Portrait: Barry FallsThis year, the Stevens Alumni Association marks its 150th anniversary and the milestone has me thinking about what sustains a university across generations. It is not simply its buildings or traditions. It is people who keep choosing to remain part of its life. 

For a century and a half, Stevens graduates have mentored students, hired one another, returned to Castle Point and given back — not because tradition obligated them to but because they wanted to strengthen the institution and community that helped shape them. The alumni engagement numbers featured on the inside front cover of this issue show that this is not merely a proud history. It is a living tradition, carried forward by today’s graduates. 

That living tradition has two defining qualities: It deepens, and it widens. 

First, the community keeps deepening. Every class that joins the alumni ranks inherits a network built by those who came before and adds to it for those who follow. This is the compounding power of connection: Each relationship, act of service and expression of support makes the Stevens community stronger for the next generation. 

Second, the community keeps widening, in whom it reaches and in the ways people can remain part of it. Stevens was recently ranked among the nation’s Top 20 online education programs, one reflection of how a Stevens education now extends beyond Castle Point and across the span of a career. Connection to Stevens need not end at Commencement, nor does it require living near Hoboken. Alumni can return as mentors, employers, volunteers, donors and lifelong learners, sometimes occupying several of those roles over the course of their lives. 

A university’s strength is revealed both in whether its graduates remain close to it and in how many meaningful ways it makes that closeness possible. 

As we celebrate 150 years of the Stevens Alumni Association and look toward its next 150, our responsibility is clear: To build the kind of institution people want to remain connected to, and to keep creating meaningful ways for them to do so. 

Per aspera ad astra,

Nariman Farvardin 
President, Stevens Institute of Technology 
[email protected]