State University of New York Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson announced today that Dr. Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., M.D., will step down as the president of Stony Brook University on July 31. His decision comes after a decade at the helm, where he advanced the university’s academic, athletic, and research success.
He reportedly is heading to MSU, where he will have to clean up after the Larry Nassar scandal.
SUNY Quotes
“President Stanley is a visionary leader who has taken Stony Brook University to new heights,” said SUNY Chairman H. Carl McCall. “He spearheaded some of the university’s most successful fundraising campaigns, increased the number of endowed professorships, and strengthened Stony Brook’s stature as a leading research institution, especially in clean and renewable energy technologies. I’ve enjoyed working with President Stanley, and wish him well.”
“Under Dr. Stanley’s leadership, Stony Brook University has become a vibrant center of research and one of the most highly regarded universities in the nation,” said SUNY Chancellor Johnson. “His commitment to advancing technologies and research in environmental protection and renewable energy has been among many of Dr. Stanley’s most notable accomplishments. On behalf of the entire SUNY family, we celebrate his achievements.”
Chancellor Johnson will work with the SUNY Board of Trustees to appoint an interim president. A campus search committee will be assembled to conduct a national search for a permanent president.
“It has been an honor and privilege to lead Stony Brook University and its amazing students, faculty, and staff over the past ten years. We have accomplished so much together. I am also very grateful to Chancellor Johnson, Chairman McCall, the SUNY Board of Trustees, the Stony Brook Foundation, and the Stony Brook Council for their strong support of all of our efforts at Stony Brook University during this time. With all of these extraordinary people who are committed to Stony Brook’s success, I have the utmost confidence that Stony Brook University will continue its amazing trajectory over the next decade,” said Dr. Stanley.
MSU Quotes
“Today, by a unanimous vote, the MSU Board of Trustees has elected Dr. Samuel Stanley as Michigan State’s 21st president,” said Dianne Byrum, chairwoman, MSU Board of Trustees. “Dr. Stanley is an empowering, compassionate and thoughtful leader, who will work tirelessly alongside our students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees and broader Spartan community to meet the challenges we face together and build our future.”
Last August, the trustees appointed an 18-member search committee, co-chaired by Byrum and Melanie Foster, MSU trustee. As part of a national search, the committee solicited input through 22 campus-wide input sessions and an online submission form where community members shared their ideas on the characteristics they desire for Michigan State’s next president. The committee used those comments as the basis for the Presidential Prospectus and the criteria by which the committee evaluated each candidate.
“MSU is one of the world’s leading research universities, and I am grateful to the Board of Trustees and the Presidential Search Committee that so ably represented the entire MSU community for giving me the opportunity to serve this great institution,” Stanley said. “MSU’s core strength is its amazing students, superb faculty, dedicated staff and proud alumni, and I cannot wait to get to campus to meet with you and learn from you. I know the Spartan community has been profoundly troubled by the events of the past years that have shaken confidence in the institution. We will meet these challenges together, and we will build on the important work that has already been done to create a campus culture of diversity, inclusion, equity, accountability and safety that supports all of our endeavors. I am so excited about MSU’s legacy as the pioneer land-grant university, its remarkable progress over this decade and its amazing potential for the future. I believe our best days are ahead, and I appreciate the chance to be a part of this extraordinary journey.”
About Dr. Stanley
Dr. Stanley became the fifth president of Stony Brook in July 2009 after a national search. Under his direction, Stony Brook became one of the nation’s top universities for social mobility. A recent Stanford study on the impact of college on social mobility demonstrated that Stony Brook University was number three in the U.S. in helping students and their families go from the bottom 20 percent of income to the top 20 percent of income.
During his tenure, Stony Brook received the sixth-largest donation to a public university ever recorded. The $150 million gift came from Jim and Marilyn Simons and the Simons Foundation in 2011. President Stanley also led the university’s expansion into the growing field of artificial intelligence. Stony Brook recently launched the Institute for AI-Driven Discovery and Innovation, which is focused on developing research and educational initiatives in AI.
Upon his hire, he immediately closed much of Stony Brook’s Southampton campus, though that location still hosts marine sciences and a graduate writing program.
A Harvard-educated physician and native of Seattle, Dr. Stanley received his medical training at Massachusetts General Hospital. He completed a fellowship in infectious diseases at Washington University in St. Louis, where he later became a professor in the Departments of Medicine and Molecular Microbiology. Before coming to Stony Brook, he was the vice chancellor for research at Washington University.
In addition to his work in academia, Dr. Stanley is a renowned medical researcher who specialized in emerging infectious diseases and the body’s inflammatory response to parasites, bacteria, and viruses.
Dr. Stanley also serves as the board chairman of the Brookhaven Science Associates, which oversees the Brookhaven National Laboratory on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy. He is a member of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Long Island Regional Economic Development Council as well.
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