Stony Brook University faculty and staff gathered on Tuesday, February 13 for the annual Faculty and Staff Giving Social.
Billed as the “Breakfast of Champions,” this year’s annual Faculty and Staff Campaign event drew attendance from across the campus. The event highlighted the more than 750 staff and faculty who have given for three or more consecutive years.
“The people here in this room represent a team of more than 14,000,” said University President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD, “working millions of hours together each year to serve and support our students in their pursuit of success; our patients in their search for high quality outcomes, and our entire community in the unending mission to go ‘Far Beyond’ expectations.”
While enjoying breakfast, attendees also had the opportunity to hear from Lydia Senatus, a member of the Class of 2018 and a recipient of the U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship and Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Fellowship.
“Your generosity has transformed my life,” said Senatus, who has also benefited from the Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women (JFEW) International Relations and Global Affairs Scholarship, “and the lives of many students here in many different ways. That’s the power of your gifts to Stony Brook.”
It was a message that resonated with Cathrine Duffy ’93, ’10, associate director of student support. “Seeing how hard our students are working day and night to achieve their dreams has inspired me to want to do more,” Duffy said, “to do whatever small thing I can do to help them toward that goal.”
Assistant Professor of Mathematics David Kahn echoed that sentiment.
“I have family involvement going back, essentially, my entire life,” said Kahn, whose father was among Stony Brook’s first professors in the Physics department. “I’ve seen the impact of dollars at the University, I’ve watched the way it’s developed, and I’m very happy with that, so I feel that giving here makes a difference. What I consider small amounts are actually large amounts at Stony Brook. Students appreciate what I can do.”
Both Kahn and Duffy are proud supporters of the Campaign for Stony Brook, joining more than 1,100 other members of the University’s faculty and staff during the current fiscal year. Overall, more than 46,100 people have donated over $578 million to the campaign including 1,500 faculty and staff members.
What are you passionate about? Give today.
View photos from the 2018 Faculty and Staff Giving Social.
— Elliot Olshansky
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