Election of Student Trustee to the Board of Trustees

To Students, Faculty and Staff of The Cooper Union:

We are pleased to announce that The Cooper Union Board of Trustees elected Mary Dwyer ME’19 as Student Trustee at its June 21, 2017 meeting.

This past April, students from all three schools voted to nominate two candidates for the Student Trustee position – Irisa Llana, a first-year Architecture student and Mary Dwyer, a second-year Mechanical Engineering student.  Following interviews with members of the Board’s Governance Committee, we found both candidates to be incredibly impressive, and each displayed a level of maturity, intelligence and commitment to Cooper Union that would serve them and the college equally well as trustees.

The Governance Committee selected Mary as an exceptionally strong representative of the student body to the Board for her demonstrated, active participation in the Engineering Student Council and Joint Student Council, and for her role as Resident Assistant in the residence hall. Through her active engagement, Mary has forged strong relationships across all three schools at Cooper, which will enhance her work as a Student Trustee. We are delighted to have Mary join the Board and look forward to working with her. We are also pleased to note that the Governance Committee's selection was consistent with the results of the student body election. 

We would like to add that, while Mary’s qualifications are solid, we strongly felt that both candidates for Student Trustee were excellent choices. It was gratifying to learn how seriously both candidates embraced this opportunity to serve the students and the institution.  We look forward to working with Mary as a Trustee, and we have encouraged Irisa to stay engaged in the school's governance.

Finally, we thank all who participated in the election process and for working together with the Board to advance the cause of this great institution.  

Enjoy your summers, and we look forward to seeing you in the fall!

Rachel Warren 

Chair, Board of Trustees

June 28, 2017

  • 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.