Michele HD ’18 and Martin Cohen gift endows VP for Student Experience at Alfred University

Michele Cohen, a member of the Alfred University Board of Trustees and an honorary degree recipient, and her husband, Martin, have established an endowed fund to support Alfred's vice president for Student Experience position.

The Cohens' $2 million gift reflects their ongoing support of Alfred University, particularly in the area of promoting and enhancing the student experience. A member of the university's Board of Trustees since 2001, Michele Cohen serves as chair of the board's Student Experience Committee and also serves on the Academic Affairs, Executive, and Governance committees. In 2018, Alfred University conferred on her the honorary degree, Doctor of Arts.

"Keeping the student experience the main focus on our campus puts an emphasis on inspiring and motivating students, fostering creativity, and transformative intellectual curiosity," Michele Cohen said of her and Martin's decision to support the vice president for Student Experience position.

The Cohens have been steadfast in their philanthropic support of Alfred University, the alma mater of their son, Adam, who graduated in 2003 with a B.F.A degree. The Cohens' previous philanthropy has endowed the deanship of the School of Art and Design and Division of Performing Arts; established the Cohen Center for the Arts and Cohen Gallery; and launched APEX, the university's applied experiential learning program.

The Cohens also gave $6 million in 2020 to support the construction of the Cohen National Casting Center Foundry. A groundbreaking ceremony for the state-of-the-art on-campus foundry was held May 15.

The gift in support of the foundry leveraged $8.3 million in project funding from the SUNY Construction Fund. The University later received a $300,000 Fred L. Emerson Foundation grant to support design and construction of the foundry. The foundry project has facilitated the installation of a campus-wide energy-efficient distributed boiler heating system and construction of a new facilities building on North Main Street in Alfred. The former central heating plant is being renovated as home of the new foundry, which is expected to open in 2026.

The foundry will significantly enhance the student experience by a creating a student-focused, collaborative space that provides intersections between art and design and engineering. In addition to housing metal and glass casting facilities, the Cohen National Casting Center Foundry will be home to an Advanced Digital Fabrication Lab and an Additive and Advanced Manufacturing Center. The student-focused collaborative space will provide melting facilities, classrooms, and other spaces for experiential learning opportunities. It will be utilized by the School of Art and Design's Division of Sculpture/Dimensional Studies for its glass and metal casting programs, and by the Inamori School of Engineering for the materials science and mechanical engineering programs.

The facility-which creates the potential for new degree programs combining art and engineering, such as digital fabrication design and engineering-is expected to significantly benefit Alfred University's student recruitment and retention efforts. It also further raises the profile of the New York State College of Ceramics, home to the School of Art and Design and Inamori School of Engineering. Since the Cohens' commitment to the foundry project, Alfred University has received additional support, largely for scholarships for engineering and art and design students and for educational and creative programming for the new foundry. This enhances the impact of the project by building a pipeline of prospective students interested in the intersections provided by Alfred University through its STEAM offerings.

The foundry "will be a student-focused, collaborative space providing intersections between art and design and engineering," Michele Cohen said at the May groundbreaking. "Our dream of further collaboration (between the School of Art and Design and Inamori School of Engineering) is becoming a reality. This is what makes Alfred University 'Outside of Ordinary.' Marty and I thank you for letting us be involved with something so transformative."

Alfred University is currently conducting a national search to fill its vice president for Student Experience position. The Division of Student Experience houses several departments and offices serving Alfred University students, including the Athletics Department, Career Development Center, Center for Advising, Center for Student Involvement, Dining Services, the Equestrian Center, Higher Education Opportunity Programs, Public Safety, Residential Communities, Student Activities, Student Diversity and Inclusion, the Wellness Center, and the Judson Leadership Center.