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  • With enormous excitement for the future of The Cooper Union, in November the College begins the construction process for its new academic building at 41 Cooper Square (Third Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets). F.J. Sciame Construction Company is erecting a construction fence around the Hewitt Building in preparation for demolition. We anticipate groundbreaking for the new building in late March 2007.
  • The Cooper Union thanks the City Council which allocated $1.5 million to the College in June, bringing its commitment to the construction of the new academic building to $3 million. Additional thanks go to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer who also appropriated $500,000 for the building.
  • After an extensive search, we have leased space to house 120 students of The School of Art at The Cooper Union during the construction of the college's new academic building. Guaranteeing individual studio space for each student, the new facility is located in Long Island City, an important cultural and arts destination in New York. For the initial move, transportation will be provided for students so that transferring their works from the Hewitt Building to Long Island City will be as smooth as possible.

Congratulations

  • The Cooper Union has received a grant of $15,000 in renewed support for the Immigrant Engineers Retraining Program from the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation, Inc.
  • Adjunct Professor Robert Dell (ME) has been named an Honorary Research Associate at The New York Botanical Garden.
  • Atina Grossmann's (fac., Humanities & Social Sciences) book Jews, Germans, and Allies: Close Encounters in Occupied Germany (in production at Princeton University Press) has been awarded the Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History for 2006 by the Weiner Library in London. The Fraenkel Prize is awarded "for an outstanding work of twentieth century history in one of the Wiener Library's fields of interest, i.e. the political history of Central and Eastern Europe; Jewish history; the two World Wars; anti-Semitism; and the ideologies and movements of political extremism and totalitarianism."
  • Smith-Miller & Hawkinson (Laurie Hawkinson [AR'83]) is one of three finalists in the competition to design a new exterior for the New York Aquarium.
  • Helicos BioSciences (CEO Stanley Lapidus [EE'70, Trustee]), a pioneer in highspeed, high-sensitivity sequencing, has received a $2 million grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) as part of the Institute's "Revolutionary Genome Sequencing Technologies - The $1000 Genome" research program. The grant will fund research of Helicos' proprietary single molecule sequencing technology (tSMS™) for ultra low cost resequencing applications and de novo sequencing of large genomes. The funds will accelerate Helicos' efforts to revolutionize medicine by enabling the sequencing and characterization of genomes across thousands of samples.
  • Ysrael A. Seinuk (Arch fac) was the 2006 inductee into the HENAAC Hall of Fame. HENAAC is the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference.
  • Selected for honorable mention in I.D. magazine's Annual Design Review in the environments category was the project NY A/V by FieldOffice (partners Martha Skinner [AR'95] and Douglas Hecker). In addition, FieldOffice's "dry-in house" was selected for the 2006 Venice Biennale.
  • In our first year at the Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference, Cooper Union is undefeated in tennis, setting all the records for wins and fewest non-wins. October 9th marked the second time Christina Tu (E'10) and Leah Freed (E'09) were named Co-Players of the Week.

Publications and papers

  • Rebecca Armstrong (AR'82) was featured in AARP's November/December issue in the article "Presto Change-O: It's no easy trick to switch careers at 50-plus, but more and more workers are taking the leap and starting over at jobs they love."
  • Professor Dore Ashton (Humanities fac.) gave a paper on Picasso as an anti-fascist at the University of New Mexico international conference on fascism and the arts. She wrote a major catalog essay for the retrospective of the Spanish artist Miquel Barcelo at the Museo d'Arte Moderna of the City of Lugano. She is also preparing a lecture for the Prado Museum in Madrid in January.
  • Gail Buckland, the Olympus Visiting Professor of the history of photography at The Cooper Union, gave a keynote address to 1,100 students in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program at the University of Michigan on September 20. The subject was Research and the Photographic Record. She also has an interview with the aerial photographer Marilyn Bridges in the winter issue of Aperture magazine.
  • Adjunct professor Gerardo del Cerro has been invited to participate in the UNESCO Global Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge. The forum, "Universities as Centers of Research and Knowledge Creation: An Endangered Species?", will examine the contribution of university-produced knowledge to national economic development.
  • Dean William Germano (Humanities & Social Sciences) presented a paper, "Wagner in Pieces," on September 30 as part of the Canadian Opera Company's program of talks on Wagner's Ring cycle, which opened Toronto's new opera house.
  • Atina Grossmann's (fac., Humanities & Social Sciences) letter to the editor deploring the trend toward elimination of Advanced Placement courses in elite public and private American high schools was published in the New York Times on Sunday, October 8, 2006.
  • Jennifer Lee (AR'97/Arch fac) and Pablo Castro's "Beatfuse!", which won the MOMA/P.S.1 Young Architects Program, was covered in the September issue of Abitare.
  • Atlas of Novel Tectonics by Jesse Reiser (AR'81) and Nanako Umemoto (AR'83) was featured in the "Required Reading" list in the September issue of Architecture magazine. In the same issue, Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art was featured in "Now on View" by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, with project credits as follows: partners in charge Elizabeth Diller (AR'79) Ricardo Scofidio (AR'55/Arch fac.); project team members Jesse Saylor (AR'02) Mariya Panteleyeva (AR'05).

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giving to cooper union

  • Leonard N. Green (EE'51) has established a charitable gift annuity at the Cooper Union—a gift that pays individuals an income for life and then provides deferred support for the college. This is the second major gift Leonard has planned for his alma mater. Last year, he notified the college of a generous bequest he intends to leave The Cooper Union.
  • The Senior Class of 2007 has set a goal to raise $25,000 for this year's Annual Fund. A student of the senior class has already volunteered to match up to the first $10,000 raised. When their goal is achieved, this enthusiastic class will have raised one of the largest senior gifts in Cooper Union history.
  • This year's fall appeal for the Annual Fund raised 134% more than last year's appeal.
  • Special notice about new IRA rollover provision for gifts to Cooper Union: To encourage broader giving to charitable organizations, Congress recently passed the Pension Protection Act of 2006. The new law permits individuals who are age 70½ and older to rollover up to $100,000 per year from an IRA directly to a charity now through December 31, 2007. For more about the new law please visit: http://www.cooper.edu/administration/development/ira.html.
  • The Cooper Union recently received bequests from the following alumni and friends: Elizabeth F. Arnold, Joseph A. Paduana (CE'50) and Herbert G. Luther (ChE'41).

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Don't Miss

General Interest

  • The Albert Nerken School's Open House will take place on November 15th from 5:00 to 8:00pm in the Great Hall and the Wollman Lounge.
  • Each month, President Campbell hosts the President's Roundtable to give Cooper Union students the opportunity to engage in an informal dialogue over lunch with distinguished alumni or friends of the institution. The Roundtable series has been enormously successful in providing a platform for the exchange of ideas and giving students a chance to hear success stories from individuals they admire. Recent guests have included Trustee and Newmark Knight Frank CEO Jeffrey Gural, President Emerita of MoMA Agnes Gund, chairman of Rudin Management Co. Jack Rudin, orthopedic surgeon and director of the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletics Trauma Dr. Stephen Nicholas, sculptor-turned-engineer Chuck Hoberman (A'79) and Stanley Lapidus (CEO Helicos BioSciences, EE'70).

    On November 7th, Jenny Holzer will join Dr. Campbell for the Student Roundtable discussion scheduled at noon. Students interested in participating should contact the student ad-chairs in their respective schools to sign up.

    For more than 25 years, Holzer has presented her astringent ideas, arguments and sorrows in public places and international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale, the Reichstag and the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao. Her medium, whether formulated as a t-shirt, plaque or LED sign, is writing, and the public dimension is integral to the delivery of her work. Starting in the late 1970s with the New York City posters, and up to her recent xenon projections on landscape and architecture, her practice has rivaled ignorance and violence with humor, kindness and moral courage. Holzer received the Leone d'Oro at the Venice Biennale in 1990 and the Public Art Network Award in 2004. She holds honorary degrees from Ohio University, Williams College, the Rhode Island School of Design and the New School. Holzer lives and works in New York.

Alumni Events

  • CU @ Lunch with Yuri Masnyj (A'98): Masnyj will discuss his art and professional development on November 7, 2006, at noon, AlumniSpace. This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Career Development and the Office of Alumni Relations.
  • There is a Washington, DC Alumni luncheon with President Campbell on Sunday, November 12 from 12-2:00 p.m. at Old Ebbitt Grill. For more information, contact the Office of Alumni Relations at 212-353-4164.

Exhibitions

  • Betsy Alwin's (technical assistant, sculpture) solo exhibition, Figments of the Ordinary Life, will be on view through November 4th at A.I. R. Gallery (511 West 25th St.). For more information send an e-mail to kgriefen@airgallery.com.
  • Shigeru Ban (AR'84) is one of nine international designers invited to reinterpret "icons" of Louis Vuitton's leather goods. These designs will be on exhibition at Espace Louis Vuitton, September 15-December 31 before they begin a world tour.
  • Kirsten Deirup (A'02) is in a two-person show, I Can Only Give You Everything, opening November 2 at Road Agent in Dallas.
  • Dennis Delgado and Summer McClinton (both computer studio techs) have an exhibition titled Second Life on view through November 9th at Sensei (66 Kenmare Street).
  • Brenda Ferebee (Staff, Office of Admissions and Records) has an exhibition on view at Ex Gallery in Brooklyn (872 Kent Avenue). The opening is December 1 from 6pm - 9pm and the exhibit runs through December 28th.
  • Anne Griffin, professor of political science, gave a talk, "Belgium's Jewish Resistance" at the Yeshiva University Museum on October 17. The talk was in conjunction with her documentary installation, "Resistance and Memory in Belgium," which debuted in October 2005 at the Arthur A. Houghton Gallery at Cooper Union and runs through December 31st at Yeshiva.
  • The work of Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects (Laurie Hawkinson [AR'83]) will be on exhibition at Parsons School of Design from November 9-December 1, with an opening lecture on November 9.
  • Stephanie Hightower (co-director, Outreach Program) has an upcoming exhibition at Cheryl McGinnis Gallery. Absence & Presence will be on view through November 25th.
  • Joe Levickas (exhibitions & special projects coordinator, School of Art) has work in American Diaspora, an upcoming exhibition at Victory Hall in Jersey City. The show will be on view through November 19th.
  • Adjunct instructor Will Villalongo (A'99) has new work in Interplay, a group show at Exit Art on view through November 25.

Upcoming Lectures and Public Programs

  • Stanley Allen (AR'81) lectures on "Working," November 13 at the NJIT School of Architecture.
  • "Secrets in The Sky: Towers of Gotham," which originally aired in the "Secrets of New York" series, features Karen Bausman (AR'82), and will air this fall on PBS stations.
  • Akeel Bilgrami
    How To Reduce Four Mysteries To One: Value, intentionality, freedom & self-knowledge
    Thursday, November 2, 4 pm, free lecture, Wollmann Lounge
    Professor Bilgrami is the author most recently of Self Knowledge and Resentment (Harvard, 2006) professor of philosophy and an internationally recognized scholar.
  • Chemistry professor John Bove and ChE grad student William Hum will present "The Use of Pattern Recognition in the Determination of Ethanol Concentrations in Ethanol/Water Mixtures," at the Eastern Analytical Symposium Proceedings on November 16.
  • Jennifer Lee (AR'97/Arch fac) and Pablo Castro of OBRA Architects presented the lecture "Incomplete Works: Mementos & Lacunae" on October 16 at North Carolina State University School of Architecture and will speak on this same topic on November 15 at the University of California, Berkeley, College of Environmental Design. They also participated in the Center for Architecture's Architecture Week Design-In Marathon on October 7, during the Play-In session "Design for Fun".
  • The Fall 2006 lecture program of The California College of Arts and Crafts features Fritz Haeg/Alexis Rochas (AR'02) on November 1.
  • Dean Anthony Vidler will discuss Peter Eisenman's (Irwin S. Chanin Distinguished Professor Emeritus) new book on November 27 at Columbia University in a program entitled "Tracing Peter Eisenman," co-sponsored by Urban Center Books. Dean Vidler also participated in The Deans' Roundtable in connection with the opening reception for the exhibition (co-designed and graphic design by Gia Mainiero [AR'06]) "arch schools-public view(ing)" at the Center for Architecture.
  • The Second Annual Eleanore Pettersen Lecture
    "The Social, Ethical, Esthetic, Cultural, and Financial Significance of "Wasted" Space: the Seagram Building, 1954-58"
    A free lecture by Phyllis Lambert, CC, GOQ, CAL, FRAIC, FRIBA (HON), FAIA (HON), FRSC, RCA, LL D at The Great Hall
    Thursday November 9, 6:30 pm

    Architect Phyllis Lambert first made architectural history as the director of planning of the Seagram Building (1954-58). Recognized internationally for her contribution in advancing contemporary architecture and for her concern for the social issues of urban conservation and the role of architecture in the public realm, her lecture will explore the change in public attitude toward building and architecture in New York City, seen through the mixed messages of the city's bureaucracies in the years immediately following the completion of the Seagram Building.

    The Annual Eleanore Pettersen Lecture was established in honor of Cooper Union alumna Eleanore Pettersen through a generous donation to The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture. The lectures, dedicated to the voices of women in architecture, will be a lasting tribute to Pettersen, her significant impact in the world of architecture and her love of The Cooper Union.
    http://archweb.cooper.edu/lectures/fall06.html

  • Thom Mayne: Morphosis
    Tuesday, November 14, 6:30 pm, free lecture and book signing, The Great Hall
    Winners of numerous awards and the subject of exhibitions from Tokyo to Berlin, Morphosis is one of the most influential American architecture firms of the last two decades. The Los Angeles-based practice, headed by 2005 Pritzker Prize-winner Thom Mayne, has recently released Morphosis, the firm's first monograph. The publication is a compilation of bold, documentary-style color photographs of 35 completed buildings that depict the firm's avant-garde approach to design. Projects covered range from early ones in Los Angeles to recent large-scale work beyond California and the United States-in Canada, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Austria.
  • Aural Fixation IV
    Saturday, November 18th, 7:30-9pm, Wollman Auditorium
    Musical science meets audible art! Come hear what happens when a high-tech acoustical laboratory is used to explore the boundaries of human auditory experience. Engineering and art students from Cooper Union present a unique concert event featuring some 20 original electronic, sonic and musical compositions and simulated acoustic environments, all showcased on a 15,000 watt, eight-channel, full-surround sound system.

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Did You Know?

  • Dean Eleanor Baum was an invited speaker at The Society of Women Engineers Annual meeting in Kansas City, MO. Her talk was on "Careers in Academics." She also spoke at the American Engineering Alliance in New York on "Challenges Facing the Engineering Profession." Dean Baum is an ABET accreditation visitor at Rose-Hulman.
  • Professor Joe Cataldo (CE) recently delivered a talk entitled "Determination of Flows Reaching Navigable Waters" at the Soil and Water Conservation Society's Annual Conference in Keyston, CO. Cataldo also won the 2005/2006 Chi Epsilon Excellence in Teaching Award in recognition of his dedication to teaching.
  • Maurice Cox (AR'83) lectured on "An Architecture of Urgent Matters" on October 31 at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
  • Elizabeth Diller (AR'79) served on the environments category jury for I.D. magazine's Annual Design Review.
  • Dean William Germano taught two workshops in publishing and professional writing for scholars this month: in Tucson for the Modern Language Association and at Ohio State. In addition, he was invited to give a professional development workshop to faculty at the University of North Carolina and the University of Massachusetts.
  • Sam Messer (A'77), associate dean of Yale University's School of Art, offered current Cooper students insight into the MFA application process and experience at the Art Graduate School Panel on October 10. The event was organized by the Center for Career Development.
  • Dale Perreault (Cooper Union Library) wrote the text for the Samuel Beckett centenary exhibit at the library (design by Thomas Micchelli [A'75]) , and played Andy Warhol in two performances of the oratorio-in-progress "American Helpings" on October 5th and 12th at Dixon Place.
  • Professor Ysrael A. Seinuk (Arch fac) delivered the keynote address for the annual Rochester Hispanic Business Association's Business Person of the Year Gala Luncheon on September 28, 2006.
  • Paul Seletsky (AR'82), director of digital design, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, participated in the Design-In Marathon, in the Work-In session "Commercial, Real Estate and Hospitality." Paul also participated in the panel "It's a BIM New World-The Next Revolution in Design and Construction Technology" about Building Information Modeling, and its future impact on the building industry.
  • Adjunct professor Klara Shitikova (Math) was a guest speaker at the Gordon Research Conference on Photo Nuclear Reactions in August. Her topic was "A Unified Approach for the Phase Transition in Nuclei and Quarks."
  • At CU @ Lunch on October 24, Anthony Titus (AR'98, Arch. instructor) spoke about the cross-fertilization of architectural and artistic practices, focusing on his recently completed installation commissioned by Bloomberg and Art in General titled "Day-scape/Vida." This event was co-sponsored by the Center for Career Development and the Office of Alumni Relations.
  • Professor Lebbeus Woods (Arch fac) spoke about Zaha Hadid's work at the Guggenheim Museum on October 24 (in connection with her exhibition).

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