Advancing Student and Staff Success Together: Stevens Institute of Technology and Vector Solutions

The Customer

Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, New Jersey

The Challenge

Stevens Institute of Technology serves a highly driven and academically rigorous student population, enrolling approximately 4,300 undergraduate and more than 3,000 graduate students across a diverse range of engineering, science, and professional programs. While Stevens’ students are high-achieving, university leaders recognize that academic success alone does not insulate students from the growing challenges facing higher education today.

“Mental health continues to be a central focus of our student support efforts, as it is across higher education,” said Kenneth Nilsen, Dean of Students. “Students are navigating perfectionism, fear of failure, and uncertainty around finances, careers, and global mobility issues, particularly among our international graduate population.”

In addition to mental well-being, Stevens must ensure consistent compliance with evolving federal and state requirements related to hazing prevention, alcohol education, Title IX, and campus safety, while engaging students in ways that feel meaningful rather than punitive.

The Choice

Stevens Institute of Technology selected Vector Solutions to support a comprehensive, scalable approach to prevention education that could meet the needs of a highly engaged student population. With evolving regulatory requirements and increasing expectations around student well-being, the university sought a solution that could deliver consistent, evidence-based training while remaining flexible enough to support multiple student populations.

Vector Solutions provides Stevens with a centralized platform for managing prevention education across the institution. By housing training administration within Student Affairs, the university is able to coordinate efforts across various departments, including Athletics, Fraternity and Sorority Life, Graduate Student Life, and Title IX. This centralized approach enhances efficiency, ensures alignment, and fosters consistent messaging regarding safety, expectations, and accountability.

Flexibility was a key factor in the decision. Vector’s ability to segment students and assign targeted training allows Stevens to deliver relevant content to first-year students, returning students, athletes, fraternity and sorority members, and graduate students without creating unnecessary duplication or confusion. This ensures each population receives education aligned with their experiences, responsibilities, and institutional requirements.

Equally important was the collaborative nature of the partnership. Vector Solutions collaborates closely with Stevens to support implementation, ensure data accuracy, and facilitate continuous improvement. This partnership enables the university to adapt its prevention strategy over time while maintaining a strong educational foundation that supports both compliance and student success.

The university implemented a comprehensive suite of Vector courses, including alcohol and drug education, hazing prevention, mental health awareness, Title IX training, and safety training. Key factors driving the partnership included:

• Foundational Education at Scale: Vector courses offer consistent, research-based content that fosters a shared understanding across the campus. “It gives us a baseline,” said Nilsen. “Our educators don’t have to re-teach the basics; they can build on them.”
• Flexible Population Segmentation: Using Vector’s grouping and assignment tools, Stevens differentiates training for first-year students, returning students, athletes, fraternity and sorority members, and graduate students—ensuring each group receives the most relevant content.
• Collaborative Partnership: “Vector has been a collaborator in this work,” said Ashley Chillar, Associate Director for Student Affairs Operations. “They work with us as partners, helping us think through data, compliance, and how to improve the student experience year over year.”

The Change

Through its partnership with Vector Solutions, Stevens Institute of Technology has developed a comprehensive prevention framework that blends online education with in-person engagement and accountability. Vector courses serve as the foundation of this model, ensuring students receive consistent, evidence-based education on key topics such as alcohol and drug use, hazing prevention, mental well-being, Title IX, and campus safety.

Training is strategically embedded throughout the student lifecycle. Undergraduate students complete core prevention courses before arriving on campus, helping to establish shared expectations early in their college experience. Graduate students receive training after enrollment is finalized, allowing the university to accurately reach its on-campus population, including international students navigating complex visa timelines. This approach ensures relevance while maximizing participation and compliance.

With foundational education in place, Stevens’ staff and educators can focus on higher-level, in-person learning and engagement. By centralizing administration and using data to thoughtfully segment student populations, Stevens ensures the right training reaches the right students at the right time. This structured, data-informed approach enables the university to transition from compliance-driven training to a cohesive prevention strategy that promotes student safety, well-being, and success across campus.

Stevens also layers Vector training into innovative engagement models:

• Leadership Labs: Graduate students participating in Leadership Labs use Vector courses as a virtual complement to in-person professional development sessions. Completion is incentivized through a digital badging system, which encourages participation and reinforces learning outcomes.
• Athletics and Greek Life: Athletes and fraternity/sorority members are required to complete specific training annually, reinforcing accountability while meeting legal and institutional expectations.
• Mental Health Integration: Vector’s mental well-being courses support campus-wide initiatives that include peer education, counseling center outreach, and creative engagement efforts—such as wellness events featuring Stevens’ emotional support dog, Tilly.

“We see much stronger engagement when students come to in-person programs already informed,” Nilsen noted. “The conversations are richer, more honest, and more impactful.”

CPN Seal of Prevention

Stevens Institute of Technology has been a CPN Seal of Prevention recipient since the program’s inception in 2020, reflecting a sustained commitment to safety, prevention, and continuous improvement.

The university achieves this recognition through:

• Consistent communication and reminders to drive participation.
• Strategic use of data to track completion and compliance.
• Clear expectations tied to student involvement, such as athletics and fraternity/sorority participation.
• Collaboration across departments, including Student Affairs, Athletics, Graduate Student Life, and IT.

“Compliance doesn’t happen by accident,” said Nilsen. “It takes organization, persistence, and campus-wide buy-in, and Vector gives us the infrastructure to do that well.”

The Future

Stevens continues to expand its prevention and well-being efforts, with a growing focus on:

• Mental health normalization and early intervention.
• Career readiness and leadership development.
• Data-informed decision-making across student populations.

As the higher education landscape evolves, Stevens views Vector Solutions as a long-term partner in adapting to new challenges while keeping student well-being at the center of its mission.

“Our goal is to prepare students not just academically, but as whole people,” Nilsen said. “Vector helps us lay the foundation that makes that possible.”

About Vector Solutions

Vector Solutions provides expert-authored online courses addressing a wide variety of important safety, well-being, and prevention topics in higher education. The courses empower students to make safe and healthy decisions so they can be safe and successful in college. The engaging courses combine academic and industry research, expert insights, best practices in online learning, and feedback from industry partners.

Course libraries include:

• Sexual Assault Prevention
• Alcohol and Drug Misuse Prevention
• Wellness and Safety
• Athletics
• Career Readiness
• Sorority and Fraternity Life