Update on the Office of the President

Dear Cooper Union,

The upcoming departure of Laura Sparks as the President of Cooper Union is a bittersweet turning point for our community. 

When the Board appointed her in September of 2016, Cooper Union had just come through an existential financial and community crisis. Over the last nearly eight years, under President Sparks’ leadership, Cooper Union has experienced a remarkable turnaround focused on a bold and challenging goal: to return the institution to its intended tuition-free status in an age of ever-increasing higher education costs, and doing it while investing in our academic programs at the leading edge of their fields. Despite many challenges and obstacles – including the COVID 19 pandemic – our progress toward this goal has been steady and exceptional.  For six consecutive years, we’ve held tuition flat with no tuition increases, and we are well on our way to being able to restore full-tuition scholarships for all undergraduates. In fact, in the coming year, scholarship levels will reach 83% of tuition, on average, with nearly half of students attending Cooper tuition-free. 

This kind of progress is emblematic of President Sparks’ leadership and unyielding focus on stewarding Peter Cooper’s vision that this institution serve as an extraordinary free center of learning for all. At the outset of her service here, she worked with the Board and our full community to reenergize the aspirations we have for The Cooper Union, defining together a set of Institutional Goals and Strategic Priorities that continue to guide us. In collaboration with the Board’s Free Education Committee, Laura worked to develop the ambitious and comprehensive Plan to Return to Full-Tuition Scholarships, informed by the input of this community and adopted by the Board in 2018. And just last month, we published The Plan at Five Years, a report on the incredible progress made during the first half of this history-making effort. We encourage you to read the report and are sharing a few of its highlights below. With Laura’s leadership, we are not only pursuing our return to full-tuition scholarships, we are:

•    Investing in our academic programs, with new humanities and social sciences minors integrated into every school; new bioengineering and computer science minors and a new computer science major in the Albert Nerken School of Engineering; and continued expansion of exciting collaborations and relationships across all three of our schools with a wide range of New York City institutions and partners, such as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, Albert Einstein School of Medicine, Simons Foundation Flatiron Institute, the Public Art Fund, Museum of Modern Art, and The Met.

•    Investing in our academic spaces, such as the IDC Foundation Art, Architecture, Construction, and Engineering (AACE) Lab, which students are utilizing at full capacity; the Benjamin Menschel Civic Projects Lab for cross-disciplinary collaborations in the public interest; the expanded Center for Writing and Learning; revitalized Library space and programming; and the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture’s studio and the School of Art’s photo lab, modernizing both spaces.

•    Investing in our physical plant, addressing long-deferred maintenance of our historic Foundation Building, including the completion of a four-year, $6 million façade restoration of the landmark building.

•    Fortifying Cooper’s financial resilience for the long term, reversing decades of structural deficits to bring the annual budget into balance and securing more than $116 million in new fundraising since Fiscal Year 2018 with increased giving across the board from individual and institutional donors as well as government sources.

•    Enriching experiences and resources for our students and faculty through new initiatives like The Cooper Union Grant Program, practice-based learning opportunities in the city, deepening our academic leadership team, diversifying faculty perspectives, and building out 24/7 access to student care providers and resources.

Together, we have made tremendous strides, and we look forward to the continued work that lies ahead. We are fortunate that the blueprint for getting there remains clear and achievable and that we are in a strong position to move forward. As Trustees and colleagues, it is difficult to imagine the work without Laura at its center, but she has prepared us well, and we are more than ready to continue all that we began together with her. As interim president and board chair, we feel a deep sense of purpose and duty to this community. The full board feels the same, and we know that so many of you do, as well.

To start, Jamie and Board Vice Chair Lou Manzione ChE’75 will serve as co-chairs of the Presidential Search Committee, and the work of assembling that committee will continue this week. The Presidential Search Committee will work with an experienced search firm. We will update everyone on these developments in the weeks to come. 

There is wisdom in the adage that “the only constant is change.” Progress, innovation, and new opportunities derive from change. The Cooper Union will build now on its 165-year legacy, on the foundations laid during President Sparks’ dynamic years of leadership, and on the incredible talents and aspirations of the Cooper community. 

For those of you in New York City this summer, please save the date of Wednesday, July 24 to toast Laura on her new endeavor. We are also planning an event to celebrate her leadership in the fall when everyone returns to campus.

Thanks so much for all you do for The Cooper Union. We look forward to working together with you in the year ahead.

Malcolm King                         Jamie Levitt
Chair, Board of Trustees        Trustee & Chair, Governance Committee
 

  • 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.