6th CESTL Keynote Speaker

Dr. Paul H. Forestell, a college administrator, professor of psychology and internationally renowned marine mammal scientist, has served as Provost of the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University since July 14, 2008. As chief executive officer, Dr. Forestell leads one of the New York metropolitan area’s most respected private university campuses of higher learning, with an enrollment of 5,300 undergraduates, 3,000 graduate students and more than 100,000 alumni.

Dr. Forestell is responsible for campus operations, policy development and strategic direction, academic initiatives, admissions and recruitment, retention, financial aid, athletics, student affairs, and public safety, and buildings and grounds. In addition he oversees a $170 million campus operations budget. The campus has a staff of more than 1,000, including 329 full-time professors. In addition to C.W. Post, Dr. Forestell also serves as provost of Long Island University’s campuses in Brentwood, Rockland and Riverhead.

Prior to his appointment as Provost, Dr. Forestell served as associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at C.W. Post. He is a widely published and consulted expert on whales, dolphins and seals. He is currently vice president of the Pacific Whale Foundation in Wailuku, Hawaii and was the foundation’s director of research for eight years before joining Long Island University in 1996 as the coordinator of the psychobiology program at Southampton College. At Southampton and at C.W. Post, he has been an advocate of study abroad and field experience, and organizes an annual expedition to the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica for university students to conduct long-term field studies of dolphins. He also coordinates internships for students in Australia, Ecuador, Hawaii and throughout the mainland United States, and oversees the Campus’ Fulbright Program.

Dr. Forestell graduated cum laude from the University of New Brunswick in Canada with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and philosophy in 1972. He earned a master’s degree in experimental psychology from the University of New Brunswick in 1976 and a Ph.D. in comparative psychology from the University of Hawaii in 1988.

Dr. Forestell has served on several university committees, including the Teaching and Learning Initiative Committee, the Outcomes Assessment Committee, and the Arts and Sciences Strategic Planning Committee. He also was chairman of the Faculty Council at Southampton College. Along with serving on numerous administrative and committee posts at Southampton College and C.W. Post, Dr. Forestell has taught and conducted research in animal behavior at the University of New Brunswick and the University of Hawaii as well as Selkirk Community College in British Columbia and the School for Field Studies in Beverly, Mass. He has participated in nearly 30 professional workshops and government advisory groups dealing both with the scientific study and conservation of whales, dolphins and the marine environment. He has been the recipient of nearly $500,000 in government research grants.

Dr. Forestell is the author or co-author of eight books and book chapters, 18 peer-reviewed articles and nearly 70 contract reports and conference presentations. He has delivered dozens of invited public presentations and has been quoted in major news media in the United States, Japan and Australia.
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