CU Black Futures

CU Black Futures

CU BLACK FUTURES (CUBF) is a one-on-one, alumni mentor / student program for members of Cooper’s Black Student Union and Black alumni to exchange during the academic year. Mentorship offers students guidance as they navigate their time at The Cooper Union, to foster interpersonal support refuting anti-Blackness at a predominantly white institution, to assist with professional development towards senior year, and to encourage budding career goals after graduation. This is an intentional and targeted pilot program to build community and historical memory between valued intergenerational members of the school.

Alumni Mentors:
Firelei Báez A'04
Quinci Baker A'17
Rushern Baker IV A'09
Ta-Shea Brown A'18
Ashleigh Caffey A'06
Gertrude Dabo ME'20
Malcolm Davis A'05
Alfred Dudley III A'18
Awol Erizku A'10
Yvette Francis A'03
Mark Thomas Gibson A'02
Ariel Jackson A'13
Latrice Jackson A'10
Tomashi Jackson A'10
Kevin Kedroe A'05
Devin Kenny A'09
Vaughn Lewis AR'19
Ciera Lowe CHE'14
Eric N. Mack A'10
Crystal McKenzie A'73
Dana Miller A'09
Neil Muir ME'14
André Pennycooke A'95 
Angelique Pierre AR'10
Makeba Robinson A'15
James Haywood Rolling, Jr. A'88
Andrew Ross A'11
Kiel Adrian Scott A'05
Torey Thornton A'12
TRUE A'96
Roger Tucker A'74
Sam Vernon A'09

Co-Founders:
Sam Vernon A'09
Sydney Vernon A'21

For more information on the CU Black Futures program or if you would like to be a mentor, please contact Alumni Affairs at alumni@cooper.edu.

  • 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.