Alumnus of the Year and Young Alumnus of the Year are Announced
The 2016 Alumnus of the Year is Adrian Burton Jovanovic BSE ’89.
During his years at Cooper Union, Adrian Burton Jovanovic BSE ’89 served as President of engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi and was founder and captain of the division-winning tennis team. Upon graduation Adrian was awarded the Cooper Union Alumni Association Award for outstanding service and later was inducted into the Society of 1859, recognizing enduring donor gifts.
After graduation, Adrian went to work for Microsoft as a Software Design Engineer and Program Manager, and then went on to found eMedia Music Corp., a leading publisher of educational music software, where he is President. Adrian has also served on several non-profit boards and serves as a City of Seattle Music Commissioner.
Adrian is co-founder and President of Committee to Save Cooper Union, which stepped in and legally challenged the tuition-charging expansionary direction set by then President Bharucha and the Board of Trustees from that period. Many of the stated objectives of the legal action paralleled CUAA resolutions on the subjects. The resulting settlement brokered by the NY Attorney General resulted in substantial reforms to transparency and governance, including requiring the board to plan for getting back to free tuition, installing a financial monitor and requiring the election of new Alumni Trustees. As a result of winning the alumni trustee election, Adrian serves on the Cooper Union Board of Trustees.
The 2016 Young Alumna of the Year is Kelly Smolar CE ’07 / ME’11.
Kelly Smolar graduated from Cooper Union in 2007 with a Mechanical Engineering degree. Upon graduation she worked for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey while pursuing her master’s degree at Cooper Union. She then passed her Professional Engineering license in 2012. She is an avid member of the ACE mentoring program as well as Engineers without Borders where she has worked on water services in both Kenya and Ghana since 2012.
Kelly Smolar is currently a Project Manager for Skanska Buildings USA managing the site wide MEPS systems for the redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport. Previously she worked for Tishman Construction and Zubatkin Owner’s Representation where she worked on projects including the construction of One Riverside Park, the Sugar Hill project in Harlem, NY designed by David Adjaye and the 9/11 Memorial Museum. She is married to Chris Gerne, an Art 2007 graduate and currently lives in Brooklyn NY.
She has been active in the Cooper Union Alumni Association since her graduation from The Cooper Union. She began by participating in the annual phonathons and later by participating in the Communications, Nominating and Tellers committees of the CUAA. In 2015, she was elected chair of the Nominating committee and oversaw the nominating process for the special election held in the fall of 2015 for additional Alumni Trustees. She worked passionately on the 1859 campaign launched in 2014. She has consistently advocated for initiatives that support full merit scholarships for Cooper Union Students and has been an advocate for CUAA projects that benefit current students, such as the end-of year pizza parties, and modifying the CUAA constitution to allow CU Seniors to vote in the CUAA elections.It is her long term goal to get the Cooper Union a few seats in the NYC marathon as a mechanism to promote our wonderful institution and merge her two passions of marathon running and fundraising for her alma mater
April 6, 2016 – CUAA Council Meeting
The April CUAA Council meeting was held in room 201 at 41 Cooper Square. CUAA President Nils Anderson announced the 2016 CUAA Award winners. The various committees presented their updates. Discussion was held about plans for the Founder’s Day Celebration Events and The Meet The Candidates Night Event. Some updates were provided by the alumni trustees on the in-progress presidential search. The entire meeting is available on video.
View the meeting on LiveStream Video Here
Meet The Candidate Night was held on April 11th.
An informational forum took place in the Rose Auditorium on April 11, 2016. Alumni heard from the Alumni Trustee Candidates, The Officer Candidates, and Members of the Constitution Committee. After the forum there was a Meet and Greet Mingling period where alumni were able to meet the candidates while enjoying food catered by Frankie. Learn More.
Annual CUAA Spring Election
Each year, the CUAA membership elects new officers, including an Alumni Trustee, and elects 1/3rd of the council members. The membership also elects the members of the Nominating Committee.
Learn About the Candidates by reading Bios and attending Meet The Candidate Night on April 11, 2016
This year the CUAA membership is voting on a new CUAA Constitution. During last year’s election the membership voted to organize the CUAA as a Non-Profit Corporation. This will allow the CUAA to accept tax-free donations. The new proposed constitution includes additions required for tax exempt status described in Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Service Code. You can download a copy of the proposed CUAA Constitution here. 2016 Proposed CUAA Constitution
Financial Services Affinity Group hosts Pathways to Careers in Finance
This Alumni and Student networking event was held on April 7, 2016 at the Cooper Union. See Pictures
CUAA FaceBook Page Passes a Milestone.
Alumni following The Official Cooper Union Alumni Page on FaceBook has been slowly growing since its creation in 2006. Waiel S. Hussein, CE’92, gave us the 3000th Like at 6:21 AM on March 26th. We have 3017 likes as of April 24th. The number of CU Alumni that are active on the Internet (having e-mail) is estimated at 6000. Alumni can see postings of Cooper Union, Alumni Association, and individual Alumni news first on this page, and they can add postings of their own. If you have not already done so, please visit the page and “like” it. FB Link
CU Library News:
The Cooper Union Library is initiating a new program called Friends Program that allows alumni to check materials out of the Cooper Union Library. If you would like to be notified when the library is ready to accept applications, you can send a Facebook message with your name and email address to the Library’s FaceBook page.
Coming Events
May 24, 2016 – Commencement
June 2, 2016 – Founders Day 2016 Award Ceremony
At the Founder’s Day Awards ceremony, CUAA awards are presented to the winners of the Gano Dunn, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, John Q. Hejduk, Peter Cooper Service, Outstanding Alumnus and the Young Alumna of the Year awards. The Awards Ceremony will be held at the Fish House. Learn More
Reunion Weekend June 3rd – June 6th
All alumni from all class years are invited to attend these events. A special invitation is extended to alumni marking a milestone year. The Class of 1966 is celebrating their Golden Legion Reunion. On Friday, enjoy a presentation in Rose Auditorim and cocktails on the Alumni Rooftop Terrace. On Saturday, participate in one of the reunion luncheons. Take a tour of the school buildings. Meet the Deans and see what’s happening now in Cooper classrooms. Saturday Night, take a Cruise around Manhattan on the Spirit of New York! Finish the weekend off with Sunday Brunch and a CUAA Block Party.
Reunion Weekend will be the first weekend in June. Members of the class of 1966 will be celebrating their Golden Legion. Several other classes will be marking milestones as well. It takes many volunteers to organize a memorable reunion. Are you interested in helping. use this form to let the Cooper Union Alumni Affairs and Development Office know. Nina Tandon EE’01 will address her former classmates and other Cooper alumni celebrating their reunion on Saturday, June 4. Learn More
June 5, 2016 – Founder’s Day Block Party FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
The third annual CUAA Founder’s Day Block Party will be Sunday, June 5, 2016. It will be held Outside the Foundation Building, 7 East 7th St., New York, NY You’re invited to a celebration of the Cooper Union community with food, music, art, construction, students, engineering, alumni, architecture, friends, artificial intelligence, family, updates, dancing, giveaways, water, a bouncy castle, end of year show, tours, air, student clubs, crafts, reunion weekend, after party, performances, untold stories, tables, balloons, kites, neighbors, jello & more…! Learn More
typographics-2016
Typographics, a typography conference will be held on Friday, June 17 and Saturday, June 18. The event is organized by Cooper’s Type@Cooper Learn More
School News
Update on the ongoing Cooper Union Presidential Search:
The School released this update in early April. Read Update
The Foundation Building Celebrates 50 Years of Land Marked status.
On March 15, 1996 New York City Land Marks Preservation Commission designated the Foundation Building as a Land Marked building. See Ruling
Engineering Career Fair
On Tuesday, March 1st more than 40 institutions were represented at a career fair in the Great Hall. 250 students attended. Several alumni were seen at the fair. Learn more
Women in Engineering
This event was held in the Greeat Hall, The Rose Auditorium and several laboratories on March 30th. The key note address was given by Anitha Reddy, CE’12/ME’13. Cooper faculty, alumna and female engineering students discussed their research, their academic experiences and their career trajectories to approximately 150 high school students who have shown interest in attending The Cooper Union Engineering program or other STEM programs. Their families attended too. See images from the Women in Engineering event taken by Marget Long. Photos
School of Art — Saturday Program Exhibit and Senior Shows
Each Tuesday throughout March an April, Openings were held for Senior Shows. See Photos
ALUMNI NEWS
Alumni accomplishments featured prominently on our website… Please take a look!
Share your accomplishments by posting them on The Official CUAA FaceBook page and LinkedIn Group
In Memoriam
We recently lost Edward Henrion A’52 and Evelyne Stalzer ChE’81.
Ed Henrion Art ’52 passed away on February 25, 2016 at age 87. He leaves behind his wife of 63 years, Marilyn (Greenfield) Henrion Art ’52, four children, four grandchildren, and the legacy of his extraordinary body of work that can be see on his website, http://edwardhenrion.com, and in three published books, Top Hat, Sweet & Lovely, and Book of Chance I, all available on amazon.
Evelyne Stalzer ChE’81 passed away on March 27, 2016. She was an engineer-turned-teacher who brought her love of geometry and learning to her classroom, reaching a generation of The Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy students in The Bronx.
Useful Links
All editions of the CU Student Newspaper, The Pioneer, can be read on-line. http://pioneer.cooper.edu
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