Dear Stony Brook Community,

It is a privilege for me to share “Our Moment,” our new strategic plan for Stony Brook University.

Our Moment recognizes that we are at a unique point in our university’s history. Guided by the visionary and aspirational leadership of President Maurie McInnis, Stony Brook has experienced remarkable (and remarkably rapid) progress and growth. Our Moment is a roadmap to ensure Stony Brook continues our impressive ascent as one of the nation’s great public flagship universities, fulfilling our highest aspirations for the benefit of our student population, faculty and staff, and the wider community. 

I encourage you to visit the website for Our Moment to learn more about our strategic plan. The site includes a PDF version of the plan and a link to request a print copy. You’ll also be able to view a recording of the launch event presentation. I was pleased to see hundreds in our community attend in-person and view the livestream earlier this week.

A few highlights of what you’ll find in our plan:

• A vision that sets a bold tone for the future of Stony Brook, while preserving the distinct qualities that set us apart from other institutions

• Our values, which set expectations to guide our culture in working together as a community

• Our priorities, focused across key areas of importance to make transformative progress in our vision. Each priority is supported by several objectives, which represent cross-cutting areas of activity

• Representative success measures, a set of high-level metrics that will serve as a broad barometer to demonstrate progress in meeting the aims of each priority

I am grateful to the many members of our community who engaged in the visioning and planning process, whether serving as a member on the Project REACH Visioning committee, the Strategic Planning Steering Committee, or sharing your input at community events and through feedback surveys. We arrived at Our Moment through an iterative process to create a shared vision that captures the spirit and ambitions of our community.

Our Moment is intentionally broad and aspirational. Its successful execution depends on each of us working individually and collectively within our units and partnering with others, centering all we do in the plan’s values, priorities, and objectives. 

To further ensure our plan isn’t simply a collection of platitudes that gather dust on our shelves, it will be complemented by a university-wide “annual action plan” released each spring. Annual action plans will ensure we are specific and intentional in how we will drive toward achieving our vision, and will allow us to be held accountable for that progress. 

The annual action plan will be informed and influenced by working groups made up of faculty, staff, and students, as well as plans developed by key divisions across the university, including Stony Brook Medicine and our schools, colleges, and vice presidential units. 

The launch of our plan is an exciting milestone. At the same time, it means our work is just beginning. I look forward to enacting this plan, in close partnership with our community and our newly announced Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Wendy Pearson. 

I am excited to move forward, together, to realize the aspirations of our strategic plan. This is Our Moment to build what’s next at Stony Brook. 

Sincerely,
Carl

Carl Lejuez
Provost and Executive Vice President