Elaine Crosson lands Stony Brook post

Elaine Crosson, a lawyer with decades of experience working with the State Legislature, Family Court and in private practice, has been hired as vice president for external relations at Stony Brook University.

She is the widow of former Long Island Association president Matthew Crosson, who died in December in Las Vegas, where he was head of that city's chamber of commerce.

Since her husband's death, which came a few months after he suffered a stroke, she and their 13-year-old son, Daniel, have moved back to the family's Lloyd Harbor home.

Her appointment is effective Feb. 14.

Crosson, 53, will oversee Stony Brook's offices of communications, governmental relations and media relations. She will report directly to Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr., the university president, and will be part of his senior management team.

Crosson worked for Long Island University for 12 years and rose to the position of vice president and general counsel. She managed all legal matters, defending LIU in legal actions and supervising both in-house and outside counsel.

Crosson had a significant role in LIU's sale of its Southampton campus to Stony Brook University and represented the school in its dealings with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service.

She also helped bring in millions of dollars in state and federal funding.

Before working for LIU, Crosson was a magistrate in Family Court for four years. She is also a former state Assembly and state Senate aide, and worked at the state Office of Court Administration, where she was legislative counsel and a principal law clerk.