Q&A: Samuel Stanley, Stony Brook University

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When LIBN sat down with Dr. Samuel Stanley in October 2009, he’d barely settled into the president’s office at Stony Brook University. Five years later, he’s helped the East Setauket school build a national reputation for athletic and academic excellence, and drawn attention to its groundbreaking research; now Stanley is focusing on graduation rates.

What are you doing to improve SBU’s four-year graduation rate? We’re at 48 percent now and that number really should be higher. We have an outstanding student base. We’re spending a lot of time advising students on what classes they need and making sure those classes are available.

Many students drop out for financial reasons. How can the university help? We’re starting a grant program that would give them money to help them get through their semester. We’re putting $250,000 into that fund and we’re going to see how it works. We’ll see if we can make a difference for students who have one-time needs.

Is the university doing anything that specifically helps the regional economy? If you combine all the new construction that’s just finished up in the past three years and you count critical maintenance and renovation costs, we’ve spent $800 million on this campus. That’s created about 3,000 jobs for construction and other direct jobs, and that’s a big deal. We’re very grateful.

How’s enrollment? We had 33,000 applicants for 2,800 spots this year, and we’ve taken the largest class in a number of years. We plan to grow next year, assuming the quality of education remains good.

Any progress in the potential commercialization of SBU-based science? We’ve asked innovative faculty to submit projects, and four or six finalists will present their ideas to a panel of judges. The winner will be the initial Discovery Fund recipient, who will earn $100,000 or more to support their project. We’re looking for a game-changing idea, something that upsets paradigms but might also have potential commercial applications.