Volunteer Your Leadership

Volunteers play a crucial role in ensuring the strength of the Cooper community.  Among other activities, our volunteer leaders mentor students, organize professional development opportunities for alumni, and raise funds to support the college. 

The Cooper Union Alumni Association

The Alumni Association provides a vital link between Cooper’s alumni and the college community.  Volunteer opportunities include the Phonathon, the Alumni Council and Alumni Committees.  To learn more, contact alumni@cooper.edu. 

Financial Services Affinity Group

Comprised of leaders in the financial services industry, this affinity group organizes professional development programs for students and alumni. The group also develops fundraising strategies that help to ensure Cooper’s strength and stability.  For more information, contact Brooke Bryant at (212) 353-4171 or bbryant@cooper.edu.

Parents Council

The Parents Council is a body of parents who are dedicated to building a strong future for The Cooper Union.  The Council organizes fundraising initiatives that secure essential financial support for the college.  To get involved, contact Jeanne Lunin at (212) 353-4107 or jlunin@cooper.edu. 

  • 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.