By Najib Aminy
The search is over. Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr. has been appointed to be Stony Brook University’s next president, according a press release from Richard Nasti, chair of the Presidential Search Committee.
Prior to his current position as the Vice Chancellor for Research at Washington University in St. Louis, Stanley, 55, received his B.A. (1976) from the University of Chicago and his M.D. (1980) from Harvard Medical School.
“While Dr. Stanley has extraordinarily impressive credentials in the medical research arena, both the Search Committee and the Stony Brook Council were equally impressed with his understanding of and commitment to all the elements which make any major university great,” Nasti said. “Dr. Stanley is the type of Renaissance man who truly embraces the totality of the academic enterprise and will work to promote interdisciplinary collaborations at Stony Brook.”
In 2003, Stanley, was named Director of the Midwest Regional Center for Excellence for Bio-defense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research. Under his leadership, Stanley helped Washington University’s research funding increase to a sum of $584 million.
“He has an outstanding reputation as a distinguished medical researcher and has published extensively,” Nasti said.
Dr. Stanley is awaiting confirmation from the SUNY Board of Trustees before officially taking the reigns from retiring president Shirley Strum Kenny and becoming the fifth Stony Brook president.
Kenny, who has been at the helm since 1994, announced her retirement last June.
