Two-time Stony Brook University graduate and Tuskegee University president, Dr. Lily D. McNair, has been selected to receive the Stony Brook University Distinguished Alumni Award, and will be honored by its Alumni Association on May 18, 2019, in a private ceremony in northern New Jersey. McNair, who earned her master’s and doctoral degrees at Stony Brook in 1983 and 1987, respectively, is Tuskegee’s eighth president and the first woman to hold this position in the institution’s 137-year history.
Before Tuskegee, McNair held senior roles at Wagner College, Spelman College and the University of Georgia, where she became the first African American woman to obtain tenure and promotion in the Department of Psychology.
“Dr. McNair’s remarkable career is a powerful testament to the tremendous possibilities that a Stony Brook degree affords,” said Stony Brook President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. “We proudly applaud President McNair’s accomplishments and congratulate Tuskegee University in appointing a leader who brings perspective, vision and momentum to this important role.”
A clinical psychologist by training, McNair has performed research focused on the development and evaluation of community-based interventions targeting substance use and early sexual behavior in African-American youth. Her research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
McNair will join a notable roster of Distinguished Alumni Award recipients, including esteemed philanthropist Dr. Marilyn Simons ’74 ’84, National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductee David Walt ’79, Metropolitan Opera Singer Christine Goerke ’94, Speaker of the New York State Assembly, Carl E. Heastie ’90, and CEO of IMAX, Rich Gelfond ‘76.
“I am honored to award Dr. Lily D. McNair our prestigious 2019 Stony Brook University Distinguished Alumni Award,” said SBAA Board President Bedel Saget. “Her stellar career in education and clinical psychology reflects the highest values embraced and promoted by our university and Alumni Association.”
Since its inception in 1983, the Distinguished Alumni Award has recognized and paid tribute to outstanding alumni as the highest and most prestigious honor awarded by the Stony Brook University Alumni Association (SBAA).
“It means so much to be recognized by Stony Brook University, a place that I have always seen as a superior academic institution,” McNair said. “My years at Stony Brook have helped me to become the person that I am today.”
Located in Stony Brook, New York, Stony Brook University is widely regarded as a State University of New York flagship institution. Since its founding in 1957, this young university has grown to become one of only four University Center campuses in the State University of New York (SUNY) system with nearly 26,000 students, more than 2,700 faculty members and 18 NCAA Division I athletic programs.
For more information about Stony Brook University and its Distinguished Alumni Award, please visit https://stonybrook.edu/daa.
