Beth McGrath
Beth McGrath, Vice President for University Relations and Chief of Staff, is a Stevens veteran with more than 30 years of leadership experience in university administration and within the academic enterprise. As Vice President for University Relations, Beth leads the university’s communications and marketing efforts; represents Stevens’ interests with local, state, and federal governments; serves as the liaison with community members and organizations; and is tasked with building a university corporate relations program. As Chief of Staff to the President, Beth manages operations and special initiatives for the Office of the President and serves as an advisor to the President.
Beth McGrath began her Stevens career in 1987 in the unit then known as the Office of Marketing and Communications. Beth was promoted to Director of Marketing and Communications and in that role led a team that supported undergraduate student recruitment and development and alumni engagement efforts; created award-winning institutional advertising campaigns; increased media coverage; and conceptualized and managed a number of significant university events. In 1993, Beth joined the Stevens Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) as Deputy Director. Rising to the position of Executive Director and over nearly two decades, Beth conceptualized and developed proposals and served as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on approximately $25 million of externally-funded projects including from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and major corporate-funded grants. With significant funding from the Verizon Foundation, Beth and CIESE launched a statewide effort to require engineering as part of the K-12 curriculum in New Jersey, known as Engineering our Future NJ. Also, under Beth’s leadership, CIESE received the President’s Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, conferred in an Oval Office ceremony by President Obama in January 2011. In 2012, Beth joined the Office of the President as Chief of Staff and assumed responsibility for government and community relations, being named Vice President for Government and Community Relations/Chief of Staff in 2018.
Beth has published or contributed to dozens of academic and scholarly papers and conference proceedings and has given invited talks at the National Academy of Engineering and other U.S. and international forums. She has served on the National Academy of Engineering/National Research Council Committee on Integrated STEM Education, the Steering Committee of the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) Technology and Engineering Literacy Assessment 2014, and on the advisory boards of several NSF-funded projects. She was also named by the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education in New Jersey to the STEM Advisory Council (2014-16). Beth holds a B.S. in Mass Communications from Virginia Commonwealth University and a earned a M.Ed. from the University of Maryland Global Campus.