Dear NJIT Community Members
Welcome to the midway point of the spring semester!
Allow me to share some news of recent successes thus far this semester.
- NJIT’s designation as an R1research university by the Carnegie Classification places us among the 131 most prolific research universities in the nation. Kudos to the faculty, students, and staff who are actively engaged in research.
- We have received continuing support from Albert A. Dorman ’45, ’99 HON; his wife, Joan; and their family for Honors College faculty fellowships. Current and future Albert Dorman Honors College scholars will benefit directly from the Dormans’ most recent gift of $500,000 to fund the Dr. Saul K. and Roberta Fenster Honors Faculty Fellowship in Engineering, the Drs. Joel and Diane Bloom Honors Faculty Fellowship in STEM Leadership, and an annual Presidential Leadership Colloquium. Our university is forever grateful to Al and Joan Dorman, and more recently their daughter Laura for their continued and extraordinary support of our top-ranked public honors college.
- On March 7, Dean Moshe Kam inducted 11 extraordinary and deserving alumni into the NCE 100, which is the newly created hall of fame for the Newark College of Engineering. To be included among this distinguished group, one must have made significant contributions to society or the profession of engineering. The 2019 inductees included Nirwan Ansari, Ehsanollah “Ehsan” Bayat, Heinz P. Bloch, Gerard J. Foschini, Sohail Mohammed, A. Michael Noll, Ellen M. Pawlikowski, Pierre Ramond, Paul Sarlo, Yuriy Tarnawsk, and Martin Tuchman. Please join me in congratulating them on this monumental achievement.
Several other noteworthy events have taken place as well, just a few of which I would like to highlight. I recently was afforded two important opportunities to speak about NJIT’s critical role in economic development. On March 8, I testified at a joint hearing of the New Jersey Senate Economic Growth Committee and Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee. The joint hearing brought together higher education and industry leaders, along with policy research organizations to answer questions and discuss solutions to boost economic development in New Jersey. On February 19, I presented to the New Jersey Chapter of Financial Executives International.
Both of these occasions enabled me to highlight NJIT’s $2.8 billion annual economic impact on the state, its R1 research activity, as well as our remarkable students and faculty while I advocated for their support of our university and higher education throughout our state. I will have a third such opportunity this Thursday, when NJIT hosts a hearing of the New Jersey Senate Budget Committee. Additionally, on February 13, more than 2,200 students and alumni packed the Wellness and Events Center (WEC) to meet with 212 employers who were recruiting at NJIT’s Spring 2019 Career Fair. We could not accommodate this number of employers and future employees without the WEC facilities.
NJIT also has received several rankings of note in recent weeks. U.S. News & World Report’s rankings for the nation’s top graduate schools placed NJIT at #89 for graduate degree program in engineering — marking the third-consecutive year that NJIT has been listed among the Top 100. ROI-NJ, a publication that reports on New Jersey economic news, released its "ROI Influencers Power List" for 2019. Joining me on the list are Donald Sebastian, president of New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII); Judith Sheft, associate vice president for technology and enterprise development at NJII; and Tomas Gregorio, NJII’s senior executive director, Healthcare Systems Innovation. Additionally, College Factual, a leading source of data analytics and insights on college outcomes, has ranked NJIT in the top 5 percent of colleges whose student body represents a broad diversity. NJIT is ranked #109 out of 2,486 colleges and universities analyzed for ethnic diversity.
I also am most pleased to note that we are welcoming two new deans to NJIT following the successful culmination of international searches led by Provost and Senior Executive Vice President Fadi Deek. Dr. Branko Kolarevic will become dean of the College of Architecture and Design, and Dr. Oya Tukel will become dean of the Martin Tuchman School of Management, both effective July 1, 2019. Please join the provost and me in welcoming these two outstanding individuals to NJIT.
For those of you on spring break this week, I hope you are enjoying a restful time.
Thank you all for your contributions to NJIT.
Joel S. Bloom
President