Ellen Hsiao A'63

Photo of Ellen Hsiao

Ellen Hsiao A'63 died in her New York home on May 12, 2023 at age 82.

 An interest in art at an early age led Ellen to attend The Cooper Union college and graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1963. She juggled a career in graphic design and raising a family before devoting herself to co-founding and managing an artists’ cooperative AAWAA (Asian American Women Artists Alliance). She pursued her passion for the visual arts throughout her life by taking classes and summer programs, and participating in art exhibits.

To read her complete obituary, please click here.

  • 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.