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Student Success

Student success

The transition to college can be both exciting and daunting. To ease that transition, we provide a variety of programs tailored for incoming and first-year students as well as ongoing support for all students.

ARC program

Launched in Fall 2019 but based on long-standing academic assistance programs in the School of Engineering, The Academic Resource Center (ARC) is both a place and a program. It offers tutoring services in a quiet study center, using a blended model of learning: some instruction is peer-led (by qualified and trained sophomores, juniors and seniors) and some is provided by instructors (adjuncts). In many cases students may attend either drop-in hours or schedule one-on-one instruction. All our student facilitators have been recommended, approved and trained by the faculty of the subject which they are tutoring. We currently offer extra help for students in required foundation courses such as chemistry, computer science, physics and mathematics.

1st year seminar series

The 1st year seminar series was developed in 2019 to specifically enrich the experience of new engineering students at Cooper Union. Each semester we hold workshops, seminars and information sessions to address common student concerns and provide support and guidance. The exact content and schedule vary from year to year, but typically include detailed information about each major, how to productively manage stress, tips for overcoming failure and creatively managing time, a discussion of diversity, equity and inclusion, and tips for academic success. Other seminars focus on academic integrity and our honor code, registration and advising, as well as more informal feedback sessions for students to voice their opinions and concerns as they navigate their first year at Cooper Union.

CHESS program

In 2022, Cooper’s Help for Engineering Student Success (CHESS) was born. This is a free one-week experience that takes place before orientation and is specifically designed to help students transition to their first year at Cooper Union. The CHESS program consists of 50-minute workshops and sessions to expose students to foundational academic concepts and problem-solving strategies, as well as offer time management and study skills that we believe are integral to their overall success in such classes as calculus, linear algebra, computer science, chemistry and physics.

For more information on any of these programs, please contact Associate Dean Ruben Savizky: ruben.savizky@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.