Steven W. McLaughlin officially joins The Cooper Union July 1 as its 14th president. An accomplished engineer and recognized leader in higher education, McLaughlin comes to Cooper from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he spent nearly 30 years in a variety of academic and administrative roles, most recently serving as the university’s chief academic officer. On April 21, 2025, Cooper's Board of Trustees announced it had unanimously approved the selection of McLaughlin as the institution’s next president. 

“Coming to Cooper is for me not just accepting a job,” McLaughlin said during an address to students, faculty, and staff in the Great Hall in April. “It feels like joining a mission, a calling, a place rooted in Peter Cooper’s radical idea that education should be ‘as free as air and water.’ … That’s what drew me from the very beginning, and that idea is never more relevant than it is today and never more urgent. In a world where access to education is increasingly tied to privilege, The Cooper Union continues to show what’s possible.” 

President McLaughlin expressed his commitment to stewarding Cooper’s return to full-tuition scholarships while continuing to invest in cross-disciplinary work and civic engagement. He also emphasized building a campus culture that is “intellectually alive, wholehearted, and fiercely inclusive.”

Watch the full video of President McLaughlin’s first Great Hall address to the Cooper community.