Dan's Papers - August 24, 2007 - SUNY Southampton Goes Green Forever In 10 Days

September of this year will be host to an exciting rebirth on the old Southampton College campus as Stony Brook Southampton inaugurates its first full year with the opening of the still being renovated campus. The residence halls will see more then 103 students in residence. The residence halls have been totally rehabbed to now include high-speed Internet access, air conditioning and cable television access. All the rooms have now been furnished with new furniture, including beds, chairs, bookcases and dressers for each student. The plumbing and wiring are also all new, along with a security system designed to provide maximum protection for resident students. The new Student Center, formerly Chester C.Wood Hall, has been stripped of its name and is undergoing massive renovations. A new entrance, a spanking new kitchen and a real Executive Chef will be ready to serve these pioneering students. At this time, the menu is being planned to reflect the choices and requests of the 250 students, (which includes those not living in the dorms,) who are now enrolled in this new college. There will be a fitness center operating by the time classes start, as well as a newly renovated Fine Arts center. The WLIU Radio Station will vacate its quarters in about two years and that space may be converted to offices for faculty and administration or additional classrooms.

There have been a variety of new appointments to the faculty and staff, the most recent of which is the first Dean of Students, Anna Maria Cobo de Paci. She will be charged with creating student life programs that reflect the new curriculum of sustainability.

There will be a total of 21 faculty members of various ranks this upcoming fall. There are fourteen administrators on campus as of now and both of those numbers will grow incrementally along with the number of students. It is expected that there will be about 400 students in attendance next year and that within a few years, the student body will reach about 2,000 and then level off. Faculty and staff appointments will be made based on the needs of the student body. The unusual curriculum created for Stony Brook Southampton will call for a wide range of faculty and lecturers that may be far from the usual spectrum of educators found on most college campuses.

The ecological orientation of the students who have chosen to attend the new school can be seen in some of the simplest things around the campus, such as the electric-powered scooters that the grounds crew is using, the non-chemical fertilizers to improve the grounds and the new trash containers that request that students and staff separate the recyclables from the mixed paper, bottles, cans and plain trash.

Stony Brook Southampton's Major program in Environmental Studies will prepare students for careers in ecotourism, environmental conservation, journalism, law, management, population studies, public interest studies and public service, including public health and television documentary production. In addition, there will be field study programs, research programs and internships that will be part of the programs providing real world experience for the students. There are also study abroad opportunities, including one in Jamaica's Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory, the West Indies for students interested in Tropical Marine Ecology.

The study-abroad program in Madagascar will include living and learning near the rainforest where Stony Brook operates a lab in conjunction with the United States Government.

The goal of this innovative and timely curriculum is to give the students the ability to address the complex scientific, legal, socio-economic and ethical issues that define and surround environmental issues. In addition studies in dance, theater, film, photography, art, design and literature are also important parts of the new curriculum. The wellspring of artists in the local community has created a vast pool of instructors who will be part and parcel of this program. The MFA program has been approved and certified and is a most welcome addition to the campus. The 2007 summer writer's conference, under the able leadership of Robert Reeves, was a huge success and will continue to thrive in this rich environment. The summer concert series, Sustainable Pleasures, was also a huge hit with the community and the concert series looks forward to a bright future on the campus in the soon-to-be-renovated Avram theater. Prior to renovations at the Avram theater, the last recital in the theater will be the Sustainable Pleasures series to be held on Wednesday, August 29th at 7:30 p.m. President Shirley Strum Kenny along with Martin Schoonen, Interim Dean of Stony Brook Southampton, and all the new faculty members hired for the start of the first full year of residency, will be in attendance. This will be a night of celebration for Stony Brook University - the next morning marks the start of student move-in at the Southampton campus!