Stony Brook University provost Dennis Assanis is University of Delaware's next president

Stony Brook University's provost, Dennis Assanis, will become president of the University of Delaware beginning July 1, both schools announced Wednesday.

Delaware's board of trustees, at a special meeting, unanimously approved Assanis' appointment to lead the 22,000-student university, based in Newark, Delaware.

He will be the university's 28th president, succeeding Patrick T. Harker, who in March announced he would resign July 1 to become president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Harker has led the school for eight years.

"We were privileged to have a rich pool of top-level candidates for this position. Dennis Assanis' combination of administrative experience and outstanding academic credentials clearly set him apart," said University of Delaware trustee Terri Kelly, who co-chaired a 15-person search committee.

Assanis, 56, who came to Stony Brook University in July 2011 from the University of Michigan, will continue as provost and vice president of academic affairs through the rest of this academic year.

SBU will launch a national search to find a successor, officials said.

Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr., Stony Brook's president, said he was grateful for Assanis' "strategic leadership."

"The University of Delaware is fortunate to have successfully recruited a leader with Dennis' capabilities, and I have no doubt that he will lead UD to continued success," Stanley said.

Assanis, in a telephone interview from Delaware, said he was both "inspired and amazed" by the work he and others have been able to accomplish at SBU.

"I'm confident Stony Brook will continue on its trajectory of excellence under president Stanley's leadership," he said.

In 2014, Assanis' compensation was $416,920, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy's SeeThroughNY.com website. Earlier this year, the engineering scholar was named a SUNY Distinguished Professor for his teaching and research.

As Stony Brook's chief academic administrator, Assanis hired more than 200 faculty members, including those in an interdisciplinary "cluster" initiative aimed at boosting interest in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

He played a leadership role in the university's partnership with Brookhaven National Laboratory, enhancing collaborations between the lab and the Stony Brook School of Medicine. He also led SBU through the 10-year Middle States' reaccreditation process, while focusing on improvement of the four-year graduation rate for undergraduates and helping SBU's campus in South Korea.

Assanis said when he takes over as Delaware's president he hopes to focus on creating a campus environment of inclusion and to foster more interdisciplinary work, connecting students "so they can solve the larger problems in society."

He said he will continue to get students involved in internships and entrepreneurial endeavors at the school's STAR campus, a health, research, technology and business center located also in Newark on a 272-acre property that was once a Chrysler automotive plant.

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.