Stony Brook University, New York’s flagship university and No. 1 public university, was established in 1957 as a college for the preparation of secondary school teachers of mathematics and science. Stony Brook is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. The first campus was located in Oyster Bay, Long Island, on the grounds of a former Gold Coast estate. In 1962, a new campus was built near the historic village of Stony Brook on land donated by local philanthropist Ward Melville.
The university has grown tremendously and is now recognized as one of the nation’s important centers of learning and scholarship — carrying out the mandate given by the State Board of Regents in 1960 to become a university that would “stand with the finest in the country.”
The Stony Brook campus lies about 60 miles east of Manhattan and 60 miles west of Montauk Point. It is only a short distance to the Atlantic beaches of the south shore and the vineyards of the East End. Situated on 1,039 acres on the north shore of Long Island, Stony Brook University has a four-season climate, tempered by proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and Long Island Sound.
