Stony Brook University

Varsity Sports — Stony Brook

History & Fun Facts

• •Established almost a decade after the creation of New York's public higher education system, the institution was envisioned as a college for the preparation of secondary school teachers.
• •Olson was appointed as the first dean of the institution and was instrumental in the recruitment of faculty staff and planning of the later Stony Brook campus.
• •SUCOLI opened with an inaugural class of 148 students, on the grounds of the William Robertson Coe Planting Fields estate.
• •These first students were admitted on a tuition-free basis.
• •1961 was a year of firsts as 30 students were conferred degrees in the first commencement and the university was appointed its first president, John Francis Lee.