Stony Brook University - History

History

The university was founded in 1957 as the State University College on Long Island with about 140 students. 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 in Stony Brook on land donated by philanthropist Ward Melville. The original donation consisted of more than 400 acres (1.6 km²), but the campus has since grown to about three times that size. Among the four SUNY University Centers, Stony Brook is the only one that was founded after the 1948 establishment of the SUNY system.

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

Stony Brook has undergone a number of changes in its logo and naming. In 1957, while it was still located in Oyster Bay, it was officially called the State University College of Long Island at Oyster Bay. A year after, it was changed to State University Center on Long Island at Oyster Bay. When it moved to its present campus in Stony Brook in 1962, it became officially known as the State University of New York at Stony Brook, or SUNY-Stony Brook (SUNY-SB). Another form used in documents was University at Stony Brook (USB), as can be seen in one of the previous logos. Today, the university is known and marketed as Stony Brook University.

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. On October 22, 2002 the school completed construction of a massive Charles B. Wang Asian American Center that was funded, in part, by a $52 million donation from Charles Wang. The university constructed Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium for $22 million in 2002. Recently new apartments have been added for undergraduates. Renovations were recently completed on the original Humanities building and existing undergraduate residence halls. New residence halls continue to be built, such as a new hall just completed according to green-building specifications. Recently, a donation of $60 million was made by former math-department chair and retired financier Dr. James Simons for the construction of the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics. Most recent development projects include the completion a new baseball complex, led by the gift of alumnus and Major League Baseball Player Joe Nathan, and the Dubin Athletic Performance Center, a $4.3 million project to support the strengthening athletic programs.

In progress building developments include a Hilton Garden Inn, situated between the Admissions Building and Medical Complex and an 85,000 ft. Campus Recreation Center, both scheduled to open in the fall of 2012, as well as the plans for a cutting-edge, Marine Sciences Building at the Stony Brook Southampton Campus, scheduled to be completed by 2013.

Due to its long history as a concert venue, the university was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006.

In 2011, the American Chemical Society designated Stony Brook's Chemistry Department a National Historic Landmark for its development of the MRI under the supervision of Paul Lauterbur.

In December 2011, Stony Brook moved closer to becoming a top-notch flagship for the SUNY system, thanks to the generosity and advocacy of billionaire James Simons. Simons and his wife, Marilyn, donated $150 million to Stony Brook University, by far the largest gift to a SUNY institution, and the sixth-largest donation to any public university in the country.

Although Stony Brook is a state institution, private philanthropy helps support the development of the university. Stony Brook's endowment, managed by the Stony Brook Foundation, amounted to more than $95 million in fiscal year 2008/2009; the Foundation manages assets in excess of $235.5 million.