Cooper Union

Welcome Week 2022

Welcome Week will be an in-person series of workshops, experiences, and social engagements to prepare you for the start of this new adventure! While not technically mandatory, attendance at our Welcome Week activities is strongly encouraged. You will meet key faculty, staff, and peers throughout this week and build bonds and friendships that will last throughout your time at Cooper Union and beyond.

The schedule for Welcome Week 2022 is available to view below. The schedule will continue to be modified and updated over the coming weeks. All new students should plan to be in New York City for this in-person Welcome Week starting Sunday, August 21, 2022.

Sunday, August 21, 2022

8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Residence Hall Check-In
29 3rd Ave Residence Hall
Welcome to your new home! Upon arrival, you will be given move-in materials, including your room key, mailbox key, and general building information. Please do abide by the staggered move-in times supplied by the Housing & Residential Education staff. There will be several Cooper Union students and staff members present to help you with all of your personal items.

9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Check-in and Student ID Card Pick Up for Non-Residential Students
Stop by the lobby of the Foundation Building and let us know you're here! We'll have some exciting Cooper surprises for you!

10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Financial Aid Meetings
41 Cooper Square
The Office of Student Financial Services will offer in-person appointments between 10:00am – 3:00pm on August 21 only. This meeting is by Appointment ONLY. Appointments should be scheduled in advance to secure your time slot. Please click HERE to schedule your meeting. Please note that masks are required for in-person appointments and students must bring a personal ID to verify identity with the Office of Student Financial Services. 

More conveniently, you can always schedule an online meeting with the Office of Financial Aid or Student Accounts during our regular operation hours by clicking HERE.

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Family Orientation Session
The Great Hall, Foundation Building
Geared towards the families and loved ones of our new students. Join our Dean of Students and others from Cooper Union to review what new students will experience during Welcome Week and an overview of the supportive services and resources available to students during their time at Cooper Union. There are two Family Orientation Sessions, one at 11am and one at 1pm – these are identical sessions, and you only need to attend one. This session was recorded and can be watched here. You can download a copy of the presentation slides from this session here.

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Family Orientation Session
The Great Hall, Foundation Building
Geared towards the families and loved ones of our new students. Join our Dean of Students and others from Cooper Union to review what new students will experience during Welcome Week and an overview of the supportive services and resources available to students during their time at Cooper Union. There are two Family Orientation Sessions, one at 11am and one at 1pm – these are identical sessions, and you only need to attend one. This session was recorded and can be watched here. You can download a copy of the presentation slides from this session here.

3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Welcome Week Official Start Welcome Address
The Great Hall, Foundation Building
Please join President Laura Sparks, and members of her leadership team, for a Welcome Address and formal start to our Welcome Week activities followed by a welcome reception. This session was recorded and can be watched here.

3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
 Welcome Reception for Students and Family  
Peter Cooper Park – Outside Foundation Building
Following the Welcome Address from President Sparks, please join members of the Cooper Union community for a welcome reception. There will be small plates and drinks, as well as plenty of time to mingle with Cooper Union faculty and staff and fellow new students.

5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Commuter Student Welcome and Meet and Greet
2nd Floor Lobby, Foundation Building
Come and meet your fellow commuter students. Make some friends, commuting partners, and begin your journey with us!

5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Residence Hall Floor Meetings
29 3rd Ave Residence Hall
Details will be provided when you check into the Residence Hall by your Resident Assistant.
 
8:00 p.m. – ?
New Student Welcome Party
Join on the 4th floor of the Student Residence Hall!! All new students are welcome! Come out and relax a bit after a chaotic and exciting day of beginning your college adventure! Meet your fellow first year students as well as upper-class students including College Orientation Guides who will be with you through your Welcome Week journey.

Monday, August 22, 2022

9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Student Welcome and Orientation Overview
Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square
Dean Chris Chamberlin and the Student Affairs team will welcome you to the Cooper Union community and will provide an overview of Welcome Week. This session is essential to gain an understanding of upcoming sessions and to ask any general questions that you may have. You can download a copy of the slides from this session here.

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Meet the College Orientation Guides
LL120 Gallery, 41 Cooper Square
Get to know our upper-class College Orientation Guides a little bit better. Learn how they can help you get your questions answered and just make you feel a bit more at-ease.

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Lunch with the College Orientation Guides
Lobby, 41 Cooper Square
Enjoy lunch with our College Orientation Guides. Mix, mingle, and continue to get to know each other.

2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Student Care and Wellbeing
Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square
During this session, our Student Care Coordinators, Director of Student Care and Support, and Associate Dean of Students will discuss common mental health concerns among college students and how to identity these concerns in oneself. We will also talk about aspects of healthy relationships – sexual and otherwise – and how to seek help and support should concerns arise. Additionally, this session will provide students with information regarding supportive resources available at Cooper Union and throughout NYC. The session will include tips and resources to engage in self-care and suggestions on how to stay healthy and be successful at Cooper Union. Slides from this session can be accessed here.

4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Safety and Security in New York City
Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square
Join representatives from Cooper Union’s security team to talk about general personal security when navigating in and around New York City.

5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Evening Social and Community Building Activities

The Tea Club - Chill with Tea Club!
Room 104, 41 Cooper Square
Come hang out with tea enthusiasts who like to explore tea and tea-esque beverages from around the world. All three schools are welcomed! Iced yuza tea, a popular Korean fruit tea, will be served. Come enjoy some tea!

7:00 p.m.
Table Tennis Tournament
Menschel Room, Residence Hall Fourth Floor
Come to play or come to watch - who will be the winners?

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
International Student Breakfast Meeting - MANDATORY FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Room 104, 41 Cooper Square
Mandatory Check-in meeting with Cooper’s PDSO and valuable information on how to keep your F-1 immigration status valid, get to know your fellow international students better, and have some breakfast! Slides from this session can be accessed here.

9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Commuter Student Breakfast Meeting and Social
2nd Floor Lobby, Foundation Building
Meet up with fellow commuter students, share some breakfast, and make connections.

10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Student Health Insurance and Healthcare in NYC
Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square
This session will provide an overview of healthcare resources (physical and mental health) that are available to Cooper Union students. This session will also provide a brief overview of accessing healthcare in New York City. This session is highly recommended for all students but is especially important for students not from the NYC metro area and students coming to Cooper Union with pre-existing physical and/or mental healthcare needs. Slides from this session can be accessed here.

1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
New York City: A 5,000 Year History
Join us in the Great Hall for this amazing presentation. In this talk Professor David Gersten will share the course “New York City, a 5000 Year History” which begins with the idea that New York City can be understood as a microcosm of world cultures, a living ecosystem of cultural diversity in a state of continuous transformation. This creates a living laboratory to explore and develop new questions that address the challenges of our increasingly complex world. With examples from over 5,000 years of art, architecture, engineering, science, technology, biology, finance, industry, politics, poetry, film, music, theater, religion and literature, the course is a close examination of New York City and the nature of transformation.

Over its 160-year life, The Cooper Union has given voice to urgent questions, making critical contributions to countless transformations and social movements. Today, the need for social movements, for civic engagement, and exploratory works of empathy and ethics are as urgent as they have ever been.

There are people, communities, and institutions across all disciplines and across the globe that are increasingly confronted by the need for new models of asking the extraordinarily complex questions of our time. “New York City, a 5000 Year History” covers a large arc of content, asks questions of our city, our disciplines and our humanity, and searches for new modes of creating the transformations that embody our best hopes and aspirations.

4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Center for Career Development Workshop
Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square
Whether your goal is to become an architect, artist, engineer, or something else entirely, it is never too early to start preparing to achieve your goals. Slides from this session can be accessed here. The Center for Career Development works with students as early as their first semester. Join the staff at this session to meet the staff and learn:

How the Center can help you get jobs, internships, and other opportunities.
How to use our job and internship board, Handshake.
How to make career counseling appointments.
And more!

5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Evening Social and Community Building Activities

Mahjong Club - Mahjong Game Information Booth
Lobby, Foundation Building
Come learn about Mahjong, a Chinese game played in groups, while connecting and meeting new people over snacks!

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship - Supplies Auction
Menschel Room, Residence Hall Fourth Floor
Fake money but real prizes! Join us for a fun and friendly night of auctioning various school supplies, household items, meals, and so much more!

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Engineering Math Placement Exam – ENGINEERING STUDENTS ONLY
Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square
The math placement exam is applicable to qualified Engineering majors only. Students seeking to place out of MA111 should take this placement exam. Students who are qualified to take the placement exam will be notified by the Enrollment Management team in advance. If you have any questions about the math placement exam, please contact Professor Om Agrawal, Chair of the Math Department at om.agrawal@cooper.edu.

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
School of Art Meetings – New Art Exchange Students ONLY
Room 212, Foundation Building
Mandatory art exchange student gathering to review important academic opportunities and policies. Slides from this session can be accessed here.

12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Intersectional Justice Reading Group Discussions and Lunch
Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square
Through a series of discussions of communally selected theory, poetry, fiction, video clips, and non-fiction, broadly organized around the theme of intersectional justice, these small group discussions ask us to pay attention, and to collectively forge a path towards clarity and justice. The resonance between and among texts is as beautiful as it is urgent. Lunch is included as part of this program.

3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Center for Writing Workshop
Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square
Meet some of the Cooper Union’s Writing Associates, who are scholars (of history, dance, literature, and more), as well as poets and fiction writers. Find out how they can help you do your best work at Cooper.

5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Evening Social Activities

Cooper Union Institution of Transportation Engineers (ITE) - Subway Scavenger Hunt
Meet Outside of the Foundation Building
Grab a buddy and travel to the NYC subways around Cooper Union, hunting down clues and competing for a prize!

6:45 p.m.
Movie Night
Meet outside the Residence Hall
RSVP to the movie night with the QR code found on the posters - spaces are limited - first come, first on the list.

Thursday, August 25, 2022

10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Archives and Library Workshop Session
Lobby Outside Library, Foundation Building
Meet next to the Peter Cooper sculpture in the library entryway for a quick game of "Get to Know the Library and Archives BINGO" - legitimately cool prizes will be given!!! Materials from this session can be accessed here.

11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Student Collectives Meetings
104, 41 Cooper Square
Come to any and all small group meetings that apply to you for conversation and community-building among peers. Icebreakers and refreshments provided at each session.

11:00 a.m. – LGBTQIA+ Students

12:00 p.m. – Students of Color

1:00 p.m. – First Generation Students

2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Academic School Specific Events and Meetings - See School Programs Below

School of Architecture
2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
Introductions (for all new undergraduate and graduate Architecture students)
330, Foundation Building

3:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Studio Safety/Locker Information (for all new undergraduate and graduate Architecture students)
330, Foundation Building

3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Meet the first-year faculty (for all new undergraduate Architecture students)
315, Foundation Building

Meet the graduate faculty (for all new graduate Architecture students)
712, Foundation Building

School of Art
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
School of Art Welcome Event
630C, Foundation Building

School of Engineering
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Overview of the School of Engineering
Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square

3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square
Meet the First-Year Faculty

4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
BSE: Room 204 | CE: Room 506 | ChE: Room 427 | EE: Room 603 (EE Lab) | ME: Room 503, 41 Cooper Square
Meetings by Major

________________

5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Grab and Go Dinners - ALL SCHOOLS
Foundation Building Lobby
Grab some dinner and come back together with students from all three schools. Faculty and deans are also encouraged to attend so this will be a great opportunity to network and get to know everyone you will be working with for the next several years.

8:00 p.m.
Ice Cream Social
Menschel Room, Residence Hall Fourth Floor
Come enjoy a sweet treat!

Friday, August 26, 2022

10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Students’ Rights and Responsibilities
Great Hall, Foundation Building
Dean Chamberlin will provide an overview of the rights and responsibilities including the Student Code of Conduct and student complaint process. Slides from this session can be accessed here.

11:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Campus Open House and Lunch
Foundation Building and 41 Cooper Square lobbies
Our academic buildings and key spaces will be open for you to explore, meet the amazing humans who run these facilities and will provide key support. A pdf of spaces and details is available for you to download here. Lunch will be provided by Cooper Union - first come, first served!

3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Self-Offense Safety Workshop
The Great Hall, Foundation Building
Be Your Own Superhero! Join Michelle Gay and Zelda Gay from Karate-Do Ken Wa Kan here in NYC for a self-offense workshop. Self-Offense is an unprecedented approach to safety training. It provides a fundamental shift in perspective that prompts participants to create the experience of safety for themselves and others. Participants will gain a profound and lasting understanding of their own power and capabilities, while learning techniques that can be put to immediate use. This is a two-part workshop. This is Part One, taking place during Welcome Week. Part Two will be offered a few weeks into the fall semester - watch for an announcement with date, time, and location! This program is free and open to ALL Cooper Union students.

5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Evening Social and Community Building Activities

5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
The Coopertones - Open Mic Night
101, 41 Cooper Square (Weather-related location change)
This event will allow current and incoming students and faculty to showcase their talents - whether it be through song, instruments, poetry, etc.

6:00 p.m.
Union Square Picnic
Meet outside the Residence Hall
Come enjoy some snacks in nearby Union Square - chips and drinks provided.

Saturday, August 27, 2022

1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Campus Welcome Back Picnic and Fall Festival – Sponsored by Enrollment and Student Affairs
Peter Cooper Park – Outside Foundation Building
All Day

Student Club Meetings and Events

4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Society of Women Engineers - First Year Student Meet and Greet
Room 104, 41 Cooper Square
Come learn about the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Section at Cooper and meet our members. This event will be an opportunity to meet other incoming students and introduce you to the Society of Women Engineers. Come join us for a SWEet time!

4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Architecture Student Council - Supply Run and Studio Desk Assignments
Meet Outside the Residence Hall, 29 3rd Avenue
Meet up with members of the student council to find out where to shop for those much-needed supplies!! Students will also have an opportunity to receive their studio desk assignments and first year architecture students are highly encouraged to attend. Please contact our student council representative, Sarah at bojsen@cooper.edu if you are unable to attend.

4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
AlChE - DIY Oobleck
101, 41 Cooper Square
Come make some oobleck! Join us to learn something about non-Newtonian fluids, eat some good food, and meet your future classmates!

4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
SEAoNY, ASCE, NYWEA, and ITE - High Line Tour
Meet in the Lobby of 41 Cooper Square
Meet the Civil Engineering Professional Societies as we explore one of the coolest structures in Manhattan!

Sunday, August 28, 2022

10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Cooper Cycling Club - Central Park Bike Tour
Meet Outside of 41 Cooper Square
Ride through Central Park with new students and returners wit the option to stay for a group lunch! All riders welcomed! Space is limited - please sign up using this link: https://forms.gle/LFLAUNrMKD68zBzQ9

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Cooper Hyperloop - Meet and Greet
Room 104, 41 Cooper Square
Come learn about the Hyperloop subsystems, what we have accomplished and what we hope to accomplish in the following year. Food will be provided!

12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Cooper Hillel - Meet and Greet
Meet in the Lobby of 41 Cooper Square
Meet and greet with the Cooper Jewish community and take a tour of local places that are significant to current Jewish students, followed by a pizza lunch.

12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
LGBTQIA+ Gathering - Sponsored by oSTEM
8th Floor Terrace, 41 Cooper Square
Come hang out with current students and new students over some free food and games! Great opportunity to learn more about LGBTQ+ student life! Students from all schools welcomed and encouraged to attend!

12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Cooper Union Motorsports Team - Mouse Trap
Room LL101, 41 Cooper Square
Come test your skills and compete in teams as we building and race mousetrap cars. The team will also host an info session about the type of work to expect as a first year. Food and prizes will be available!

4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Coopernova Dance Team - Dance Workshop
101, 41 Cooper Square
Grab a buddy and come learn a new choreography! No experience necessary, all schools are welcomed!

7:30 p.m.
Vejmuu
Menschel Room, Residence Hall Fourth Floor
Back to school plant and stationary party - space is limited.

Monday, August 29, 2022

First Day of Classes!!!

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
All School Convocation and Gathering
Great Hall, Foundation Building
Peter Cooper Park – Outside Foundation Building