President McInnis Delivers SBU State of the University Address

Making a Difference: What’s Next for Stony Brook?

Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis delivered her second State of the University Address to students, faculty, staff, elected representatives and local community members on October 11, sharing her and her team’s vision on how the flagship university will continue its mission to “take on the big challenges, make a difference and change the world.”

“A lot can happen in just a year at Stony Brook University,” McInnis said. “Welcome to what’s next.”

Thanks to the “close collaboration with faculty, staff and administrator across the institution, as well as welcomed support from government and institutions from across New York,” McInnis reminded her audience of some of the university’s achievements since the last State of the University, including:

• Welcoming the first cohort of Simons STEM Scholars;
• The University being selected as the anchor institution for The New York Climate Exchange on Governors Island;
• Achieving our highest-ever ranking from US News & World Report (#1 New York’s public college and #58 nationally)
• Stony Brook University Hospital being named one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals in 2023 by Healthgrades,  putting it in the top one percent of the country; 
• Stony Brook garnering its highest state funding in a decade; and
• The university received a $500 million endowment gift from the Simons Foundation— the largest unrestricted endowment donation in the history of US higher education — serving to more than double the entire endowment previously held by the university.

McInnis also shared her  strategy for success by implementing “the three Rs,” which serve as guideposts to enable success: Recognition, Revenue and Reputation:

• Stony Brook provides recognition by “celebrating the amazing faculty and staff [as well as students] who are building a culture of ambition and excellence.”
• Regarding revenue, the university looks to raise the matching funds that will build our endowment and will look for ways to secure the ongoing support needed to grow and to maintain operations. 
• Stony Brook will continue to build our reputation by letting the world know that it is New York’s number one public university, a flagship institution, a top health care system hospital, and an innovative research university focused on addressing the world’s most important challenges. 

The president stressed the university’s efforts to develop more multidisciplinary collaborations to address important questions and tackle some of the greatest challenges of our time. As Stony Brook moves forward, one of the priorities includes supporting faculty who are working at the spaces between disciplines and forming partnerships supporting climate science, clean energy, healthcare and quantum information science.

McInnis also addressed how the university community will use its past successes to pave the way to the future with programs like the new Collaborative for the Earth faculty-driven initiative that looks to leverage Stony Brook’s role as a climate solutions leader. It will bring together members from almost every school and college in the  university, representing a united effort to work across disciplines and perspectives to develop  equitable solutions.

McInnis noted that this year, Stony Brook has welcomed 55 new tenured and tenure-track faculty, with ongoing searches for 78 more. She identified recently recruited faculty of international prominence, including:

• Dr. Barry Barish, the inaugural President’s Distinguished Endowed Chair in Physics
• Dr. Ivet Bahar, director of the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology
• Dr. Kathleen McGarry, a Stony Brook University alumna and Endowed Chair of Economics
• Professor Lilianne Mujica-Parodi , recently named the Baszucki Endowed Chair for Metabolic Neuroscience
• Theoretical physicist JoAnne Hewett, the first director of Brookhaven National Laboratory to hold a joint tenured faculty appointment at Stony Brook

The president also called out faculty across campus who are leading the way in building multidisciplinary approaches to important issues, as well as critical initiatives in research, medicine, art and more.

McInnis concluded by pointing out that last year, on the same stage, she said it was Stony Brook’s time to take center stage, and, “twelve months later, here we are, looking back on a historic year and looking ahead with excitement and well-deserved confidence.”

“We have eradicated any doubt about whether we can achieve our grandest, loftiest goals,” the president continued. “Together, with collaboration, partnership, and commitment, we can take on the big challenges. We can make a difference. We can change the world. Stony Brook, welcome to what’s next.”