It gives me great pride to speak of the many ways in which the W. Burghardt Turner Fellowship program has changed the landscape of graduate education at our University and ultimately, the competitive workforce of our country. In 21 years we have trained over 270 students from diverse racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. Our prestigious fellowship has made it possible for these students to develop their knowledge and talents in pursuit of their academic and professional dreams. The financial support and rich student community offered by Turner has enabled us to recruit high achieving graduate students from all over the nation. We have educated students who are now professors in universities and leaders in industrial research.

The Turner program has helped us create an environment that is attractive to ambitious students, and Stony Brook benefits more every year through the contributions they make to the quality of life on campus. Our community of students both past and present span virtually every graduate program at the University including the School of Medicine . Their contributions are adding to the rigorous scholarship expectations on campus and redefining the quality of education being achieved at Stony Brook. As the program evolves both on the Stony Brook Campus and throughout the state, we are witnessing the development of an impressive network of faculty researchers, musicians and professionals that have participated in the program and contribute to the prestige it enjoys today.

In 2007, W. Burghardt “Burg” Turner himself was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Stony Brook University in recognition of his achievements as a faculty member and activist. Dr. Turner's ideas have strongly shaped the mission of the Turner Fellowship program, which is why the program was named after him. His accomplishments are all the more poignant when we consider the barriers that he faced throughout his career, some of which the Turner Fellowship program and its mission work to eradicate.

It is my belief that we must continue to support opportunities for professional and academic growth of talented students who are disadvantaged or underrepresented in graduate study. We achieved a great deal in the first twenty years of this program and while we are pleased with what we have accomplished, we are nowhere near finished. With legislative support and the hard work of our faculty, Fellows, and Turner alumni, we can continue to provide an education for the best and the brightest to take their places in the diverse educational and industrial world of the 21st century.

I invite you to take the opportunity to look further into the information here regarding the W. Burghardt Turner Fellowship Program, its mission, alumni, current students and the leadership that currently facilitates this important program. Thank you.

Lawrence Martin, Ph.D.
Dean of the Graduate School