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Pratt Accepts Mayor’s Challenge to Reduce Emissions
President Schutte Joins College Presidents to Address Climate Change Pratt’s President Thomas F. Schutte recently joined the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (PCC), which calls on colleges and universities to address climate change by modeling ways to minimize global-warming emissions and by educating students on how to achieve carbon neutrality. President Schutte has agreed to take a leadership role in these efforts as a member of PCC’s Leadership Circle, which includes more than 100 college and university presidents. PCC held a summit and public launch of the initiative in June in Washington, D.C.
Courtesy of the Mayor’s office
President Schutte speaks at the mayor’s press conference in June, which was hosted by Pratt.
Debera Johnson Named Pratt’s First Academic Director of Sustainability Debera Johnson, who has taught industrial design at Pratt Institute since 1988, has been named the Institute’s first academic director of sustainability. She will lead Pratt’s academic sustainability initiatives; develop and operate an interdisciplinary center for sustainable design studies; and support Pratt’s faculty in identifying and solving environmental problems in order to place the Institute at the academic forefront among colleges of art, design, and architecture worldwide for its sustainability efforts. Johnson, a Pratt alumna (B.I.D., ’86) and former chairperson of the Department of Industrial Design, will collaborate closely with Anthony Gelber, director of facilities for Pratt’s Manhattan campus, who was named the coordinator of administrative sustainability earlier this year. Johnson has served since 2002 as the director of the Pratt Design Incubator for Sustainable Innovation, which links recent Pratt graduates with manufacturing, design engineering, and business mentors, helping the eco-entrepreneurs turn concepts that originated in the classroom into start-up businesses. The Incubator also consults to help collaborative teams to design socially responsible products. As the new academic director of sustainability, Johnson will make the Incubator a primary component of the Institute’s broader sustainability initiative.
Teresita Jesser
At a press conference held in June on Pratt’s Brooklyn campus, New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg and representatives from nine colleges and universities, including Pratt, announced a commitment to reduce their schools’ greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent over the next 10 years. The 2030 Challenge Partners, as the group is called, are Pratt Institute, Barnard College, Columbia University, The City University of New York’s 23 campuses, The Cooper Union, Fordham University, New York University, St. John’s University, and The New School. With a large number of administrators and faculty members who are already leaders in sustainability, Pratt is well positioned to play a leadership role both nationally and locally by becoming one of Mayor Bloomberg’s Challenge Partners. Since 2005, the campus organization Sustainable Pratt (www. sustainablepratt.org) has brought together members of the campus community who are dedicated to incorporating sustainability into curricula, operations, and programs. In recent years, Pratt has increased the vegetation on campus, introduced electric cars to its fleet of security vehicles, and is presently working with a consultant on an audit of greenhouse gas emissions that will help to identify short- and long-term strategies for decreasing energy usage on campus.
Debera Johnson
“Beyond creating comprehensive coursework that focuses on the environment, we will be creating interdisciplinary studios that bring together students and faculty Institutewide, making the campus a living laboratory for sustainable solutions,” said Johnson. She plans to create research opportunities for Pratt’s faculty and collaborative partnerships with other educational institutions as well. 31