STONY BROOK, N.Y., April 19, 2006—As Stony Brook University prepares to mark its 50th Anniversary during the 2006-07 academic year, the campus is already preparing to celebrate its rich history by honoring longtime benefactors Erwin and Cary Staller at the Stars of Stony Brook Gala on Wednesday, May 3 at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan. The event will culminate a year of dramatic growth, spectacular innovation, and international praise for the University, now one of the leading research institutions in the world.
“This is a time to look back with gratitude of the extraordinary generosity of the Staller family,” said Stony Brook President Shirley Strum Kenny. “But it also is a time to look to the future, as we begin our next 50 years, and the role Stony Brook will play in the region, the state, and the nation. This is an exciting time for Stony Brook. It’s our time.”
In little over a year, Stony Brook has:
• Embarked on a $300 million capital campaign, the University’s first, of which $160 million already has been raised.
• Negotiated an agreement to facilitate SUNY’s purchase of the former Southampton College campus, which Stony Brook will operate beginning this Fall.
• Moved forward with plans to create a Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology.
• Acquired 246 acres adjacent to the University to establish a research park that will partner with private business to develop emerging technologies.
• Been ranked as one of the top universities in the nation and the world by such publications as US News & World Report, and the London Times Higher Education Supplement.
• Received its second Nobel Prize in the last three years, with Professor Robert Aumann recognized for his development of Game Theory.
• Received the National Medal of Science, awarded to Professor Dennis Sullivan for his work in developing new fields of mathematics.
• Been cited for pioneering research in the School of Medicine and life-saving and ground-breaking surgery at Stony Brook University Hospital.
• Seen continued increases in enrollment and SAT scores of incoming students.
“This is just the right time to celebrate our achievements and just the right time to honor the Erwin and Cary Staller,” Kenny said.
Stony Brook and the Staller family have a long history together. Thanks to the generosity of the Stallers, the University’s fine arts center was named in honor of Max and Mary Staller in 1988. Since then Cary Staller has led the Board of Directors of the Staller Center for the Arts, and in 1998 he was elected to the Stony Brook Foundation Board of Trustees. Erwin Staller has been a member of the Stony Brook Foundation Board of Trustees since 1983, and in 2001 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Stony Brook in honor of his generosity and service to the University and the Long Island community.
Stony Brook will begin its formal celebration of its 50th Anniversary in the Fall. The University was established in 1957 as a college for teachers of mathematics and science; the first campus was located at Oyster Bay, Long Island, on the grounds of a former Gold Coast estate. In 1962, a new campus was built in Stony Brook, on land donated by local philanthropist Ward Melville. Part of the State University of New York system, Stony Brook now encompasses 123 buildings on 1,100 acres. In the nearly fifty years since its founding, the University has grown tremendously, and is now recognized as one of the nation’s important centers of learning and scholarship.
Stony Brook’s growth will continue as it establishes a curriculum focused on the environment and its sustainability at the former Southampton College campus—to be known as Stony Brook Southampton—an expansion that will create what President Kenny calls “a footprint from Manhattan to the East End.” The University already has a site in New York City with classroom space, administrative space, and conference facilities known as Stony Brook Manhattan.
A member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, the invitation-only organization of the best research universities in the country, Stony Brook has been listed as one of the “100 Best Values in Higher Education” among public universities, according to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine.
The Stars of Stony Brook Gala was created in 2000 to increase scholarship funding. Thanks in large part to this annual event, the Stony Brook Foundation has been able to increase its funding of scholarships, fellowships, and other awards for students from $1.4 million in 2000 to more than $4.2 million in 2005.
The cocktail hour begins at 6:30 and dinner will be served at 7:30. Tickets are $750. For further information, please call Tamara Leuchtenburg, Event Associates at 245-6570 x 15.
