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Bill Martin ’89 graduated from Stevens with a degree in Electrical Engineering and is now an Aerospace Sales Manager at ITW CCE. His daughter is presently a Stevens undergraduate student, soon to graduate. Bill is the President of the Class of 1989. He is very active in and a great supporter of the Stevens Alumni Community. Read Bill’s own account of how and why he became involved.
In the mid-80’s while looking for colleges, I knew I was going to go somewhere with an Electrical Engineering major. I wanted a technically solid school. I wanted a smaller school with smaller classes. I also wanted something reasonably close to home. Stevens Institute of Technology met all my criteria. It stood out as a school with a solid reputation graduating people with a solid technical background that were poised for success. Once I received my acceptance, it was a no brainer. I found my school. On graduation, all proved true. I had a choice of a couple of great job opportunities. I moved away from the area but realized that I really wasn’t happy being several hundred miles from home. Nor was my now wife, whom I had dated pretty much my whole time at Stevens. When we decided to move back, Stevens was there to help me find another job in North Jersey and once again, came through. That job was the one that eventually got me into the technical sales arena where I am today.
In the early years after graduation, I’d visit the campus with my wife. We would wander around Stevens, say hi to Jo-Ann (who was still the receptionist at the Stevens Center, which is now the Howe Center), and we’d go into Hoboken and/or the city. We continued this tradition after our girls were born. I’d also find myself bringing business clients to the now thriving Hoboken for business dinners and it was never complete without a visit to Castle Point for a view of the New York City skyline. Move forward to the 2010 time frame, our older daughter was becoming really interested in science and engineering. With her attending some summer robotics courses at Stevens along with my pending 25th anniversary reunion and encouragement from a class of ’83 friend, I began to really get involved with Stevens again. I joined the 25th reunion committee and had an active role in planning our 25th reunion. Around this time, I started to seriously make a commitment to support the institution financially. Previously, I had made a couple of donations after receiving personal calls from classmates, but this was the first time I decided this was going to be an annual and significant commitment on my part. This also spurred my interest in the Stevens Alumni Association and I started to regularly attend the S.A.A.’s meetings. Through the continued encouragement from my class of ’83 friend, I attended and helped at some regional alumni events, which I continue to enjoy doing to this day. My involvement in the S.A.A. soon increased to accepting the invitation to be a decade representative. Last year, I volunteered to be part of the classes committee. In this role, I was tasked to find interested folks from the Class of 1989, my graduating year, to be the class officers. It was a daunting task at first to try to sell individuals on running for these positions. After being asked by some why don’t I consider becoming an officer myself, I agreed to run for President. Now as President of the Class of 1989, I’m working with my fellow classmates and the alumni office to make sure that the 30th reunion is the best we’ve had yet!
And of course, back to my daughters. Our older daughter ended up at another engineering school. However, when our younger daughter, Faith, showed interest in Biomedical Engineering, I suggested she look at Stevens. That fell on deaf ears until someone she met while touring another school said to her that they heard Stevens was “really good.” Well, at least, that got her to visit. Though her interest was Biomedical Engineering, I think the McLean Building’s labs (the Chem Building to those of us from the Class of ’89) are what sold her. She went from no interest in Stevens to early decision! She started in August of 2014 and has never looked back. As part of the co-op program, she’s now in her 5th year and graduation is coming up soon. She had a couple of potential job opportunities that already look promising but she’s considering staying to get her Masters. We will see which way she goes but come next Alumni Weekend, she’ll be an alumna too!
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