitments toward sustainability

Ensure that students, regardless of learning modality, have access to and experience the same high-quality education by equipping instructors and our physical and virtual classrooms

The following targets and metrics provide more specificity on our 10-year aspirations and the methods by which we will measure our progress in implementing the initiatives and achieving the goals.

The metrics and 10-year targets for Goal 8:

Continue to improve the university’s increasingly stable fiscal health through assessments as determined by composite financial index (CFI) at a minimum, above the threshold value of 3.0, and sub-ratios, including net income, return on net assets and other standard fiscal measurements

Maintain a credit rating(s) of at least BBB+ issued by S&P, considering previous infrastructure investments (the University Center Complex) and those to be made during this Strategic Plan

Maintain a sustainability performance of at least an AASHE STARS Gold level

Complete the construction of a new academic building (relates to Goal 1: Undergraduate Education and Goal 3: Research and Innovation)

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is a stated core value in Stevens 2032:

We are one Stevens, a global community with diverse experiences and perspectives that make us stronger as an institution. We work individually and collectively to advance our university and members of our community. We act with transparency, empathy and compassion to support each other and to engender pride in our affiliation with Stevens. We strive to ensure that all members of our community feel welcome, are included and have opportunities to succeed.

Goal 6 of Stevens 2032 is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Attract and retain an outstanding community of faculty, staff and students from diverse backgrounds and cultivate a supportive, inclusive learning and working environment that contributes to a technologically proficient workforce that is representative of our diverse society.

Key initiatives/strategies:

Implement university-wide recruiting policies and best practices that yield a diverse applicant pool for all faculty/staff/leadership searches

Invest in student enrollment practices that strengthen the diversity of the undergraduate and graduate student body across a broad range of attributes and backgrounds

Diversify university committees to reflect a broader range of Stevens constituents by taking specific measures to increase representation of faculty, staff and students from underrepresented groups

Train faculty, staff and students to have the necessary skill set to influence climate and culture, engender a sense of inclusion, belonging and equity, and implement and participate in inclusive instructional pedagogies

The following targets and metrics provide more specificity on our 10-year aspirations and the methods by which we will measure our progress in implementing the initiatives and achieving the goals.

Metrics and 10-year targets:

Increase the success of Pell Grant, first-generation and underrepresented minority students at least equal to the graduation rate of majority students, while maintaining their level of representation in the undergraduate student population

Increase the percentage of individuals in underrepresented groups among faculty and administrative leaders to reflect the changing demographics of the campus community and benchmark institutions

Increase the response rate and percentage of positive responses by students, faculty and staff across key demographic groups on university surveys used to measure inclusion and belonging