November 2021
Dear Alumni,
My name is Mariam Shahjahan-Cantelmi, Chairperson of this year’s CUAA Annual Fund. As a fellow graduate of The Cooper Union, I ask you: Where would you be without Cooper?
I would not have received the same level of intellectual rigor in my design thinking. Nor would I have been instilled with the social consciousness which has guided my career as an architect. Most importantly, I was not burdened by crushing student debt. Peter Cooper’s vision of education accessible to everyone has shaped my life. It has likely played a role in shaping yours too.
Your support sends a message to the students, fellow alumni, and the broader Cooper community that we are thankful for The Cooper Union and want to secure its future. The Annual Report of the Financial Monitor (Feb. 2021), shows the diligence and progress the Cooper Community has taken towards reinstating Full Tuition Scholarships. Please think of Cooper in your gift giving this year and every year. Should you decide to give now, Alumnus George Reeves ME’64 and his wife Ross Wisnewski have generously decided to advance our mission by matching up to $4 million in donor contributions!
Please take a moment and give today, at any level that you can, so that we may support the next generation of Cooper students as previous generations supported us. Click HERE to make a gift and take part in the matching challenge today!
Best Regards,
Mariam Shahjahan-Cantelmi, AR’95
I am grateful for the education I received at the Cooper Union. I have made a modest contribution each year to the Alumni Fund to partially show my gratitude. However, students like me (Jewish) are no longer valued or wanted…certainly not protected… at this institution, so this year I will forgo my admittedly modest dues. I have been blessed with a relatively long life, so my payments have added up. So until you get the jack-boots out of the school, I am gone.
Marv Slatkin, Art ’53