Freshman Orientation Schedule
Download the Fall 2013 Orientation Schedule PDF
THE COOPER UNION
ORIENTATION SCHEDULE FALL 2013
NEW STUDENTS
AUG 31 | SEPT 1 | SEPT 2 | SEPT 3 | SEPT 7 | SEPT 10 | COOPER CAMPUS
SATURDAY, AUGUST 31
9 AM–3 PM RESIDENTS MOVE IN
Lobby, 29 Third Avenue.
Your time slot has been assigned by the Residence
Life staff to minimize the inconvenience of slow elevators. You will receive detailed instructions this summer. Upon arrival, you will be given a packet with your room key, mailbox key and a room inventory checklist. Your building entrance code for the handscan in the lobby will also be programmed during this designated time. The Residence Life staff will be available to greet you and help with the overall move-in day process.
You wouldn’t be a Cooper student if you weren’t already hungry. Join the resident assistants for a brief tour of places to buy food (Union Square Greenmarket, Whole Foods, Food Emporium, and our own Sunrise market). You will need to walk so wear appropriate shoes.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10
COOPER CAMPUS
The Cooper Union comprises four buildings at Manhattan’s Cooper Square, between Sixth and Ninth Streets and Third and Fourth Avenues.
THE FOUNDATION BUILDING
At the center of this educational complex is the Foundation Building, the college’s original structure, which was built under Peter Cooper’s supervision. Housed in the building are the Great Hall, The Cooper Union’s historic auditorium; The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture; much of the School of Art, the library; The Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery and the Office of the President. The building also includes the Architecture Archive, classrooms, shops and studios.
The building is open during the fall and spring semesters from 8 am to 2 am, Monday through Thursday; 8 am to midnight, Friday and Saturday; and noon to 2 am on Sunday. Hours may be extended during high-use periods such as the last two weeks of the semester. The School of Architecture office is open Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm. The School of Art office is open from 8:30 am, to 6 pm during the academic year. Shops, special labs, the computer studio and other facilities that require supervision are open on a more restricted basis; each facility posts its own hours. A detailed schedule is available from the School of Art office.
During the summer months, the Foundation Building is open from 8 am to 6 pm Monday through Thursday; the administrative offices are open from 9 am to 5:15 pm Monday through Thursday; and all of the educational facilities are closed except to high school students who participate in the Saturday/Outreach Program and participants in the Summer Residency Program.
41 COOPER SQUARE
In September 2009, The Cooper Union opened 41 Cooper Square, its newest facility. The building was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne, and features state-of-the-art laboratories, classrooms and studios along with conference rooms, lounges, 41 Cooper Gallery and the Frederick P. Rose Auditorium. It houses the Albert Nerken School of Engineering, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Louis and Jeannette Brooks Computer Center, The Herb Lubalin Study Center, The Saturday Outreach Program and provides student and teaching studios. In the fall of 2010, the U.S. Green Building Council awarded 41 Cooper Square the LEED Platinum rating, its most rigorous level of certification that acknowledges the building’s array of green features which reduce energy use and enhance the environment. 41 Cooper Square is the first academic building in New York City to achieve the LEED Platinum status.
The building is open from 8 am through 2 am Monday through Thursday, 8 am through midnight Friday and Saturday, and noon through 2 am on Sundays. The Albert Nerken School of Engineering Office and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Office, are both open from 9 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday, and 9 am to 5:15 pm Monday through Thursday during the summer. The Brooks Computer Center is open from 9 am to midnight Monday through Friday, and noon through 8 pm on Saturday and Sunday.
30 COOPER SQUARE
The Business Office, Center for Design & Typography, Office Services (mail, photocopies, supplies), and the Offices of Admissions and Records, Registrar, Student Services (financial aid, career counseling, health, recreation and safety) and External Affairs (Alumni Relations, Annual Fund, Alumni Association, Development, Public Affairs, The Saturday Outreach Program and Continuing Education and Public Programs) are housed at 30 Cooper Square. The building is open for public service from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday. Summer hours are Monday through Thursday, 9 am to 5:15 pm.
STUDENT RESIDENCE
Located on Stuyvesant Street and Third Avenue, the Student Residence opened in 1992 and provides housing for 178 students. Three, four or five students share each two- or three-bedroom unit. Each unit contains a bathroom and kitchenette. The building contains a laundry room, the residence hall office on the third floor, a study room, the Menschel Common Room and Peter Torraco Alumni Space.
The Student Residence is staffed by the Director of Residence Life, assistant manager, 24-hour security guards, resident assistants and maintenance staff. The building has sprinkler, security camera and alarm systems. Access for residents is controlled by a palm scanner.
Social programming for the building occurs in the Menschel Room with its spacious terrace, a generous gift from the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.
21 STUYVESANT STREET
The historic townhouse at 21 Stuyvesant Street, which is known as the Stuyvesant Fish House, was given to the college as a gift in the late 1990s. Renovated by Cooper Union architecture alumna Toshiko Mori, it serves as the President’s Residence.
HECHT VIEWING GARDENS
Located in front of the student residence are the George Hecht Viewing Gardens, made possible by a gift from Hecht, a 1930 electrical engineering alumnus.
THE GREAT HALL
The Great Hall of The Cooper Union has stood for over a century and a half as a bastion of free speech and a witness to the flow of American history and ideas. When the hall opened in 1858, more than a year in advance of the completion of the institution, it quickly became a mecca for all interested in serious discussion and debate of the vital issues of the day. It has continued in that role ever since.
THE COOPER UNION LIBRARY
The Library’s specialized collections provide support for the academic programs at the institution’s three degree-granting schools of Art, Architecture and Engineering, as well as courses in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Located on the main floor of the Foundation Building, the Library house over 100,000 volumes of books and periodicals, maintains collections that include visual and historic materials, and provides access to a wide variety of electronic resources, including thousands of e-journals and e-books. The Library offers group instruction in research techniques and has computer facilities for individual research and study. The Library’s electronic resources are accessible from any computer on campus as well as to authorized users off campus.
The Visual Resources Collection is comprised of DVDs, videotapes, 16 mm films, digital images, slides, maps and blueprints. The Cooper Archives preserve manuscripts, papers, photographs and memorabilia relating to the history of The Cooper Union, its founder Peter Cooper and the Cooper and Hewitt families.
The Cooper Union Library is a member of a consortium of academic libraries that includes New York University’s Bobst Library and the libraries of The New School. Under this agreement, the libraries share a combined online catalog, and students and faculty of The Cooper Union have access and borrowing privileges at the consortium libraries. Separate agreements provide access and borrowing privileges at the library of the Polytechnic I nstitute of New York University and access to the Cardozo School of Law library.
When classes are in session, Library hours are as follows: Monday through Thursday 8:45 am–9 pm, Friday 8:45–6, Saturday noon–5 and Sunday 2–8. The Visual Resources Collection is open M–F 9–5. The Cooper Archives is available by appointment. When classes are not in session, the Library is open M–F 9–5. Summer hours are Monday through Thursday 9–5. The Library is closed on holidays observed by the college.
