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President’s Report to the University Senate

February 3, 2025

Executive Summary

NY State Budget and Advocacy

  • Operating Aid - $114m increase proposed in the Executive Budget for operating aid for SUNY, to cover the full costs of contractual salary increases. 
  • Capital Funding - $200 million investment proposed for University Centers in research-related capital. This is well below our request and our advocacy for the session will focus here.
  • Stony Brook Hospital - $50 million in critical maintenance funding for SBUH included in Executive Budget, plus increased funding for safety net hospitals broadly. No new healthcare capital funding was proposed. 
  • Other – most other initiatives funded at prior levels (Sea Grant and Small Business Development Center); some areas, like Centers of Excellence, are perennially cut by the Governor and restored by the legislature. One or two areas will require additional advocacy to restore.

Changes in Federal Government Policies

  • Dynamic environment – We are in a dynamic environment and we are in daily consultation with SUNY; we actively monitor how various directive and policy changes will be implemented by agencies.
  • Pause in federal assistance rescinded – A pause on federal assistance was issued on January 27, clarified on January 28, and rescinded on January 29. This instance exemplifies the earlier point about a dynamic environment. We encourage the community to wait for guidance and not to respond reactively.
  • Executive Orders – Executive orders have been released on numerous topics including diversity, equity and inclusion; Title IX and gender; and immigration.
  • DEI – Federal agencies have directed grantees to stop work on DEI components of awards while agencies review projects. Agencies are beginning to develop guidance and communication (see for instance the NSF webpage on Executive Orders). The Vice President for Research has a webpage summarizing actions and held a Town Hall on January 30 with about 300 participants.
  • Title IX and gender – A District Court on January 9 returned Title IX regulations to those in effect in 2020. A January 20 executive order directed the federal government to recognize two sexes, male and female. The State of New York continues to recognize genders of M, F, and X. Stony Brook students, faculty, and staff may choose to indicate their gender identity through SOLAR.
  • Immigration – An executive order removes the restriction of immigration enforcement from “sensitive areas,” such as schools. Pursuant to NYS executive orders and SUNY Policy, Stony Brook requires enforcement officials to present a judicial warrant or order – not an administrative warrant. For law enforcement, safety, and security concerns, please contact University Police at (631) 632-3333. 

Updates on Special Initiatives

  • Stony Brook Future Scholars - Pre-college program to widen the pathways for socioeconomically disadvantaged  students in under-resourced school districts near the Southampton campus.
    • Inspired by Rutgers Future Scholars program and federal GEAR UP
    • Follows rising 8th graders through high school to provide supplementary support during the academic year and summer programming
    • Students who earn admission to Stony Brook on their own merits will attend tuition free
  • Cross-Campus Collaboration Task Force – Broad group charged to identify 4-6 initiatives to strengthen collaboration between East and West campus.
    • Co-Chaired by Bill Wertheim and Brenda Anderson, plus 19 faculty and staff
    • Group is synthesizing recommendations from previous initiatives and reports
    • Subcommittees in six areas (educational mechanisms, examples from other universities, promising topics for collaboration, incentives, promoting interactions, reducing barriers)
    • Report due mid-April

 

Executive Leadership Updates

Braden Hosch Named Interim Chief Deputy to the President

Braden Hosch will serve as interim chief deputy to the president. In this role, he will also serve as Stony Brook’s primary leadership, policy and advocacy liaison to SUNY. He will continue to serve as Vice President for Educational and Institutional Effectiveness.

Jacquelyn Weisman Named Interim Chief Campus Counsel

Jacquelyn Weisman will serve as interim chief campus counsel. In this role, Jackie will be oversees Stony Brook’s Office of General Counsel with its team of attorneys, paralegals and administrative staff. She is the principal local advisor on all legal matters and the liaison to the SUNY Office of General Counsel. 

Advancement

  • Closed $61.4 million in gifts this fiscal year-to-date, compared to $95.1 million at this time last fiscal year; last year’s gifts included a $50 million gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies to The New York Climate Exchange.
  • Of those gifts closed this fiscal year-to-date, $41.7 million were endowment gifts.
  • These endowment gifts will earn $20.8 million from the New York State matching program and an additional $62.5 million in unrestricted endowment funds from the Simons Foundation and New York State combined.
  • Since the New York State and Simons Infinity Investment matches were announced in FY23, we have raised a total of $105.7 million in endowment gifts.
  • Notable gifts closed since the last update include: 
    1. $6,000,000 endowment gift to support Centre ValBio 
    2. $1,600,000 endowment gift to support the Staller Center for the Arts 
    3. $1,000,000 to support an endowed chair in morphometrics
    4. $800,000 to support the Erwin & Freddie Staller Endowed Scholarship Fund
    5. $500,000 to support the Bookends Second Chapter Endowment 
    6. $320,000 to support an endowed scholarship in musical performance
    7. Two $250,000 gifts to establish an endowed distinguished lectureship in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies 

 

Athletics

  • Stony Brook student-athletes earned a 3.31 GPA for the Fall 2024 semester, the best non-Covid term GPA in program history. An impressive 329 out of 436 total student-athletes earned a 3.0 or above with 117 earning a 3.7 or higher.
  • Billy Cosh was honored by the American Football Coaches Association as the FCS National Coach of the Year after leading the Seawolves to their most wins since 2017. 
  • Men’s Basketball hosted the 7th annual Stony Brook Children’s Hospital Game on January 25 in which all players wore jerseys that featured the names of hospital patients on the back. After the game, an 89-74 win over North Carolina A&T, the players met the patients and their families to present the jerseys.
  • Stony Brook student-athletes Cal Redman (Football) and Linn Beck (Women’s Soccer) were named SUNY Scholar-Athletes of the Year for combining academic achievement with success in the arena of athletic competition. The SUNY Scholar-Athlete Awards recognize student-athletes from SUNY colleges and universities sponsoring intercollegiate athletics at the four- and two-year levels who were nominated and voted upon by representatives of their respective institutions.

 

Human Resources

  • As part of the HR Now Transformation effort, we are continuing to implement embedded HR Business Partners that are fully dedicated to supporting the HR needs for Divisions and Colleges
  • Central HR is also continuing to expand support and services as part of HR Now, including:
    1. Bolstering recruiting support by expanding talent acquisition and recruiting services, resources, tools and expertise
    2. New training programs and resources, Wolfpack Learning, which include new supervisory and leadership development programs
  • This March we will also be launching Stony Brook’s first ever staff and faculty engagement survey, which will be administered by our external partner ModernThink.  This survey will provide us with valuable insights on our work environment, total rewards, and levels of employee satisfaction and engagement, which will be used to help shape future strategies and efforts to retain and support faculty and staff  
  • The university is also getting ready to launch the national search for a permanent VP of HR

 

Marketing/Communications

  • Ongoing management of communications to support campus climate issues as needed including all presidential communications.
  • Continued roll out of brand including targeted campaigns targeting prospective students, legislators and peers with the goal of advancing reputation, budget support and rankings
  • Daily content management of all SBU social media channels and daily management of the University website content and infrastructure included the now underway reskinning of the design to align with new brand
  • Daily management of incoming media calls and proactive multichannel story telling

 

Student Affairs

  • Student Affairs was recognized as one of 2025’s Most Promising Places to Work in Student Affairs according to Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, the leading publication focusing on news and issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in American higher education. Stony Brook was one of only 22 schools who received this honor, recognizing Student Affairs’ achievements to continually strive for excellence along with professional development opportunities, implementing workplace diversity and inclusion practices, and creating a community of staff committed to enhancing student life on campus.
  • New students (first years and transfers) participated in New Seawolf Welcome, a series of events that aim to get students acclimated to Stony Brook and to introduce them to faculty, staff, and fellow students. Each student had a unique schedule of assigned workshops and "Choose Your Own Workshops" as well as robust evening programming. 
  • Student Affairs sent a message faculty and staff reminding them of the Red Book (http://www.stonybrook.edu/redbook), a comprehensive website with helpful information to guide faculty and staff on how to best help students in need. 
  • Student Affairs hosted the second annual Winterfest, from January 13-22, featuring workshops and lectures on various topics such as arts and crafts, cooking lessons, fitness classes, etc. offered by faculty, staff, students, and OLLI members. 
  • Student Life is hosting two Involvement Fairs at the start of the spring semester to connect students with our 400+ student clubs and organizations. In addition, the Career Center will be hosting 4 Job and Internship Fairs this semester and the Center for Service Learning and Community Service will be hosting a Volunteer Fair on March 26 to connect students with opportunities to give back to the community. 

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