Q&A with Stony Brook University Interim President Richard L. McCormick

Richard L. McCormick was appointed interim president of Stony Brook University, effective August 1, succeeding Maurie McInnis, Stony Brook's sixth president.

Dr. McCormick has more than four decades of experience in higher education, most recently serving as president emeritus and Board of Governors Professor of History and Education at Rutgers. He previously served as president of Rutgers University and the University of Washington, and as provost at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

We sat down with Dr. McCormick to learn about his first impressions of Stony Brook, his goals for the university, the importance of a quality public education, the challenges ahead, and his advice for new college students.

Q: Welcome to Stony Brook. Now that you're here, what are your first impressions of the University and its community?

A: Stony Brook is a great university, and I have witnessed first-hand since arriving here how it is made even greater by the members of the campus community who have a deep commitment to and affection for its mission. Because of the talented and dedicated faculty, staff and healthcare workers, Stony Brook has an exceptional reputation for teaching, research, patient care and for being a valued contributor to the communities it serves. Stony Brook's impact locally, regionally and beyond is tremendous - from its research overseas to its incredible healthcare staff across Long Island to its role as a respected national leader in climate studies and sustainability. I am already in love with Stony Brook.

Q: What are your goals as interim president of Stony Brook?

A: Although my title is interim president, my time spent here will be active and engaged, and I am thrilled to be Stony Brook's leader at this exciting time. I believe that, working together with the entire campus community, we can ensure that Stony Brook's permanent president will inherit a university that is even better than it is today. And that is saying a lot.

My top goal is to maintain Stony Brook's momentum. President McInnis and her leadership team advanced Stony Brook on a phenomenal trajectory of success and exceptional accomplishments, and I want to keep that moving forward. There are so many exciting initiatives underway that are bringing Stony Brook to greater academic and research excellence every day. I also have some ideas of my own that may not come to complete fruition during my presidency, but I expect will reveal some solid recommendations for the new president to consider and build upon. I look forward to detailing my priorities further at the State of the University on September 25.

Q: What would you like the SBU community - faculty, staff, students, and alumni - to know about your leadership style?

A: My leadership style is open, collaborative, and focused. Attentive listening is something that I pride myself on bringing to every aspect of my work. From my experience at other universities, I have witnessed that nothing important can move forward on a university campus if it does not involve listening and genuine collaboration with all of those who have a stake in the outcome. Consequently, engaging with the campus community is critical to me, and being accessible and responsive are two things I will always prioritize.

Q: You have led some of the top public universities in the country. Why is a quality public education so important?

I have spent most of my life on or near the campuses of great public research universities. I grew up at Rutgers University where my mother was a longtime administrator and my father was a history professor, and where I later served on the faculty for 16 years. Then I was at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, followed by the University of Washington in Seattle and then back to Rutgers, where I served for a decade as president. And now, here I am at Stony Brook University, where I feel right at home because I believe deeply in institutions of this kind. They perform so many essential missions, starting with the education of our students. That is our first mission.

A university like Stony Brook not only transmits knowledge but creates it. As the number one public university in the state of New York, we have outstanding students who are likely to become the next leaders of their generation. And our faculty, many of whom are pioneers in their fields, are exactly the kind of teachers and mentors who will challenge our students, helping them learn and grow academically, professionally and personally. Our faculty are not just telling students what is in the textbook, but talking to students based on their own knowledge and original research and, perhaps most importantly, their own enthusiasm for learning.

What I have seen at other great public institutions and already witnessed here at Stony Brook is that these faculty and staff do not arrive here by accident. They believe deeply in the mission of providing excellent, affordable education for all students and have come to Stony Brook to advance this important work. And they are proud of their own role in carrying this mission out.

Q: As a scholar of American political history, what are the biggest challenges we as a nation are facing - both in the coming months and beyond?

Sadly, our nation is more divided and polarized than in any time in recent memory. The animosities that have been built up - the differences that Americans currently have with each other - are terrifying. As a child in the 1950s, I can recall my parents voting for Adlai Stevenson II who twice ran unsuccessfully for president against Dwight D. Eisenhower. But I never heard my parents or anyone else say Eisenhower did not have the best interests of the country at heart. At that time, while people had differences with each other, they were not expressed in the extreme ways that are sadly so common today.

Q: What do you consider to be Stony Brook's most important strengths and opportunities?

Among Stony Brook's greatest strengths is the character of the student body. It is an extremely diverse group in which men and women from disadvantaged backgrounds are extremely well represented, where students who are first in their families to attend college receive an excellent education. We have one of the highest proportions of Pell Grant-eligible students among all major research institutions and they are incredibly successful at Stony Brook. And I am deeply proud of our faculty. They are outstanding educators and scholars. When students see their faculty members come into the classroom with excitement for what they are teaching and the work they are doing in laboratories and out in the field, those students get inspired and want to be a part of it.

We are enormously benefited by having a world-class medical center where patients get exceptional care, faculty conduct life-changing research, and the next generation of healthcare professionals are being trained as doctors, nurses, and public health professionals. Students receive hands-on learning and faculty are inspired every day in their medical research all in service of our community. It is a deeply reciprocal relationship and a great asset for the university.

Stony Brook is a core institution for the Long Island region. Community members both know this and they are proud of it. Their support is enormously beneficial to and appreciated by the university. These relationships with our neighbors and friends across Long Island, many who are Stony Brook alumni, are an important part of who Stony Brook is today and will be essential for our future.

Q: What advice would you give to those students who are beginning their college career this fall?

My top suggestion is to take full advantage of everything this amazing university has to offer. Of course, go to class, immerse yourself in your assignments, get involved in research, find time to volunteer for the campus or local community. There are a wealth of ways to learn outside of the classroom, and that includes meeting new people and having fun. Go to football and basketball games. Attend a lecture offered in your department or a department you are interested in. Visit places around campus where art is displayed. Spend time in the library.

There are hundreds of great faculty here. Make your mission to get to know some of them well and allow them to get to know you. They have office hours for you. Faculty are very happy when students come to their offices to engage in discussion, when students say they didn't understand something said during class or they were inspired by a lecture. Faculty will want to talk about these kinds of things, too. I speak from experience as a teacher who loved talking with students outside of the classroom.

Q: Finally, what are you most looking forward to as you take on the responsibilities of interim president?

I am delighted and honored to join all of our employees in the transformational work going on here at Stony Brook University, and everything I do in my time as interim president will be on behalf of this great institution. I will be working for you, and with you, every day. I am excited to immerse myself in this campus community and its rich traditions. The Class of 2028 is Stony Brook's largest-ever incoming class and I want them - and all of our students - to know how glad we are here, and to show them what it truly means to be a Seawolf. With the new academic year underway, I look forward to meeting more students, faculty, staff, partners and friends associated with Stony Brook.

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