Welcome Back

Dear Cooper Union, 

I hope your first days of the Spring 2025 semester have been enjoyable, even with winter’s grip firmly on New York City! It is great to see everyone back, and we have much to look forward to in the coming weeks and months. 

On Tuesday, January 28, we will have a Community Roundtable in the Library during Club Hours from 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. to discuss the Anti-Bias/Anti-Discrimination Task Force report published earlier this week.  The roundtable will mark the beginning of the community engagement, which Dr. Eudell noted in his message would be the next stage of this work. I look forward to participating with you next week. 

There are many other activities and programs scheduled throughout this semester that will allow us to connect as a community. 

  • Student Breakfasts—Student Breakfasts like the one hosted this morning in the Foundation Building lobby will continue throughout the semester, alternating between the Foundation Building and 41 Cooper.
  • Celebrating Peter Cooper – Each year, we come together to celebrate and honor our visionary founder, Peter Cooper.  The impact of his commitment to the advancement of humanity is immeasurable, as generations of students who have benefited from his gift have gone on to contribute to society with their talents. We will again pay tribute to this remarkable man in February, commemorating his birthday, beginning with our annual Wreath Laying and Community Dinner on Tuesday, Feb. 4, and continuing with our Cooper Together events around the country and globe. Cooper Together culminates in the CUAA Awards program in the Great Hall on Feb. 12.
  • Celebrating SWE – The Society of Women Engineers was officially established on the last weekend of May 1950 when some 50 women convened for its first national meeting at what was The Cooper Union’s Green Camp in New Jersey. We plan to mark the 75th anniversary of SWE this May with a Great Hall program and will have more details to share later this semester.
  • Events & Exhibitions – The work and expertise of students, faculty, staff, and alumni are at the center of several events and exhibitions this semester, including:
    • Paul Gardère: Vantage Points (through June 6)
    • The Things We Keep: Cooper’s Open Archives (January 28)
    • Making Home lecture series with the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture (January 28)
    • Benjamin Menschel Fellowship Program Exhibition (February 4-21)
    • Fabric Object II, an exhibition of work by School of Architecture faculty member Diana Agrest and her husband and partner Mario Gandelsonas of Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects (April 3-27)
    • Senior Art Shows (throughout the semester)
  • Great Hall Public Programs – A robust schedule of programming will again unfold in our historic Great Hall:
    • Becoming New: Artists on Change and Transformation (Feb. 6) with The New Museum and The Cooper Union School of Art
    • Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America with author and NPR anchor Steve Inskeep and ABC News’ Linsey Davis in conversation (Feb. 27). This program, a Gardiner Foundation Great Hall Forum event, marks the very date of Abraham Lincoln’s powerful “Right Makes Might” speech in the Great Hall 165 years ago.
    • New York City Gay Men’s Chorus presents Origins of Love: A Trans Day of Visibility Concert with Mx. Justin Vivian Bond (March 28), also a Gardiner Foundation Great Hall Forum event, and marks the return of the Chorus, which performed in the Great Hall in 2023 and debuted its first-ever holiday concert in 1980 at The Cooper Union.
    • Former Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Stephen Breyer in conversation with Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, author, and podcast host of “Stay Tuned with Preet” (April 4) will be the 2025 John Jay Iselin Memorial Lecture. 

Amidst the many changes in the world around us, the rigor of academic work, and other obligations, I encourage everyone to be mindful of taking care of themselves and each other. For students, please remember to access the comprehensive suite of Student Care services to support your physical and mental health and wellness as needed. For faculty and staff, our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is always available to you at 800-252-4555. 

For our seniors: This semester will be the culmination of all you have discovered about your areas of study and yourselves since embarking on your college experience. I wish you an extraordinary final semester and look forward to seeing you around campus in classrooms, studios, and labs, as well as celebrating you at senior shows, exhibitions, and competitions. 

Welcome back, Cooper Union. Have a great semester. 

Malcolm King

  • 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.