Talk:Stevens Institute of Technology

Major Restructuring

Howdy! I wanted to begin planning a rehaul of this page to be more in line with the (non-policy) standards laid out by Wikipedia:College and university article advice as part of the Wikipedia:WikiProject Higher education. I figured the best place to start would be a discussion on the sections to include based on the current information in the article and additional information about the institution which comes to mind.

I propose the following sections:

(a) History: The Following seperation provides space for inportant information in these major timeperiods, in particular how the U.S. involvement in WW1, WW2, and Vietnam impacted the university's research, academics, and enrollment. Additional arguments could be made to add in dates for 1971-1999 with the admittance of women into the undergraduate program or seperating the history by the presiding president due to there only being 7 presidents.
i. Establishment & the Stevens Family (1868-1870),
ii. Late 19th Century (1870-1899),
iii. Early 20th Century (1900-1949),
iv. Late 20th Century (1950-1999),
v. 21st Century (2000-Present).
vi. Controversies to provide an abridge version of the current Attorney general matter and other notable controversies including Gov. Greg Gianforte's donation & student backlash, the public hacking scandal, and the 2023 commencement which recieved national and regional news converage.

(b) Campus: This would be almost entirely new content. Special attention would be given to defining features and historic landmarks such as Edwin A. Stevens hall and the S.S. Stevens (defunct boat dormitory). Information regaurding the Samuel C. Williams Library would be rehoused here as well. Although I am unsure of how to section this, perhaps it will be short enough to not need sections. The campus is small and it's only defining seperation is between academic and residential spaces. I also would appriciate guidance on what to do about the university's off-campus holdings, such as greek life housing, defunct faculty housing, administrative offices, and other buildings located within Hoboken.

(c) Organization and administration:
i. Governance focused on the board of trustees, president, faculty senate, and policy;
ii. Academic affiliation focused on Stevens' affiliations with NAICU, AITU, AACSB, Sea-grant, and Space-grant programs;
iii. Finances, costs, and financial aid; and finally
iv. Student governance which is notable for the student-led honor system and the uncommonly independent student government association (for NJ universities). If the sources aren't available for the SGA, then the fourth section will just have an overview of student involvement in university governance and the role of the afformentioned honor board.

(d) Academics: This section needs some major rework in its content to cut down on bloat and focus on noteworthy and verifiable information. This section should primarily focus on academic information with historical context ideally being addressed in History. This section should open with some preliminary information such as academic acrediation, semesterly system, and other over arching information
i. Colleges which breaks down the four (soon to be 3) academic colleges in Business, Humantities, and Engineeering & Science;
ii. Degrees particularly focusing on the Bachelor of Engineering degree offered and other notable differences from a typical university (this is also a good place for some statistics.
iii. Co-operative education, entrepreneurship, and study abroad which will condense the current co-op education and entrepreneurship sections into one that is more succinct and cohesive (additionally seeking to include other eductional programs that are atypical);
iv. Research which is intended for the research centers, achievements, and other relevant information (much of the current information seems not entirely relevant).

(e) Rankings and awards: This would provide an info box for the higher education rankings of Stevens and any notable awards.

(f) Student body:
i. Admissions infobox,
ii. Student body demographics based on currently available data.

(g) Student Life: This would be the place to highlight student life, and may in fact be a better home for a 'student governence' subsection. Some universities also have a "student government" subsection. We want to highlight what the student experience would be like for a student throughout the past 150 years. It is important to note that it might be worth while to create new pages for some of this content, in particular greek life which have some notable achievements including the first building ever constructed with the intention of being a fraternal house in the U.S. - more advice and (suggested) standards can be found at Wikipedia:WikiProject Fraternities and Sororities. There are some older articles (1880s-1930s) on student life in the NYT, but otherwise most of the sources will be from the Stute (student newspaper) and yearbooks.
i. Traditions starting off the section would be a highlight of famous and notable traditions, both modern and historic, including calculus cremation, stealing the canon, vandalizing the torch bearer's statue, the duck dance, engineering camp, techfest, boken, and concrete cannoe racing;
ii.Publications & broadcasting for the student newspaper, yearbook, radio station, literary, and research magaizes;
iii. Athletics a more condensed athletics history and current standings;
iv. Societies a highlight of greek organizations and other secret and honorary societies on campus;
v. Other to highlight other notable organizations with historic firsts in the nation

(h) Notable People highlighting alumni and faculty of note. Faculty and staff may deserve their own section, but at this time there does not appear to be enough content to warrent this decision.

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Please let me know your thoughts on the above restructure from the current article. It certainly wouldn't be a project that is done overnight, but over a few months I think I could piece together the needed information to redo these sections one at a time. Pancake621 (talk) 11:11, 12 April 2024 (UTC)

I've completed a revision of the "Establishment & the Stevens Family (188-1870)" section today, please review and revise. A few citations needed. Pancake621 (talk) 21:47, 9 August 2024 (UTC)

Campus (Buildings, Facilities, Landmarks, and Features)

Howdy! I've begun developing the campus section, starting with the Early Campus subsection to detail EAS, Carnegie, Morton, and Walker. If anyone is willing to go through the hassle of including relevent photos that would be most appriciated.

Feel free to expand on the underdeveloped Academic, Administrative, Athletic, and Distinct Building sections. There is a wealth of information out there on some of these topics, but I wanted to get some basic information included now so that I wouldn't forget in the future. Pancake621 (talk) 06:41, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

I removed the lists of buildings because they have little value for an encyclopedia. If there is something significant about the buildings, then please say so and reference the assertion. There is no need for comprehensive lists of every building on campus. If the building has no cultural or administrative significance, then pls don't include it here. -- Melchior2006 (talk) 11:05, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

Understood. To draft these sections what is the prefered method of drafting? Because some of these certainly are notable, I just did not have the ability to reference everything in the first draft. Pancake621 (talk) 00:20, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

You did a great job! -- Melchior2006 (talk) 16:32, 26 April 2024 (UTC)

Controversies Section Additions

Potential additions to the controversies section:

Commencement 2023 which was attended by Gov. Phil Murphy and resulted in the school paying out $250 to every graduate. The story recieved coverage by the NY Post and other outlets. - Daily Voice (Hudson County, NJ) : https://dailyvoice.com/new-jersey/hudson/crowd-boos-speakers-in-steven-institute-of-technologys-epic-commencement-ceremony-fail-video/ - NJ News: https://www.nj.com/news/2023/05/graduates-have-a-right-to-be-upset-after-disaster-of-nj-commencement-ceremony.html - reports on 2024 commencement due to 2023 media buzz: https://www.roi-nj.com/2023/10/31/education/stevens-to-hold-2024-commencement-exercises-at-pnc-bank-arts-center/ - NY Post: https://nypost.com/2023/05/31/stevens-institute-students-get-250-refund-following-chaotic-grad-ceremony/

Gianforte Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte donated $20million to the school in support of a new building. Following student protests, the amount was halved and the building was renamed. Students continue to boycott the building. Googingle "Gianforte Stevens Institute of Technology" pulls up a number of notable results about the orginial backlash and contining student resistance to the building.

Hack In 2019, Stevens suffered from a hack that "shut the school down for weeks." not sure how notable it is. But there are certainly a few publications about the incident. https://www.nj.com/hudson/2019/08/stevens-techs-computer-system-shut-down-by-hackers.html; https://www.nj.com/hudson/2019/08/stevens-tech-still-struggling-to-restore-computer-systems-after-cyberattack.html; https://thestute.com/2019/09/13/major-cyberattack-shuts-down-stevens-for-weeks/; and more if you google "Stevens institute of Technology Hack" Pancake621 (talk) 05:51, 28 April 2024 (UTC)

These all look pretty good to me. Maybe the last one (hacking) is a bit weak in its notability, but still I would tend toward including it. -- Melchior2006 (talk) 07:59, 28 April 2024 (UTC)