Shirley Strum Kenny (born 1935) is the current President (since 1994) of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and the first woman to hold that position. She previously served as the president of Queens College from 1985 to 1994.

Academic Life

Kenny has taught at the University of Texas, Gallaudet University, the Catholic University of America, the University of Delaware, and the University of Maryland. At Maryland, she was successively Chair of the Department of English and Provost of Arts and Humanities. Kenny holds bachelor's degrees in English and Journalism from the University of Texas, an M.A. from the University of Minnesota, a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and honorary doctorates from the University of Rochester, and Chonnam National, Dongguk, and Ajou Universities in Korea.

She is a graduate of University of Texas Dallas. Kenny has published five books and numerous articles in the field of Restoration and eighteenth-century British drama. Her two-volume scholarly edition of the dramatic works of George Farquhar was published by Oxford University Press.

Achievements

Shirley Strum Kenny became the first female President of Stony Brook University in 1994, and continues to serve in that position as of October, 2008. During her time as president at Stony Brook, she has chaired a nationwide commission on increasing the quality of undergraduate education, overseen vast growth of the University, including the purchase of lands dedicated to research facilities, and earned Stony Brook a role in the management of Brookhaven National Laboratories - a position Yale University and Princeton University no longer hold after a recent management shakeup.

Kenny sits on the board of directors of numerous corporations. She is married to Dr. Robert W. Kenny and they have five children and four grandchildren.

In June 2008, Kenny announced that she will be retiring as President of Stony Brook University at the end of the 2008-2009 academic year. [cite]

References

External links

• Official Biography
• Biography from SUNY Research Foundation
• Office of the President
• Shirley Strum Kenny Arts Festival