On Oct. 1, 75 participants graduated from Stony Brook’s Corporate Education Training program, a course created in 2009 following the “Great Recession” of 2008, which caused 8 million more people to lose their jobs, making the national total of unemployed 15 million.

Partnering with about 12 companies, Stony Brook gave the program the task of retraining Long Island’s workforce for new jobs and positions, including those being created right on Stony Brook property.

According the program’s brochure, the CET mission is to “provide comprehensive workforce training, leverage cost through funding and promote innovative regional workforce initiatives.”

Since its creation in 2009, the CET program succeeded in training close to 900 workers and successfully placed more than 350 workers in jobs. This makes Stony Brook’s CET program one of the most successful in the country, with a placement rate of more than 40 percent.

The percentage of employment for CET graduates, coupled with the time frame it takes for them to find a job, surpasses the national average of four months to find a $80,000 job.

Those who did attend had a chance after the graduation ceremony to participate in a discussion with the CET program’s partners and with several representatives of Suffolk County government,  including the Commissioner for Suffolk’s Department of Labor, Sammy Chu.

Stony Brook’s program is supported by several government initiatives started by President Barack Obama in 2009 to create jobs and re-train furloughed employees. Laws including the Jumpstart our Business Startups Act of 2012 and the American Graduation Initiative of 2009 are products of the government’s effort to improve the American workforce and to cut down on unemployment.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Workforce Investment Act Funds and the National Emergency Grant were all sources of funding for Stony Brook’s CET program back in 2009.

The Stony Brook CET program contributed to the fight against unemployment on Long Island, the rate of which decreased from 7.5 percent to 6.2 percent last year.

CET Executive Director Patricia Malone said in a press release that the CET program “offers a beacon of hope, possibility and connectivity to employment opportunities.”

Correction: Oct. 16, 2013: An earlier version of this article said the “Great Recession” of 2008 caused 15 million people to lose their jobs. It actually caused 8 million people to lose their jobs, resulting in 15 million unemployed Americans.