Our Ongoing Session Model

While we offer a number of open, one-time sessions each week, most of our sessions are ongoing: weekly one-hour sessions that allow Associates to take a long-term view of student development, and allow students and associates to build a constructive rapport. Ongoing sessions are in high demand—about 20% of Cooper’s students request them each year—so students are encouraged to sign up for them early. We usually operate with a waitlist.

Our Pedagogy

The Student Leads
All Cooper students have a rare talent for thought—sometimes for very specific forms of thought. We work to help students harness the power of their particular way of thinking, their experience, and their identity, enabling them to connect their own knowledge to classroom material. And, in general, we don’t give students answers—we help them come to answers themselves. 

A Focus on How 

Cooper’s faculties decide what our students should learn—the curriculum and content that make up students’ schedules. In the Center we’re focused on how our students learn. We give them tools and strategies that help them develop as readers, writers, thinkers, and speakers.

The Center Is Not a Remedial Space

When a student needs remediation, we provide it, but we work simultaneously to develop a student’s ability to read, write, and think at a high level. We aren’t here to fix papers or improve grades—but when students regularly attend the Center, their written work, and their grades, get better. We believe in the potential of Cooper students to do excellent work, and our goal is always to help them build upon their strengths rather than to focus on their weaknesses.

An Inclusive and Anti-Racist Ethos

Our staff is committed to making all students feel welcome and to actively challenging forms of discrimination that stand in the way of justice for everyone in our community.

More Forms of Student Support 

For more student resources, please see the Center for Writing and Learning's pages on StudentConnect.

The Major Awards Advisement Program

The Center’s Major Awards Advisement Program—a collaboration with the Center for Career Development—recruits and advises student candidates for major awards and ensures that candidates get the support they need during the application process.

More Opportunities to Learn

We host a number of programs designed to help students develop as scholars and creators, beyond the boundaries of their disciplines. Opportunities include a student lecture series, a literary magazine, and a creative writing group.

Location

The Center for Writing and Learning
Foundation Building | Library
7 East 7th Street
New York, NY 10003

Hours

Monday - Friday: 10 am to 6 pm