Tech management school's numbers increase as area executives get the courses they need

Nationally, programs designed for working executives have fallen on hard times at some colleges. The reasons are many: layoffs, downsizings, long hours for remaining employees, corporations opting for less-expensive training over company-sponsored university education, and travel cutbacks, among others.

But at Stevens Institute of Technology's Howe School of Technology Management, a private school that offers graduate education to executives in a variety of technology management fields, student numbers have been rising.

On-campus graduate students majoring in technology management areas, most of whom are working executives who take classes part-time, have more than doubled since the school was launched five years ago. Off-campus courses, taught at some 40 locations annually, are up by about 25 percent over that same five years.

Students in these programs for the 2000-01 academic year grew 16 percent over the previous year. Despite the recession and the attack on the World Trade Center just across the Hudson River, the on-campus growth in the technology management school was up 9 percent last fall over the previous fall.

"We have been responsive to the changing landscape; that's why we're now the envy of our competitors," explains Jerry MacArthur Hultin, a former Under Secretary of the U.S. Navy who became the school's dean in 2000.

"More than 1,800 students are now enrolled in Howe School programs - there's strong demand for what we offer, and for good reasons," Hultin says.

"The fact is, virtually all management today is technology management. Beyond essential teamwork and project management skills, the tough part for business managers is staying up to speed with rapid technological change and increasing globalization - and that's exactly what we specialize in."

The trend at Stevens stands in contrast to well-known executive education programs at some of the larger universities across the country. According to a Dec. 7 Chronicle of Higher Education story, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School experienced a 15-to-20 percent drop in attendance for its open-enrollment fall executive-education courses. Also, Duke Corporate Education, the nation's most successful provider of executive education, has lost 4 of its 32 clients and cut 10 of its 77 full-time employees.

Optimism is high, however, at Stevens Institute of Technology. In October, the Howe School of Technology Management broke ground for a new building that will serve as the on-campus headquarters for its activities: the Babbio Center for Technology Management, a $29 million, 90,000-square-foot facility that will house classrooms, an open floor plan of offices, a library, and an executive education center complete with a restaurant. The building, to be completed by 2004, is being named for Lawrence T. Babbio, Jr., an alumnus and vice-chairman of Verizon who contributed $6 million to the project.

The Howe School's location in Hoboken, N.J., a short train ride from both New York City and New Jersey's high-tech industrial corridor, helps keep numbers growing. Hoboken happens to be a major hub of transportation, making it easy for students to stop and take classes, a factor Stevens has long found advantageous. Another factor is Steven's 132-year reputation in the area and its strong ties to the region's top corporations.

But a primary key to the success of the technology management school is the educational offerings themselves, which are designed to be highly relevant to the region's corporate climate.

One of the hottest majors at Stevens today is the Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS), which has several specific areas of concentration to choose from, including tracks such as E-Commerce Technology and Global Innovation Management. The MSIS program began in fall 1997 with 62 students in its on-campus component; by fall of 2001 it had grown steadily to 441 - more than a 700 percent increase. Off-campus, it grew 400 percent from 79 students to 319 in the same time.

Also increasingly popular is the Master of Science in Telecommunications Management, with its weeknight and weekend classes. On-campus students went up 246 percent from fall 1997 to fall 2001 (from 64 to 158); off-campus went up 413 percent (from 45 to 186).

Hultin says the fact that students can earn their master's degrees in two years is attractive. The off-campus offerings, which account for roughly half the school's students, provide an important market niche. Also, newly launched online certificate programs in areas such as telecommunications management add another aspect of convenience to course delivery.

The expertise of the faculty is also critical. Project management, one of the coursework areas that's proven attractive to corporations, is now being taught across the graduate curriculum in the Howe School, and the school's faculty includes internationally recognized leaders and award-winners in the field.

Overall, the Howe School of Technology Management at Stevens delivers some 500 classes a year. It offers master's programs in management, information systems, and telecommunications management; an executive master's in technology management, a doctoral program with concentrations in technology management and information management, and a new bachelor of science in business and technology.

The school's programs are developed with advisory boards made up of academics and industry leaders who meet regularly to make sure the programs are fresh and relevant. In the near future, for example, cybersecurity will be added to the offerings.

Future planning also includes the re-alignment of off-campus sites to tap the best markets for graduate students. Back in 1997, corporations such as AT&T and Lucent Technologies were mainstays. Now the school is branching out into the pharmaceutical and financial services industries.

Stevens began as a respected East Coast engineering school in the late 19th century, but has since evolved to be much more. The buzzword at Stevens these days is "Technogenesis," a term the university recently trademarked to describe its new strategic direction for teaching: encouraging students, faculty and industry to work together to bring new products or services all the way from initial idea to marketplace implementation.

"Our distinct competence is our understanding of the innovative human and organizational processes involved in the continuum we call Technogenesis," says Hultin. "We contribute the essential management perspective to the Technogenesis research and educational programs at Stevens."

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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