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.

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