he College of Staten Island (CSI) may have a local sounding name, but nearly thirty years of graduates and hundreds of new faculty additions and the college has established itself as a regional, national, and even international presence.

On Sunday, March 9, CSI visits the Lincroft Inn’s Jefferson Room, when their alumni association establishes their New Jersey Regional Council.

“We have over 5,000 alumni in New Jersey,” said Richard Truitt, CSI’s vice president for college advancement, “and this event allows us to visit with friends and meet new ones, and is a great opportunity to network, socialize and learn a little bit more about their college that has changed so dramatically in the last 25 years.”

CSI’s New Jersey Alumni Committee has chosen professor George Stern, Jr. as guest speaker at the event. Stern, who is the best selling author of What Do You Think? ( A Survival Guide for the Everyday Challenges of Life) will share with guests “Some Ideas to Grow By.”

Having devoted his career to the fundamental study of human behavior and personal motivation, Stern notes “we live in incredibly challenging and complex times… as parents, we are competing for the well-being of our children; as business people, our capacity to communicate will make our business not simply prevail, but thrive.”

And thriving seems to be a word that can also describe CSI. The New Jersey Regional Council joins other active alumni programs that CSI already holds in Manhattan and Florida.

“We believe that CSI will be among the most important colleges in the region,” continued Truitt, “and through their participation in events like this and volunteer efforts, alumni can make this vision real.”

CSI began as two small campuses on Staten Island, Richmond College, known for its progressive approach to classroom instruction and Staten Island Community College. Today, CSI has a 204 acre state-of-the-art campus right over the Goethals Bridge, and is home to a nationally renowned china program, an unsurpassed teacher education and nursing program, and is performing the basic analytical biochemistry research that may revolutionize the treatment for burn victims.

Recently, CSI faculty members have returned from the Antarctic where they were developing datasets to establish international protocols on the commercial harvesting of krill, and a new species of American snake was recently identified and catalogued by a faculty zoologist.

CSI’s Sunday Brunch with George Stern is March 9 at 11:30 a.m. in the Jefferson Room of the Lincroft Inn, at a cost of $10 per person. The Lincroft Inn is located at 700 Newman Springs Road in Lincroft, NJ. Space is limited but there are still a few seats left. For more information and reservations, call CSI’s Alumni Association at 718-982-2290.