Most people don’t like asking for money.
But then, Andrea Goldsmith, who became the seventh president at Stony Brook University in August, isn’t most people.
In the search for the next long-term president to replace Maurie McInnis, who had been president for four years before taking over the same job at her alma mater Yale University, Kevin Law knew what he and the rest of the Stony Brook Council were seeking.
The head of the council for the last 16 years, Law was originally asked to join by former New York State Governor David Paterson.
Law was impressed with Goldsmith’s answer to questions about raising money for the university.
“Most people hate asking people for money,” said Law. “She actually enjoys encouraging people [and letting them know] why they should invest as opposed to just give.”
Goldsmith, who held a spirited and pep-rally style talk for her first state of the university address at the end of September, effectively raised money at Princeton and Stanford, two of her previous academic homes.
That, as it turns out, is particularly important amid a pullback in federal money to academic institutions.
“We had no idea at the time” they were interviewing people for the president’s role that “we’d be facing federal threats against academic institutions that were going to impact research grants,” said Law.
The product of a public school education, Goldsmith also met the council’s goal of finding someone who had an impressive health care or science background.
Goldsmith has a bachelor’s in engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and an MS and PhD in electrical engineering from the same university.
“We’ve never had an engineer as a president,” said Law.
Law appreciates that Goldsmith understands the medical field, health care, engineering and technology.
“She serves on three corporate boards,” said Law. “She swims in a circle different than most people do.”
Working with a recruiting firm, the council, whose members include former Port Jefferson mayor Margot Garant and Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon, interviewed nine people and invited five back to campus for day-long private meetings with people dedicated to the success of the university.
“The day we interviewed [Goldsmith], I remember Marilyn [Simons] was sitting right next to me,” Law said, who joined her late husband Jim Simons as the most important benefactor in the school’s history. “During the break before the next interview, I looked at her, she looked at me and we smiled.”
Afterwards, they agreed they might have just found the next president.
Read the full article in TBR News Media.
