Norman Smith, who was credited with bringing Wagner College on Staten Island back from the brink of closure in the late 1980s, becomes Dowling president.

Dowling says it will affiliate with an unnamed academic partner to remain afloat.

Dowling’s faculty union approves $4.7 million in contract givebacks to help close the 2014-15 budget gap.

Dowling agrees to pay more than $400,000 to Gaffney in a settlement of his lawsuit against the Oakdale school.

Standard & Poor’s Rating Services indicates a poor outlook for Dowling, dropping its long-term debt rating from B to B-minus.

Dowling names Albert F. Inserra, chairman of Dowling’s doctoral program in educational administration, leadership and technology, to be the college’s chief.

Moody’s says the school is “likely in or very near default” on bonds issued by the industrial development agencies of Suffolk County and the Town of Brookhaven.

In recent weeks, Dowling lays off staff members and reassigns others in a downsizing because of declining enrollment and struggling finances.

The board of trustees names Elana Zolfo interim president.

Astronaut Wally Schirra opens the college’s new transportation campus in Shirley.

The Dowling campus in Oakdale on Aug. 5, 2010. (Credit: Michael E. Ach)

Moody’s Investors Service downgrades $14.1 million of Dowling’s already junk-rated bonds.

Dr. Jeremy D. Brown gives the commencement speech at Dowling on May 19, 2012. (Credit: Heather Walsh)

Jeremy D. Brown, the former head of Edinboro University in Edinboro, Pa., begins his tenure as Dowling’s president.

Facing outrage from students and employees over an announcement the previous week, Dowling says its aviation school will remain open. It had said it would stop training pilots to focus on aviation-management classes.

Gaffney resigns and is succeeded by Scott Rudolph, a trustee.

Gaffney is pictured on Sept. 19, 2002. (Credit: Newsday / John Paraskevas)

Robert Gaffney, the former Suffolk County executive, becomes Dowling president.

A late-night vote by the faculty on a new contract ensures that professors will be in the classroom for the first day of the fall semester.

Victor Meskill, one of the longest-tenured college presidents on Long Island, is forced out by the board of trustees, who in previous years had lavished on him a large salary and a host of pricey fringe benefits that included a house near the campus and a personal loan so that Meskill could buy a condominium in Montauk.

Five top administrators are fired as part of a reorganization plan.

A student carries his belongings as he leaves Dowling College on June 1, 2016. (Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara)

Dowling announces it is shutting down.