College is a rite of passage for millions of students each year. But it is not often that students sit face-to-face with leaders shaping the future of public higher education in America.
On April 11 at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook’s Southampton campus, a group of student leaders attended a fireside chat between SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. and Stony Brook President Andrea Goldsmith, just days before her formal investiture as the university’s seventh president. The setting was intimate, but the conversation carried national weight.
King, the former U.S. Secretary of Education, leads the largest comprehensive public university system in the country, serving 395,000 students across 64 campuses. Goldsmith, an entrepreneur, engineer and professor, leads SUNY’s R1 flagship campus, enrolling 27,000 students across 200 undergraduate and 150 graduate and professional programs in 12 schools of study, from business to dental medicine.
The fireside chat marked the launch of the President’s Southampton Dialogues. The discussion spanned affordability, financial aid and workforce readiness, alongside Stony Brook’s academic and research strengths, including artificial intelligence, quantum science, marine science, medicine, health sciences and climate research.
For the students in the room, the moment was less about ceremony and more about proximity to how decisions take shape.
“Not many students get to be part of a presidential inauguration and meet both the president and the Chancellor,” said Anthony “Rocco” Maner, a marine sciences major in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences from Lowville, New York.
Maner is a member of the Student Life at Southampton Advisory Committee, which serves as a representative voice for students across the Stony Brook, Southampton and Manhattan campuses, ensuring diverse perspectives inform decision-making.
“It was amazing to witness a live case study in leadership and governance and how large, complex institutions set direction with the students at the center,” said Maner.
Cosette Bedoya, of Westbury, New York, is pursuing a master’s degree in speech-language pathology in the School of Health Professions. She helps organize student activities and gained hands-on clinical experience last summer working with children who stutter at Camp Dream. Speak. Live, a program centered on communication, confidence and community.
“It was inspiring to see how communication and leadership intersect at this level to shape the future of higher education,” said Bedoya.
“This was a rare look behind the scenes of a major university,” said Middle Island, New York, resident Trinity Miller, who is pursuing an MBA with a concentration in marketing. “I really feel like I’m a part of a major moment in history.”
“I’m excited to see where President Goldsmith takes the university next,” added Antonio McFarlane, a marketing major from Dix Hills, New York.
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