Award Winners

2009 Alumni Achievement Award Winners

Each year, Pratt Institute honors a select group of alumni for exceptional achievements since graduation from Pratt. The success of these alumni is a testament to the Institute's prestigious faculty and to the legacy of Charles Pratt, who lived by this motto: "Be true to your work and your work will be true to you."

Michael Inman, M.L.S. '02, curator of rare books for The New York Public Library, administers the Rare Book Division, George Arents Collection, and Historic Children's Book Collection, among others. He also serves as a visiting professor at Pratt's School of Information and Library Science, teaching courses on printing history and special collections librarianship.

Robert Sabuda, B.F.A. '87, twice a recipient of The New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award, is a children's book creator with over five million books in print, among them the Encyclopedia Prehistorica pop-up trilogy, co-created with Matthew Reinhart, M.I.D.'98. Sabuda, who initiated Pratt's paper engineering program, makes regular television appearances on The Today Show, Good Morning America, and Martha Stewart.

Mickalene Thomas, B.F.A.'00, is best known for work that celebrates female beauty and power. In elaborate paintings composed of rhinestones, enamel, and acrylic, Thomas's critically acclaimed work introduces a complex vision of what it means to be a woman and expands common definitions of beauty. Her work may be seen at the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Modern Art, among other venues.

Young Woo, B. Arch. '80, is founder and principal of Young Woo & Associates, LLC, developers of commercial, industrial, and technology real estate properties throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. The firm played a leading role in the acquisition of the AIG headquarters building in lower Manhattan and recently was designated as the developer for the historic Pier 57.