Steven W. McLaughlin's Inauguration

Steven W. McLaughlin was inaugurated as the 14th president of The Cooper Union on Friday, March 27, 2026 in the Great Hall. An array of notable guests was on hand, including Dr. Kaye Husbands Fealing, the assistant director of the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate at the National Science Foundation, who delivered the keynote address, and Ángel Cabrera, president of the Georgia Institute of Technology. The celebration included students, faculty, alumni, and local leaders, as well as guests from institutions across the country. These included incoming dean of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architcture Michael Young, who led the processional, and student chamber ensemble Poco a Poco whose musical performance bookended the ceremony. School of Art junior Jane Forrest presented a poem she composed for the proceedings, and civil engineering seniors Sinclair Kennedy-Nolle and Isabella Ng CE’26 and third-year architecture student Zekaiya Whittington also offered remarks. 

Watch the ceremony here.

Photos by Argenis Apolinario A’03

  • 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.