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Stony Brook University

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Stony Brook
University
Stony Brook University Logo
Stony Brook University Logo
TypePublic
Established1957
PresidentShirley Strum Kenny
ProvostRobert McGrath
Academic staff
1,902
Students22,011
Undergraduates14,287
Location
Stony Brook
,
NY
,
USA
CampusSuburban, 1,364 acres (5.5 km²)
Athletics18 sports teams
ColorsRed and Gray
MascotSeawolf
Websitewww.stonybrook.edu

Stony Brook University, (SB), otherwise known as the State University of New York at Stony Brook, (SUNYSB), is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York (on the north side of Long Island, about 65 miles east of Manhattan, New York). Stony Brook is one of the four university centers of the State University of New York and has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students.

History

The university was founded in 1957 as the State University College on Long Island with about 100 students enrolled. The first temporary campus was at the William Robertson Coe Planting Fields estate in Oyster Bay. Originally, Stony Brook was a college for preparing secondary school teachers in mathematics and the sciences. Since 1962, the campus has been located on land donated by philanthropist Ward Melville. The original donation consisted of over 400 acres (1.6 km²), but the campus has since grown to about three times that size.

The Stony Brook campus was initially concentrated around what was called G-Quad (now Mendelsohn Quad), and almost all offices were located here. Classes took place in the Humanities building, and some classes were still offered at Oyster Bay. However, the 1960s and 1970s witnessed rapid growth under university president John S. Toll. More buildings were erected on campus, and academic programs and enrollment grew.

During the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, Stony Brook was a hotbed of activism — so much so that it was given the nickname "Berkeley of the East." The school is also notable for its numerous conflicts with the government of New York State, often over budgetary considerations. One of the better known controversies centers on the University Hospital that now dominates the campus's skyline and how its construction [reportedly] nearly bankrupted the state.

In the 1990s the school underwent a project to revitalize the campus. Numerous buildings were renovated, including the Student Activities Center, as well as each residential quad. More recently, the school has completed construction of a massive Asian-American Center that was funded largely by a donation from Charles Wang. The university also constructed a stadium as well as new apartments for undergraduates. Renovations were recently completed on the original Humanities building, and new apartments continue to be built.

Because of its long history as a concert venue it was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (www.limusichalloffame.org)on Oct 15, 2006

Academics

The University is divided into numerous schools:

  • College of Arts and Sciences
  • College of Business
  • College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
  • School of Dental Medicine
  • School of Health Technology and Management
  • School of Journalism
  • School of Medicine
  • School of Nursing
  • School of Professional Development
  • School of Social Welfare


Stony Brook is also one of only ten national universities awarded a 1998 National Science Foundation recognition award for integrating research and education. In 2001 it became a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an invitation-only organization of the top 62 research universities in the U.S. The University generates $160 million annually in external research funding and has an annual $2.5 billion economic impact on the region. [citation needed]

Stony Brook co-manages Brookhaven National Laboratory through Brookhaven Science Associates, a 50-50 partnership with Battelle Memorial Institute. Stony Brook is also one of the few public schools in New York to have a medical school and dental school.

The campus

File:StonyBrookUlogo.jpg

The main campus is located at the geographic midpoint of Long Island, approximately 60 miles east of New York City and 60 miles west of Montauk. It is split into three portions: West Campus, East Campus, and South Campus.

The West Campus houses the majority of academic buildings and campus housing. It is the location of the original buildings at the Stony Brook site, including Mendelsohn Quad, which now serves as a residential quad. In addition to this quad, there are five other residential quads located on the West Campus, in addition to apartments for both graduates and undergraduates. The residential quads surround the Academic Mall, which contains the academic buildings. The center of the mall is the Frank Melville Jr. Memorial Library, and around this building are academic buildings housing the arts, sciences, and engineering departments. The Student Activities Center is the focus of campus life and is located across from the library. The Staller Center sits adjacent to the library and contains the largest movie screen in Long Island's Suffolk County. The Stony Brook Sports Complex holds various facilities for athletics and the largest gym in Suffolk County with a capacity of more than 5,000 people. Behind the Sports Complex sits the Kenneth P. Lavalle Stadium, which seats 8,136.

The East Campus is separated from the West Campus by Nicolls Road. It is home to the Stony Brook University Medical Center. The hospital is the largest in Suffolk County, and the attached HSC houses numerous laboratories as well as a medical school. The Chapin Graduate Apartment Complex and the Long Island High Technology Incubator can also be found on the East Campus.

The South Campus is the smallest of the three and is separated from the West Campus by the Ashley Schiff Forest Preserve. It is home to the School of Dental Medicine and the Marine Sciences Research Center.

On November 3, 2005, the University announced that it had formally acquired 246 acres of the adjacent Flowerfield property, originally owned by the Gyrodyne Company of America, through eminent domain, three years after the University had expressed its desire to acquire the property. Stony Brook intends to use the property as a research and development campus with the Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology, expected to be completed in 2008, as the first anchor research facility.

Branch campuses

Manhattan

In 2002 the University established a presence in Manhattan with the opening of "Stony Brook Manhattan." It consists of a small number of classrooms and facilities located on East 28th Street between Park Avenue South and Lexington Avenue.

Southampton

In the fall of 2005, the University began offering an undergraduate marine sciences program, with teaching and research facilities at the campus of Southampton College, leased from Long Island University, on the east end of Long Island. On March 24, 2006, the University announced a final agreement for the purchase of the 81-acre Southampton College property from Long Island University with the intent to develop it as a full college campus focusing on academic programs related to the environment and sustainability. An enrollment of about 2,000 students is expected within the next five years. Professor Martin Schoonen was appointed interim dean of Southampton campus on August 3, 2006.

Athletics

The varsity sports teams were formerly known as the Patriots, but were renamed and are currently known as the Seawolves. The basketball and volleyball teams play at the Sports Complex, while the football, soccer and lacrosse teams now play at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium. There are numerous other fields located in the northern portion of West Campus that are used by the baseball and softball teams, as well as track, tennis and other sports.

Stony Brook joined NCAA Division I in 1999 and competes in the America East Conference with the exception of football which competes at the Division I-AA level in the Northeast Conference. On April 10, 2006, the University announced that the football team will compete as a Division I-AA Independent in 2007.

Recent successes include the men's soccer team winning the 2005 America East Championship and reaching the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament, and the football team sharing the 2005 Northeast Conference Championship with Central Connecticut State University.

Rankings

Stony Brook has been ranked among the top 100 national universities in the United States and among the top 50 public national universities in the country in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey, which utilizes several measures of academic excellence, assigning weights decided upon by the magazine editors, to reach an overall ranking. The survey, whose methodology changes every year, marks the fourth time that Stony Brook has received either worldwide or national recognition in such a poll.

The University tied for 97th in the U.S. News rating of national universities, which the magazine defines as universities that "offer a wide range of undergraduate majors as well as master's and doctoral degrees; many strongly emphasize research." Stony Brook was tied for 45th in the category of top public national universities. Stony Brook's engineering program was tied for 67th for universities whose highest degree offered is a doctorate; the university was one of only 36 cited for its undergraduate research/creative ideas. Stony Brook also ranked 24th in least debt among national universities. In the recent US News and World Report, Stony Brook Computer Science graduate program has been ranked 34th, tied with Ohio State University, University of California–Santa Barbara, University of Chicago , University of Colorado–Boulder , and the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities.

The University is cited nine times as being among the best in the nation in the current rankings of professional schools in US News & World Report’s 2007 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools.” The annual rankings by the publication focus on programs in Business, Education, Engineering, Law, and Medicine, and reflect data from surveys of more than 1,200 programs and over 9,600 academicians and professionals conducted recently.

In the last year, Stony Brook has been ranked as the 136th best university in the world—out of more than 8,300—by the London-based Times Higher Education Supplement, in the top 50 in North America, and 10th among U.S. public universities; and ranked tied for 97th in the US News & World Report’s ranking of national universities and was tied for 45th in the ranking of public universities. It was also one of only 36 nationwide cited by the US News for the integration of research into undergraduate education.

The University was also ranked among the top 152 universities in the world by the Institute for Higher Education in Shanghai. In addition, Stony Brook was ranked among the top 100 universities in North and Latin America, with the Institute grouping it in the category of number 58-77. Joining Stony Brook in that grouping were such institutions as Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and Virginia.

Notable faculty

This list includes both present and former faculty members.

Notable alumni

Notable research and discoveries at Stony Brook

Organizations

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