2009 NETWORKING® MAGAZINE’S DAVID AWARD HONOREE.

DR. W. HUBERT KEEN

President, Farmingdale State College

Dr. W. Hubert Keen’s credentials make him well qualified to lead Farmingdale State College to become an outstanding regional institution. He brings to the Office of President his lifelong interests in ecology and sciences, his administrative, teaching and research background, and his five years as Special Assistant to the Provost in the State University of New York system. “Of all the SUNY facilities,” says Keen, “I thought that Farmingdale State had one of the most interesting situations with respect to its potential for development because of its academic programs, its location, and its connection with business and industry on Long Island.”
Beginning his career in 1976 as an assistant professor of biological sciences at SUNY Cortland, Keen went on to serve as Dean of Arts and Sciences. He served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at City University’s York College for four years, and his duties at SUNY included Interim President of SUNY College at Old Westbury, collaboration with the state’s K-12 schools, and development of the SUNY Urban Teacher Education Center in New York City. In 2005, he joined Farmingdale State as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Keen is overseeing a renaissance of this one-time school of agriculture founded in 1912. Farmingdale State initiated its first bachelor degree program in 1986, and received its formal designation from SUNY as a four-year college in 1993. In addition to expanding its bachelor’s degrees, a few associate degrees—especially the long-standing Nursing and Dental Hygiene—will continue to be offered, Keen says, because of “their great service to the Long Island community.”
The campus is also engaged in its largest construction-renovation effort, including modernization of classrooms, labs and facilities, and the addition of a new child care center and residence hall. The College will break ground next year on a new Student Center, followed by a new School of Business. Tying into the College’s “green” campaign, architects are designing the new construction to Silver LEED rating standards, and with the help of the Long Island Power Authority, the new structures will include additional energy efficiencies. The College proudly opened a new state-of-the art baseball stadium in the spring of 2007, and a new soccer/lacrosse field and renovated tennis facilities were completed recently. “The campus has tremendous natural potential, and we want to make it more attractive,” remarks Keen, adding, “As realtors would say… to give it curb appeal.”
With 90% of its 6,800 students living at home or already established in their work life on Long Island, Keen likes to say the College’s students are “embedded in the community.” Because of its local enrollment and the fact that it’s the largest college of applied science and technology in the SUNY system, Farmingdale plays a critical role in the Long Island economy through its education of the regional workforce and its many internships and partnerships with business, industry, service organizations and higher education institutions.
Farmingdale State has a long history of research collaborations with business and industry—from agriculture to aerospace, electronics and technology. The transition to a four-year college has enabled Farmingdale to hire faculty with advanced degrees, expanding its research capabilities. “A primary goal is to involve students in research,” says Keen, who as a professor at Cortland, conducted 25 undergraduate research projects and four Masters level projects with students.
In the area of biotechnology and bioscience, Farmingdale received its first National Institutes of Health grant to study human immune-system cells. This three-year grant will benefit students and staff in bioscience and health science programs, and articulate with the Island’s growing biotechnology industry. The College’s Broad Hollow Bioscience Park on campus is home to OSI Pharmaceutical’s research facility and some start-up biotech companies. “This important partnership allows faculty to share equipment and collaborate with industry scientists,” notes Keen, “and students work at some of the labs.”
“Farmingdale has been very successful in alternative energies,” remarks Keen. Last year, the College received two patents for research in hydrogen fuel cell technology. And Keen says, “The going green movement is a natural for Farmingdale State.” He adds that he “got hooked on the natural environment as an undergraduate majoring in biology at Pikeville College in Kentucky.” Keen, who grew up in the coal fields of western Virginia, recalls conducting summer field research in the southern Appalachian Mountains. He holds a Masters in physiology and ecology from Eastern Kentucky University and a Ph.D. in ecology from Kent State University.
Farmingdale State’s Solar Energy Center’s utility-scale photovoltaic demonstration project was the first in the Northeast, and its Institute for Research and Technology Transfer is building a small-scale hydrogen-solar powered model home. Keen says, “The College is closely attuned to educating students on the highest standards of green building design and construction.” Farmingdale State is a partner in the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory, developing renewable, portable energy sources for use at disaster sites and military environments. Keen serves on the Center’s Board of Directors.
The Farmingdale campus went “green” more than a decade ago, and its solar panels produce 3% of the college’s electricity. It has the largest fleet of all-electric or flex-fuel vehicles of any college in the region. Keen notes that the College plans to build a solar energy power plant on campus, consisting of a large, ground-mounted photovoltaic array, and install a 300kW hydrogen fuel cell, which together could more than triple the campus’s energy production.
Keen works actively with the health industry, hospitals and health institutions, businesses and corporations. He serves on the Board of Directors of Action Long Island, focusing on its health care task force and Kids in Action program. Keen serves on the Board of the Route 110 Redevelopment Corporation, and is a member of the Nature Conservancy and several professional organizations. He’s an advocate of greater access to higher education among underserved populations. Keen’s teaching and research spans ecology, environmental science, aquatic biology and biostatistics. He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship; Fellowships from the U.S. Public Health Service and German Academic Exchange Service; and has authored several short biographies of prominent figures in science, technology and education, and articles on topics in higher education. Keen and his wife Sally live on campus with their son Christopher, a Suffolk County Community College student.

NETWORKING® January 2009