2015 Special Election for Alumni Trustees

As part of the historic Consent Decree, the alumni will have greater representation on the Cooper Union Board of Trustees. Two alumni Trustees will be elected during this special election.  One newly elected Trustee will begin his/her 4 year term in December 2015 and one will begin in June 2016.

In accordance with our CUAA constitution and by-laws, candidates for election to Cooper Union Alumni Association positions were presented by the Chair of the CUAA Nominations Committee to the CUAA Council on October 20th.

The election will be taking place from October 28 to November 18, 2015.

Nominees for Alumni Trustee Click on alumni picture for biographical information and statement
Anders Abraham AR’91	Cristina Aguirre-Ross AR’81	Susan Berman AR’80
Ling-Wei Chang EE’82	Dr. George L. De Feis CE’82	Jack Freeman AR’69
Mina Greenstein A’56	Dr. James Haywood Rolling Jr. A’88	Aftab Hussain ME’97
Adrian Jovanovic BSE’89	Jennifer Lee AR’97	Scott Lerman A’81
Elaine Maldonado A’68	Margaret Matz AR’83	Robert Marano EE’93
Bill Morrison A’89	Edward Nilsson AR’70	Eduardo Palacio EE’75
Victoria Sobel A’13	Edward Trackman ME’66	Mark A. Vasquez ME’88
Richard Velazquez ME’94		Carol Wolf A’84

Fellow Alumni:

Last month, we asked you to submit nominations to help us create a diverse slate of nominees to participate in an unprecedented special election to fill two new Alumni Trustee seats on the Cooper Union Board of Trustees. This is a pivotal moment in Cooper’s history, and we continue to count on you to rekindle Peter Cooper’s original vision by participating in the election.

The response was extraordinary. The nominating committee received over 40 nominations, and after two weeks of personal interviews, information gathering, and careful consideration on the part of each nominee, we can now report that we have 25 exceptionally qualified candidates who are able and willing to fulfill the role of Alumni Trustee.

We understand that presenting a ballot with so many candidates, when there are only two positions to fill, presents a challenge to voters. But the nominating committee, as your elected representatives, vigorously debated the options of narrowing down the list to a more manageable size, versus setting forth all qualified candidates to the electorate. We feel strongly that each of these candidates are qualified, and as a diverse group express the unique skills and talents that we were looking for when we originally called for nominations. We believe excluding any of these candidates would be a disservice to the community and could potentially cause a host of new and unnecessary problems. The CUAA council embraces this outpouring of dedication and commitment on the part of our alumni nominees, and has voted to put forth a ballot with all of the candidates.

We are grateful to and proud of these candidates for their willingness to serve, and urge everyone in the Cooper Union alumni community to take the time to get to know all of them and their extensive qualifications so that you can cast an informed vote. Looking forward, beyond the election, the CUAA is exploring opportunities that will allow alumni like these — who are willing and able to offer their valuable time and expertise — to engage in other meaningful ways to help the school.

The fall 2015 Special Election is happening in accordance with the Consent Decree, which mandates the election of two additional alumni trustees. The candidate receiving the greatest number of votes will be seated for the December 2015 Board meeting, and the runner up will be seated in June 2016.

Please note that these are additional trustees, and that during our Spring 2016 election we will have the opportunity to elect an alumni trustee according to the regular schedule, to replace Ed Mokuvos EE ’78, whose term expires in September 2016. The winning candidate of that election will be seated according to the regular schedule, in December 2016.

In order for voters to familiarize themselves with the candidates, the candidates’ information will be posted to the website. There will also be a Meet the Candidates event on Monday November 9, 2015. Alumni may attend in person or via livestream.

If you voted in the Spring 2015 election, then you are already registered. You will receive a ballot in your email inbox on Wednesday October 28, 2015. If not, PLEASE REGISTER FOR THE WEBSITE HERE and you will receive a ballot in your email inbox within a week of registering – note that this is not an automated process. Note also that, just like last election, you may vote and then change your vote later. Feel free to choose your two candidates and still be secure that, as the election proceeds, you may update your ballot until the end of the election on Nov 18, 2015. If you have any issues, please respond to this email or send an email to contact@cooperalumni.org.

We thank you in advance for your participation and support, and we look forward to a great election!

Sincerely,
Nils Anderson, CUAA President
Kelly Smolar, CUAA Nominating Committee Chair

Election Calendar