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Kenny beautified the place to attract students and faculty -- while you can't judge a book by it's cover, first impressions are lasting.
It's 180 degrees different than it was in the early 80's. My biggest complaint (aesthetically) about campus is that there is not cohesiveness within the architecture. The oldest buildings were very similar, but with each passing administration, it lost it's way. I am not suggesting cookie cutter buildings, but maintain some sort of architectural feature from one to the next -- whether it's arches, columns, reverse gables -- something. One can walk on campus and pick off what building was built (or remodeled) and cite the decade or administration. They need only look across Nicolls and learn from the monstrosity which is SBUH and HSC.
But this is merely my opinion. Take it with a grain of salt as my nostalgic side mourned the loss of the Bridge to Nowhere.
It was there the entire time I attended, and I didn't miss it at all when I went back for some graduate work. If you were walking on it, it was a disaster, and if you were walking under it, half the time it was dripping on your head.
You are right about the architecture, but the school is so far from having anything resembling attractive architecture, i'm sure no administration would even know where to begin. It's certainly not Princeton.
It was there the entire time I attended, and I didn't miss it at all when I went back for some graduate work. If you were walking on it, it was a disaster, and if you were walking under it, half the time it was dripping on your head.
I mourned the loss of the symbol more than the subpar construction
The span of futility that once may have been best known to New Yorkers, though — the huge, brutally ugly pedestrian overpass built in 1967 on the Stony Brook University campus that was meant to connect the main library and student union but never actually did, ending abruptly in midair and becoming a symbol of bungling and waste in the state university system — was demolished in 2003.
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You are right about the architecture, but the school is so far from having anything resembling attractive architecture, i'm sure no administration would even know where to begin. It's certainly not Princeton.
The library and new chem were two of the buildings where the uglies first manifested themselves on campus. ESS isn't that bad, the way it's tucked into the landscape, but suffers from so much concrete. I am partial to the brick facades on the older buildings and can only guess that newer buildings were concrete clad in order to reduce building costs.
You would probally find that outside the region it's not a school that most think about, except perhaps for certain fields.
Class of 2014 had students from 47 or 48 states and a slew from other countries. SBU is a youngster -- 55 years old, so it will take time and money to build it into something with the serious name recognition.
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Originally Posted by OhBeeHave
Class of 2014 had students from 47 or 48 states and a slew from other countries. SBU is a youngster -- 55 years old, so it will take time and money to build it into something with the serious name recognition.
I remember in my mis-spent youth we refered to it as Stoned Brook due to it's stellar party reputation...
I remember in my mis-spent youth we refered to it as Stoned Brook due to it's stellar party reputation...
Yeah, a lot of that had died down by the 90's when I was there. A lot of Asian students, and a lot of commuter students and NYC residents who went home on weekends. A campus of 14K probably had about 5K actually there on weekends.
Shirley turned Stony Brook from a hideous eyesore into something you might at least no be embarassed to show someone around. When I went there it was a decrepit concrete waste land. It still is but with more benches and grass.
Do you work at SB?
Yes, have been faculty here for the last 10y, came from a "big name" school. Love the region, the no-commute part, love the university.
Architecture is shockingly ugly and full of bad choices for the terrain...
Once they started with the 70s modernist style, they could have played a better looking "modern" rather than building windowless bunkers...
The logo is funky - very different from the serious distinguished looking symbols of universities with long history. It probably appeals to much less people than the traditional academic symbols, may not convince easily parents to send their kids here...
It is actually designed by NYC artist Milton Glaser (the "I *heart* NY" guy).
I like different.
Some of our undergraduates are top notch - is not uncommon to get valedictorians and alike from the LI top high schools - these are typically kids that are more responsible than the average teenager and cognizant of the financial burden they may put on their parents even with partial scholarships to Ivy league schools. IMO, they make better students than the ones with a sense of entitlement. These kids then go to the best graduate/medical schools or we sometimes manage to keep them here. They certainly do not get shortchanged by getting an undergraduate degree, especially in some fields here.
The sad part is that the student counselors at the respective schools try to dissuade them from coming here... (first-hand accounts on this). There is lack of local support for the university and pride in it- has been that way.
We get overbooked with star-wanna-be-s high school kids - we produce 10% of the Intel/Siemens finalists, semifinalists... That is a separate topic on which I have my opinions.
Bottom line - it is a solid university and in my opinion, the community should embrace it as a job & prestige creator. It is a good deal to send your kids here, if they qualify .
I think it would be an even better idea if someone sponsored the Stony Brook School of Hammer and Chisel for the Skilled Trades.
Time to rethink this "high school to college to grad school to success" model. It is not working anymore. Too many educators patting the Comparative Literature student on the back for being a "scholar" while he gets the door slammed in his face when looking for a job.
I think it would be an even better idea if someone sponsored the Stony Brook School of Hammer and Chisel for the Skilled Trades.
Time to rethink this "high school to college to grad school to success" model. It is not working anymore. Too many educators patting the Comparative Literature student on the back for being a "scholar" while he gets the door slammed in his face when looking for a job.
Agree with you on the need for specialized technical education post-high school. Many currently out of job people can benefit from re-training. But that is a different model than a classic university, with a research emphasis.
A two-year specialized program, perhaps at a community college can fill such a niche.
For the US to stay competitive in the sciences and engineering, there is still a need for graduate and postgraduate training. We cater more to that population (and no, is not in comparative literature, though no one should stay in the way of someone's intellectual pursuits). About 90-95% of the undergraduates who work in my lab during their study at SBU have gone to PhD or MD programs afterwards. We channel the more capable ones to a PhD, the less creative but organized ones - to an MD , and some to - MD/PhD.
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it should've been given historic landmark status...
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