STONY BROOK, NY, July 23, 2010 – Stony Brook University has established an Advisory Committee to help guide best practice academic and functional utilization opportunities for the 82-acre property and facilities at Stony Brook Southampton. The Committee consists of Stony Brook University leadership; business, planning and local delegates from Southampton and Long Island at-large; and representatives from State University of New York (SUNY) System Administration and other SUNY campuses on Long Island including Farmingdale State College and Suffolk County Community College.
The goal of the committee is to develop plans that are consistent with the academic mission of Stony Brook University, help the educational needs of the East End of Long Island and be fiscally responsible.
“Stony Brook is committed to finding new opportunities at Southampton that fulfill our mission of teaching and research and that are revenue neutral, and I believe the Advisory Committee members are committed to this,” said Stony Brook University Provost and Sr. Vice President for Academic Affairs, Eric Kaler, co-chair of the Committee with Diana Weir, Executive Vice President of Long Island Housing Partnership, Inc., and a member of the Stony Brook Council. “To that end, we will look toward developing a business plan during the fall of this year that enables the best possible uses for this tremendous asset.”
Some of the concepts that are under consideration include developing the campus as a center of excellence for the creative arts; maintaining and growing programs in the Marine Sciences; providing sought-after graduate programs via direct, distance learning, or blended courses; and exploring its use by other SUNY campuses.
While the Masters in Fine Arts program in Writing and Literature and Marine Sciences lab remain vital assets at Southampton, the residential and undergraduate programs at Southampton were relocated to the Stony Brook main campus beginning in the Fall 2010 due to the high cost of running an undergraduate satellite facility. This decision followed more than two years of multi-million-dollar State funding cuts to Stony Brook University. State imposed cuts amount to nearly $60 million since 2008, and were accompanied by two years of State-initiated tuition increases in which more than 80 percent of tuition revenue was used to reconcile the State budget deficit. With no relief in sight, and facing an enormous deficit under a budget that remains in flux, Stony Brook is streamlining operations, including those at Southampton where the cost of educating a student was 2.5 times greater than on Stony Brook University Main Campus.
Seventy percent of undergraduate students enrolled at Southampton were School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences majors who will continue their studies on the main campus and will continue to utilize the Marine Science Lab at Southampton for research purposes. The majority of the 61 students enrolled in one of the five sustainability majors at Southampton will continue their studies in the Sustainability Studies Program under the direction of Professor Martin Schoonen on the Stony Brook main campus. In total, there were 373 full and part time undergraduate students taking classes at Southampton who considered it their home campus. Students at the graduate level and west campus undergraduates taking classes at Southampton or using the Marine lab facilities brought the total number of students studying at Southampton to 477.
“We are looking at programs that might be more attractive to local residents and non residential students and we are considering several programs that may match the demographics of the community better,” said Committee Co-chair Diana Weir. “Stony Brook is not closing the campus or selling the property. There is a very strong commitment to maintaining the location as a vital and vibrant place for teaching and research.”
STONY BROOK SOUTHAMPTON
ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBERS
Co-Chairs
Diana Weir
Stony Brook Council
Executive Vice President
Long Island Housing Partnership, Inc.
Eric W. Kaler
Provost and Sr. Vice President for Academic Affairs
Vice President for Brookhaven Affairs
Stony Brook University
Members
Richard D. Britton
College Associate Dean
for General Education
Suffolk County Community College
Lucia Cepriano
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Farmingdale State College (SUNY)
Barbara Chernow
Vice President, Facilities and Services
Stony Brook University
Steve Kenny
Community Resident
Remsenburg, NY
David LaVallee
SUNY Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
SUNY System Administration
Craig Lehmann
Dean, School of Health Technology and Management
Stony Brook University
Bob Martin
Former Chair of the Dean’s Council
Stony Brook Southampton
Laura Baudo Sillerman
Community Resident
Southampton, NY
Richard E. Warren, AICP, President
Chair, Southampton Business Alliance
Inter-Science Research Associates, Inc.
Environmental Planning & Development Consultants
Southampton, NY
Michael White
Executive Director
Long Island Regional Planning Council
Syosset, New York
Kenneth Wright
Wright & Company Construction
Southampton, New York
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