Top of the News

  • Construction on the foundation of our new academic building is complete. A tower crane has been erected on the site and the superstructure concrete phase is now underway. Watch our progress!
  • The Singapore Ministry of Education visited The Cooper Union in October to meet with members of the leadership team at the college and discuss policy issues in higher education in a global context. The delegation also discussed how industry expertise can be tapped to make engineering education more relevant to the profession and interesting for students. Members of the delegation included minister of state Lui Tuck Yew, permanent secretary for education Tan Ching Yee, deputy secretary for education Chang Hwee Nee, deputy director for higher education Aaron Loh, senior head (policy) Lim Yi Jia and senior head (policy) Evelyn Tan.

Congratulations

  • City and state officials announced the winner of a competition for the design of a grandly whimsical green 40-acre park on the southern half of Governors Island: World Park by West 8, Diller Scofidio & Renfro (Elizabeth Diller [AR'79], Ricardo Scofidio [AR'55/Arch. fac. emeritus]), Rogers Marvel Architects, Quennell Rothschild & Partners and SMWM.
  • RMJM Hillier with Diane Lewis Architects and Beckelman+Capalino with Siebert Architects' entry in the adaptive re-use competition from the Sarasota Architectural Foundation to save Paul Rudolph's Riverview High School, Sarasota, FL, is considered the leading proposal. Warm congratulations to Diane Lewis [AR'76/Arch. fac.]. Coverage:
    http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20071201/COLUMNIST10/712010387
    http://www.sarasotaspeaks.com/node/16645
  • Daniel Libeskind (AR'70) was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, November 16, 2007; and also the inaugural Gold Medal of Honor, National Arts Club, November 1, 2007.
  • Lee H. Skolnick (AR'79), founder and principal of New York-based Lee H. Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership, has been named as an Honorary Visiting Fellow by the University of Leicester in England. He will be involved in the University's Museum Studies Program beginning this month and running through November 2012.
  • Azin Valy (AR'90) and Suzan Wines' (AR'90/Arch. fac.) I-Beam Design is the Future Furniture Competition winner, Interior Design, November 2007.

publications, presentations and major exhibitions

  • Jameel Ahmad (Eng. fac.), exhibit hall and poster session display, "A Novel Structure to Protect Against Explosive Loads," Crossing Borders, April 24-26, 2008; panel discussion, American Engineering Alliance Annual Social, October 24, 2007.
  • Marek Bartelik (H&SS fac.), interview on the history of Cooper Union with Colette Fellous, "Carnet nomade," France-Culture, January.
  • Stephan Butler (CE'07), manuscript presentation, First International Symposium on Transportation and Development, Beijing, China, April 24-26, 2008.
  • Kausik Chatterjee (EE fac.), C. Yu, S. Srinivasan and J. Poggie, "A New Floating Random Walk Methodology for Neumann and Mixed Boundary Condition Problems without Reflections at Boundaries: Validation with Laplace's Equation in One Dimension," Far East Journal of Applied Mathematics, Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 705-713, September 2007.
  • Peggy Deamer (AR'77), "Sour Kiwis," The Architect's Newspaper, November 14, 2007.
  • Liz di Giorgio (A'81) solo exhibition, Thirteen Paintings, Jason McCoy Gallery, New York, January 10 - February 23, 2008.
  • David Gersten (AR'91/Arch. fac.), "Empathy: Material and Spatial," in The Making of Design Principles, 2007.
  • Atina Grossmann (H&SS fac.), "Continuities and Ruptures. Sexuality in Twentieth Century Germany: Historiography and its Discontents," in Karen Hagemann and Jean Quataert, eds., Gendering Modern German History (New York: Berghahn, 2007, German edition forthcoming, Campus Verlag); "Jews in Weimar Germany," Museum of Jewish Heritage, November 5; Rabbi Hugo Hahn Memorial Lecture, Kristallnacht Commemoration, Congregation Habonim, Manhattan, University of Minnesota, History Department, December 4 and University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, History Department, December 6; "Jews, Germans, and Allies: Close Encounters in Occupied Germany," Princeton, 2007: BookCulture Bookstore, Morningside Heights, Jewish Community Center and American Jewish Committee, Manhattan, Cooper Union, Jewish Heritage Center, Winnipeg, Canada, December 4; workshop co-convener, "Utopia, Gender, and Human Rights in 20th Century Europe," University of Vienna and Sigmund Freud Institute, Vienna, December 13-16; panel speaker, "Jewish Displaced Persons in Postwar Germany," American Jewish Studies Conference, Toronto, December 16-18.
  • Heidi King (H&SS fac.), curator, Featherwork from Precolumbian Peru, Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 25-September 2, 2008.
  • Kyna Leski (AR'85), The Making of Design Principles, Rhode Island School of Design, 2007.
  • Pam Lins (Art fac.), group exhibition, "Matt Wardell Presents Jerks, Balks, Outblurts, and Jump-Overs," RAID Projects, Los Angeles, through January 18, 2008.
  • Tom McGrath (A'00), solo exhibition, Zach Feuer Gallery, New York City, through January 5, 2008.
  • Morris Sato Studio (Michael Morris [AR'89], Yoshiko Sato [AR'89]), Design Miami, December 7-9, 2007.
  • Ken Okiishi (A'01/assistant dir., Center for Writing and Language Arts), review, Documenta 12, Bidoun, 12, fall 2007.
  • Gina Pollara (AR'90), "Plan Revived for FDR Memorial in NYC," The New York Times, November 26, 2007; "35 Years Later, a Push for a Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in NYC," The Daily News, November 25, 2007.
  • David Shapiro (Arch. fac.), book review, Burning Interiors: David Shapiro's Poetry and Poetics, edited By Thomas Fink & Joseph Lease; "Poetry Forum: David Shapiro," The New School, December 11, 2007.
  • Fred Siegel (H&SS fac.), media interviews on the coming election on NBC, ABC, MSNBC and FOX as well as Danish and Dutch television; "William Jennings Huckabee," Real Clear Politics, October 29, 2007; "Gentry Liberalism," LA Times, December 2, 2007; "The Not So Macho Mailer," The City Journal, November 14, 2007; "The Anti-Anti-Islamist," The Huffington Post, August 21, 2007.
  • Lee H. Skolnick (AR'79), "Design as Interpretation," Design Master Class, University of Leicester, England, January 22-25, 2007.
  • Maren Stange (H&SS fac.), "Photography and the End of Segregation," annual meeting, American Studies Association, October 2007; plenary address, "Photography and the Publicity of the Private," at the conference "Visual Democracy: Image Circulation and Political Culture," Northwestern University, November, 2007.
  • Anthony Titus (AR'98/Arch. fac.), solo exhibition, Museum 52, New York City, January 2008.
  • Will Villalongo (Art fac.), group exhibition, "Mask," James Cohen Gallery, New York City, through January 26, 2008.
  • David Weir (H&SS fac.), Decadent Culture in the United States: Art and Literature Against the American Grain, 1890-1926, SUNY Press, 2007.
  • Jennifer Williams (Art fac.), group exhibition, Atlantic Works Gallery, Boston, through January 12.
  • Pincar Yolacan (A'04), solo exhibition, Rivington Arms, New York City, through January 2, 2008.
  • Guido Zuliani (Arch. fac.), roundtable discussion, "John Hejduk: Interior Landscapes," Public Landscapes Festival of Architecture, Modena, Italy, December 7, 2007.

[Back to top]

giving to cooper union

  • The Booth Ferris Foundation has awarded a $300,000 grant toward construction of the new academic building. This grant represents The Cooper Union's continuing relationship with The Booth Ferris Foundation, which has supported the college since the 1970s, funding interior and exterior renovations to the Foundation Building.
  • The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust has renewed its support of the Saturday Outreach Programs, with a $150,000 contribution toward the programs' ongoing costs. The Helena Rubinstein Foundation has also renewed its long-time support of the programs, with a $15,000 grant.
  • The Hebrew Technical Institute has renewed its support for the Re-Training Program for Immigrant Engineers and the Summer High School Engineering Research Internship Program with a grant of $20,000 each. The foundation is a long-time generous supporter of both programs.
  • Elliot Jaffe and The Jaffe Family Foundation have endowed a Medici Scholarship Fund named after Elliot's father Samuel J. Jaffe (Eng'16). The fund will support half of the full-tuition scholarship for two students each year in perpetuity.
  • Ed Durbin (EE'48) has made a generous contribution from his IRA to support the new academic building. To date, Cooper Union has received 33 IRA rollover gifts totaling more than a quarter million dollars from people who've made the most of their qualified Individual Retirement Accounts. The law permits individuals age 70½ and older to rollover up to $100,000 per year from an IRA directly to a charity now through December 31, 2007.
  • Cooper Union has received a bequest from famous designer and Cooper Union alumnus Marvin A. Schwam (A'64) as well as a major gift from his son Frederick L. Schwam to fully fund the Marvin A. Schwam Memorial Scholarship at The Cooper Union. In perpetuity, the earnings from the scholarship fund shall support students with financial aid and honor Schwam's connection to the college.
  • Cooper Union has awarded 70 named scholarships for 2007-08, providing art, architecture and engineering students with vital financial assistance to offset living expenses. Named scholarships offer support in addition to the full-tuition scholarship that Cooper Union provides all students. Individuals and grant-making institutions establish named scholarship funds to honor alumni and support today's students. This commitment also enables Cooper Union to remain at the forefront of higher education and attract students of outstanding distinction.
  • The Alumni Roof Terrace is now more than one-quarter filled, with 225 spaces reserved and more than $1.25 million raised in support of the new academic building! Please remember that all pledges are payable through June 30, 2012—a full five years—so mark your legacy in stone and secure a space for your name on the Terrace. For more information, contact Richard Aab at 212-353-4171 or raab@cooper.edu, or visit Give to Cooper Union.
  • The Alumni on Wall Street Campaign welcomes its newest Charter Member—Jeffrey Hersch (EE'87). Our Alumni on Wall Street supporters have now raised more than a quarter of a million dollars towards the building of the Wall Street Sky Bridge! Remember, all alumni in financial services have the opportunity to join in this remarkable network and participate in this unique naming opportunity in the new academic building. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Richard Aab at 212-353-4171 or raab@cooper.edu.
  • As we welcome the new year, we'd like to take this opportunity to thank the following individuals for their generous contributions to the new academic building's Donor Walk: Edgar Mokuvos (EE'78); George Reeves (ME'64), Denise and Michael Reiss—in memory of Robert Cox (EE'50), B. Walter Rosen (CE'52), Sean C. Smyth (ChE'85) and Georgette Weihrauch—in memory of Martin Weihrauch (ME'58).
  • Our sincere thanks to Trustee Richard Lincer and his wife Ellen Lincer for their generous gift to the new academic building. Richard's father, Maxwell Lincer, was a Cooper Union civil engineering graduate of 1942.

[Back to top]

Don't Miss

Alumni Events

  • The Engineering Career Evening will take place on Thursday, January 31, 2008 in the Wollman Lounge, at 6:00 pm. Engineering students and Cooper Union alumni will gather to discuss career paths and explore mentoring relationships. This annual event creates a vital connection between students and alumni and serves to foster and enrich Cooper's professional network. Ebele Emelumadu (EE'07) will be the guest speaker at this event sponsored by the Albert Nerken School of Engineering, the Center for Career Development and the Office of Alumni Relations.
  • A luncheon for Cooper Union faculty and staff who are alumni will be held in the downstairs lobby of The Great Hall on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 12 noon. Come meet fellow alumni and get to know your alumni representatives on the Cooper Union Alumni Association Executive and Faculty Committees.
  • The Cooper Union annual Wreath Laying ceremony will be held in Peter Cooper Park Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 12 noon. Commemorate the 217th birthday of our founder Peter Cooper and celebrate the 149th anniversary of Cooper Union. Cake and cider will be served following the ceremony.

Upcoming Lectures and Public Programs

  • Masterpiece Theatre's production of Jane Austin's Persuasion
    Tuesday, January 8, 6:30 pm, advance screening, The Great Hall
    Reservations required: 212-366-2248 or gabrielle.gantz@us.penguingroup.com
  • Randall Kennedy: Sellout: The Politics of Racial Betrayal
    Thursday, January 10, 6:30 pm, free lecture and book signing, Wollman Auditorium
  • Franzen Lecture on Architecture and the Environment: Shigeru Ban
    Tuesday, January 22, 7:00 pm, free lecture, The Great Hall
    Admission $10; free to members of the Architecture League, Cooper Union students, faculty, and alumni
  • Jack Repcheck: Copernicus' Secret
    Thursday, January 24, 6:30 pm, free lecture and book signing, Wollman Auditorium
  • Keith Sonnier and Thom Mayne: In the Open: Art in Public Spaces
    Tuesday, January 29, 7:00 pm, free discussion, Wollman Auditorium
  • The Benjamin Menschel Distinguished Lecture: The U.S. Economy in an Era of Global Economic Transformation
    Featuring Robert E. Rubin, director and chairman of the Executive Committee, Citigroup Inc. and former secretary of the Treasury
    Wednesday, January 30, 6:30 pm, free lecture, The Great Hall

    Robert E. Rubin served in the White House during the Clinton Administration as assistant to the president for economic policy, the 70th United States secretary of the treasury and the first director of the National Economic Council. A graduate of Harvard, Rubin joined Goldman Sachs in 1966 as a junior arbitrage trader and came to master the art of balancing his career as a financier with a call to public service. During his tenure in the White House, he was known for his "measured, discreet manner... he became one of the most popular figures in the administration, presiding over a flush period of prosperity," wrote Landon Thomas Jr. of The New York Times (11/5/07). Rubin oversaw a controversial rescue package for the Mexican financial markets in 1995 and left the administration in 1999 to join Citigroup Inc., where he serves as director and chairman of the Executive Committee.

    Rubin is the author of In An Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington (Random House, 2003, with Jacob Weisberg), which was a New York Times bestseller, as well as being named one of BusinessWeek's 10 best business books of the year.

  • Marshall Berman, Margaret Morton: New York Calling: From Blackout to Bloomberg
    Thursday, January 31, 6:00 pm, free discussion and book signing, Wollman Auditorium

[Back to top]

Did You Know?

  • Leslie Gill (AR'82) and Jacob Alspector (AR'72) were jurors for Architectural Record's "Product Reports 2007", December 2007.
  • On December 16th, Sharon Hayes (Art fac.) performed act one of a new, as of yet untitled, table-top audio cassette performance at Orchard 47 in New York City.
  • Jesse Reiser (AR'81) is a juror for the 2008 Young Architects Competition, The Architectural League of New York.
  • Joe Levickas (special projects coordinator, Sch. of Art) was in a group exhibition, "The 100 Bucks Show," at Ai.lov.iu Gallery, Brooklyn, December 1-23.
  • Michael Vahrenwald (Art fac.) had a solo exhibition at Southfirst in Brooklyn, November 16-December 16, 2007.
  • The Certificate Program in Green Building Design, which began in the fall term with one course, will offer four courses in the spring. Aimed at practicing architects, engineers, real estate developers and members of allied professions, the certificate requires 110 hours of class instruction within two years. Site visits are arranged as part of each course. The spring courses are Distributed Generation and Renewable Energy, Daylighting, Sustainable Materials, and Green Retrofitting.
  • The Center for Career Development hosted a Law School Panel on December 6th. Admissions representatives from Brooklyn Law School and New York Law School spoke to 20 interested Cooper students about their respective programs, the admissions process, student services/campus culture, and how to finance law school.

[Back to top]