University Stories
Video provided by Stony Brook University
From Lockdown To Coming Back Safe And Strong
How Stony Brook University Passed The COVID Test
It was early March 2020 and sun sprinkled the campus of Stony Brook University as Carolina Ruiz and her friends chatted about the upcoming spring break.
And then, everything changed.
“We were prepared to go to break and in the blink of an eye everything changed,” Ruiz, a 21-year-old junior biology major, said. “I felt like everything went into chaos and it hasn’t been the same since.”
Actually, the changes were already in motion with conversations about shutting down a portion of the annual Staller Center Gala, scheduled for March 7. Then-interim president, Michael Bernstein, who has since left the university, remembers these discussions as the real beginning of the pandemic – and as a time when he would have to act quickly and under growing pressure.
“We were all in sort of denial and thought that this isn’t really happening – and it’s not going to be as bad as everyone says,” Bernstein recalled.
At the time, there were only a few confirmed coronavirus cases in New York State and none in the vicinity of the university. But on March 8, the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed on Long Island – in Greenport, on the North Fork of Suffolk County. The 40 year-old patient was transported from Eastern Long Island Hospital to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.
Suddenly, the global pandemic had arrived in Stony Brook’s back yard. The changes being discussed at the highest levels of the university administration were about to become real.
The Woman Who Brought Zoom to Stony Brook
ByDiana Voss has been pushing Stony Brook University into the digital era ever since she was an undergraduate information systems student more than 20 years ago. “My undergraduate project was to find a course management system or a way for…
Battling the Pandemic’s Emotional Toll
ByWith eyes closed and head titled downward, participants in the mindfulness meditation workshop hung on the counselor’s every word. “Bring attention to the top of the head and notice any sensations that you feel there,” Susan Byrne, a senior counselor…
Dorm Life During Lockdown
ByThe pandemic brought new challenges to students living in dorms as Stony Brook University transitioned to distance learning. Freshmen and seniors alike adapted to residing on a campus where in-person classes, meetings and events disappeared overnight. James D’Elia looks at…
A Tale of Two Students – A Mother and Daughter Embrace Lessons in Love and Learning
ByA Tale of Two Students A Mother and Daughter Embrace Lessons in Love and Learning By Stephanie Melo It was just a few days after we celebrated my daughter Leila’s eighth birthday in March 2020 – the last time my…
Confronting COVID: Stony Brook Adapts
ByThis podcast explores how Stony Brook University and Hospital stood up to the coronavirus. It was created and edited by students in the School of Communication and Journalism under the direction of their instructor, Terry Sheridan. Contributors include: Alek Lewis…
Short takes
Testing, Testing, Testing
The best time to take a COVID test is just after lunch. No lines, no waiting, no crowds – yet. It is a quarter to one on a dreary Wednesday afternoon – the designated day for residents in West Apartment J to get their mandatory weekly tests – and only two students wait outside the second-floor testing room in the Center for Global Studies and Human Development. The landing, once filled with…
Hot Off The Press
The hand truck rumbled on the pavement, shaking and shifting nine neatly stacked cardboard boxes. It was a brisk November night, and we wore winter coats and face masks. Tumbling over a curb, we made it to the rear entrance of the Student Activities Center. The building was silent except for a few CulinArt workers shuffling in and out. Lights shone through the windows against the dimming sky, but no human shadows…
Where is Ferris Bueller?
Just as they did in classrooms in the “before” times, most professors begin their virtual classes by taking attendance. Some call out students’ names, seeking a “here,” a “hi,” a “hello,” or a courteous but rare, “how are you?” Others simply scroll through the list of participants or check off students in the gallery view on Zoom. Professors may have thought their students showed little sign of life in traditional classrooms. In…
The Lonely Lunch
“You swiped it the wrong way,” the West Side Dining cashier at the front of the line said. She was referring to my faulty attempt at swiping my ID card. This was never a responsibility I had to worry about before. When I finally got the correct orientation and swiping speed right, I walked through the roped-off area and into the deserted dining hall. Feeling like a prisoner confined to the thin…