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  NTHONY
KNERR & ASSOCIATES provided counsel on a broad
array of strategic issues to
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and
Art for almost a decade.
Founded in 1859 by Peter Cooper, one of America’s
foremost inventors, industrialists and investors,
Cooper Union was one of the first colleges to offer
a full-scholarship education both to men and to women
of working-class families, long before access to education
became public policy.
Still
maintaining its full-scholarship policy, the College,
which is located in Greenwich Village in New York
City, is now comprised of three distinguished schools:
the School of Art, the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture
and the Albert Nerken School of Engineering. In addition,
Cooper Union has a growing array of public programs,
many of which are centered in the historic Great Hall
in its Foundation Building, the college’s original
structure, which was built under Peter Cooper’s
supervision.
Our early work with Cooper Union was focussed on clarifying
its strategic position and refining its financial
planning and approaches to resource allocation. Under
the leadership of President John Jay Iselin, these
assignments led, over time, to our providing counsel
in organizing and managing a strategic planning process
involving the entire community; crafting a new mission
statement; setting a new set of institutional priorities
and objectives; reshaping capital development initiatives
and activities; and designing new approaches to communications
and visibility. We also assisted with a number of
questions related to organization design and outreach,
and we developed a long-term financial plan for the
institution.
| Our
work with Cooper Union demonstrates
the benefits of longer-term strategic
thinking, for these assignments led
to significant strengthening of Cooper
Union's institutional "platform." |
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Our work with Cooper Union led to a significant strengthening
of its institutional "platform." The College
sharpened considerably its mission and program structure;
it substantially furthered curricular interconnections
among its three schools; and it saw record increases
in the depth and quality of the admissions pool (increasing
the number of applications more than three-fold and
selectivity by a factor of two).
Cooper Union also increased its annual fundraising
receipts by more than five-fold and doubled its endowment
during the period of our assistance. It also undertook
a significant building improvement program, including
the complete exterior restoration of the Foundation
Building. Further, Cooper Union gained significant
new visibility and regard within both the greater
New York metropolitan region and across the country.
We
worked closely with the Chairman of the Board of Trustees,
President Iselin, Deans and senior executive staff
throughout our engagement.
These
interrelated assignments with Cooper Union demonstrate
the benefits of longer-term strategic thinking on
a sustained basis. In changing and substantially strengthening
its programs, finances, physical plant and communications,
Cooper Union transformed both its strategic situation
and its institutional culture.
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