Academics

Welcome to Pratt

As the Chief Academic Officer, I wanted to write a few words to welcome you and to summarize what your educational experience at Pratt will be about.

Writing these words now, are just as difficult as writing my application essay to Pratt as a student 30 years ago. And maybe that is what a Pratt education has taught me: a lifetime of creative work in the arts, design, architecture, writing and library science never ends. We are always at the beginning…. always imagining everything anew.

We teach what we call “Poetic Pragmatism”. It is an educational approach that believes that your generation will need to integrate your individual talent, artistic senses, and poetic vision with the pragmatic challenges of our nation and our world.

We will help you build your practical skills and develop your voice--so necessary for expressing your vision in the arts, design, architecture and writing--while we challenge you to apply your vision to everything: global education, climate warming, poverty, sustainability, health care, community, etc. We will also help you understand the historical and cultural context within which your works will be created, thus giving you a rich, well rounded education that will prepare you to become leaders in your field, challenging boundaries and defining new directions in your disciplines.

Ours is a comprehensive educational mission, and we accomplish this with important partners. Our New York City location means that we use the immense cultural and national resources of the world’s premier city to support your education. Our faculty is composed predominantly of working professionals in their fields. While our 25 acre campus in Brooklyn is indeed beautiful and “ivy covered,” your teachers are the premier practicing professionals in their fields. There is no boundary between the “real world” and your Pratt education.

We will not give you the answers. We will, however, prepare you with questions, skills, and perspectives in order that you can lead your generation in the reshaping of your world.

And maybe that’s why writing this is so difficult. We simply don’t have answers. Just a platform for beginning anew in every creative project you believe in.

I welcome you to our community.

Peter Barna, Provost