Goal U1:
By Fall 2022, Stevens will have an undergraduate student enrollment on the order of 4,000 (compared to 2,427 in Fall 2011 and 3,115 in Fall 2016).
The distribution of enrollment in undergraduate majors will be more balanced between engineering programs and other new and existing technology-centric programs, such as in computer science, science, mathematics, business, humanities, social sciences, and the arts. As our overall undergraduate enrollment increases, so will numbers of undergraduate engineering students. However, in 2022 we will target that the percentage of undergraduate engineering students will be approximately 60 percent as compared to the Fall 2011 baseline of 72 percent and 67 percent in Fall 2016.
In addition, by recruitment of more diverse freshman cohorts, we will aim to have an undergraduate population that meets the following characteristics:
At least 35 percent female (compared to 25 percent in Fall 2011 and 30 percent in Fall 2016)
At least 48 percent from outside of New Jersey (compared to 32 percent in Fall 2011 and 38 percent in Fall 2016)
At least 8 percent international (compared to 5 percent in Fall 2011 and 4.6 percent in Fall 2016)
At least 15 percent underrepresented minorities (compared to 12 percent in Fall 2011 and 11.6 percent in Fall 2016)
This increase in undergraduate enrollment will be realized through careful alignment of resources with enrollment distribution, including phasing of an expanded faculty to maintain an appropriate student/faculty ratio across the three schools and college, necessary administrative staffing, necessary additions to our physical infrastructure and to student support services. We will also undertake a careful assessment of any proposed new majors to ensure our continued focus on technology, business and entrepreneurship, and to ensure a continued emphasis on student selectivity, student placement and success, and the overall student experience. We mention here the need to build on successful programs that are contributing to student diversity, selectivity, and success, including our athletic programs and our programs in music and theatre, student government, and community service.
To this end, we will also continue to support and expand programs to imbue integrity and professional ethics to our students, including our student-led Honor System. We believe that the process outlined here will result in Stevens being viewed as a national model for how a university can develop and implement a growth strategy that strengthens the University from every perspective.
OWNERS: PROVOST JIANMIN QU, ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT SUSAN GROSS
Goal U2:
As we expand undergraduate enrollment, we will continue to improve student selectivity and therefore the academic profile of the incoming classes. Specifically,
the percentage of first-time, full-time undergraduate applicants who are admitted will be 37 percent or less for the Fall 2017 incoming class (39 percent in Fall 2016), and 35 percent or less for the Fall 2022 incoming class, compared to a baseline of 42 percent for the Fall 2011 incoming class; and
the middle 50 percent SAT score of new freshmen will improve to 1280-1450 for the Fall 2022 incoming class^
or equivalent ACT score, compared to a baseline of 1190-1390 for the Fall 2011 incoming class and 1260-1440 in Fall 2016.*
In the course of expanding our undergraduate enrollment in the next five years, we will remain cognizant of the importance of our goal to concurrently improve student selectivity, enhance the academic profile of incoming students, and achieve the demographic and diversity goals stated earlier. Therefore, we may need to adjust the rate of enrollment growth depending on our success in achieving all other goals.
OWNER: ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT SUSAN GROSS
Goal U3:
As of Fall 2011, the six-year graduation rate of the freshman cohort of 2005 was 79 percent and 83 percent for the freshman cohort of 2010. The six-year graduation rate of our students will improve to at least 88 percent in Fall 2022 (for the freshman cohort of 2016).
OWNERS: PROVOST JIANMIN QU, ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT SARA KLEIN
Goal U4:
We will maintain a stellar placement record of at least 95 percent for our students, from a baseline of 92 percent of students securing post-graduation outcomes as of November 1, 2011 and 96 percent in Fall 2016.
OWNER: ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT SARA KLEIN
Goal U5:
As a student-centric university, faculty engagement in students’ academic experience and excellence in teaching and learning are top priorities. Stevens is committed to continuous improvement in faculty-student interactions, in areas ranging from faculty adoption of research-based best practices in teaching to the use of digital, technology-based and inclusive pedagogical strategies to responsiveness and accessibility to students. By 2018 and with the involvement of faculty, Stevens will develop and/or adopt a holistic approach to evaluating teaching and learning that recognizes the significant variations in teaching environment and that incorporates multiple methods (e.g., peer evaluations, student evaluations, observations, etc.) and sources of data. The approach will be designed to provide timely and meaningful feedback, as well as professional development programming and incentives to ensure all students benefit from high quality teaching and interactions with faculty.
OWNER: PROVOST JIANMIN QU
^This goal may be revised in future years of the Strategic Plan, once the impact of the new SAT, administered for the first time in the Fall 2017 admissions cycle, is understood.
*A target of 1230-1420 was set in the 2012 Strategic Plan for the Fall 2017 incoming class. This goal was met and exceeded one year early.