1. Stuart Rabinowitz

As the president of the Island’s largest private college since 2001, Rabinowitz has brought Hofstra to international prominence by consistently raising the bar, both inside and outside the classroom. The university made academic history last year with the opening of its groundbreaking Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine—Nassau’s first allopathic medical school and the first in the New York Metropolitan area in nearly four decades—and its recently revamped School of Communication. Under Rabinowitz’s watchful eye, the university expanded its extracurriculars to include not only a star basketball team and an impressive summer performance schedule, but an October 2008 presidential debate and the only New York State gubernatorial debate in 2010. That Hofstra will be hosting another presidential debate this October in which now-President Barack Obama will face off in front of the nation from the Hofstra stage, this time around against Republican candidate Mitt Romney, elevates Rabinowitz this year to Number 1.