Faculty and Staff Moves Foundation Professor William Hochhausen —better known as Bill—has retired. His initial appointment to the Institute was in 1972. Paul McDonough, adjunct associate professor of photography, retired after more than 40 years of teaching at Pratt. Donna Moran, who has served the Fine Arts Department in a number of high-level positions at Pratt Institute, has been appointed dean of the School of Art and Design at Pratt’s Utica campus in upstate New York, Munson-WilliamsProctor Arts Institute (PrattMWP). Eve Baron became chair of the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment within the School of Architecture, succeeding John Shapiro, who stepped down to serve as faculty. Maria Damon stepped down as chair of Humanities and Media Studies to join the faculty. David Erdman became chair of Grad uate Architecture and Urban Design, succeeding William MacDonald, who stepped down in July to serve as faculty. Macarena Gómez-Barris became chair of the Department of Social Science and Cultural Studies at the start of the fall 2016 semester. She succeeded Chair Gregg Horowitz, who stepped down to join the faculty. Alison Snyder joined the Institute as chair of Interior Design in August. In the Student Affairs Division, Elisabeth Sullivan joined Pratt as the Director of the Learning Access Center, replacing Mai McDonald Graves, who
retired earlier this year after 24 years at the Institute. Esmilda Abreu will serve as the Interim Director of Special Projects and Title IX Coordinator. She is replacing Grace Kendall, who left Pratt in August after a decade of service. Tom Nawabi has joined Pratt Institute as controller, replacing Sylvia Acuesta, who retired at the end of December 2015. Ursula Vesala was appointed to the position of Executive Director, Campaign and Major Gifts. NYCxDESIGN Showcases Student, Faculty, and Alumni Work In May, Pratt participated in NYCxDESIGN, New York City’s official citywide cele bration of design, through a variety of exhibitions in venues around the city. Highlights of NYCxDESIGN included Pratt Design 2016 on the Brooklyn campus; BKLYN DESIGNS, featuring work of students and alumni and a Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator showcase; and the International Con temporary Furniture Fair, highlighting work by students and graduates from Pratt’s Industrial Design Department in an exhibition titled Post-Digital. To gether these events showcased work by approximately 400 students, faculty, and alumni. Space Module Design Shown on Intrepid Pratt architecture and industrial design students presented a full-scale proto type of their Mars Habitat, designed in
a partnership with NASA, at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in July. For an interdisciplinary studio class led by Adjunct Assistant Professor of Arch itecture Michael Morris and Adjunct Associate Professor of Industrial Design Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, the undergraduate and gradu ate stud ents designed the module for the eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) 2016 Academic Inno vation Challenge, a NASA collaboration with academic institutions. DIFFA Dining by Design Students from the Interior Design Department created an installation for Dining by Design 2016, an annual event held by the Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA) in March. Jon Otis, professor of interior design, served as faculty lead, and Regis Paen and Ilona Parkansky, both visiting assistant pro fessors of interior design, were coinstructors. The team members were Emlyn Hilson, Raleene Cabrera, Regina Macaraeg, and Ana Vasquez, all of whom received an M.S. in Interior Design last spring. The team’s concept, “Trans cending Darkness,” was inspired by a quote from Desmond Tutu, “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.” Pratt Center Receives CitiGroup Grant, Boosts Made in NYC Initiative The Pratt Center for Community Dev elopment has been awarded a $500,000 Citi Foundation Community Progress Makers Fund grant in recognition of its
Pratt Design 2016. Photograph by Fiona Szende (B.F.A. Photography ’15)
Prattfolio
Fall 2016
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