Meet Our Community

Meet Our Community Lead Image

From architects, artists, and engineers, to community leaders, cultural icons, and philanthropists, the Cooper Family is as exceptional as it is diverse.

We are proud to celebrate the accomplishments of the alumni and friends who learned, taught, and inspired the world here. 

Lifetime Giving Societies

Cooper Fund Leadership Circle

Innovators Society

Friends of the Library

Friends of the Great Hall 

 


 

 

 

  • 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.