Running for: Alumni Trustee

Rachel Whitlow A’94

Personal Statement

I am honored to be nominated for the position of Alumni Trustee. Serving on the Board of Trustees would be a privilege and a natural progression from my lifelong commitment to Peter Cooper’s vision and legacy. If elected, I will utilize my knowledge and years of experience to make meaningful contributions to the Board of Trustees and its stakeholders.

The Cooper Union Alumni Association (CUAA) has played an important role and was my family growing up. Cooper Union has been an integral part of my life since I was four years old when I attended the now gone Cooper Green Camp with my grandparents, Cooper Couple Mary Rankin and Al Zalon A 48. My grandparents and their classmates were active members of the CUAA. Led by Marilyn Hoffner Greenberg, the class of 1948 was a tight-knit group whose dedication to design, commitment to community, and compassion still form an integral part of my life today. I have always felt quite fortunate to have been blessed with growing up surrounded by such an exceptional community. Both of my grandparents were the children of immigrants and were the first in their families to attend higher education, which they were able to do because Cooper Union was free. I am not only eternally grateful to Cooper Union for giving me and my grandparents a free education; I literally would not have existed without Cooper. It is for this reason I will work tirelessly with stakeholders and members of the School to ensure that we honor Peter Cooper’s vision with a return to free education for all future students. Growing up in the CUAA, I stood alongside my grandparents as they tirelessly campaigned to save Green Camp (the place they met), joined the phoneathon fundraising marathons, and celebrated Peter Cooper’s birthday. The day I graduated in ’94, Marilyn drafted me to the CUAA, where I served on the St. Gaudens award and as Art faculty liaison. I have served off and on the alumni council ever since. It is because of the CUAA that I believe that members of the Board of Trustees must understand the vision of Peter Cooper to be effective as an Alumni Trustee.

What I will bring to the board of Trustees is 30+ years of experience as an Industrial Designer, Creative Director, COO, CEO, and Executive Director. As a graduate of the art school, I have always been fascinated by the intersection of science and art. In my work as an industrial designer, the ability to make intuitive leaps as an artist enabled industrial innovation in our products. As stated by the National Education Association, four primary skill areas are necessary for success in the 21st century: critical thinking and problem solving, communication /collaboration, and creativity/innovation. These skills will prepare students to work in fields that are poised for 8.8% growth between now and 2028. I believe Cooper Union’s three unique schools can be the nexus point of future innovations, and bringing the three schools together in interdisciplinary learning is an extraordinary opportunity to imagine and anticipate what the future could be. It is this primary idea and common thread that has been a source of inspiration across my career and in my current role as Executive Director of the Haverstraw Brick Museum, which brings together brick architecture, engineering, and the sculptural arts under one umbrella.

As a trustee, I will work tirelessly across disciplines to create opportunities for students and help bring back Peter Cooper’s vision of a tuition-free education for all.

Biography

Rachel Weatherford Whitlow is an artist, environmental activist, industrial designer, brand strategy consultant, and CEO from New York City and Mt Desert Island, Maine. Whitlow received her BFA from Cooper Union in 1994 and graduated from the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business Executive Leadership Program in 2010.

For 25+ years, Ms. Whitlow, as Creative Director and COO, has been able to turn around companies and brands facing industry disruption because she understands that even the best creative ideas can fail when the strategy for implementation and operational design are not defined proactively. After many years of designing products and visiting global manufacturers in diverse cultures, Whitlow realized that design has a broader ability to improve people’s lives, communities, and the future of the planet.


In 2010, Whitlow formed Clavis Partners LLC to help commercial environmental mission-driven and non-profit organizations re-brand and reinvent themselves through developing innovative, implementable growth strategies. Clavis’s clients include The Haverstraw Brick Museum, where she is currently Executive Director.
Whitlow is also CEO/Founder of Circlworks LLC, a zero-waste lifestyle brand with an innovative approach to product transformation that is committed to the remanufacturing and design of unique products from end-of-life textiles and other materials such as food waste to drive pull-through demand and shift the economy from linear to circular.

Whitlow’s product design work for well-known luxury designers has been sold to numerous retailers and hotel companies in Europe, the US, Latin America, and Canada. She has been published and featured in The New York Times, Elle Decor, Home Furnishings News, Home Textiles Today, LDB Home Interiors, Eyewear News, Women’s Wear Daily, House & Gardens, and Better Homes & Gardens magazines; Whitlow also continues to show her paintings and artwork regularly. Whitlow is represented by the Upstream Gallery in Hastings on Hudson.