Welcome Back!
Dear Students:
It’s my pleasure to welcome you back to campus as I begin my first semester as the
10th president of Farmingdale State College. I had the privilege of meeting many students
on my visits to campus during the interview process and just recently during move-in
day, but for most of you this will serve as our first introduction.
We will learn much about each other in the weeks and months ahead. For now, I’ll share
that like many of you, I am a first-generation college student and the child of an immigrant
parent. Through this lens, I have focused my academic career on serving many of the
hardest working and most promising students, like FSC’s. I’m also a biologist—a marine biologist. In fact, I spent many years as a student,
researcher, and educator, pursuing biodiversity studies, and doing field and lab work
right here on Long Island.
I’m excited to have some lab space in Hale Hall and plan to present my research to
the campus community soon. Most importantly, I am looking forward to hearing from
and working with all of you, as many of our best ideas are going to come from the
folks who know the College best—our students.
As you return to campus, it’s hard to miss all the construction underway, but I hope
you will recognize that infrastructure development is an exciting sign of progress
at Farmingdale. Crews have worked diligently all summer, and we look forward to taking
fences down and revealing welcoming new spaces.
As the semester begins, I urge you to take full advantage of the many opportunities
for applied learning and research that are available to FSC students through the Nexus
Center, your individual schools and departments, and our many academic success programs.
And remember to see your academic advisors and mentors for insight into your disciplines
and future career paths. Few colleges our size have the breadth of student support
that we do, and I strongly encourage you to take advantage of the services available
to you.
The Office of Student Activities has a full schedule of activities for you to take
part in, and I look forward to seeing you at many of these. For now, welcome back
and I wish you the very best for the upcoming semester. If you see me out and about
on campus, please stop to say hello, introduce yourself, and share your best idea.
Go Rams!
Robert S. Prezant, PhD
President
Professor of Biology
