The Cooper Union’s 162nd Commencement took place in the Great Hall on Wednesday, May 25, 2022 at 10:30am. President Laura Sparks welcomed everyone and reminded the Class of 2022 that they are now taking their place among a group of individuals who represent the strength of a Cooper education — individuals who look to pay it forward, whether to the students coming behind them or to their broader communities – and urged them to build on the connections they have made at Cooper.  

Julia Buckley, a senior studying mechanical engineering, took the stage to give the Student Address, telling her peers that "the world needs us to be driven” and “to make the world the image you envision."  

Jelani Cobb, Ph.D., a New Yorker staff writer and the Ira A. Lipman Professor of Journalism at Columbia University’s Journalism School, gave a poignant and at times humorous commencement address, reminding this year’s graduates to be committed to something larger than themselves. “I am reminded here of the late Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison’s dictum that ‘the purpose of freedom is to free someone else.’ You have spent years honing your talents, but if you are the sole beneficiary of those talents you will have missed the point," he said.  

Anthony Titus AR'98, Firelei Báez A'04, and John Manuck ChE'69 received Presidential Citations. Robert Tan AR'81, president of The Cooper Union Alumni Association, closed out the day, welcoming this year's grads to the CUAA. Watch the full ceremony online.

Photos by João Enxuto / The Cooper Union, unless otherwise noted.