How Stevens Tech Became One of the Strongest Transformation Stories in Higher Education: Changing...

Описание: In this episode of Changing Higher Ed, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Nariman Farvardin, President of Stevens Institute of Technology, about the strategic planning and execution discipline that transformed Stevens into one of the strongest-performing universities in the country. Dr. Farvardin explains how intentional academic realignment, shared governance, and sustained execution produced what Dr. McNaughton calls the “Stevens Miracle.”



What you’ll gain from listening to this podcast:



✓ Institutional Transformation: How Stevens achieved large-scale, sustained transformation through strategic planning and execution.



✓ Strategic Planning Discipline: Why planning must function as a living governance system, not a document on a shelf.



✓ Academic Realignment: How the SUCCESS curriculum prepares all students for long-term relevance in a technology-driven world.



✓ Execution Accountability: The systems Stevens uses to translate strategy into results year after year.



✓ Student Outcomes: How student-centered design and early support structures drive retention, graduation, and placement.



✓ Faculty Engagement: Why transparency and shared ownership enabled major change without faculty resistance.



✓ Governance Alignment: The role of strong president–board relationships in sustaining institutional momentum.



✓ Leadership Sustainability: What presidents need to make the role rewarding, effective, and durable over time.



✓ Replicable Lessons: What other institutions can realistically learn and apply from the Stevens experience.



✓ Results That Matter: Enrollment growth, research expansion, and student success outcomes that validate the strategy.



This episode offers presidents, provosts, trustees, and senior leadership teams a direct account of how disciplined strategic planning and execution can transform an institution—told by the president who led the work.