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Ryerson Walk News Around the Institute
Courtesy of Gary Hattem
supervises the managers of the foundation’s endowment. Previously, Pratt spent 10 years practicing law with the civil division of New York City’s Legal Aid Society. “The breadth of Pratt’s faculty and curriculum—from architecture and industrial design to painting, fashion, information science, and digital design— enables us to move beyond mere excellence to become a source of synergistic inspiration and creativity,” said Pratt. “The Institute’s commitment to integrating principles of sustainability into its entire curriculum and campus is but one example of this potential. I look forward to building on the Institute’s history of innovation and leadership.”
Board of Trustees Chair Mike Pratt
Mike Pratt Named Chair of Board of Trustees Mike Pratt, a descendant of Pratt Institute founder Charles Pratt, has been named chair of the Institute’s Board of Trustees. He replaces Pratt alumnus Robert Siegel of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects who had served as chair since 2001. Pratt had previously served as vice chair of the Board. “Mike Pratt has the perfect background to help lead Pratt and to build on the momentum of the Institute’s extraordinary growth and success over the last decade,” said Pratt Institute President Thomas F. Schutte. Pratt is the sole program officer for the Scherman Foundation, which annually distributes more than $4 million. He has primary responsibility for giving in the areas of community and economic empowerment and the environment, and for shared responsibility for grant making in the arts. He also is the treasurer of the foundation and
Deborah Buck and Gary Hattem have joined Pratt’s Board of Trustees. They replace outgoing Trustees Michele Oka Doner and Edmund S. Twining, III. Deborah Buck graduated with honors with a B.A. in fine arts from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., in 1978 and later attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine. She has since exhibited her paintings in galleries and museums in
Courtesy of Deborah Buck
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Board Welcomes New Trustees
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Baltimore, Boston, and New York. Buck worked for seven years as a designer and illustrator for Disney Productions. An accomplished chef, she has lectured and appeared on numerous cable and network shows as a design, food, and lifestyle consultant. She also is the owner of Buck House, an international art and antiques emporium on Madison Avenue in New York City, and The Gallery at Buck House, a few blocks from the showroom. Buck considers all of her activities part of her work as an artist. Pratt alumnus Gary Hattem is managing director of Deutsche Bank, where he heads the Foundation and Community Development Finance Group responsible for the firm’s lending, investment, and philanthropic activity targeted to disadvantaged communities and oversees the firm’s corporate citizenship activities for the Americas. Hattem also is the president of the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation and manages its philanthropic program with grants made in the fields of education, arts, the environment, and community development. He earned an M.S. in City and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute in 1975 and was awarded Pratt’s Alumni Achievement Award.