[9][10] Its campus consists of 213 buildings on over 1,454 acres (588 hectares) of land in Suffolk County and it is the largest public university (by area) in the state of New York.

[11] Opened 68 years ago in 1957 in Oyster Bay as the State University College on Long Island, the institution moved to Stony Brook in 1962.

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.

[17] Leonard K. Olson was appointed as the first dean of the institution[18] and was instrumental in the recruitment of faculty staff and planning of the later Stony Brook campus.

[28] The report was particularly important for Stony Brook as it recommended creation of a Health Sciences Center and academic hospital at the campus to serve the need of the fastest-growing counties (Nassau and Suffolk) in New York at the time.

Despite the fast-paced growth, campus infrastructure often struggled to keep pace: overcrowding,[29] expansion,[30] landscaping, lighting, and safety were persistent problems at the university, which led to multiple protests and growing tension between the student body and the administration.

[21] The 1970s witnessed the growth of the university and its transformation as a major research institution within New York's public school system, with strong graduate programs and scientific breakthroughs like the development of magnetic resonance imaging.

By the late 1980s, the administration affirmed the need to improve other areas of the institution, which included undergraduate education, student and residential life, and intercollegiate athletics.

In 1994, the university approved a decision to transition athletics to the Division I of the NCAA by 1999 and followed with the construction of the Stony Brook Arena and the expansion of the Indoor Sports Complex.

[35] In 2003, chemistry professor Paul Lauterbur received a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research and discovery of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, which was instrumental in the development of NMR Imaging (MRI) while at Stony Brook.

In 2010, Stanley announced Project 50 Forward, a comprehensive plan for the development of the university in the next 50 years with a focus on "operational excellence, academic greatness, and building for the future."

[46] During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States Army constructed $50 million temporary field hospitals on the campus of Stony Brook University.

[51] About three weeks later, Stony Brook announced its departure from the America East Conference after 21 years to the Colonial Athletic Association, effective July 1, 2022.

[56] In April 2023, Stony Brook University was selected as the anchor institution for a new $700 million, 172-acre climate change research and education hub on Governors Island in New York City, set to open in 2028.

The Long Island Rail Road serves the community with the Stony Brook station situated along the northern edge of the campus.

The Staller Center, which contains the largest movie screen in Long Island's Suffolk County, holds the annual Stony Brook Film Festival.

On June 1, 2023, The Simons Foundation announced a historic $500 million endowment gift, making it the largest unrestricted donation to an institution of higher education in U.S.

[118] In 2020, The Wall Street Journal ranked Stony Brook University tied with two others as the second-best public school in the Northeastern United States.

[129] The New York Center for Computational Sciences (NYCCS),[130] formed in 2007, is a joint venture of Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

[132] In 2016, Stony Brook University placed second at the Long Island regional round of the New York State Business Plan Competition.

[146][147] Wolfstock culminates in Stony Brook's annual Homecoming football game on Saturday, which traditionally draws record-breaking crowds upwards of 12,000 people.

[151] First-year students are assigned a book written by a notable figure, who speaks to the entire freshman class on Commons Day in the fall semester.

Commons Day speakers have included Supreme Court associate justice Sonia Sotomayor, author Janet Mock, designer Joshua Davis and journalist Charles M.

[159] Numerous environment-themed events take place throughout the week, with the most known tradition being the Rubber Duck Race held at "The Brook" adjacent to the Administration building.

[161] The yearly Roth Pond Regatta, held since 1989, attracts dozens of competitors and thousands of attendees, including students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

[180][181][182] The Spirit of Stony Brook marching band was created in 2006 by Jerrold Stein, the dean of students at the time, and plays at athletic games and other events.

[189] In 1994, as Stony Brook prepared to become a Division I program, the team nickname was changed again, this time to its current day incarnation, the Seawolves.

On June 3, 1997, President Shirley Kenny announced that the Seawolves' entire athletics program would play at the Division I level beginning during the 1999–00 season.

[197] After going winless in four consecutive America East Finals in men's basketball, the Seawolves earned their first bid to the NCAA tournament in 2016 by defeating the Vermont Catamounts 80–74.

Since 2013, the Seawolves have finished in first place in the America East for eight straight seasons, making eight consecutive NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship tournaments.