Welcome Back - Spring 2023

Dear Cooper Union, 

Happy New Year! I am so pleased to be welcoming you back for our Spring 2023 semester. 

We come back together to Cooper Square just a day after the nation observed Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Reflecting on his words and work as the iconic civil rights leader he was provides us with a rich foundation from which to begin our collective and individual journeys over the next five months. On April 18, 1959, at the Youth March for Integrated Schools in Washington, D.C., Dr. King said: 

"Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in." 

Make a career of humanity. Those words speak directly to the pursuits we are undertaking here and the essence of The Cooper Union. Through the information you share, the innovations you discover, the questions you ask, we can make progress toward that end. Whether we are long established in our work or imagining the paths a post-Cooper career might take, the goal of bettering ourselves, our country, and the world we share is one to which we can and should aspire. 

For all of us, the coming months will be filled with excitement and high levels of activity in and out of the classroom, alongside the annual traditions of the end-of-year show, senior showcases, and graduation. We will also continue to welcome New York and the world to engage with us through compelling Events & Exhibitions. 

Through all of this, look for opportunities to support and connect with one another and with the incredible city around us. Let’s embrace together Dr. King’s invitation to “make a career of humanity,” each in our own way and in collaboration with one another. Let’s think through that lens to mark progress and tackle challenges, large and small, personal and professional, community-based and global. 

Welcome back, Cooper Union! I’m glad we’re together again, and I look forward to all that this semester holds. 

With gratitude, 

Laura 

  • 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.