Stevens kicks off five-year capital campaign  with support from corporations and individuals

On Dec. 2, Stevens Institute of Technology kicked off the public phase of its five-year capital campaign, The Campaign for Stevens, with an announcement of commitments of $50,239,505. The campaign goal is $102 million by 2004 to support faculty and program development, student scholarships and fellowships, facilities, the university's endowment, and other initiatives.

Of the pledges to date, a significant portion - $14 million - came from four major sources involved in the telecommunications industry:

• Lawrence T. Babbio, Jr., Verizon Communications Vice Chairman and President who chairs Stevens' Board of Trustees and the campaign itself;
• Verizon Communications;
• AT&T, which is represented on Stevens' Board of Trustees by two Stevens alumni: Rick Roscitt, President of AT&T Business Services, and Frank Ianna, President of AT&T Network Services; and
• Lucent Technologies.

Babbio, who led the group with his own $6 million pledge, said, "I'm proud to stand with these three companies to underscore the importance of Stevens in the development of our future technology workforce as well as the promotion of cutting-edge research for the telecommunications industry as a whole."

In honor of Babbio's commitment, Stevens will name a new building in his honor. It will be called the Lawrence T. Babbio Jr. Center for Technology Management. The center, which Stevens expects to begin building in 2001, will become the new home of Stevens' Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management. The new center will be located near the Hudson River waterfront on Stevens' Hoboken campus.

Babbio, who earned his undergraduate degree in engineering from Stevens, today is vice chairman and president of one of the world's premier communications companies, Verizon Communications, formed by this year's merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE. Verizon is the largest provider of wireline and wireless communications in the United States. Babbio has responsibility for the company's domestic wireline business, which includes local and long distance telecommunications voice and data services.

Commitments to The Campaign for Stevens of more than $1 million have also come from several members of the Stevens Board of Trustees' Campaign Steering Committee, including:

• Thomas A. Corcoran, a Stevens alumnus who today is Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Allegheny Technologies Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa.;
• Kenneth W. DeBaun, a Stevens alumnus with an honorary doctorate from Stevens who is Chairman and CEO of The DeBaun World, Inc., in Santa Rosa, Calif.;
• Arthur E. Imperatore, Sr., who holds an honorary doctorate from Stevens and is Chairman of the Board of Arcorp Properties, Weehawken, N.J.;
• John J. LoPorto, who holds three degrees as well as an honorary doctorate from Stevens and is President of LoPorto Associates, Inc., Chester, N.J.; and
• Steven Shulman, a Stevens alumnus who is Principal of The Hampton Group, Hampton, N.H.

Stevens' most recent capital campaign, The Drive for National Excellence (1991-96), exceeded its original goal of $73 million, reaching $102 million by the campaign's end. That campaign laid the foundation for the university to begin pursuing an innovative new direction known today as Technogenesis^®. Recently trademarked by Stevens, Technogenesis refers to "the educational frontier wherein students, faculty and industry jointly nurture new technologies from concept to realization."

"Technogenesis, the educational environment we are building at Stevens, is unique in the world. This is the first time a university has consciously designed an institution-wide effort to provide its students and faculty with the real-world context of leadership and entrepreneurship today," said Stevens' President, Dr. Harold J. Raveche. "By taking this bold step, we are changing the face of higher education.

"To accomplish our long-term goals, however, we must have the resources available to innovate across the whole institution in ways that closely involve our faculty, students, programs and external relationships. This campaign will make that kind of innovation possible."

Raveche commended the strong support of Stevens alumni in the last decade. About 34 percent make annual gifts to the university, compared to the national average of about 18 percent.

"In this campaign, we will be reaching out to our alumni as well as to others, including those who benefit directly from the quality of Stevens' graduates in the workplace and the development of important new technologies."

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870 and celebrating 140 Years of Innovation, Stevens Institute of Technology, The Innovation University TM , lives at the intersection of industry, academics and research.  The University's students, faculty and partners leverage their collective real-world experience and culture of innovation, research and entrepreneurship to confront global challenges in engineering, science, systems and technology management.

Based in Hoboken, N.J. and with a location in Washington, D.C., Stevens offers baccalaureate, master’s, certificates and doctoral degrees in engineering, the sciences and management, in addition to baccalaureate degrees in business and liberal arts.  Stevens has been recognized by both the US Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security as a National Center of Excellence in the areas of systems engineering and port security research. The University has a total enrollment of more than 2,200 undergraduate and 3,700 graduate students with almost 450 faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America as well as strategic partnerships with industry leaders, governments and other universities around the world.  Additional information may be obtained at www.stevens.edu and www.stevens.edu/press.