Thanks to a major gift from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, Stony Brook University will establish an endowed chair in the Department of History: the Robert David Lion Gardiner Chair in American History. The gift makes it possible for Stony Brook to appoint a prominent scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences, who will foster an increase in public interest in the history of Long Island and its place in American history, creating a robust intellectual resource available to wider audiences. Read the entire press release here. Excerpts include:
“This gift from the Gardiner Foundation will further strengthen our scholarship and teaching, as well as foster a new opportunity for collaboration between the History Department and the Special Collections and University Archives at Frank Melville, Jr. Library. The Library is home to a number of historic collections, including the secret wartime letter from General George Washington to his chief spy, Benjamin Tallmadge,” said Sacha Kopp, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Stony Brook University.
History Majors Kaitlyn Wulff, Colleen Cheslak, Ricky Tomczak, and Lance Boos, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Sacha Kopp, Gardiner Foundation Executive Director Kathryn M. Curran, Department of History Chair Gary Marker, and History Professor Jennifer Anderson with Kristen Nyitray, Head, Special Collections and University Archives.
The Gardiner Foundation pledge qualifies for a dollar-for-dollar match from the Simons Foundation, bringing the gift to the threshold of $1.5 million needed to establish an endowed chair. The chair is designed as a lasting testimony to the significant contributions the Gardiner Family and the Robert D. L. Gardiner Foundation have made to promote the study, preservation, and celebration of Long Island history.
“This thoughtful and strategic gift fosters teaching, collaboration and scholarship at Stony Brook in subject matter that is near and dear to anyone who has roots on Long Island,” said Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD, President of Stony Brook University. “It will help establish a critical link among the institutions on Long Island and throughout the state of New York, exploring the important role that this region has played in US history.”
For more information about Special Collections and University Archives, please visit the website for the department.
Kristen Nyitray
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