History, BA

Stony Brook University is one of America’s most dynamic public universities. A member of the invitation-only Association of American Universities, Stony Brook is one of the 66 top research institutions in North America. Our 2,700-plus faculty are leaders in significant national and worldwide projects. Stony Brook is home to approximately 27,000 high-achieving students from nearly from nearly all 50 states and more than 100 countries. The university offers more than 200 undergraduate programs. Innovative programs include the award-winning Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities program, which involves undergraduates in research in nearly every discipline and has produced Beckman, Churchill, Goldwater and Marshall scholars.

Stony Brook has a campus in Southampton, affiliated locations in Manhattan and a partnership with the State University of New York in Korea.

The university is divided into 12 schools and colleges:

The College of Arts and Sciences offers degree programs in fine arts and humanities, in biological and physical sciences, in mathematics and in social and behavioral sciences.

The College of Business provides comprehensive education and research for the business, public and nonprofit sectors, and offers flexible full- and part-time programs, with day, evening, Saturday and online courses available, including a fully online MBA option.

The School of Communication and Journalism offers graduate and undergraduate programs in communication, science communication and journalism that emphasize ethical, engaging and inclusive research and storytelling across media platforms. Its undergraduate journalism program is accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.

The School of Dental Medicine is renowned for implementing cutting-edge technology in its educational programs and in the delivery of oral healthcare services. It offers DDS degree, PhD and postgraduate specialty training. The SDM provides dental care to more than 15,000 community residents every year and is a leader in translational research and technology transfer.

The College of Engineering and Applied Sciences offers nine ABET-accredited programs and provides students with opportunities to find work in the industry or proceed to graduate study in a variety of areas. Students are given the latitude to plan a course of study within traditional engineering disciplines or in interdisciplinary fields.

The Graduate School offers advanced degree programs in many fields leading to master’s and doctoral degrees. Stony Brook’s advanced graduate programs are internationally recognized and consistently receive exceptionally high ratings from external evaluation agencies and scholarly studies.

Research and development: Nearby Brookhaven National Laboratory, which Stony Brook has the responsibility of co-managing, offers students opportunities to work with scientists making discoveries in physics, photon sciences and nanomaterials, climate change and other critical areas. In addition, BNL and Stony Brook collaborate with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, one of the world’s pre-eminent private research institutes.

Our Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology and two state-designated Centers for Advanced Technology —in diagnostic tools and sensor systems and in biotechnology – facilitate partnerships between New York State industry and university research. Our Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center is a partnership of academic institutions, research institutions, energy providers and industrial corporations focusing on innovative energy research, education and technology deployment.

Economic impact: The entrepreneurial energy and economic strength of the university bring a combined benefit of $7.23 billion to the economy of Long Island. Through its high-technology incubators, the university has promoted the launch of dozens of companies. The university is the largest single-site employer on Long Island, with more than 14,000 full- and part-time employees.

Arts and athletics: Stony Brook’s Staller Center for the Arts offers a rich program of theater, dance, classical music and popular entertainment throughout the year. The center hosts master classes and concerts by the world-renowned Emerson String Quartet, our resident artists. Each summer, the Stony Brook Film Festival brings leading and emerging independent filmmakers and fans to campus.

Stony Brook’s Department of Athletics sponsors 18 Division I varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that compete at the NCAA Division I level. World-class facilities include the 12,300-seat Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium and a sports complex housing the 4,000-seat Island Federal Arena. All of Stony Brook’s men’s and women’s programs offer athletics scholarships.   

Stony Brook is an internationally recognized research university offering graduate degrees in the arts and sciences, engineering, business, and the health professions, including 44 doctoral programs and a wide variety of master's and certificate programs. The 2014 U.S.News & World Report Best Grad Schools ranked 10 of those programs in the top 50. Enrollment totals 24,000: 16,000 undergraduates and 8,000 graduate students from 49 U.S. states and 105 countries. A member of the elite Association of American Universities, Stony Brook is one of the 62 top research institutions in North America, with $182.7 million in annual sponsored research and 1,866 active research projects. Campus research programs are complemented by strong ties to Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory which are both nearby. Stony Brook faculty are leaders in significant national and worldwide projects, including uncovering the causes of lobster mortality in Long Island Sound, searching for the origins of man in Kenya’s Turkana Basin, and managing the national parks of Madagascar. They have made significant contributions to NASA initiatives, such as examining Martian minerals for evidence of life and other phenomena, and their work has led to such groundbreaking discoveries as a new species of mouse lemur, the smallest primate in the world; the cause of Lyme disease; and the invention of the MRI technology that won the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Stony Brook offers more than 200 undergraduate programs, 100 master’s programs and 40 doctoral programs, residing in 12 colleges and schools: College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Graduate School, School of Dental Medicine, School of Health Technology and Management, School of Journalism, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, School of Medicine, School of Nursing, School of Professional Development and School of Social Welfare. The School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences features waterfront learning at Stony Brook Southampton’s new Marine Sciences Research Center. And Stony Brook’s study abroad programs provide unique learning opportunities in countries around the globe, including Argentina, Italy, Jamaica, Korea, Madagascar and Tanzania. The C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, founded by Nobel Prize-winning physicist and Stony Brook Professor Emeritus Chen Ning Yang, is a leading center for high-energy physics, string theory and statistical mechanics. The Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology seeks to advance biology and medicine through discoveries in physics, mathematics and computational science. Researchers from around the world also gather at the University’s Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, where they explore synergies between theoretical physics and mathematics to deepen our understanding of the physical universe. Stony Brook’s Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT) and two state-designated Centers for Advanced Technology — in diagnostic tools and sensor systems and in biotechnology — facilitate partnerships between New York State industry and University research. The Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC) brings together academic and research institutions, energy providers and industry to focus on innovative energy solutions. Brookhaven National Laboratory, which is co-managed by the University, includes the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, Center for Functional Nanomaterials, National Synchrotron Light Source, National Synchrotron Light Source II, NASA Space Radiation Facility, Accelerator Test Facility, Computational Science Center, and Brookhaven Linac Isotope Producer. The Laboratory’s almost 3,000 scientists, engineers and staff are joined each year by more than 4,000 visiting researchers from around the world. Brookhaven research has been honored by seven Nobel Prizes. The entrepreneurial energy and economic strength of the University bring a combined benefit of $4.6 billion to the region’s economy. The University is the largest single-site employer in the region, with more than 14,000 full- and part-time employees. Through its high-technology incubators, the University has promoted the launch of 44 companies. Stony Brook Medicine, the region’s premier academic medical center, encompasses Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, 50 community-based healthcare settings, and five health sciences schools. With 603 beds, Stony Brook University Hospital serves as the region’s only tertiary care center and Regional Trauma Center. It is also home to the Stony Brook University Cancer Center, Heart Institute, Neurosciences Institute and Digestive Disorders Institute. Also part of Stony Brook Medicine is the Long Island State Veterans Home, a 350-bed skilled nursing facility that serves as a site...