At Cooper

Table of Contents: Vol. LV, No. 1, Spring 2025

At Cooper Spring 2025 cover

Letter by Malcolm King

Features

Bridging the Gap: Women in Engineering
The Society of Women Engineers celebrates the 75th anniversary of its founding at The Cooper Union’s Green Camp.

A Step Forward to Free
At last September’s Convocation, former President Laura Sparks announced 100 percent of tuition would be covered for students during their senior year.

Fragility | Resilience
This year’s Benjamin Menschel Fellowship Exhibition, which was on view in February, presented a wide range of student work.

Driven by Divergent Thinking
By embracing his dyslexia, August Hunt A’17, founder of Object Fabrication, discovered his strengths as an entrepreneur.

New Cooper Journal
The Cooper Union Center for Writing & Learning published the first issue of a new eponymous, biannual journal this semester.

In Their Own Words: Agnieszka Gasparska A’99
A School of Art alumna shares her journey as an artist and graphic designer.

Ricardo Scofidio, 1935–2025: Blurring the Lines
Remembering the visionary architect, educator, and 1955 Cooper alumnus, who passed away on March 6 at the age of 89.

Open Books, Open Process
Three courses recently offered by The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture engage students through printmaking, book design, and publishing.

Highest Arts Honor for Alex Katz A’49
The artist was awarded a National Medal of Arts during a White House ceremony on October 21, 2024.

A Cooper Couple Pays It Forward
Bill CE’63 and June Rowe A’66 donated $1 million to Cooper last November to support the return to full-tuition scholarships for all undergraduates.

#COOPERMADE
Since its founding in 1968, The Saturday Program has connected generations of artists, including Jack Whitten A’64 and Ronny Quevedo A’03.
 

Cooper Dot Edu

Reimagining the Core
A $25,000 grant awarded to Cooper through the Teagle Foundation’s Cornerstone Initiative
will support strengthening the Humanities and Social Sciences curriculum.

Agrest and Gandelsonas: Fabric Oobject II
On view through May 2.

$20,000 NYSCA Awards
Typographics and the Architecture Archive each received grants from the New York State Council on the Arts.

Remembering Bruce Degen A’66
The famed illustrator of such children’s classics as The Magic School Bus series and Jamberry.

An Evening with Patti Smith
The legendary poet, singer-songwriter, and artist spoke as part of the Gardiner Foundation Great Hall forum.

Celebrating Paul Gardère A’67
The first public exhibition at the Stuyvesant-Fish House features NYC-based Haitian artist Paul Gardère through June 6.

$1 Million from IDC Foundation
Grant funds two new distinguished professorships and expands support for innovation across disciplines.

Programmed for Cooper
The first new engineering department in 100 years, led by Sam Keene, offers a computer science degree.

Predicting Wildfires
Master’s student Michael Bentivegna EE’23 tracks wildfire risk using up-to-the-minute data.

Prize for Immigrant Artists
Mexican-born Felipe Baeza A’09 received a 2025 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise
in Visual Arts.

Digitized Great Hall Ledgers
Thanks to a grant, the documents can be accessed via Digital Culture of Metro New York.

In Memoriam: Professor Yapijakis
Beloved CE professor Constantine Yapijakis taught at Cooper since 1986.
 


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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.