“Like many places in New York City, I know it’s hard to get the space to expand. The new building is a great opportunity to give the students exceptional facilities, so we decided that would be a good way to invest."

Building Together  Bruce Waller is the father of Greta Waller (A’06). Bruce and his daughter are generous contributors to Cooper Union’s Building Fund.  “Greta always wanted to go to Cooper Union, since it’s one of the premier art schools in the country. “When it comes to donations, I’ve been blessed to have a good job—I’m a cardiologist—and good resources. When I grew up we were lower middle class, so it was hard to actually think about college. I worked myself through school with part-time jobs and loans from the government. Once it became feasible for me to donate, I decided to provide funds to higher education institutions to make it easier for other people to go to school if they didn’t have the finances to do that. When Greta was at Cooper Union, we talked about donating, especially with the building project coming along, and so we decided to donate together, giving her a chance to see what it means to be able to give back to people and give them an opportunity as well. “Like many places in New York City, I know it’s hard to get the space to expand. The new building is a great opportunity to give the students exceptional facilities, so we decided that would be a good way to invest. “All of Greta’s dreams were fulfilled with the great program at Cooper Union. She was very happy with her degree and she’s looking forward to a master’s degree in the future.”