New York State Assemblyman Steven Englebright has been awarded the Stony Brook Council University Medal in tribute and in gratitude for his leadership, public service and championing higher education and the environment. He received the medal at the Stony Brook Council’s December 12 meeting.
Kevin Law, chair of the Stony Brook Council, presented the award following passage of a resolution by the full Council.
“Steve Englebright has always been one of Long Island’s strongest proponents in the areas of the environment and higher education,” Law said. “My association with Assemblyman Englebright has always been a rewarding experience and we share a passion for Stony Brook and the advancement of its role in forging Long Island’s growth.”
“We are incredibly grateful for Assemblyman Steve Englebright’s decades-long advocacy as a public servant in the Suffolk County Legislature and the New York State Assembly that has truly advanced the Stony Brook University community, Long Island and beyond,” said Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis. “As Assemblyman Englebright championed issues related to the environment, education, healthcare and so much more, he did so collegially, collaboratively and respectfully. He has always been an admirable role model both inside and outside of the classroom for the many students he has taught and mentored as a member of the Stony Brook faculty. Assemblyman Englebright is an extraordinary leader, colleague, alumnus and friend.”
Englebright, a Stony Brook University alumnus who earned his master’s of science in geology from Stony Brook in 1975, has been a contributing member of the university faculty since the 1970s and currently is an adjunct lecturer in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.
Englebright has taught numerous courses over the years, including Long Island Geology and the Natural History of Long Island, and in the early 1980s led the effort to preserve the Long Island Pine Barrens. He is credited with articulating the connection between the preservation of the Pine Barrens ecosystem and protection of the sole source aquifer which it overlays as a public health imperative to safeguard the drinking water of 1.5 million residents.
Englebright’s interest in the interface of science and society in the policy area of public health led him to public elected office beginning in 1983. He served in the Suffolk County Legislature and in 1994 joined the New York State Assembly representing the 4th Assembly District, which includes Stony Brook University, Stony Brook Medicine, and the Long Island State Veterans Home.
Englebright’s background in science and education is unique in the state legislature and his skill at translating technical concepts and findings into meaningful public policy has enabled him to craft laws that have relevance to the lives and health of Long Islanders.
A leading proponent for the use of clean, renewable energy, Englebright authored New York’s solar and wind net-metering laws in the 1990s and successfully pushed in 2008 for the expansion of solar net-metering to include all utility customer classes.
Additional legislative accomplishments include the Pesticide Use Registry Act of 1996 and the ban on the sale of baby bottles and other childcare products containing the estrogen-disrupting chemical bisphenol-A (BPA).
Most recently, Englebright secured a $1 million state-funded grant by the New York State Legislature to support the Stony Brook Cancer Center’s application process for National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer center status. To date, Assemblyman Englebright has secured nearly $3.7 million in state grants to support this effort. He also joined fellow SBU alumni and state assembly members — Speaker Carl Heastie ’90, Latoya Joyner ’08 and Kimberly Jean-Pierre ’07 — in securing a State and Municipal (SAM) grant of $500,000 for the continued renovation of the Student Health and Counseling Center.
Bravo and thank you. Job well done, indeed.