The Inauguration of Laura Sparks in Pictures

The inauguration of The Cooper Union's thirteenth president, Laura Sparks, took place on Tuesday, February 6 in the Great Hall. Guests traveled from schools across the country to offer their institutions' greetings, and three alumni spoke, before President Sparks addressed the audience. The gallery below shows some of the highlights of the event, a morning filled with reflections on the accomplishments of students and alumni and the community's hopes for the future of the school.

  • 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.