At Cooper

Table of Contents: Vol. LIII, No. 1, Summer 2023

At Cooper Summer 2023 coverLetter by Laura Sparks

Features

Space for Renewal

Capital improvements give new life to the Foundation Building façade, Cooper Union Library, and other campus spaces.

A New Center for Writing and Learning in the Library

Kit Nicholls discusses artificial intelligence, the value of writing, and the Center's new home in the library.

Congratulations to the Class of 2023

The Cooper Union’s 163rd Commencement took place in the Great Hall on Wednesday, May 24.

End of Year Show 2023

Highlights from The Cooper Union’s annual End of Year Show (EOYS), which opened on May 23.

Animating Life During Lockdown

Meriem Bennani A’12 and Orian Barki’s viral video series 2 Lizards was exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Designs for the Future of Food

Cooper students, faculty, and alumni are taking on the real-world issue of food sustainability.

Firelei Báez: Celebrated Artist and Alumna Returns to Cooper

Last fall, 14 students studied with the celebrated artist and alumna Firelei Báez thanks to the Alex Katz Chair in Painting.

Rotary Park: Alumni Build Community Around Infrastructure

Peter Ballman AR’08 and Dasha Khapalova AR’07 propose transforming a two-block site in downtown Manhattan into a new public space.

Biomedical Partnership Bolsters Real-World Connections

A joint research and educational exchange between Cooper and Mount Sinai yields groundbreaking biomedical collaborations.

Recurring Donors: Success-Critical

Three Questions for Dr. Demetrius Eudell

 

Cooper Dot Edu

Daniel Lepek ChE’04: In Memoriam

A favorite of students in the chemical engineering department, Professor Lepek was a vital, beloved member of the School of Engineering.

Watch: Great Women Live in the Great Hall

Gloria Steinem joined Salamishah Tillet in conversation as part of the Gardiner Foundation Great Hall Forum. Evening performances featured Tiler Peck, Melissa Manchester, Lisa Fischer, Melissa Errico, Alice Wetterlund A’03, and others.

Confronting Carbon Form

Exhibition explored architecture’s relationship to fossil energy.

Cooper Architecture Exhibitions Database

Fundraising aims to digitize collection dating from 1965.

What Makes a House a Home

Cooper’s STEM Outreach presented a youth-led exhibition focused on Black homeownership.

Aerial Design Team Wins Top Five for Design

Engineering seniors in the Vertical Flight Society’s 2023 competition.

Archives & Special Collections Receives METRO Grant

Funding supports the digitization of the ledgers and orders of the Great Hall.

President Sparks Named Power Player in Education

PoliticsNY lists President Sparks among the most influential education leaders.

Watch: Black and Female

Novelist, playwright, and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga discussed her latest essay collection with Pulitzer prize-winner Margo Jefferson.

Cooper’s First Undergraduate Research Symposium

Works by Joan and Reynold Ruffins A’51

See photos of the Cooper exhibition mounted this spring in the Stuyvesant-Fish House.

The Saturday Program Spring 2023 Year End Show

High school students shared their work with The Cooper Union community.


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  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.