Stony Brook announces new interim president

Stony Brook University is preparing for the next academic year.

On June 20, SBU President Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr. sent an email to students, faculty and staff announcing that the State University of New York Board of Trustees appointed Provost Michael Bernstein interim president of SBU. The new position will be effective on or about Aug. 1.

“Michael is an outstanding selection for this role,” Stanley said in the email. “During his three-year tenure as provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at Stony Brook he has made extraordinary contributions to every aspect of the university. His decisive and energetic leadership has been welcome and needed, and Stony Brook University is fortunate to have his steady hand at the helm going forward.”

On May 28, it was announced that Stanley will be leaving SBU and taking on the role of president at Michigan State University.

According to a press release from SBU, Bernstein was appointed provost in October 2016, and he oversaw initiatives aimed at supporting the school’s missions in research, scholarship, art-making and teaching. Before SBU, Bernstein served as the John Christie Barr professor of History and Economics and provost and chief academic officer at Tulane University in New Orleans from 2007 through 2016.

“I am filled with enormous gratitude for the opportunity to serve Stony Brook University in this new role,” Bernstein said in a statement. “Our university is a spectacular place — and it flourishes today due to the impact of an exemplary decade of accomplishment, growth and excellence that is Sam Stanley’s legacy. I eagerly look forward to my ongoing work with faculty, staff and students in pursuit of our shared mission as one of the nation’s premier academic institutions.”