About New York City

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Cooper Union exploits New York's diversity and resources as its extended campus. Student artists, sculptors and photographers study in the great museums, visit studios and galleries and work at a wide range of art internships. The School of Architecture taps in to New York's architectural community and the rich legacy is built on the environment. Engineering students have unparalleled opportunities to study the challenges posed for their discipline by one of the most complex cities in the world.

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art is situated on the edge of Manhattan's East Village, within easy walking distance of Washington Square Park and the bookstores, galleries and film houses of Greenwich Village. Students have the opportunity to take advantage of Cooper Union's location in New York City, an international cultural center and the information hub of the country. New York offers extraordinary resources and stimuli for learning—great museum collections; performances by orchestras, chamber music groups, jazz musicians, and dance companies; constant exposure to the work of artists from all over the world in the galleries of SoHo, Greenwich Village, and upper Manhattan; the curricula and public programs of nearby colleges and universities; and the ever-changing street life of the city itself.

  • 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.