External Bridges
Stevens successfully completed its ambitious campaign, The Power of Stevens. Gifts and pledges totaled $200.6 million at the campaign close at the end of FY21. Gifts and pledges for FY21 were $22.4 million exceeding Stevens’ fiscal year goal of $20 million and bringing total campaign gifts to the endowment to $86.6 million. The total value of the Stevens endowment was $273 million at the end of FY21. With the creation of the Division of University Relations, a number of new initiatives were launched including brand strategy research, planning for a new Stevens website, a Stevens-branded survey and engagement in the Associated Press Campus Insights project to bring faculty expertise to AP media partners worldwide. Stevens increased its efforts to enhance the university’s reputation and prestige, and this resulted in a 32% increase of media coverage in top-tier outlets. The U.S. News & World Report peer assessment ranking for 2021 improved to 122 compared to 141 the prior year. Despite the challenges of a campus under construction and limited opportunities for campus visitors in FY21, progress continued to be made to make the Stevens campus a wonderful place for visitors. On-campus tours were reimagined, and a robust suite of online activities for prospective and admitted students was created. Consistent with prior years, a wide variety of initiatives were implemented to demonstrate Stevens’ value and contributions to the Hoboken community. The Corporate Relations Committee resumed its work in late FY21 with a new Director of Corporate, Government and Community Relation in place.