Dear Students, Faculty and Staff,
As we head into fall and cooler temperatures, our Campus Operations and Maintenance staff are preparing to switch our building systems from cooling to heating.
Throughout Stony Brook University’s 200+ buildings, we have a variety of heating and cooling systems. While some of these systems are flexible, others are not in that they are unable to supply both air conditioning and heating at the same time, and must be manually switched over each fall and spring.
Heating Season
For West campus, we transition from cooling to heating when the outside air temperature consistently stays below 60°F throughout the course of the day, and midday cooling is no longer needed. This change is scheduled to take place in late October.
For East campus, because of hospital requirements, cooling is available until mid-December, while heating is available throughout the year whenever outside air temperatures drop below 55°F.
Buildings on South campus, R&D Park, and Southampton, have individual heating systems, so no switchover is needed.
Building Temperature Set-Points
In accordance with national building standards, during a building’s normal operating hours, we target our temperatures to fall between:
- 68°F and 72°F for the heating (winter) season
- 72°F and 76°F for the cooling (summer) season
Normal operating hours for buildings (and even parts of buildings) vary throughout our campus, so we work directly with each Building Manager to verify and validate operational hours.
Although we try to maintain every space within these temperature ranges, occupants may experience temperatures a few degrees on either side of these set-point ranges depending on their location in the building and the time of year.
Contact Information
If you find your respective areas fall below 65°F (or above 78°F):
- Resident students, please contact the Community Area Office or RA for your building. After 7pm, and on weekends, please contact the RA on duty.
- Faculty, Staff and Commuter Students please contact the Building Manager or call:
- West Campus, South Campus and the R&D Park: (631) 632-6400
- East Campus Hospital: (631) 444-2400
- Southampton Campus Academic: (631) 632-5058 / 5047
- Southampton Campus Residence: (631) 599-8985
As always, Facilities & Services personnel will work to address any temperature concerns you have throughout the year.
Sincerely,
William Herrmann
Vice President for Facilities & Services
