Dear Alums: This is my first written communication to the alumni community as whole since arriving as the new Vice President for Advance- ment just over two months ago. Let me say first that I am delight- ed to be here, and even more delighted with the opportunity to lead Stevens’ development and communications programs. Now is a time of extraordinary opportunity and equally extraordinary challenge for Stevens; and based on what I have experienced so far, I am very confident that we can and will succeed. How we define success; what actions will be required to bring it about; and what that will require of alumni, administration, faculty and staff are all themes I intend to communicate about with you regularly. For now, I offer the following three thoughts: It’s about the students: Stevens is distinguished in many ways – as educator, as research leader, and, more recently, as incubator for entrepreneurship and new enterprise development. Stevens is a recognized leader in marine, port and cyber security, systems engineering, and nanotechnology, and faculty such as Mike Bruno and Dinesh Verma, both of whom serve as school deans, are at the top of their fields, recognized nationally and internationally. In countless ways, Stevens is on the move – and increasingly seen as such. “...at the heart of everything we do and hope to achieve are – emphasis deliberate – the students. Our core mission is to train the best and brightest young men and women and prepare them for successful careers and service to society.” A Message from Vice President for Advancement Fred Regan Advancing Advancing the Mission the Mission Fred Regan Castle Point on Hudson Hoboken, NJ 07030 “As a donor, I want to invest in institutions that I can change for the better. I want to give… and see and feel the result.”
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Dear Alums:
This is my first written communication to the alumni community
as whole since arriving as the new Vice President for Advance-
ment just over two months ago. Let me say first that I am delight-
ed to be here, and even more delighted with the opportunity to
lead Stevens’ development and communications programs. Now
is a time of extraordinary opportunity and equally extraordinary
challenge for Stevens; and based on what I have experienced so
far, I am very confident that we can and will succeed.
How we define success; what actions will be required to bring it about; and what that will
require of alumni, administration, faculty and staff are all themes I intend to communicate about
with you regularly. For now, I offer the following three thoughts:
It’s about the students:
Stevens is distinguished in many ways – as educator, as research leader, and, more recently, as incubator
for entrepreneurship and new enterprise development. Stevens is a recognized leader in marine, port and
cyber security, systems engineering, and nanotechnology, and faculty such as Mike Bruno and Dinesh
Verma, both of whom serve as school deans, are at the top of their fields, recognized nationally and
internationally. In countless ways, Stevens is on the move – and increasingly seen as such.
“...at the heart
of everything we
do and hope to
achieve are –
emphasis deliberate
– the students.
Our core mission
is to train the best
and brightest
young men and
women and
prepare them for
successful careers
and service to
society.”
A Message from Vice President for Advancement
Fred Regan
AdvancingAdvancingthe Missionthe Mission
Fred Regan
Castle Point on HudsonHoboken, NJ 07030
“As a donor, I want to invest in institutions that I can change for the better.
I want to give… and see and feel the result.”
The good news is that Stevens’ students are outstanding, its faculty are
highly-regarded (and growing in stature), and its core reputation for
teaching, research and entrepreneurship is strong.
The other good news – and this is huge – is that Stevens is compact
enough in people, programs, and financial scale that a few million
dollars invested here still makes a difference. Indeed, for a donor of
particular generosity, there is great opportunity to make a significant
difference at Stevens. Or, as my trustee friend once said: “As a donor,
I want to invest in institutions that I can change for the better. I want to
give… and see and feel the result.”
Donors have that opportunity at Stevens.
Very sincerely,
Frederick E. Regan
But at the heart of everything we do and hope to achieve are – emphasis deliberate
– the students. Our core mission is to train the best and brightest young men and
women and prepare them for successful careers and service to society. This is the
truest measure of our institutional “success.” Similarly, our development program
achieves its core purpose when it supports Stevens in enabling bright, creative,
highly motivated students to attend and thrive here, and to graduate into positions
of industry leadership.
Indeed, for many students, donor support is the difference between career aspira-
tions realized and career aspirations delayed…or even abandoned. And that is what
makes scholarship giving – especially alumni scholarship giving – the priority, this
year and every year. Because such giving really is all about the future of our
students, who are the future of Stevens.
The key is not “you” or “us”, but what we do in partnership:
Stevens’ ultimate success will not result from the actions of any one individual or
constituency – be it the President, the Board of Trustees, the alumni/ae, the faculty
or the staff. It will result from the actions of all of these individuals and con-
stituents working in well-organized, well-
coordinated partnership and focused on one
overriding goal: to make Stevens the best
it can possibly be. In advancing Stevens,
there are no outsiders or insiders, no
A team or B team, no spectators… there
are only players, each contributing as part
of a team. More than anything, Stevens’
future depends on this partnership.
The opportunity for impact, the possibility to influence
Years ago, a wealthy alumnus of Harvard and MIT became a trustee of, and even-
tually a seven-figure donor to, a much less famous, much less wealthy university
where I happened to be vice president. When asked why, he answered that, though
he loved his two Cambridge schools, he had arrived at a point where he could no
longer justify or feel satisfied making major gifts to them.
Why? Because his support no longer made a difference. Because, as an individual,
he no longer believed he could have an impact…And impact was what
mattered to him.
There is relevance here to Stevens, which today finds itself in an increasingly
competitive marketplace, with too few resources and too little visibility.
The good news is that Stevens’ students are outstanding, its faculty are highly-regarded (and growing in stature), and its core reputation for teaching, researchand entrepreneurship is strong.
...Stevens is compact enough in people, programs,
and financial scale that a few million dollars
invested here still makes a difference.
SPOC, Inc. Project Engineer Rebecca Apruzzese ’06, MEng. ’07 (c.),and Project Manager Jeckin Shah ’05 (r.), discuss the SPOC muscle pain detectiondevice with Stevens Alumni AssociationPresident Ed Eichhorn ’69 (l.) and George Couto ‘06 (l.), during a conveningof the Stevens on the Street Affinity Groupat the New York Yacht Club, April 2008.Both the device and the company are theresult of a Stevens Senior Design Project,itself a Technogenesis® collaborationamong students, faculty and outside partners.