Stony Brook University

State University of New York at Stony Brook, commonly known as Stony Brook University, is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York, (on the North Shore of Long Island, about 55 miles (89 km) east of Manhattan, New York).

http://www.sunysb.edu/

Stony Brook is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system, and has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The University operates two SUNY-wide research centers (the Institute for Theoretical Physics, and the Marine Sciences Research Center). The University also operates Brookhaven National Labs under contract from the U.S. Department of Energy.

History

The university was founded in 1957 as the State University College on Long Island with about 100 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 over 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 SUNY system was established.

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. However, the 1960s and 1970s witnessed rapid growth under university president John S. Toll. More buildings were erected on campus, and academic programs and enrollment grew.

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. More recently, the school completed construction of a massive Charles B. Wang Asian American Center that was funded, in part, by a $50 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 new apartments continue to be built. Recently, a donation of $60 million was made by retired math professor Dr. James Simons for the construction of the Simons Center for Physics and Geometry.

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.

Although Stony Brook is a state institution, private philanthropy plays an ever-increasing role in the development of the university. Stony Brook's endowment, managed by the Stony Brook Foundation, currently amounts to over $201 million.

Campus

The main campus is located at the geographic midpoint of Long Island, approximately 60 miles (97 km) east of New York City and 60 miles (97 km) west of Montauk. It is split into three portions: West Campus, East Campus, and South Campus.

Academic Reputation

In 2005 "Stony Brook was one of 33 universities in The Center's Top American Research Universities that ranked 26th through 50th nationally in at least one of the measures, and the University scored better in the category than such institutions as the University of Massachusetts, Tufts University, the University of Tennessee, and Indiana University."

In August 2008 U.S. News & World Report ranked SBU tied for 45th in the category of top public national universities and for 96th in the U.S. News rating of “best national universities, the only school in Long Island rate in the top 100. Previously in August 2007 U.S. News & World Report, for the sixth time, ranked SBU among the top 100 national universities in the United States and among the top 50 public national universities. The University was tied for 96th in the U.S. News rating of "best national universities," and tied for 45th in the category of "top public national universities." In January 2007 it was ranked 34th best value among the country’s public institutions for in-state students by Kiplinger's Personal Finance.

According to the United States National Research Council Rankings of U.S. doctoral programs, Stony Brook is ranked 40th in the average of nonzero scores, 22nd in Biological Sciences, 38th in Arts and Humanities, 44th in Physical Sciences and Math, and 39th in Social and Behavioral Sciences.

In 2008, Stony Brook was ranked as the 127th best university in the world, placing it in the top 1%—out of more than 8,300—by the London-based Times Higher Education Supplement.

Stony Brook University is cited eight times as being among the best in the nation in the current rankings of professional schools in US News & World Report’s 2009 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools.” Stony Brook’s Clinical Psychology program was ranked 9th tying Penn State and Duke University and ahead of such universities as Northwestern and Vanderbilt. In addition, the Nuclear Physics program (categorized as a Physics specialty) ranked 4th, ahead of Yale, Columbia, and the California Institute of Technology. Stony Brook’s program in Geometry (categorized as a Mathematics specialty) was ranked No. 6, ahead of Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago, and Yale.

The University’s Physics graduate program ranked 23rd tying with Penn State; the Mathematics program ranked 24th, tying Rutgers, University of California San Diego, and the University of Washington, ahead of Rice, Purdue, Carnegie Mellon, Ohio State, Georgia Institute of Technology and Indiana. In addition, the Computer Science graduate program was ranked 31st tying with NYU, Rutgers, and Ohio State; the Biological Science program ranked 48th tying with Brandeis and Rice; and, the Physician Assistant program ranked 11th ahead of Northeastern. In addition, the philosophy department is considered to be among the top programs in the United States for the study of continental philosophy, particularly in the area of phenomenology.

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

The University was also ranked among the top 152 universities in the world by the Institute for Higher Education in Shanghai. It was also ranked among the top 100 universities in North and Latin America, with the Institute grouping it in the category of number 58-77. Joining Stony Brook in that grouping were such institutions as Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and Virginia.

In 2001 it became a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an invitation-only organization of the top 62 research universities in the U.S.

In 2007, the Princeton Review (not associated with Princeton University) #12 for Diverse Student Population, and is listed as one of the "Best Northeastern Colleges" and "America's Best Value College".

The fall 2008 America's Best Colleges ranked by Forbes.com placed Stony Brook at #332.

In 2006-2007 Stony Brook University was ranked the "Fourth Unhappiest School" in the Princeton Review’s “Best 366 Colleges: 2008 Edition.” In 2005, the Princeton Review Journal ranked this school #2 unhappiest school.

Schools and Colleges

The University is divided into numerous schools:
College of Arts and Sciences
College of Business
College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
School of Dental Medicine
School of Health Technology and Management
School of Journalism
School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences
School of Medicine
School of Nursing
School of Professional Development
School of Social Welfare

Stony Brook University was ranked 127th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking