“We are ... citizens of the world, providing our students opportunities to learn about other cultures by firsthand experiences in India, China, Korea, Tanzania, Italy, Russia, England, Jamaica, Argentina .”
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But if we are committed to the local—and we certainly are in terms of our research, economic development, and artistic and cultural programming at all three campus locations—we are also citizens of the world, providing our students opportunities to learn about other cultures by firsthand experiences in India, China, Korea, Tanzania, Italy, Russia, England, Jamaica, Argentina—around the world. Our African initiative has grown unusually strong. Stony Brook is an absolute powerhouse in African paleontological and other scientific studies. Our Turkana Basin Institute in Kenya, headed by Richard, Meave, and Louise Leakey; the outstanding paleoanthropological work that Fred Grine and his team are doing in South Africa; our ValBio rain forest campus in Madagascar, headed by MacArthur genius and lemur expert Patricia Wright; and our fossil field site also in Madagascar, run by David Krause, which is amazingly rich in unique cannibalistic dinosaurs, grass-eating crocodiles, and even a mystery mammal; are all world-class research sites in which our faculty make news and our students participate. And that is just a sampling.
We offer other advantages for our students, our faculty and staff, and the community. One of the very best is the Staller Center’s arts programming, now celebrating its 20th anniversary. Thanks to the Staller family, we have an extraordinary facility with, among other things, a 40-foot movie screen. Alan Inkles is an extraordinary director, who has created both programming and traditions dear to our hearts. In 1994 the Staller Center hosted 125 events and attracted 115,000 attendees. Last year there were 400 events and more than 375,000 attendees. The Film Festival is a favorite of movie folk, both for its 1,000-seat house—indie directors and stars love the big audiences—and for the warm hospitality Alan’s staff provides; stars like Christopher Plummer, Alan Alda, Rod Steiger, Eli Wallach, and Patricia Neal have come to our Festival. Staller is Red Hot! The house also gives one free ticket to a show to every entering student, getting him or her started in the right directions in the arts.
Great public universities—and even some private ones—have powerful athletic teams, too. Here we were in 1994 in lowly Division III, with aspirations. And move up we did, as quickly as the NCAA would allow—and we’re still moving. We are blessed with the leadership of Athletic Director Jim Fiore and the notable group of coaches and administrators he has assembled. Our athletes really are students first, and the administrative staff makes sure it stays that way. But the teams are giving us plenty of excitement in the arena and on the field as well, and our conference championships are beginning to roll in. A few statistics: In 1994 our football offensive line averaged 6’1” and 244 lbs; in 2008 it was 6’2” and 295 pounds. I am assuming that means our dining facilities have improved over the years. Our men’s basketball team didn’t have one athlete over 6’6”, and this year we have three who are 6’8” and taller. The number of out-of-state football players was then 8 percent, with the farthest distance Massachusetts; now it’s 60 percent out of state, coming from California, Florida, and, of course, Texas. And in basketball—from 17 percent out of state, we’ve moved to 87 percent, including athletes from California, Florida, England, Poland, and South Africa. From competing with schools like Pace and Kings Point, we’ve moved to include games with Kentucky, Penn State, Villanova, Notre Dame, UConn, and Virginia. Attendance reflects the growth of our program—from a total of 10,500 to 50,000, for football alone from 3,000 to 23,000.
And then there is the marching band. I tried for many years to strike up interest in a marching band, but I was always told it wouldn’t be possible to have one at Stony Brook. That was before I sat down with the dynamic trio, Jerry Stein, Jim Fiore, and Perry Goldstein. Three years ago the new Band Director John Leddy, with very little time to work at it, managed to interest 27 students in starting a band; what they lacked in numbers they made up in musicianship and enthusiasm. Now just three years later, we have 110 members, a color guard, a dance team, five tubas, and—this is true!—this fall they performed at Carnegie Hall, joining the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for Leonard Bernstein’s Mass. John has assembled a group of students that are the most talented, the most diverse, and the most spirited of any band in America—and now we know we can’t really do without a marching band.
That is one of hundreds of student activities. From the Motorsports Club—which actually entrusted me with their MiniBaja car on the practice racecourse (the car that won second in international competition yet!)—to the Ballroom Dance Club to the various ethnic, religious, political, you name it clubs, 300 in all, the number and variety have grown as our students and faculty have diversified. Look at the list on our Web site—it’s astonishing. Professional journalists, knitting and crocheting, equestrians, belly dancing, you name it.
And then there are our wide-ranging community programs. A Stony Brook tradition is building Habitat houses—we are now working on our seventh. The Health Sciences are particularly impressive in their outreach to the community for health care. Our students also have projects in the community. There is a strong sense of giving back.