Significant improvements in Stevens’ academic and administrative technology infrastructure occurred in Year 4, including expansion of the Virtual Learning Environment, completion of the Data Center, and migration of the campus to the new voice over IP (VOIP)/unified communications (UC) system. The university’s financial position continued to improve. A number of new capital projects, including two new academic buildings and the Babbio Garage expansion, were approved and enabling work to meet aggressive construction schedules is underway. The American Bureau of Shipping Engineering Center renovation/expansion at the Davidson Laboratory opened.
Goal I1 (Merged with C6)
A review methodology will be established to assess all undergraduate and graduate programs. Annually: assess program alignment with Stevens' strategic and fiscal plans. Every five years: assess program currency and relevancy to our students and possible employers.
OWNERS: PROVOST GEORGE KORFIATIS, VICE PRESIDENT LOUIS MAYER AND FACULTY SENATE (YEAR 4) PROVOST CHRISTOPHE PIERRE, VICE PRESIDENT LOUIS MAYER AND FACULTY SENATE (YEAR 5)
See update for C6.
Goal I2
A business and operational enhancement initiative will be established at Stevens.
OWNER: VICE PRESIDENT LOUIS MAYER
The vacancy in the position of VP for Human Resources has delayed the implementation of the Year 4 plans. A national search for VP HR is currently underway and is expected to be completed by January-February 2017. In the meantime, Stevens has retained a Senior HR Advisor from an outside professional services agency who has been helpful in working with the HR team to implement process enhancements through the Workday HCM system. One enhancement was the implementation of electronic performance evaluations for staff employees. Year 5: Stevens anticipates appointing a new VP HR no later than January- February 2017. One of the goals and objectives of the new VP will be to work with various teams on campus, including HR, IT, and Finance to identify ways to use the Workday HCM system to its full potential and to also implement a variety of HR best practices to create a best-in-class operation.
Goal I3 (Augmented)
We will have an information technology enterprise that is an enabler for our research and educational missions, including the deployment of a Virtualized Learning Environment to support students’ access to powerful and specialized engineering applications from their own computers and mobile devices, support of academic online and digital learning initiatives, and the modernization of the University’s Data Center, to support enhanced information systems and network infrastructure in academics, administrative operations, and research.
OWNER: VICE PRESIDENT DAVID DODD
The Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) has continued to be significantly expanded beyond use primarily in the E120 Engineering Graphics program. A total of 56 sections or 935 students used the VLE during the Spring 2016 semester. The VLE was completely rebuilt over the Summer of 2016 to ensure all components were up-to-date and optimized. The system was then used again successfully in Fall 2016 for the E120 program as well as in a number of other courses and disciplines. The Division of Information Technology is working closely with faculty from a number of areas to develop the next generation of this pioneering system, VLE 2.0.The Stevens Data Center was completed and serves as Stevens’ high-resiliency facility supporting the University’s networking and systems infrastructure. Improvements to the Data Center include new power primary provisioning, N+2 redundant power, redundant active cooling, fire protection, and active monitoring and management. Year 5: Year 5 priorities include further advancing the myStevens 2.0 intranet to support additional collaboration capabilities for the Stevens community. Other priorities involve expanding the floor space of the new Data Center to further support research growth. The new Pharos high performance computer is also scheduled to be made available to support other researchers at Stevens in additional disciplines.
Goal I3-A
Consistent with Stevens’ historical leadership as a pioneer in use of information technology in instruction, Stevens will identify, deploy and implement state-of-the-art IT systems to increase effectiveness and efficiency for administrative functions across the University, in financial systems, alumni and development, communications and marketing, human resources, admissions, student information/student services, facilities management, and other areas of university operations.
OWNER: VICE PRESIDENT DAVID DODD
A full campus high-speed wireless overlay was completed with the implementation of external wifi across the campus, providing Stevens with a wireless network spanning essentially all parts of the campus. All campus users have also been migrated to Stevens’ new voice over IP (VOIP)/unified communications (UC) system. In addition to voice telephony, the UC system also provides support for new capabilities including video communications, teleconferencing, telepresence, and messaging. Year 5: Priorities for Year 5 include one of the largest and most important technology-related projects in Stevens’ history – the Workday Student Project. Stevens has been a design partner with Workday and eight other leading colleges and universities in the development of this system, beginning in 2013. Work is already well underway to successfully onboard Stevens to this state-of-the-art system. A related priority is the implementation of an enterprise-wide identity management system (IdMS) that will support stronger security as well as enable single sign-on (SSO) for users.
Goal I4
Stevens’ finances will improve to the point that the university will have sufficient liquidity to weather short-term adverse financial conditions, from a baseline of 0.2 in 2012 to a target of 1.0 by 2022.
OWNER: VICE PRESIDENT LOUIS MAYER
The liquidity index measures whether the university has sufficient cash and liquid assets to cover a portion of its annual total operating expenses. A threshold value of 1.0 indicates that the university could cover approximately three months of its annual operating expenses. The historical June 30th balances for this metric are:
2012: 0.20
2013: 0.36
2014: 0.55
2015: 0.83
2016: 0.90Additional indices related to the university's financial health follow:The net operating revenue ratio indicates whether the university is living within its means. Two percent is considered a reasonable amount to achieve on an annual basis. The historical June 30th balances for this metric are:
2012: 0.93%
2013: 2.0%
2014: 4.98%
2015: 5.04%
2016: 4.77%The return on net assets percentage indicates if the university is financially better off than the previous year. Four percent is considered a reasonable amount to achieve on an annual basis. The historical June 30th balances for this metric are:
2012: 1.54%
2013: 18.70%
2014: 15.10%
2015: 8.82%
2016: 1.83%
The viability ratio measures the availability of the university's expendable net assets to cover its long-term debt. The threshold value is to have 2.0 times its debt in its expendable net assets. The historical June 30th balances for this metric are:
2012: 0.39
2013: 1.23
2014: 1.60
2015: 1.66
2016: 1.61The primary reserve ratio measures whether the university has sufficient expendable net assets to cover a portion of its annual total operating expense. The threshold value is to be able to cover 0.4 of its annual total operating expense with existing expendable net assets. The historical June 30th balances for this metric are:
2012: 0.17
2013: 0.51
2014: 0.63
2015: 0.56
2016: 0.50
The composite financial index is a weighted calculation of the first four metrics into a single measure of overall financial health. A threshold value of 3.0 is to be considered as the minimal acceptable financial health. The historical June 30th balances for this metric are:
2012: 1.06
2013: 4.52
2014: 5.21
2015: 4.46
2016: 3.52
Year 5: Continue to strengthen the financial profile of Stevens.
Goal I5
Stevens will construct a university center that will function as the heart of the university and a hub of student, faculty, staff and visitor interactions.
OWNER: VICE PRESIDENT ROBERT MAFFIA
The University Center and Student Housing are the drivers for a campus rezoning effort, which is being presented to the City of Hoboken Fall 2016. In parallel with this process, the development team is proceeding with programming and design documents, with the goal of having bid-ready documents at the conclusion of the rezoning process.
Year 5: Year 5 will include the conclusion of the rezoning process and the continuation of design documents, working toward a June 2018 start of construction and a Fall 2020 occupancy.
Goal I5-A
A Campus Master Plan, identifying the long-term vision to accommodate Stevens’ growth initiatives described in the Strategic Plan, will be developed and enacted. The Master Plan will address instructional and research space needs, student life and athletic needs, student housing, and associated administrative space needs related to a 60 percent and 30 percent growth in our undergraduate and graduate student populations, respectively, along with growth of faculty, research, and student services. Initial priorities are an Academic Gateway Complex creating a new south entrance to the campus, state-of-the-art laboratories, smart classrooms, conference rooms, collaboration space, and a visually stunning and welcoming pedestrian plaza, as well as a University Center that will function as the hub of student, faculty, staff, and visitor interactions.
OWNER: VICE PRESIDENT ROBERT MAFFIA
The Master Plan has been melded into the campus rezoning effort, as limited construction can occur without a change to the highly restrictive campus zoning ordinances. Once the rezoning is complete, the projects presented will formulate the foundation of the campus master plan.
Year 5: Complete the rezoning process and the basis for the campus master plan, which will include projects anticipated through 2026.
Goal I5-B
The physical infrastructure of Stevens, inclusive of all new and existing academic, student-oriented, and administrative buildings, as well as the campus environment, waterfront properties and green space, will symbolize excellence commensurate with a premier, student-centric, technological research university in one of the world’s most desirable locations.
OWNER: VICE PRESIDENT ROBERT MAFFIA
The American Bureau of Shipping Engineering Center at the Davidson Lab was completed. In addition, 14 classrooms and labs were renovated or created from underutilized space, including the Hanlon Financial Lab II. Additional study space was created in Williams Library, adding a higher level of IT/AV infrastructure to the learning environment and more student-friendly study space. The Gatehouse was rebuilt with significant improvements to the interior and exterior; the Schaefer Athletic Center Lobby, America’s Cup (in the S.C. Williams Library), and the Pierce Café were all updated/completed. The landscape continues to improve, with new planting beds created and expired shrubbery and ailing trees removed and other items replanted. The EAS and Burchard elevators were modernized, significantly reducing maintenance calls on these cars.
Approvals were secured for the Academic Gateway Building, the North Building, and the Babbio Garage expansion.
The optimization of space and administrative moves within the Howe building continued, including relocation of the Office of Development and Alumni Relations and relocation of the Division of Finance to off-campus offices, creating more room on campus for student-centric functions and creating space for new faculty hires. Relocations of the Payroll Office and Student Counseling have also been completed. Enabling work has begun for the Academic Gateway Project began. Campus repaving was completed, including the repaving of the Griffith Parking Lot, which added 42 parking spaces.
Year 5: The North Building will be completed and occupied; the Academic Gateway and the Babbio Garage expansion will be under construction; construction will start on Pond House and Alexander House; and the Peirce Elevator will be modernized. Planning will continue on the University Center/Student Housing project. A landscape architect will develop plans for the entire campus, including adding walkways to traverse campus without walking on the roads as well as suggesting hardscape additions.
Goal I5-C
Stevens will be a model of sustainability, through innovative energy initiatives, policies and programs to promote use of biodegradable materials and recycling, and smart transportation initiatives to reduce use of cars.
OWNER: VICE PRESIDENT ROBERT MAFFIA
Many of the planned initiatives to reduce waste and energy and water use were successfully implemented in Year 4. The smart grid system was expanded to include sub-metering and monitoring of the Burchard and McLean Buildings. This will allow for tracking and control of energy usage and will provide the data required to increase cost recovery for sponsored research programs. Plans were developed to replace the campus building management system to better respond to load-shedding events for more demand response savings. Sixteen water bottle fill stations were installed on campus, which has diverted 125,000 single-use bottles from landfills to date. Two more solar trash compactors were added (for a total of three).
In August 2016 a food waste bio-digester was installed to reduce food waste and carbon footprint. The first trash pickup after the bio-digester went into operation was one ton less than the previous pickup.
Student efforts have also continued to further sustainability on campus. A group of student leaders organized the first NJHEPS Student Sustainability Symposium, which was hosted at Stevens. The event included a keynote speaker, panel discussions, and a student research poster session. All Resident Assistants received sustainability training and were provided with the training materials to share with their residents. The Sustainability Guide was created and is distributed at Freshman Orientation.
Year 5: Continue to work with Resident Assistants to improve the sustainability training and explore the idea of establishing peer-to-peer sustainability educators. The Sustainability Committee will aim to engage more students, working closely with student representatives from the sustainability-related clubs. Since a community garden was not completed in Year 4, efforts will continue to gather the interested parties and move forward with implementation.
To promote the use of alternate-fuel vehicles, a partnership will be formed with the local utility company (PSE&G) to install electric vehicle charging stations on campus. Once installed, the goal is that the stations will provide free charging to members of the Stevens community who register their vehicle. Facilities will also look to replace retired vehicles with electric wherever possible.