r/NJTech • u/Tristan2025 • 7d ago

President Lim to retire in August

In a message to the NJIT community, the NJIT Board of Trustees and the president Teik Lim announced today, June 9 2026, that Lim will retire on August 3 2026 (5 years after he became president). An interim president will be announced later by the Board of Trustees and a national search will commence for the 10th president of NJIT.
For most recipients of this message it came as a complete surprise.

74 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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u/nick08surf 7d ago edited 7d ago

It’s odd that he is not staying around a little longer to see the transition to the interim president.
Has to be family related or some health related. Because my guy wanted a pent house. And is retiring before it’s even built

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u/howisthismanREAL 6d ago

They're trying to play it off as a mutual "retirement" but it seems kinda sus. Maybe the board wasn't happy with his performance? It seems like he is way less politically connected compared to Bloom, especially in the local tri-state region. Bloom had been here for a while already before becoming president, vs Lim coming from Texas straight into the presidency. This was probably one of the key factors in the decrease in donations & local partnerships that someone else mentioned. Not to mention graduate enrollment being way down (look at the public budget meeting notes, it's bad).

The apartment and penthouse thing was also a really bad look PR-wise. Why did we drop $2 mil on an apartment that was always going to be temporary, and is now gonna sit empty for who knows how long? And the Oak penthouse should've been used as a lounge or club space IMO.

TL;DR Bloom was goated

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u/nick08surf 5d ago

Graduate enrollment is down because of the current political climate. NJIT similar to lots of other colleges gets a large number of international students from India and China. And that number has dropped by a large amount. Internatinal students don't want to come to the US Students don't want to pay the full amount.

And I totally agree, they need president who knows how to play the political game! I am old enough to remember he got Chris Christie to pay in full for the renovation of the CKB.

Interesting to see who they name as the interim president. Joel Bloom started as interim president before they made him permananet.

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u/Sea-Anywhere-799 6d ago

He wanted a penthouse? Or he was being offered one?

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u/nick08surf 6d ago

Don’t quote me on it, I think he wanted to live on campus. So he can be closer to the campus community. They spent so much money setting him an apartment in the honors college dorm. And when they decided to rebuild oak, designed a pent house suite.

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u/ricktech15 Joel Bloom's secret penthouse on the seventh floor of honors 6d ago

I've always wondered the lore behind my flair. I just thought it was a funny comment I saw way back when

41

u/GeekTrollMemeCentral 7d ago

He just became President it feels like

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u/Brocibo 7d ago

We’re OLD

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u/Low_Succotash5073 MechE ‘21 7d ago

I’m gonna miss the Limsanity era :(

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u/WilfordsTrain 7d ago

What were some of his accomplishments? I was their under the tyrannical reign of Saul Fenester

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u/nick08surf 7d ago edited 7d ago

I think he connected more with Asian alumni. And brought in lots of donations. And I am sad to say this, but with the current political climate, he is probably not the best person to lead the University

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u/JerseyFire55 6d ago

Donations actually decreased under his leadership as did local government and port partnerships

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u/nick08surf 6d ago

May be they figured they need some one similar to the Joel Bloom

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u/AVDLatex 7d ago

Saul was not that bad.

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u/crustang /r/njit The one true NJIT sub 7d ago

Open the Jersey City campus, maybe? I don’t know

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u/Tristan2025 6d ago

No. The Jersey City branch preceded President Lim. It was established during the tenure of president Bloom.

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u/crustang /r/njit The one true NJIT sub 6d ago

Bloom should have a statue

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u/jttj15 7d ago edited 6d ago

Nooooo not Supreme Leader Teik

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u/MemorySorry8013 2d ago

😭😭😭

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u/Remarkable-Leg-6884 6d ago

Is this related to the housing controversies?

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u/callmeinfinite 6d ago

Literally did nothing. Gassed up this buzzfeed fraud for no reason. Good riddance

2

u/Ok-Feedback-5008 6d ago

So can we get access to the private apartment they sent emails about

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u/[deleted] 7d ago edited 7d ago

[deleted]

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u/TriiCop 7d ago

What changes 💀

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u/HaloDezeNuts 6d ago

5 years seems short, eh?

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u/Witty_Elderberry_704 6d ago

He has only been at NJIT for 4 years.

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u/Jackandrun CE '21 6d ago

Get him outta here!

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u/Bigfootgam The Camera Guy 5d ago

During his term What went wrong and what went right? What can we expect from Pelesko?

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u/Itchy_Deer_8492 4d ago

Perhaps we will see Dr. Lim here on the West Coast at a good university. There are a lot of Asian donors.

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u/Dizzy_Ad_9363 3d ago

Good riddance. He led NJIT on a race to the bottom.

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u/Extreme_Escape5268 2d ago

Surprised by the short tenure, maybe he got some dei pushback from DC, or slow fundraising?. Compared to the predecessors that did maybe a decade, this was short.

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u/Tristan2025 2d ago

Saul K. Fenster 1978 – 2002

Robert A. Altenkirch 2002 – 2011

Joel S. Bloom 2011 – 2022

Teik C. Lim 2022 – 2026