William Mea Is Vice President for Finance and Administration

To: The Cooper Union Community

From: President Jamshed Bharucha

I am delighted to announce that William Mea, vice president for finance and business at Wagner College, will join The Cooper Union as vice president for finance and administration on September 2, 2014. Bill will oversee financial planning and budgeting, the controller’s office, human resources and legal affairs, among other responsibilities.

Bill brings more than 30 years experience in finance, 21 of them in higher education. Over the course of his career, he has worked closely with faculty in all the disciplines represented at Cooper, and he has developed mechanisms to promote data-driven decision-making and fiscal transparency. His expertise in strategic and financial planning will make him an effective partner as we work together to build a promising future for The Cooper Union.

Bill began his career as an accountant in the audit division of Ernst and Young, where he concentrated on not-for-profit clients and on the insurance industry. He then joined Philadelphia University as controller and later was promoted to assistant vice president for business and finance. He became vice president for finance and administration at the University of the Arts in 2005 and took on his current role in 2011.

I am confident you will join me in welcoming Bill to the Cooper community in the fall!

  • 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.