Stony Brook University, widely regarded as a SUNY flagship,  was established in 1957 as a college for the preparation of secondary school teachers of mathematics and science. 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.

Part of the State University of New York system, 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 University 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.

The University has a five-part mission:

• to provide comprehensive undergraduate, graduate, and professional education of the highest quality;
• to carry out research and intellectual endeavors of the highest international standards that advance knowledge and have immediate or long-range practical significance;
• to provide leadership for economic growth, technology, and culture for neighboring communities and the wider geographic region;
• to provide state-of-the-art innovative health care, while serving as a resource to a regional healthcare network and to the traditionally underserved;
• to fulfill these objectives while celebrating diversity and positioning the University in the global community.