On Wednesday I had the opportunity to hear Interim President Dr. Geroge Korfiatis deliver a State of the Institute Address in the Babbio Center. If I had to guess, I'd say there were well over 100 people in attendance with a wide range of people in that crowd including faculty, administrators, and students.
The event was sponsored by the Student-Faculty Alliance. According to its website, the Student-Faculty Alliance " is the partnership of the students and the faculty. The SFA "is a coalition of Stevens students, faculty members, and academic administrators who share the interests of adding value to a Stevens education, improving student/faculty communications, and introducing a common forum for positive progression both in and out of the classroom." They promote events to get both parties interacting in a setting outside of the classroom and also "encourages the entire Stevens community to voice their concerns, thoughts, and ideas for furthering improving the overall Stevens experience".
A number of members in the Gear & Triangle Honor society are also members of the SFA so that is how I was informed of the event and decided to go!
Anyways, back to the address, Korfiatis spoke about the current state of affairs of Stevens, ranging from undergraduate enrollment, to our current financial status, the presidential search, and even what the goals are for Stevens to improve moving into the future. At the end of his speech, there was then a question and answer session. Surprisingly, students asked the most questions! Some of the questions were asked include clarifications about the change in the undergraduate engineering curriculum, plans for on-campus housing expansion, and (I asked this) what the plans were to increase the athletic facilities for varsity athletes as well as the general population.
Although there was limited time for this event, I thought it was a success because it facilitated an open dialogue between the different groups of people on campus. For instance, I stayed after and talked with the Athletic Director, Russ Rogers, and discussed with him what their goals are for improving the athletic experience.
I'm very happy that I went!
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