The State University of New York’s Regional Campus Showcase kicked off on Wednesday, Oct. 5, for the Long Island region and was hosted at Stony Brook University’s Charles B. Wang Center. The showcase is the first of 10 that will be hosted throughout New York to celebrate the different SUNY campuses and the programs they have to offer.

Nancy L. Zimpher, SUNY chancellor, wants each of the 64 SUNY campuses to present at these showcases as part of “The Power of SUNY” plan to show all the great programs that the state university system has.

“Bringing this showcase to fruition is really to say that we are joining hands with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s regional economic development plan,” Zimpher said about the event. “There is a regional economic development council working in your behalf. Working, working, working. Anybody who is on that council can vouch for how many meetings are being held.”

The Long Island region showcase featured six SUNY colleges and universities including Stony Brook University, Farmingdale State College, Nassau Community College, Empire State College, Suffolk Community College and SUNY Old Westbury. Each school had different tables and stands to represent the programs they wanted to highlight.

Stony Brook University had various stands ranging from medical research and innovation, sustainability, community outreach, student-exchange programs in anthropology, to the School of Journalism and Center for Communicating Science.

Samuel L. Stanley, Jr, president of Stony Brook University, tied in all these programs to SUNY’s strategic plan.

“Stony Brook’s work in economic development is absolutely vital to our mission,” said Stanley. “This is something that is going to be really enhanced by NYSUNY 2020. We’re looking forward to monies that are going to be coming in to help further that mission, as I said it’s a vital part of what Stony Brook does.”

Farmingdale State College had stands that included demonstrations from its aviation and forensics departments. The aviation department came with a flight stimulator and the forensics department had a mock crime scene — fake victim included. Nassau Community College had a stand from its fashion design program, which had a display of work from some of their students who made dresses using the iconic brown shopping bags from Bloomingdale’s. Suffolk Community College was represented in part by its culinary arts program, which came complete with free pastries.

Zimpher summed up the point of the event with a simple statement.

“This is your SUNY, this is your university, this is your state of New York and we believe that together we can put New York on a better path economically,” she said.