Stony Brook University Professor Celia Marshik Promoted to Senior Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School

STONY BROOK, NY-November 10, 2026-State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook (Stony Brook University) Professor Celia Marshik has been promoted to senior vice provost and dean of the Graduate School. Since May 2022, Professor Marshik has served as vice provost for Graduate Education and dean of the Graduate School, first as interim and then appointed permanently to the role in May 2023. As senior vice provost, she will continue to report to executive vice president and provost Carl Lejuez.

Professor Marshik will expand her capacity to lead cross-disciplinary academic initiatives, strengthen external partnerships including with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and broaden her engagement as a representative of the provost with various external academic councils and alliances. She will continue to lead the Graduate School in her capacity as dean, alongside her role as senior vice provost.

"In her four years of leadership, Celia has significantly strengthened and advanced graduate education at Stony Brook," said Provost Lejuez. "Under her leadership, the Graduate School team has greatly expanded and enhanced the university's support of graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty and graduate programs."

Highlights of Professor Marshik's leadership include:

• Student and Scholar Support: Established student support initiatives including the Graduate Student Hardship Fund, the Graduate Student On-Ramp, and the GradConnect series; introduced traditions tbuild community such as Doctoral Student Convocation, Welcome Back BBQ, and Graduate Student Appreciation Week; created a dedicated postdoctoral scholars council and successfully established a new minimum salary scale.
• Curriculum and Admissions: Streamlined curriculum review processes, including implementing online submission workflows that supported departments in updating nearly all outdated graduate program curricula; integrated graduate admissions back under the Graduate School; and introduced holistic admissions practices across graduate programs, partially supported by a Sloan seed grant.
• Faculty Mentoring and Education: Expanded Research Mentor Training to all new faculty; introduced Culturally Aware Mentoring in partnership with the Center for Inclusive Education; and enhanced support for institutional training grants.
• Fellowships and Awards: Advanced fellowship and award support, leading to recognition as a Fulbright Top Producing Institution and helping students secure approximately $1M annually in external awards.

Professor Marshik joined Stony Brook University in 2001 as an assistant professor in the Department of English and was promoted to associate professor and then professor. She also served as chair of the department. Previous to teaching at Stony Brook University, Professor Marshik served as a lecturer at Yale University and Stanford University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Women's Studies from the University of Minnesota and a PhD in English and Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies from Northwestern University.

Photo Credit: Juliana Thomas

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About the State of New York at Stony Brook (Stony Brook University)

The State University of New York at Stony Brook is New York's flagship university and No. 1 public university. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. With more than 27,700 students, more than 3,000 faculty members, more than 237,000 alumni, a premier academic healthcare system and 18 NCAA Division I athletic programs, Stony Brook is a research-intensive distinguished center of innovation dedicated to addressing the world's biggest challenges. The university embraces its mission to provide comprehensive undergraduate, graduate and professional education of the highest quality, and is ranked as the #59 overall university and #24 among public universities in the nation by U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges listing. Fostering a commitment to academic research and intellectual endeavors, Stony Brook's membership in the Association of American Universities (AAU) places it among the top 73 research institutions in North America. The university's distinguished faculty have earned esteemed awards such as the Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Indianapolis Prize for animal conservation, Abel Prize, Fields Medal, Breakthrough prizes in mathematics and physics, and MacArthur Fellows Genius Grants. Stony Brook has the responsibility of co-managing Brookhaven National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy - one of only eight universities with a role in running a national laboratory. In 2023, Stony Brook was named the anchor institution for the New York Climate Exchange on Governors Island in New York City. Providing economic growth for neighboring communities and the wider geographic region, the university totals an impressive $8.93 billion in increased economic output on Long Island. Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stonybrooku/ and X @stonybrooku.