3-06-2014  Opt-In for Online Voting in the CUAA Elections

Dear fellow alumni and friends of the Cooper Union:

As we all know, our Cooper Union has recently made a fundamental change: the incoming class of 2014 will be the first that will be charged tuition. The Board of Trustees made this decision after considering the financial position of our school. Many of us are unhappy with the decision and are unwilling to accept this as a long term solution. Now is not the time for us to turn away from our school. There is no hope for Cooper Union to return to its heritage without us.

Founder’s Day is traditionally the signature event of the Cooper Union Alumni Association. We come together with fellow alumni and share our love of the Cooper Union. We honor fellow alumni for their accomplishments and service. We traditionally honor them for their work in art (Augustus St. Gaudens Award), architecture (John Hejduk Award) and engineering (Gano Dunn). We also honor alumni for their service to Cooper (Alumnus of the Year Award and Young Alumnus of the Year Award). We added two more Awards this year, one of which we will award every year. That is the Service award in honor of Peter Cooper. Many of our alumni have committed themselves to a life of service and we will honor their accomplishments. This year, we honor three alumni with an award of special recognition for their work on behalf of the Cooper Union during its crisis. We are proud to honor our alumni this year and ask that you join us in honoring them.

Our 2014 awardees are:

Augustus Saint-Gaudens Award – Julian LaVerdiere, A ’93, and Augusta Savage, A ’25 (posthumous)

Gano Dunn Award – Jay Moskowitz, PHY ’70

John Q Hejduk Award – Leslie Gill, AR ’82

Alumnus of the Year Award – Sean Cusack, BSE ’98

Young Alumni of The Year:

Henry Chapman, A ’10, Alexis Lenza, CE ’05, and Victoria Sobel, A ’13
Special Recognition Extraordinary Service to The Cooper Union And Its Alumni:

Michael Borkowsky, ME ’61, Barry Drogin, EE ’83/MEE ’86, and Jeffrey Gural
Peter Cooper Service Award – Patricia Buckley Moss, A ’55

We are putting together a very different Founder’s Day event this year because we recognize that the event must become more inclusive. The last few years Founder’s Day events have been expensive events with costly tickets. This year, the CUAA wants to have an event that has no cost to attendees. This year, Founder’s Day will be an award ceremony in the Great Hall, followed by a block party directly outside of Cooper on Fourth Avenue. There will be booths for members of the entire Cooper community to represent themselves and communicate about their work. There will be food trucks from which we can purchase meals and refreshments. This entire event is conceived, planned, and funded by alumni volunteers for the entire Cooper Community.

I am proud to be part of the Cooper Alumni. I will always be proud to be an alumnus of the Cooper Union. I know few alumni who are not proud to have gone to Cooper. We all have something to celebrate about Cooper. I will not turn my back on Cooper. I will work to return Cooper to tuition free. I ask that you join us. The Cooper Union Alumni Association is resolved to return Cooper to its heritage. Our Founder’s Day event speaks to Cooper’s heritage. It is Peter Cooper we honor by honoring the accomplishments of our fellow alumni of our school, his creation and great gift. The continuation of his gift and commitment depends on us. If you are able, please donate to support the event and/or volunteer to help with the event as I have. Please join us at this Founder’s Day on Sunday, April 13, 2014.

Sincerely,

John Leeper, AR ‘85
President CUAA


See details of the event below:

OUR WEBSITE: www.foundersday2014.com