Stony Brook University

The State University of New York at Stony Brook (also referred to as Stony Brook University, SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook, or SBU) is a public sea-grant and space-grant research university located in Stony Brook, New York in the United States. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system.

The institution was founded in 1957 in Oyster Bay as State University College on Long Island. What would become the university moved to Stony Brook in 1962. Since its establishment in Stony Brook, the university has expanded to include more than 200 major buildings with a combined area of more than 11 million gross square feet across 1,454 acres of land. In 2001, SUNY Stony Brook was elected to the prestigious Association of American Universities, joining four private universities (Cornell, Columbia, NYU, and Rochester) and one public university (SUNY Buffalo) elsewhere in its state. It is also a member of the larger Universities Research Association for which its president Samuel Stanley is a council president.

The university owns Stony Brook Medicine, co-manages the Brookhaven National Laboratory, in 2005 acquired land for a Research & Development Park adjacent to its main campus, and has four business incubators across the region. The university has a regional economic impact of over $4.6 billion annually accounting for nearly 4% of economic activity in eastern Long Island and research expenditures that have surpassed the $200 million mark annually.

Stony Brook is the largest single-site employer in Long Island. More than 24,500 students are enrolled at the university, which has over 14,500 employees and over 2,400 faculty.

Its athletic teams, nicknamed the Seawolves, are members of the America East Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association competing at the Division I level of the NCAA since 1994.

§History

§Origins in Oyster Bay

The State University of New York at Stony Brook was established in Oyster Bay in 1957 as the State University College on Long Island (SUCOLI), by the governor and state of New York. Established almost a decade after the creation of New York’s public higher education system, the institution was envisioned as a college for the preparation of secondary school teachers.

Leonard K. Olson was appointed as the first dean of the institution and was instrumental in the recruitment of faculty staff and planning of the later Stony Brook campus. SUCOLI opened with an inaugural class of 148 students, on the grounds of the William Robertson Coe Planting Fields estate. These first students were admitted on a tuition-free basis.

1961 was a year of firsts as thirty students were conferred degrees in the first commencement and the University was appointed its first president, John Francis Lee,. Lee left later that year due to political and bureaucratic matters regarding the future of the University and the central administration at Albany. Nevertheless, Lee fulfilled his primary task of reshaping the university from a technical science and engineering college of limited degree options to a full-scale university featuring liberal arts programs.

§Move to Stony Brook

In 1960 the Heald Report, commissioned by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, recommended a major new public university be built on Long Island to “stand with the finest in the country”, a report that would ultimately shape most of the University’s growth for years to come.

Ward Melville, a philanthropist and businessman from the Three Village area in western Suffolk County donated over 400 acres of land to the state for the development of a state university and in 1962 the institution relocated to Stony Brook and officially renamed as the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

The campus had 782 students enrolled in 1962, and by 1969 enrollment had increased more than tenfold, surpassing the 8,000 mark, fueled by the large funding of public higher education in the Sputnik era. In 1963, only three years after the release of the Heald Report, the Governor commissioned the “Education of Health Professions” (Muir Report) report. The report outlined the need for expansion of the university system to prepare medical professionals for the future needs of the state. The report was particularly important for Stony Brook as it recommended creation of a Health Science Center and academic hospital at the campus to serve the need of the fastest growing counties (Nassau and Suffolk) in New York at the time.

§Growth

In 1965 the State University appointed John S. Toll, a renowned physicist from the University of Maryland as the second president of Stony Brook. In 1966 the University set forth initial time tables for the development of the Health Science Center which would house the University’s health programs and Hospital. Despite the budgetary concerns and challenges from Albany the University released a formalized plan early in 1968 and funding for recruitment of faculty was provided. At the same time, residential housing was expanded to 3,000, the Stony Brook Union opened in 1970, and in 1971 the massive expansion project for the campus library (named in memory of Frank Melville Jr., father of philanthropist Ward Melville) was completed.

Despite the fast paced growth, campus infrastructure often struggled to keep pace: Overcrowding, expansion, landscaping, lighting, and safety were persistent problems at the University which led to multiple protests and growing tension between the student body and the administration. In January 1968 the infamous “Operation Stony Brook” drug raid resulted in the arrest of twenty nine students and in the fall of 1968 tension climaxed as the administration and students decided on a three-day moratorium to bring together the entire university with the goal improving communication between the students, faculty, and administration. Despite the initiatives of the “Three Days” in improving the campus, on February 1973 a tragedy occurred when a freshman student fell to his death into one of the many uncovered steam pipe manholes at the University.

The 1970s witnessed the growth of the University and its transformation as a major research institution of the SUNY system with strong graduate programs and scientific breakthroughs like development of magnetic resonance imaging. But the University lagged significantly in undergraduate education, prioritizing graduate education and research over undergraduate studies and student life. By 1975, enrollment had reached 16,000 and expansion crossed over Nicolls Road with the construction of the Health Science Center which would be completed in 1980.

In 1981 John Marburger was inaugurated as the third president of the University and would continue the expansion of the institution. By the late 1980s the administration affirmed the need to improve other areas of the institution which included undergraduate education, student and residential life, and intercollegiate athletics. The University approved a decision to transition athletics to the Division I of the NCAA and followed with the construction of the Stony Brook Arena and the expansion of the Indoor Sports Complex.

§Recent developments

The 1990s affirmed Stony Brook’s success at building a research university with a strong undergraduate education. Under the leadership of its fourth president, Shirley Strum Kenny, the administration sought out to showcase the value of the institution. Kenny was responsible for campus wide improvement projects which included large scale landscaping, renovations of every residence hall, the continued growth of the athletics programs, the improvement of student life, ever increasing research expenditures, a branding/marketing campaign, and the University’s increasing ties with private philanthropy.

In 1998 the University broke into the top 100 of American research universities in the U.S. News & World Report and its relatively affordable tuition placed it among the best values among universities in the nation. That same year the University and Battelle Memorial Institute were chosen by the Department of Energy as joint operators of the Brookhaven National Laboratories joining a selective group of universities that operated national laboratories across the nation. Enrollment reached the 20,000 mark in 2001, and the administration’s improvement efforts climaxed with the invitation to the highly selective Association of American Universities, an organization of sixty-two universities across North America committed to a strong system of research and education, becoming only the third public university in the northeast to receive such invitation (Buffalo and Rutgers admitted in 1989).

2002 saw the opening of the $22 million Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium, and the inauguration of the massive Charles B. Wang Center dedicated to Asian and American culture funded by a $50 million donation from Charles B. Wang, at the time the largest private donation to a SUNY institution. In 2003, chemistry professor Paul Lauterbur received a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research and discovery of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance which was instrumental in the development of NMR Imaging (MRI) while at Stony Brook. In 2005 the University bought the Flowerfield property adjacent to campus through eminent domain as land for the development of a Research and Development Park. Plans for a law school were in the talks, but scrapped shortly after.

In 2009, president Shirley Strum Kenny stepped down and in May 2009 Dr. Samuel Stanley Jr was announced as Stony Brook’s fifth president. The late 2000s (decade) saw the University receive historic philanthropic donations with Jim Simons making multiple multi-million donations: including: $25 million donations to the Stony Brook Foundation in 2006, a $60 million donation for the development of the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics in 2008, and a landmark $150 million donation to the University in 2011. Other major donations were provided by alumni Joe Nathan, Stuart Goldstein, and Glenn Dubin for major renovation of athletic facilities. In 2010 Stanley announced Project 50 Forward, a comprehensive plan for the development of the University in the next fifty years with a focus on “operational excellence, academic greatness, and building for the future”.

2012 saw the approval of state legislation allowing University Centers to rationalize tuition increases for the next five years and the inclusion of a capital challenge grant for each University, a landmark bill providing greater autonomy for the centers known as SUNY 2020. Stony Brook saw the completion of the long-awaited Campus Recreation Center and the in-campus hotel. The renovation of the old-chemistry building and its conversion to a classroom building, was done by Flad Architects, the design team, and Leslie E. Robertson Associates, the structural engineers. The $40.8 million construction of a new Computer Science building are underway while the $21 million overhaul of the Stony Brook Arena was completed in October 2014. Among future projects is the construction of a residential complex adjacent to the Wang Center, renovation of the Stony Brook Union, and the construction of the $194 million Medical and Research Translational building. In 2013 Stony Brook received its best ranking ever in the National University category of U.S. News & World Report ranked as the 82nd Best University, and 34th Best Public in Undergraduate education.

§Campus

§Main Campus

The main campus is located in the historic north shore hamlet of Stony Brook near the geographic midpoint of Long Island, approximately 50 miles (80 km) east of Manhattan and 67 miles (108 km) west of Montauk. Bounded to the north by New York State Route 25A (North Country Road) the campus is subdivided into "West Campus" and "East Campus" by the thoroughfare County Road 97 (Nicolls Road). The Ashley Schiff Forest Preserve separates the South Campus from West Campus. The Long Island Rail Road serves the community with the Stony Brook Station situated along the northern edge of the campus.

§West

The west campus is the center of academic life of the university. It houses the majority of academic, athletic, and undergraduate student housing facilities while also being the original site of the university.

The modern campus is centered around the academic mall which stretches for more than a quarter of a mile from the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics in the west end to the Administration Building in the east end. The academic mall includes the Student Activity Center, Frank Melville Jr. Memorial Library, Staller Center for the Arts, Humanities, Psychology A & B, Harriman Hall, Frey Hall (previously known as Old Chemistry), the Earth and Space Science, Mathematics, and Physics facilities. Short distances from the mall is the Engineering Quad home to the Engineering, Light Engineering, Heavy Engineering, and Computing Center facilities. The Life Science Complex, Javits Lecture Center, Social Behavioral Sciences, Computer Science, and Student Union facilities are also in the west campus. Among the latest additions to the campus is the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, the new Walter J. Hawrys Campus Recreation Center, the Hilton Garden Inn hotel, and renovations of the Old Chemistry building. The Staller Center which contains the largest movie screen in Long Island's Suffolk County holds the annual Stony Brook Film Festival.

The athletic facilities are located in the northwest quadrant of west campus which include the Stony Brook Sports Complex, Stony Brook University Arena, Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium, Joe Nathan Field, University Track, and University Field.

§South

The South Campus is located about half a mile south of the academic mall and separated from West Campus by the Ashley Schiff Forest Preserve. It is home to the School of Dental Medicine, the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS), and the Cody Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities.

§Research and Development

Located on Stony Brook Road, a mile from the center of campus is the Research and Development Park. On November 3, 2005, the University announced that it had formally acquired 246 acres (1.00 km²) of the adjacent Flowerfield property, originally owned by the St. James Gyrodyne Company of America, through eminent domain, three years after the University had expressed its desire to acquire the property.

Stony Brook is using this property as a Research and Development Park, similar to other university-affiliated science parks around the country. The campus will ultimately house ten new buildings. The first building, the Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology, was completed in October 2008. Construction for the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center, designed by Flad Architects, commenced in the Summer of 2008 and is open as of spring 2010.

§East

The East Campus is separated from the main campus by Nicolls Road (County Road 97). It is home to the Stony Brook University Hospital and the Health Science Center. Stony Brook University Hospital, completed in 1980, is Suffolk County’s only tertiary hospital and Level 1 Trauma Center, and the only academic medical center in Suffolk Countyâ€"larger also than any in Nassau County. The hospital is the largest in Suffolk County, and the attached Health Sciences Center (HSC) and Basic Science Tower (BST) houses numerous laboratories, the School of Medicine, the nursing school, and numerous Allied Health programs.

Also located in the east side of campus are the Chapin apartments which provide housing for graduate students. The Long Island High Technology Incubator, one of the four business incubators of the University, is located a short walk north of the hospital. Directly south of the Hospital lies the Stony Brook Cancer Center and Ambulatory Surgery Center. The Stony Brook Children's hospital can also be found on the East Campus. In late 2013 Stony Brook announced the construction of the $194 million Medical and Research Translational Building which will be located in the East Campus. The Long Island State Veterans Home serving the Long Island veteran community is located in this part of campus.

§Manhattan Campus

In 2002, the University established a presence in Manhattan with the opening of Stony Brook Manhattan. The original site was located at 401 Park Avenue South; a newer operation opened in late 2008 in the adjacent building on the third floor of 387 Park Avenue South. The University consolidated operations in 2011 to just the 3rd floor of 387 Park Avenue South, with a classroom entrance around the corner at 101 East 27th Street. The 18,000-square-foot (1,700 m²) site allows Stony Brook to offer professional and graduate courses targeted towards students in New York City; undergraduate courses are held primarily during the summer and winter sessions. Conferences and special events take place throughout the year.

§Southampton Campus

On March 24, 2006, the University completed the purchase of the 81-acre (330,000 m²) Southampton College (on the east end of Long Island) 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. Stony Brook expanded its original program, started in the fall of 2005, when it offered an undergraduate marine sciences program, with teaching and research facilities at the campus leased from Long Island University. 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, and conservationist Mary Pearl was appointed dean and vice president in March 2009.

On April 7, 2010, the University had suspended residential programs and transferred sustainability programs to the main campus. The change was prompted by severe state budget cuts. Although the Marine Sciences and Graduate Writing programs are still in session at Southampton, undergraduates were relocated to the main campus. As a result of the suspension of residential programs, all dining services and retail operations were suspended by the Faculty Student Association. The old LIU radio station and National Public Radio affiliate no longer operate on the campus.

In September 2011 Stony Brook Southampton began offering an undergraduate program called Semester by the Sea, where students attend undergraduate classes to study the Ocean or the Arts. Students studying the Ocean are immersed in marine topics that are enhanced with close proximity to the water, a fleet of research vessels and graduate research projects that are ongoing. Students studying the Arts are engaged in studies for filmmaking and creative writing who interract with Master's of Fine Arts students plus notable filmmakers and authors being part of the cultural legacy of the Hamptons. Both programs offer a Public Lecture Series which connect highly prestigious scientists and writers with the community.

§South Korea

In May 2009, the SUNY board of trustees granted Dr. Samuel Stanley Jr., authority to conduct negotiation measures towards a partnership campus between Stony Brook and the South Korean government. Stony Brook would be joining other universities in a univerCITY complex, potentially involving other schools such as North Carolina State University, George Mason, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, and Boston University. The campus would be a global university with intentions to offer a diverse learning environment while at the same time stimulating the economy of South Korea.

In July 2011, President Samuel Stanley Jr., announced that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in South Korea has approved the establishment of SUNY Korea as part of Songdo International Business District in Incheon. The campus was expected to begin academic programs in March 2012 with an enrollment of 200.

§Art on Campus

Stony Brook University has three Gallery spaces on campus. As was the desire of donor Paul W. Zuccaire, the Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery, formerly known as the University Art Gallery, is dedicated to the promotion and support of the arts and showcases professional exhibitions as well as annual graduate and undergraduate student works. The Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery is located in the Staller Center for the Arts.

Also on campus is the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center’s Art Gallery, which features works from Latino and Latin American artists as well as local artists who fall under that category. The SAC Art Gallery is a center for interactive and participatory art projects. Students, faculty, staff and alumni can directly participate in projects that take place in this gallery.

§Organization and administration

The State University of New York at Stony Brook consists of a main campus in Stony Brook, and additional satellite campuses in Manhattan and Southampton. The university is composed of twelve schools and colleges. By enrollment, the largest college or school is the College of Arts and Science.

The University is governed by the State University of New York board of trustees: a body of eighteen members which regulate all the individual units of the SUNY system. The trustees have the authority to appoint the president of each state-operated institution, grant all degree diplomas and certificates for the completion of studies at any state-operated campus, and regulation of admissions, tuition, curricula, and all other matters pertaining to the operation and administration of each state-operated campus. The president of Stony Brook is the principal executive officer of the University. The position was first held by John Francis Lee and is currently held by the fifth president in the institution's history, Dr. Samuel Stanley Jr, serving since May 2009.

§Endowment

Stony Brook’s financial endowment is managed by the Stony Brook Foundation. The foundation was established in 1965 as a not-for-profit corporation under the New York State Education Law. Chartered to collect and manage gifts from private and non-state resources to supplement the funding of the University and managed by a voluntary Board of Trustees. Donations can be made to a wide selection of funds which benefit different areas of the University. In 2012 the endowment was valued at approximately $125 million with total assets amounting to nearly $350 million and has fully recovered from the losses endured in the 2008 economic downturn. After a strong fundraising campaign led by Jim Simon’s $150 million donation, the University amounted to more than $180 million in fundraising for the 2011-12 year and raised $200 million by March 2013. It is the second largest endowment among State University of New York university centers behind the University at Buffalo. However, the university's endowment remains far below the average of its Association of American Universities peers.

§Student government

Housed in the Student Activity Center, the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) is the governing body representing the undergraduate students of the University. The main functions of USG involve regulation, funding, and recognizing official clubs and organizations of the University. Undergraduate students are obligated to pay a Student Activity Fee per semester which is then administered by the Undergraduate Student Government. USG manages the yearly Homecoming events, Roth Pond Regatta and the traditional end-of-the year Brookfest concert and a series of concerts and events branded as “Stony Brook Concerts” that occur throughout the academic year while also directly funding undergraduate organizations, clubs, and other student services. USG at Stony Brook has a long history going back to the founding of the Student Polity Association (Polity) in 1959. After the controversial de-certification of Polity by the administration in 2002, USG was founded in 2003.

Like USG, the Graduate Student Association (GSO) is the governing body representing the graduate students of the University. GSO charges a per-semester fee which is used to fund events and programs for the Graduate community.

§Academics

Stony Brook was one of ten national universities awarded a National Science Foundation recognition award in 1998 for their integration of research and education. In 2001 it became a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an invitation-only organization of the top research universities in the U.S., currently having 62 members. In the last three years two Nobel Prizes were awarded to professors for their work conducted at Stony Brook. The University has an annual $4.65 billion economic impact on the region. 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 two public schools in New York to have a medical school and a dental school, the other being University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.

§Tuition

For the 2013-14 academic year, annual undergraduate tuition is $5,870, about 70% of the AAU mean of $11,328 when including mandatory fees, for in-state students and $17,810, approximately 67% of the AAU mean of $29,700 when including fees, for out-of-state students. Mandatory fees for all matriculated undergraduate students totaled $2,130 (included in the AAU calculation above). For graduate level education the tuition ranges from $7,398 to $19,550 for in-state students and $13,770 to $35,440 for out-of-state students depending on program and/or credit hours per semester. Stony Brook tuition is rising approximately $300 yearly, or 5% yearly for the next five years for in-state students and 10% yearly rise for out-of-state students after the passage of the SUNY 2020 legislation for rational tuition increases in 2011.

Stony Brook has the third lowest undergraduate in-state cost-of-attendance (tuition + fees) among all AAU public universities behind the University of Florida and Iowa State University for the 2013-14 academic year.

§Student body

In Fall 2013, the university had an enrollment of 24,259 students: 16,107 undergraduate students, 7,340 academic degree-seeking graduate students, and 668 first professional students. Of all students, 20,502 (85 percent) are U.S. citizens or permanent residents representing all states of the United States and 3,757 (15 percent) are international students representing over a hundred countries around the world.

Forty-seven percent of the student body reside in Nassau or Suffolk county, while 22 percent reside in New York City. Ten percent of the student population comes from counties north of New York City, while only 7 percent reside in other states of the United States. Stony Brook has a sizable international community amounting to 14% of the student body.

§Rankings

In 2015, U.S. News & World Report ranked Stony Brook University as 88th overall among national universities. The School of Engineering is ranked 69th, Best Medical Schools: Research is ranked 56th, the School of Social Work is ranked 66th, and the School of Medicine and Biological Sciences is ranked 68th for best research.". In 2013, Stony Brook was ranked 22nd best value among the country’s public institutions for in-state students, and 9th for out-of-state students by Kiplinger's Personal Finance

The Wall Street Journal ranked Stony Brook University (SUNY) #8 amongst public universities sending students to elite graduate programs.

As of 2014, U.S. News & World Report has ranked the following programs: 4th-ranked Nuclear Physics graduate program under the category of "Physics Specialty"; the 4th-ranked Geometry graduate program categorized as a "Mathematics Specialty"; and the 11th-ranked Clinical Psychology graduate program. The University's graduate program in Topology (categorized as a Mathematics specialty) was ranked 11th; the Physician's Assistant graduate program ranked 13th; the graduate program in American Politics (categorized as a Political Science specialization) ranked 20th; the graduate program in Physics ranked 23rd; the graduate program in Mathematics ranked 24th; the graduate program in Midwifery ranked 24th; the graduate program in Political Science ranked 33rd; the graduate program in Earth Science ranked 34th; the graduate program in Materials Science (categorized as an Engineering specialty) ranked 37th; the graduate program in Sociology ranked 41st; the graduate program in Computer Science ranked 40th; the graduate program in Chemistry ranked 49th; graduate program in Psychology ranked 50th; and the graduate program in Biological Sciences ranked 68th.

§Research

The School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) is the SUNY center for marine and atmospheric research, education, and public service. More than 300 graduate and undergraduate students from 16 different nations currently work and study at SoMAS. The School's students study coastal oceanographic processes and atmospheric sciences in a natural and academic setting that offers abundant opportunities for conducting field work, solving real problems in both local and distant environments, and learning to express their opinions in the weekly seminars. The Marine Sciences Research Center, the original institute for marine studies, was incorporated into the new School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SOMAS) on June 15, 2007.

Also, the University co-manages Brookhaven National Laboratory, joining an elite group of universities â€" including the University of California, University of Chicago, Cornell, MIT, and Princeton University â€" that run federal laboratories. In the Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering area, some of the research centers of Stony Brook University are the Institute for Mathematical Sciences, and the C. N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics among others. In the biomedical sciences, Stony Brook houses the Center for Biotechnology and the Institute of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, among many others. In March 2008, the University received $60 million endowment from James Simons to establish the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics. The Louis and Beatrice Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology was established by a generous gift in 2008 from Dr. Henry Laufer.

In July 2007 Stony Brook won a grant from the Department of Defense to devise ways to prevent terrorists from corrupting computers, and another from the Department of Homeland Security to design a system to detect radiation without triggering false alarms.

The New York Center for Computational Sciences (NYCCS), formed in 2007, is a joint venture of Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory. Its centerpiece is an 18 rack Blue Gene /L and 2 rack Blue Gene/P massively parallel supercomputer based on the IBM system-on-chip technology, also known as New York Blue Gene supercomputer. In the June 2008 Top 500 supercomputer rankings New York Blue Gene/L was ranked 17th, and Blue Gene/P was ranked 75th. The total peak performance for both Blue Gene/L and Blue Gene/P consists 103.22 teraflops (trillion floating-point calculations per second).

§Notable research and discoveries

There have been many notable research projects and important scientific discoveries at Stony Brook.

§Admissions

In 2014, 41.3% of applications were accepted, with a total enrollment of 24,607.

Academic Profile of enrolling freshmen

• GPA: 90-96
• 38% in top 10th of graduating class
• 72% in top quarter of graduating class
• 95% in top half of graduating class

The middle 50% of the 2013 enrolled freshmen had the following score ranges:

• SAT Math: 610-710
• SAT Critical Reading: 560-650
• SAT Writing: 550-650
• ACT: 26-30

The average SAT score for the class of 2014 was 1251/1600.

§Student life

Stony Brook has wide variety of student run organizations on campus, which include sororities and fraternities, and a count of almost 300 recognized student clubs and organizations. The Undergraduate Student Government at Stony Brook University is trusted with the responsibility of budgeting the undergraduate student activity fee which funds most student run organizations on campus. Graduate students also pay a graduate student activity fee which is budgeted by the Graduate Student Organization. The oldest campus newspaper is The Statesman (Stony Brook), which was founded in 1957 when the university was located in Oyster Bay. Other publications include the Stony Brook Press, Stony Brook Independent Blackworld and the Asian American E-Zine. Stony Brook also has a campus-wide public radio station, WUSB, which serves most of Long Island and dedicates programming to Stony Brook athletics and other events on campus. The school has a high commuter population, and a strong student-commuter community. Approximately 55% of the student population lives on campus.

§Events

At the start of the fall semester the campus takes part in what is called Chillfest which is a month-long set of events and activities that take place across campus. This is also done in the beginning of the spring semester which involves events like Seawolves Basketball, comedy shows, performances at the Staller Center, and the display of films. Homecoming usually takes place about midway through the college football season which has been gaining popularity in recent years.

One of the more popular events at Stony Brook is the yearly Roth Pond Regatta which often attracts dozens of competitors and hundreds of attendees composed of students, faculty, staff, and alumni to witness the boat competition. The competition involves groups making boats out of cardboard and tape with the challenge to get across the Roth Pond first without sinking. 2011 marked the first year that the Roth Pond Regatta would be coupled with a concert. The 2011 concert was attended at capacity at nearly 4000 individuals and was headlined by Bruno Mars and Janelle Monae. The 2012 concert featured Wiz Khalifa and Miguel, with Ludacris and Diplo entertaining students in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

The Stony Brook Concert Series was revived in the 2010-11 academic year. SBC previously brought acts like Jimi Hendrix, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, The Allman Brothers and many other artists to play on campus in the early years of Stony Brook. Weekly, throughout the academic year on Wednesdays, there is a period of two hours referred to as Campus Life Time in which events often take place in the academic mall for students, and no classes are in session. Among other popular traditions at Stony Brook is the yearly Strawberry Fest in which students gather at the academic mall to enjoy a wide array of strawberry treats combined with live music performances often held in the last week of April at Campus Life Time.

RockYoFaceCase series takes place on Mondays every other week in the University Café in which local bands from the regional underground scene are brought to play on campus. The campus also hosts many lectures as part of the Provost Lecture Series. Personalities like Daniel Ellsberg and Ralph Nader have lectured at the university. Other popular events are the Earthstock and Shirley Strum Kenny Students Art Festival, the former promoting environmentally friendly living in a week-long festival with series lectures, displays, and concerts across the Academic Mall. Since, Fall 2011 the Undergraduate Student Government has sponsored a week long Human Vs Zombies game each semester which has proved to be popular at campus with many participants.

The Staller Center for the Arts is home to the Stony Brook Film Festival which takes place yearly in the summer. Also, the Emerson String Quartet, a quartet who also contribute to the Department of Music perform multiple times a year. In front of the Staller Center, the Staller steps serve as a gathering place throughout the spring for many students wishing to socialize.

§The Spirit of Stony Brook Marching Band

The Spirit of Stony Brook University Marching Band was created in 2006 and plays at athletic games and other events. The first public performance was at the September 2006 convocation. The band grew to 70 members the second year and added additional staff. The band first traveled to the America East Men's Basketball Tournament in March 2007 and has done so regularly ever since. By July 2008, the band had reached 100 members. The Stony Brook Marching Band first participated in the NYC Columbus Day Parade in 2011, as well as appeared in an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and a commercial for the New York Lottery, furthering their exposure state and nationwide.

§Athletics

Stony Brook University’s intercollegiate athletics teams, known as the Stony Brook Seawolves, compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level and are members of the America East Conference for all sports with the exception of football which plays in the Football Championship Subdivision's Colonial Athletic Association.

Historically the team was known as the Patriots while participating at the Division III level. In 1994 Stony Brook initiated a transition to Division I successfully completed by 1999 offering scholarships in a range of sports, though it didn’t offer scholarships in football until 2006. Since then, the Seawolves have participated in the NCAA tournament in 16 different occasions across a range of sports and have received numerous conference tournament championships primarily in Baseball, Football, Men’s Lacrosse, Men’s Soccer, and Women’s Cross Country.

Administratively, the athletics department’s budget has seen a rise in expenses in the past 10 years from $9 million to slightly over $20 million and widespread support by donations which have led to the construction of a new Student-athlete development center funded by a $1.2 million gift by alumnus Stuart Goldstein, the reconstruction of the new Joe Nathan Field partially funded by a $500,000 donation by alumnus Joe Nathan, a new athletic performance center funded by a $4.3 million donation by alumnus Glenn Dubin, the reconstruction of the University tennis courts, a $3 million reconstruction project for the track and field, a $1.3 million renovation of the Pritchard Gymnasium, and an upcoming $21.3 million overhaul of the Stony Brook University Arena with funds unfrozen in 2011 by the State of New York. In May 2014, Shawn Heilbron, former Senior Associate Athletic Director for Development at Oregon State University, was named Director of Athletics at Stony Brook University.

In recent years the Seawolves have had increased success in the field particularly in the 2009-10 athletic season highlighted as one of the best performing season in the history of the University with five conference championships. Led by the football team with a Big South Co-Championship it was followed throughout the year with a string of championships by the Women’s Cross Country team, Men’s Soccer, Baseball, and Men’s Lacrosse who capped their season with a memorable NCAA Quarterfinal run, a first for the program with the largest crowd ever at LaValle Stadium. The season also included a regular season championship by the Men’s basketball team falling short of their first NCAA bid but participating in their first ever post-season tournament, the National Invitation Tournament. Baseball captured their first ever win in the NCAA tournament despite being eliminated in the first round.

With increased expectations, the 2010-11 athletic season followed up with another football Big South Co-Championship but a failure to capture the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament in a controversial tie-breaker rule that eliminated the team from contention the final day of the season. After increased expectations, the Men’s basketball team participated in their first conference championship game overcoming a season filled with injuries and adversity, the team came close to their first NCAA tournament berth but fell short at the end. The Men’s lacrosse team fell in the conference championship game to a last second goal ending their 13-4 season short of the NCAA tournament after a quarterfinal run the previous season. The disappointment was followed by the Baseball team after earning a regular season championship with a school-record 41-10 season but were ousted early in the conference tournament. The season was highlighted by another outstanding performance by the Women’s Cross Country team in the NCAA Championship coming out ranked as the seventh best team in the nation.

However, the Seawolves returned to national prominence in 2011-12 season after an off year with six programs participating in NCAA sanctioned tournaments. The fall season took the football team to new heights with a record-breaking nine-game winning streak which led the team to a 9-4, 6-0 Big South season earning their third consecutive conference championship and first outright followed by an NCAA tournament berth which saw the Seawolves advance to the second round for the first time ever. The season included multiple sellout games at LaValle Stadium, a first for the program. Men’s soccer returned to the NCAA tournament for the second time in three years after winning their third America East championship at home but fell in their first round match after penalty shootouts. The success continued with Women's volleyball advancing to the Conference Championship game despite falling in three sets. After being predicted to finish second in the league, the Men's basketball program surpassed expectations and clinched another regular season championship with a 20-8, 14-2 regular season record and headed into the America East tournament as the top seed reaching the finals for the second consecutive year and falling just short of the NCAAs, with participation in the postseason NIT. In Track & Field, Lucy Van Dalen became Stony Brook's first NCAA individual National Champion after winning the mile at the NCAA Indoor Track championships. With the addition of Joe Spallina as head coach of Women's lacrosse, and several players from Adelphi, the program was chosen to finish third in the America East and ended their season with a trip to the conference championship game and 5-1, 14-5 overall record. Men's lacrosse also introduced Jim Nagle as the new head coach and the team was predicted to finish second in the America East. After a slow start through non-conference play they picked up in league play to earn their fourth consecutive regular season championship and then went on to earn conference championship and advance to the NCAA tournament for the third time with an early first round exit. Women's tennis earned their first Conference championship and entered the national tournament for their first time ever, but were ousted in the first round. The success included one of the most unlikely runs in intercollegiate athletics by the baseball program which captured a regular season and conference tournament and went on to the NCAA College World Series defeating along the way established national powers with seven players selected in the 2012 MLB draft, led by the 2012 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Coach of the Year Matt Senk.

In the 2012-13 season Women's Soccer captured their first America East Championship, participating in the NCAAs. Similarly, both Men's and Women's Cross Country captured conference championships and Football continued their dominance capturing their fourth Big South Championship and an at-large berth into the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs returning to the second round for back-to-back years.

§Notable people

Faculty Awards & Honors

Fellows of Academic Societies

§References

§External links

• Official website
• Official athletics website
• The State University of New York (system) website

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