The Fellowship

The Rhoda Lubalin Fellowship is awarded to a graphic design student (or students) at the Cooper Union in their senior year. Endowed in 1987 by Rhoda Sparber Lubalin, the award provides funding for an independent research-based project that intersects with the Herb Lubalin Study Center’s collection. Projects have had a variety of forms, iterations and topics, but all found inspiration from the design and typography material in the collection. Only currently enrolled Cooper Union students are eligible for The Rhoda Lubalin Fellowship An artist and educator herself, Rhoda understood the transformative power of creative support. We are proud to continue her tradition of investing in the next generation of designers by providing mentorship, funding, and collection access.

Rhoda Sparber Lubalin

Rhoda Sparber Lubalin (1922-2021) was an artist, educator, and passionate advocate for young creatives whose generosity continues to influence the lives of design students today. Born into a family that valued the arts, Rhoda was among the first students accepted to New York's High School of Music and Art in its inaugural year of 1936, graduating as one of only 24 students in her class. She continued her education at Hunter College, where she won the art department award, and later earned her Master's degree in Art from Ohio University.

Rhoda dedicated much of her career to arts education, teaching visual arts at Roosevelt High School, New Rochelle High School, and Fairleigh Dickinson College while maintaining her practice as a painter and illustrator. She met Herb Lubalin at a dinner party in the 1970s. As a subscriber to Avant Garde, the magazine Lubalin art directed, Rhoda knew who he was. In an interview with Adrian Shaughnessy, she described him as charming and soft-spoken, and how over the next few years they became dear friends, marrying eventually on St. Valentine’s Day. She later became a resource director for Herb’s magazine, U&lc, while maintaining her teaching and volunteering duties.

After Herb’s death in 1981, Rhoda became instrumental in establishing his legacy at The Cooper Union. She supported the creation of the Herb Lubalin Study Center in 1985 and endowed the fellowship program in 1987. For over three decades, Rhoda remained deeply connected to the Center and each fellowship recipient’s journey. She was a familiar voice on the phone, often sent cards or notes to express interest, and cared about what benefitted art students. When Rhoda passed in 2021, she left behind a legacy of generosity that meaningfully contributes to the field and culture of design at The Cooper Union.

The Cooper Union

Established to provide education with an exceptional standard of quality “equal to the best,” The Cooper Union was also founded on the fundamental belief that education should be accessible to all members of society without regard to gender, race, religion or economic status. Today, The Cooper Union is ranked among the most prestigious private institutions in the world with a public mission: To prepare bright, creative and ambitious students to apply their talent and expertise to make impactful contributions worldwide.

The Lubalin Center

The Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography serves as both an archive and active research hub for the design community. The Center opened in 1985 to preserve and honor Herb Lubalin’s vast body of work at his alma mater, The Cooper Union, and have since expanded the collection to an estimated 80,000 objects.

Herb Lubalin (1918-1981) is best known for his wildly illustrative typography and his groundbreaking work for the magazines Avant Garde, Eros, and Fact. The Study Center’s core collection includes an extensive archive of his drawings, promotional, editorial and advertising design, typeface design, posters, logos, and other materials dating from 1950 to 1981.

The collection also includes works by Otl Aicher, Anthon Beeke, Lester Beall, Will Burtin, Lou Dorfsman, Karl Gerstner, Tibor Kalman, Alvin Lustig, Elaine Lustig Cohen, The Push Pin Studios, Paul Rand, Bradbury Thompson, Massimo Vignelli, and many more. There is also a library of books and magazines about design and typography, posters, type specimen books, and other printed ephemera.

See some of our projects: Lubalin 100, Flat File, Lubalin Lecture Series

Support Us

Feeling a kind of graphic-design-makes-everything-wonderful kind of generous? We feel that way too!

If you'd like to make a contribution to the Lubalin Study Center, please go to this donation page of The Cooper Union.