NEW YORK Assembly Speaker and Cold Spring Harbor ExecUTIVE Awarded Stony Brook University Alumni Award
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and General Counsel Charles Ryan recognized at Stony Brook homecoming halftime program
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L-R: Assemblyman Steve Englebright, Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone, New York State Senator John Flanagan, Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD, New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory General Counsel Charles S. Ryan, J.D., Ph.D, New York State Senator Kenneth LaValle, Brookhaven Town Councilwoman Valerie Cartright, and President of Stony Brook Alumni Association Robert Stafford. |
Stony Brook, NY, October 23, 2015
– New York State Assembly Speaker
Carl Heastie
and
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
General Counsel
Charles S. Ryan, J.D., Ph.D.,
both from the class of 1990, were recognized as Stony Brook University Distinguished Alumni. The awardees were among 11,000 in attendance at the sold-out Stony Brook University Homecoming football game at the Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium.
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| Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie |
“Speaker Heastie and Charles Ryan exemplify Stony Brook’s finest,” said President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. “We are so proud of their career achievements and gratified by their support of their alma mater.”
Elected to office in 2000, Heastie became New York’s first African American Assembly Speaker in February 2015. As a representative of the 83
rd
District in the Bronx, Heastie was the prime sponsor of the Wage Theft Prevention Act, which enacted harsher penalties for employers that steal wages from employees. Most recently, he served as the chairman of the Assembly Labor Committee. Prior to joining the state Assembly, Heastie was a budget analyst in the New York City Comptroller’s office, using skills he honed while earning his BS in applied Mathematics and Statistics from Stony Brook and his MBA in Finance from Baruch College.
“It is an honor and a privilege to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award,” Heastie said. “The lessons I learned at Stony Brook have carried me through the halls of the New York State Assembly. I am grateful to the University and its alumni for being a constant source of support. I made lifelong friends here and I am so proud to be a Seawolf.”
Many at Stony Brook remember him fondly and remain proud of his
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| Charles S. Ryan, J.D., Ph.D., ©C. Brukin, 2015/Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory |
accomplishments. “He is an example that most things are possible when a person of color receives a good education, walks through doors that are barely open and insists on sitting at the head of the table,” said Frances Brisbane, Ph.D., a Vice President in the Office of Faculty, Staff and Student Diversity. “I applaud Stony Brook University for honoring him as a Distinguished Alumni.”
Dr. Ryan
earned his Ph.D. in Oral Biology and Pathology from Stony Brook and
has extensive background in the
pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. He is Vice President and General Counsel at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a preeminent molecular biology and genetics research institution in Cold Spring Harbor, NY, where 60 Stony Brook students are currently doing research. In the 12 years prior, he was a Senior Vice President and Chief Intellectual Property Counsel for Forest Laboratories, Inc. Ryan received his undergraduate degree from The College of Wooster and his J.D. from Western New England University.
During the Stony Brook University Homecoming game halftime ceremony, Ryan said
that he was honored to be recognized as a distinguished alumnus from Stony Brook.
“One of the things that attracted me to Stony Brook was the ability to obtain a world-class education at a reasonable cost,” said Ryan. “It also offers a culturally rich and diverse community. I was educated alongside a number of driven, highly capable people who challenged and motivated me.”
While at Stony Brook, Ryan met his wife, Dr.
Maria Emanuel Ryan, who received her Ph.D. and D.D.S. at Stony Brook and is currently Chairman of the Department of Oral Biology and Pathology, a position his one-time mentor, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Dr. Israel Kleinberg once held.
“When I first interviewed Charles Ryan, I immediately recognized his winning characteristics,” Kleinberg said. “As things turned out, I was absolutely right. He proved to be conscientious, thorough, very bright, and good common sense. He was always courteous and innovative and I am proud to have had the opportunity to mentor him.”
Said Alumni Association President Robert Stafford ’72, ’82: “We are proud to recognize Speaker Carl Heastie and Dr. Charles Ryan for their successful careers and community achievements, extraordinary commitment to Stony Brook and for reflecting the highest values embraced and promoted by the University and the Stony Brook Alumni Association.”
About Stony Brook Alumni Association
The Stony Brook Alumni Association in an independent 501(c)(3) organization that represents more than 150,000 Stony Brook University alumni nationwide and abroad. Established in 1965, the Association seeks to reach, serve and engage all alumni, students, and other constituencies to foster a lifelong intellectual and emotional connection between the University and its graduates, and to provide the University with goodwill and support.
About Stony Brook University
Part of the State University of New York system, Stony Brook University encompasses 200 buildings on 1,450 acres. Since welcoming its first incoming class in 1957, the University has grown tremendously, now with more than 25,000 students and 2,500 faculty. Its membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU) places Stony Brook among the top 62 research institutions in North America. U.S. News & World Report ranks Stony Brook among the top 40 public universities in the nation and Kiplinger named it one of the 35best values in public colleges. One of four University Center campuses in the SUNY system, Stony Brook co-manages Brookhaven National Laboratory, putting it in an elite group of universities that run federal research and development laboratories. Stony Brook is ranked in the top 2 percent of the world’s higher education institutions by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. It is one of only 10 universities nationwide recognized by the National Science Foundation for combining research withundergraduate education. As the largest single-site employer on Long Island, Stony Brook is a driving force of the regional economy, with an annual economic impact of $4.65 billion, generating nearly 60,000 jobs, and accounts for nearly 4 percent of all economic activity in Nassau and Suffolk counties, and roughly 7.5 percent of total jobs in Suffolk County.
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Reporter Contact:
Lauren Sheprow, 631-632-6310
Stony Brook University Newsroom
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