Cooper Union

Adam Bell

Director of Academic Advising and Off-Campus Programs

Adam Bell is a photographer, writer, and educator. He received his MFA from the School of Visual Arts and his BA from Oberlin College. His work has been exhibited and published internationally, and recent honors and awards include an Individual Artist Fellowship from the New Jersey Council of the Arts. His books include Vision Anew: The Lens and Screen Arts (University of California, 2015) and The Education of a Photographer (Allworth Press, 2006), and his writing and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including Afterimage, Aperture, The Brooklyn Rail, FOAM Magazine, Paper Journal, photo-eye, and The Photobook Review. Before joining Cooper Union, he was staff and a core faculty member at the MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media Department at the School of Visual Arts in NYC.

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.