Welcome Back From President Bloom

Published: Tuesday, September 1, 2020

NJIT Community Members,

Welcome back, Highlanders! We have been looking forward to your return since the day we moved to remote operations last spring, and today we begin a new semester unlike any we have previously experienced. We have planned extensively for the challenges we will face in welcoming students and faculty back to our campus, as can be seen on our pandemic recovery website and in our Pandemic Recovery Plan (PRP), and we have developed an approach that affords maximum flexibility for those challenges that may yet emerge. We have made physical changes to our campus, established protocols, and communicated regularly and extensively about both our planning and our expectations. Now it is incumbent upon each of us to follow the protocols that have been put in place to safeguard the health and wellness of our campus community!

In addition to welcoming those of you who are returning to campus, I want to extend a warm greeting to our new students. The incoming freshman class is an extraordinarily accomplished group that emerged from more than 10,300 applicants to NJIT. Its members come from 24 states and 17 countries. Among them are eight high school valedictorians, 10 salutatorians, as well as winners of countless other academic awards and honors. The members of the Class of 2024 compiled an average high school grade point average of 3.6 out of 4.0 and average SAT scores of 1,292 out of a possible 1,600. For the students entering the Albert Dorman Honors College, the average high school GPA was 3.87 and the average SAT reached 1506. NJIT is proud to have such a talented group joining our university community and is looking forward to their contributions.

These past several months have been different, for certain, but something that has remained consistent is that NJIT continues to lead, to improve, and to earn recognition for doing so.

  • This summer, NJIT collaborated with University Hospital in Newark and The Tuchman Foundation on a unique partnership to develop modular, mobile medical care facilities that can be deployed to areas of surging disease outbreaks or other disasters. A video about the project can be seen here. The units include customizable internal environments that can be configured for various medical applications, including clinical point-of-care services and the testing and treatment of communicable and non-communicable diseases.

  • The NJIT Student Senate made a $50,000 contribution to the Highlander Student Emergency Fund. The fund was established nearly a decade ago but became our primary focus for fundraising this year. Between April 1 and June 30 alone, the NJIT community contributed $175,000. The fund is designed to remove temporary financial barriers that hamper students’ progress toward their degrees. The Student Senate, which typically makes investments in the campus, opted this summer for a direct, unprecedented move to support its fellow students. 

  • Five NJIT executives are featured in ROI-NJ's inaugural list of higher education influencers, which debuted last week. On the academic side, the statewide business publication featured Provost Fadi Deek and Newark College of Engineering Dean Moshe Kam. For industry relations, ROI-NJ highlighted Simon Nynens and Donald Sebastian, who are the CEO and president, respectively, of NJIT's New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII). I also was honored to be included on the list as the “head of the class” for university presidents and the “extraordinary levels” of NJIT's achievements.

  • NJIT recently was named a top college by The Princeton Review in the newest edition of its college guide, "The Best 386 Colleges," a designation only about 14% of America’s 2,800 four-year colleges have earned. NJIT also received honors as a top college in the Northeast region and a Best Value college. Additionally, NJIT appears as a Top 50 College for Undergraduate Game Design and Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Studies. The Princeton Review also lauded NJIT earlier in 2020 as one of the top colleges “most exceptional in the nation at delivering great academics, affordable cost, and great career foundations.” Furthermore, NJIT is rated a 79/99 for its Green Rating by The Princeton Review, which provides a comprehensive measure of a school's performance as an environmentally aware and prepared institution—a 25% jump from the previous year.

  • NJIT joins the America East Conference for intercollegiate athletics for the 2020-21 academic year. The America East is composed of both peer and aspirant universities, and this move will reduce the travel burdens on our student athletes.

While these past months have been difficult and the months ahead are not easily predicted, NJIT continues to move forward, to serve its students, to strengthen its community, and to innovate in ways that improve the quality of life for many. As I welcome you back to campus and to the start of the fall semester, I can assure you that, even during this uncertain time, that will not change.

Welcome back Highlanders. Please stay well, and let's go to work! Thank you. 

Sincerely,

NJIT President Joel S. Bloom