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Why do we always target the humanities first?
We write Stevens history HOBOKEN, NJ | OCTOBER 24, 2025
VOLUME CXXIII No. 07
NEW STUTE EVERY FRIDAY • EST. 1904
HASS significantly cut winter courses offered
Spotlight on Donna and Linda from A-Cup BY TANYA AVADIA, OUTREACH CHAIR
BY EVAN PAPAGEORGE, STAFF WRITER As we approach the end of October, it is now time to register for winter and spring classes. However, when creating a saved schedule in Workday, students may notice that humanities courses offered in the winter are almost entirely unavailable. The Stute investigated further. The first issue with winter courses began a few weeks ago, when spring and winter courses were made public on Workday, allowing students to start creating saved schedules and planning their academic plans. The Stute found, however, that at first, there were no courses within the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS). The winter semester, also known as intersession, “allow[s] students to better balance their credit loads,” according to Liz O’Connell, the Manager of the Center for Student Success in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering, who spoke with
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Following the discussion, attendees gathered in Burchard 111 for the screening. The film follows the inspiring journey of young women from Afghanistan who defied cultural and political barriers to pursue robotics, ultimately symbolizing the broader struggle for women’s education and empowerment in science and engineering.
As college students, our time on this campus is very short. We only get a few years before this era of our lives becomes a memory. However, there are some members of the Stevens community for whom their “college” experience has been going strong for several decades. Donna Bracey and her sister Linda Sanchez have been vital members of our campus for many years, and The Stute has had the opportunity to interview them to learn more about their time here, how the university and its students have evolved, and what they look forward to in the future. Bracey started her time at Stevens on September 2, 1983, and her sister Sanchez joined about three years later on May 5, 1986. Both have worked a variety of roles since they first joined. Bracey shared that she has worked at a lot of the dining facilities, including the now-deceased Red and Gray Cafe. She was also responsible for the coffee cart, which would allow people, floor by floor, to get coffee on the spot. Sanchez, similar to her sister, has also held several
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PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFFREY VOCK
Stevens hosts screening of Rule Breakers highlighting women in robotics BY JEYLAN JUBRAN, OPINION COLUMNIST On October 15, the Office of the President at Stevens Institute of Technology hosted a screening of Rule Breakers, a powerful documentary celebrating the achievements of women in robotics and the resilience of women in STEM. The event brought together students, faculty, Ph.D. candidates, and staff for a day of con-
versation, inspiration, and reflection. The afternoon began in the UCC Gallery Room with a pre-credit conversation led by producer Laura Overdeck, who discussed the making of Rule Breakers and the projects currently taking place within the Stevens community. Overdeck shared how she, an astrophysicist, first connected with the film’s director while taking her documentary filmmaking
course at Stanford University “just for fun.” The two stayed in touch, and when the director obtained the rights to tell the story of Afghanistan’s women in robotics, she called Overdeck with what she described as “an amazing script.” Though the director had written numerous documentaries before, this would be her first narrative film — one that powerfully blends real events with cinematic storytelling.
Transforming disruption The Stevens Investment into opportunity: to offer full tuition Stevens hosts US coverage for eligible Universities Summit first-year students
A brief recap of the Family Day lectures
BY SEAN PALERMO, STAFF WRITER
This past weekend, October 18 and 19, Stevens held its annual Family Day. While it featured opportunities for families to enjoy and have fun, it also provided a series of lectures to educate them about what’s happening at Stevens. From quantum physics to quiet quitting to the history of the Stevens’ family, here’s a recap of the faculty lecture series for Family Day. Starting off, Dr. Igor Pikovski from the physics department shared a brief overview of quantum theory and what made it unique. He noted that quantum technology is just getting started, providing many opportunities for students. To explain what makes the quantum world special, Pikovski separated it into three topics: uncertainty, superposition, and entanglement. He explained uncertainty through a thought experiment about the properties of balls, where some seemed to magically reappear. In the quantum world, some complementary properties cannot be known simultaneously. Knowledge of one erases info about the other. As for
Last week, on October 13 and 14, Stevens Institute of Technology hosted an invitation-only US Universities Summit in the wake of disruptions and concerns about the industry of higher education. This event brought together many key decision-makers in the field within the US to stimulate in-depth and solution-oriented closed-door discussions to encourage leaders to share their thoughts on opportunities and challenges regarding the new landscape and their roles within it. The Summit, bolstering over 150 attendees and over 75 organizations and universities such as Stockton University, Portland State University, Case Western Reserve University, Montclair State University, and Widener University, congregated to address a variety of pressing, fresh topics including the impact of AI on teaching and operation, shifting planning and enrolling demographics, changing public policy affecting research funding, NEWS (2-3)
Stevens hosts screening of Rule Breakers, highlighitng women in robotics Learn more about the screening of Rule Breakers and how it brought together students! FEATURE (4-5)
Miderms + Halloween Discover ways to cope with midterms and simultaneously figure out your halloween plans!
and international students. Among the Universities mentioned, presidents Joe Bertolino, Ann Cudd, Eric Kaler, Jonathan Koppell, and Stacey Robertson all served as featured speakers during the event alongside other presidents, chancellors, and provosts of US universities and colleges. Topics particularly stressed during the gathering included funding for the future by exploring critical challenges with funding within higher-education and its implications on the quality and accessibility of education, redefining leadership by looking into the challenges and opportunities of governance within the industry through a focus on shared leadership, the impact of policy, and strategies for supporting strong institutional cultures, and redefining purpose and accessibility to academic freedom by analyzing how universities and colleges can redefine their purpose, adapt to changes in demographics, and maintaining commitment to academic
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Young people with cancer? Star Trek? 2025 Ig Nobel Prize? Read about what’s going on in the world of science. PULSE (10)
Read answers from the Stevens community to our weekly Roving Reporter, plus solve our weekly puzzle and sudoku.
BY SERENA PANUCCI, NEWS EDITOR Beginning in Fall 2026, Stevens will make tuition free for incoming undergraduate students whose families earn $75,000 or less per year, a major expansion of the university’s commitment to accessibility and affordability. The new program, known as The Stevens Investment, aims to remove financial barriers for talented students who might otherwise find higher education out of reach. The initiative will provide full tuition coverage for first-year, full-time undergraduate students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. To qualify, families must demonstrate an annual income of $75,000 or less with typical assets for that income level, and students must complete both the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile by the university’s posted deadlines. Tuition will be fully covered through grants and scholarships, meaning stu-
dents will not need to rely on loans or work-study to meet tuition costs. Stevens President Nariman Farvardin said the program reflects the university’s dedication to recognizing potential in students from all backgrounds. “At Stevens, we recognize that exceptional students come from all backgrounds and economic circumstances,” Farvardin said. “Our role as an institution is to identify that potential and work to remove barriers that might prevent these talented individuals from accessing the transformative education Stevens provides. This program reflects our longstanding commitment to fostering the next generation of leaders and innovators, regardless of their family’s financial situation.” The Stevens Investment will begin with the incoming class in the fall 2026 semester, expanding access to what the university describes as a “transformative Stevens education.” According to university data, nearly 99.9% of Stevens students already re-
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BY JOSEPHINE CHOONG, SECRETARY
superposition, he discussed the many states where information can be encoded. However, the probabilities of that were a problem. Superpositions can help to encode more information and help with problems like factoring large numbers. Meanwhile, entanglement is correlating randomness. It can aid quantum computers in communicating with each other and create an inherently secure encryption process. Pikovski mentioned the various challenges, such as the frailty of quantum information and the potential of quantum computing not being fully known. His own research group is uncovering the quantum effects on a microscopic scale. Finally, Pikovski mentioned how many universities are building quantum computers. He stated the various applications for quantum physics, including simulators, sensors, cryptography, and computing. The next lecture was held by Dr. Justine Hervé and Dr. Hyewon Oh from the School of Business regarding quiet quitting, especially among Gen Z. Compared to the previous lecture, this
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