Stony Brook University has introduced a new Trustee Scholarship to honor New York students for their community engagement and leadership. This initiative highlights the university's dedication to supporting New York students and reinforces its position as a leading institution in the state.
Mark Cortez, executive director of admissions at Stony Brook, explained the scholarship's purpose: “We wanted to figure out a way we could best recognize students specifically from the state of New York. We want to recognize strong students, of course, but we also want to reward the students who are going to come here and impact our community and be engaged students. So we needed to figure out how to balance our awards to recognize not only high academic achievement, but also those students who are going to be changemakers when they get to our campus. The Trustee Scholarship was born out of this notion.”
The scholarship covers 50 percent of tuition, making it the highest award available from the admissions office for New York students. In its inaugural year, Stony Brook received over 1,500 applications and awarded 42 scholarships. The program aims to enroll 30-35 students each year.
Recipients hail from various parts of New York, including Suffolk and Nassau counties on Long Island, upstate counties like Erie and St. Lawrence, as well as Buffalo. Cortez noted that these students have diverse academic interests ranging from English and History to Psychology, Biology, and Engineering.
“We have students coming in with interests in English and History and Women’s and Gender Studies, as well as some of our more popular programs like Psychology, Biology, and Engineering,” said Cortez. “It’s representative of both the entire state and all of the academic offerings that the university has. It really is designed to attract students with varied interests from across the entire state.”
Cortez emphasized that the Trustee Scholarship underscores Stony Brook's commitment as a flagship SUNY university: “Stony Brook is really investing in the state of New York,” he said. “We’re providing pathways and access and making our education affordable for our statewide community. We want this to be seen as kind of the top scholarship award that attracts New York students to the university.”
— Robert Emproto