History of NJIT

The New Jersey Institute of Technology that we know today has a rich history with its beginnings developing from the industrial age. Like many of the port cities around the world, the Newark of the late 19th century was a thriving industrial center. Its factories churned out thread, metals, paints and leather goods. In Newark, Thomas Edison set the stage at his Ward Street factory for his later achievements, and Edison rival Edward Weston established the first factory in the United States for commercial production of dynamo electric machines.

On March 24, 1880, the Essex County assemblyman in the state legislature introduced “An Act to Provide for the Establishment of Schools of Industrial Education.” The Newark Board of Trade sponsored the bill. The act established three schools of industrial education: one in Newark, one in Trenton and one in Hoboken. The first Board of Trustees met July 1, 1884. The Newark Technical School opened Monday, February 9, 1885, with 88 students who attended despite a terrible snowstorm.

The first class, mostly evening students, attended classes in a rented building at 21 West Park Street. Soon the facility became inadequate to house an expanding student body. To meet the needs of the growing school, a second fundraiser — the institution’s first capital campaign — was launched to support the construction of a dedicated building for Newark Technical School. In 1886, under the leadership of the school’s dynamic first director, Dr. Charles A. Colton, the cornerstone was laid at the intersection of High Street and Summit Place for the three-story building later to be named Weston Hall in honor of the institution’s early benefactor. A laboratory building, later to be called Colton Hall, was added to the campus in 1913. Daniel Hodgdon served as the director of Newark Technical School from 1918 to 1920.

Under Dr. Allan R. Cullimore, who led the institution from 1920 to 1949, the modest Newark Technical School was transformed into the Newark College of Engineering (NCE). Campbell Hall was erected in 1925. During the lean years of the Depression and World War II, only the former Newark Orphan Asylum, now Eberhardt Hall, was purchased and renovated by the college.

The postwar period was one of enormous activity during which President Cullimore — like today’s post-Cold War university presidents — challenged the college to turn “wartime thinking into peacetime thinking.”

In 1946, about 75% of the freshman class had served in the armed forces. Robert W. Van Houten was acting president of NJIT from 1947 until 1950 when the board of trustees named him president. Cullimore Hall was built in 1958 and two years later the old Weston Hall was razed and replaced with the current seven-story structure. Doctoral-level programs were introduced and six years later, in 1966, an 18-acre, four-building expansion was completed. William Hazell succeeded Dr. Van Houten as president of NJIT in 1970.

In 1973, with the addition of the New Jersey School of Architecture, the institution had evolved into a technological university, emphasizing a broad range of graduate and undergraduate degrees and dedication to significant research and public service. A stronger-than-ever Newark College of Engineering remained intact, but a new university name — New Jersey Institute of Technology — signified the institution’s expanded mission.

A broadened mission called for the creation of a residential campus. The opening of NJIT’s first dormitory, Redwood Hall, in 1979 began a period of steady growth that continues today.

Under the leadership of Saul K. Fenster, who served as president of NJIT from 1978 to 2002, four new schools were established at the university: the College of Science and Liberal Arts in 1982; the School of Management in 1988; Albert Dorman Honors College in 1995; and the College of Computing Sciences in 2001. During the administration of Robert A. Altenkirch, New Jersey School of Architecture was reconstituted as the College of Architecture and Design in 2008.

Under the leadership of Joel S. Bloom, NJIT completed the first phase of the Gateway Project in 2013, including the creation of Warren Street Village, a three-acre, mixed-use residential housing complex that added 600 beds to NJIT’s existing inventory of residential housing. The complex includes the Honors College Residence Hall and five duplex homes for NJIT’s Greek organizations, as well as dining services, a convenience store and fitness center for the university community.

On April 13, 2017, more than 200 students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the university witnessed the official ribbon cutting of the renovated Central King Building, part of a campus transformation designed to enhance the student experience and solidify NJIT’s position going forward as one of the nation’s leading public polytechnic universities. On November 10, 2017, NJIT cut the ribbon for the 220,000-square-foot Wellness and Events Center.

On December 11, 2017, NJIT officially opened its Makerspace, a large, well-equipped space for collaborative design and testing, featuring state-of-the-art machinery, including additive manufacturing equipment; CNC machines; a water jet; machinery for laser cutting, grinding and milling; and a large assortment of tools, devices, and metrology and precision measurement appliances. The 23,000-square-foot space is used for classes, design projects, team efforts and preparation for national competitions in the area of vehicle and drone design.

On November 9, 2018, NJIT launched its newest school, the School of Applied Engineering and Technology (SAET), within the university’s Newark College of Engineering. SAET encompasses NCE’s engineering technology programs in two divisions (Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Technology Division and the Built Environment Division); the baccalaureate degree General Engineering program; and a division focused on Engineering Education practice and research. SAET serves about 1,000 NJIT students.

On December 5, 2019, NJIT had a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its Microfabrication Innovation Center (MIC). The MIC houses advanced equipment and a cleanroom environment that provides a state-of-the-art facility for the fabrication of micro- and nonoelectronic and microfluidic devices and sensors. These devices and sensors will transform technology across a range of areas and will accelerate work on smart devices. In the area of health care, for example, biomarker sensors may be developed that can communicate with medical information systems to support point-of-care diagnostics and therapeutic intervention. 

Along with the York Center for Environmental Research and the Life Sciences and Engineering Research Center, the MIC is an integral part of NJIT’s strategic effort to produce translational research on microchip and microfluidic devices with applications not only in health care, but in environmental technologies and advanced manufacturing.

On July 1, 2022, Teik C. Lim began his tenure as NJIT’s ninth president and its first person of color to serve as president. During Lim’s inaugural year as NJIT’s leader, the university achieved several major accomplishments. Maple Hall, a new 500-bed residential building opened on campus with extensive amenities available to students. Pioneering venture capitalist John Martinson donated $3 million to NJIT to broaden and deepen the curriculum and real-world experiences for top scholars at the Albert Dorman Honors College (ADHC) and throughout the university. This was the largest single gift in the 27 years of ADHC. NJIT welcomes its first-ever chief diversity officer.

NJIT Presidents

Founding of the Colleges

Newark College of Engineering (1919)
J. Robert and Barbara A. Hillier College of Architecture and Design (1973)
College of Science and Liberal Arts (1982)
Martin Tuchman School of Management (1988)
Albert Dorman Honors College (1994)
Ying Wu College of Computing (2001)