The Student Affairs division includes the Office of the Vice President and the departments of Athletics and Recreation, Campus Ministry; Career Services; Disability Services; International Affairs; Health and Counseling Services; Residential Life and Student Activities and Orientation. All of these departments offer programs, services and activities that provide learning experiences and assist students in meeting the various challenges presented by attending a competitive college in a large city. The vice president’s office adjudicates human rights complaints, offers a variety of ombudsperson services and coordinates the annual Family Weekend.

The Office of The Vice President for Student Affairs

The Vice President for Student Affairs oversees the departments of Athletics, Student Activities and Orientation, Campus Ministry, Career Services, which also coordinates the administration of internship programs, Health and Counseling Services, Residential Life and Housing, and International Student Affairs, which includes the Foreign Exchange Program. In addition, the Vice President's office is responsible for adjudicating judicial matters, resolving student human rights complaints, and providing oversight for policies and procedures relating to student rights and responsibilities. Finally, the Assistant to the Vice President also functions as the Coordinator of Disability Services.

The Office of Student Affairs is located on the lower level of Main Hall.

Pratt Institute provides services based on a student’s documented disability. Typical services may include, but are not limited to, peer tutors, alternate testing arrangements (extended time or use of a computer), or note takers for class notes. Peer tutoring services and assistance through the Writing and Tutorial Skills Center, services available to all Pratt Institute students, are not intended to be a substitute for independent study and preparation. Students who may require specialized services (for example, books on tape through Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic) from outside the Institute are encouraged to make arrangements at least two months prior to the start of each semester. The coordinator of Disability Services can assist students in procuring such services.

Division of Student Affairs
Mission Statement
2006

As a partner in the academic enterprise, the Student Affairs Division:

• provides programs and services that promote student personal and professional development;
• fosters a campus environment that is conducive to student learning;
• advocates for and supports students as they meet the challenges of the Pratt experience

Enduring Goals:

• Provide leadership to the institute community in the enhancement and coordination of all campus co-curricular experiences
• Build a stronger sense of community by increasing student satisfaction with the Pratt experience; Develop programs and services that increase Family/parent satisfaction.
• Provide opportunities for students to be responsible, active participants of the Pratt community; expand and promote opportunities for students to develop leadership skills
• Provide experiences that will help students to think critically and make effective and socially responsible decisions and lifestyle choices
• Cultivate an environment that celebrates and supports diverse cultures; provide students with experiences that expand their world view.
• Continue to advocate for improved facilities to meet student needs. Including, but not limited to the building of a new student union, improvement of campus residence halls, and the creation and improvement of community gathering and recreational spaces
• Continuously explore avenues to make our services and programs more accessible through the effective use of technology and innovative approaches to communication.

• Integrate assessment into all student affairs programs and services

Q. Who do I report student conduct issues to?
A. Academic integrity problems (e.g., cheating or plagiarism) should be reported to the Registrar; other student conduct and behavioral issues (absenteeism, mental illness, signs of abuse or self-mutilation, substance abuse, disruptive behavior) are handled by the Judicial Affairs Office or the Health and Counseling Department in the Student Affairs Division. Contact the Judicial Affairs Office for conduct issues and the Health and Counseling Department for other behavioral issues and your department chair. Behavior problems should be handled by this process instead of independently in order to form a more complete record of situations and their history. The Student Affairs Office can also provide access to the broad scope of assistance available on campus. You are encouraged to consult with the Vice President or her Assistant in all of these matters. They can refer you appropriately or give you suggestions for the appropriate course of action.

Q. A student has shared concerns with me regarding a class or situation they are in. How can I help them?
A. The Student Affairs office is responsible for adjudicating judicial matters, resolving
student human rights complaints, and providing oversight for policies and procedures relating to student rights and responsibilities. We can work with the student to resolve the issue either through a formal proceeding if the situation is severe, or by working with a faculty member, office, or other students to resolve the problem. Faculty are also encouraged to consult with student affairs staff about student behavior.

Q. A student wants to withdraw or has withdrawn from my class or school and is looking for financial relief? The Vice President for Student Affairs chairs the Institute Financial Appeals Committee. Students in this type of a situation should be referred to the Administrative Assistant in the Student Affairs Office. Relief is only granted if there is a sudden and severe reason for the withdrawal.

Q. My students would like to start a new campus club. Where do I start?
A. The Student Activities Office can provide guidance on how to make this happen, and describe your options for funding the club and special events your students would like to organize. More information is available on the Student Activities web site at http://www.pratt.edu/students/

PLEASE REFER TO THE FACULTY HANDBOOK FOR THE FOLLOWING:
JUDICIAL PROCESS FOR STUDENTS; Excerpted from the pamphlet “Judicial Procedures at Pratt,”
Academic Integrity Code and the Pratt Judicial Process
How are Academic Integrity Cases Handled?
What Are the Penalties in These Kinds of Cases?
How does the Academic Conduct Appeal Process Work?
PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY; excerpted from the Pratt Student Handbook
FERPA—STUDENT RIGHT TO PRIVACY REMINDER:
Students are guaranteed privacy by federal law. Grades are not permitted to be posted in any format.

Preparing for a career is one of the most important co-curricular activities for Pratt students. It is to the student’s advantage to work with the Office of Career Services early in their college career. Students may seek counseling on the preparation necessary for various careers and employers can submit job openings to us.

The Department of Student Activities and Orientation coordinates and helps students plan social, cultural, educational, and recreational programs. Student activities at Pratt are planned to contribute to each student’s total education as well as to meet social and recreational needs. Students are responsible for managing their own group activities, thus gaining experience in community and social affairs and playing a role in shaping Institute policy.

Welcome Parents and families! We are thrilled to have you join our community. Here at Pratt, your child will engage in an exciting and traditional college experience, while studying with an award-winning faculty of practicing artists, architects, designers, writers and librarians who are committed to enhancing your child’s artistic and intellectual development.
We hope you will find the links provided on this page helpful in keeping you informed about the various programs and opportunities offered at Pratt. We have also compiled a list of external resources that we hope will answer your questions during this exciting time in your and your child’s life.

The Activities Resource Center houses the largest enclosed clear-span area in Brooklyn. There are six multi-purpose athletic courts with chemturf synthetic floor surfaces which are used interchangeably for tennis, volleyball, intercollegiate basketball, the Colgate Women’s Games, and other spectator sports events

A professional psychologist is available to meet with students and to provide counseling for personal, emotional, family, interpersonal, and short-term limited situation problems. Both individual and group counseling geared to the specific needs and concerns of the individual are available to students

The Office of International Affairs Mission Statement

The primary mission of the Office of International Affairs (OIA) is to centralize information regarding all international concerns so that the campus community will have a single place to turn to. The OIA presently serves a population of over 1,000 students and scholars who consider this office to be their vehicle for guiding them successfully through Pratt’s system

One of the goals of this office is to further develop a social structure that will foster a broad cross-cultural exchange between the various international student groups, the American population, and the community at large. The OIA invites all international students to join the Pratt Institute Student Association (PISA), which the OIA advises.

The academic goals are twofold. The first goal is to familiarize the international student with the American system of post-secondary education. The second goal is to promote a conducive atmosphere for monitoring student progress while effectively supporting the campus effort to mainstream international students whose cultural background may differ from their American counterparts.

The administrative objective of this office will be to further coordinate our functions with other offices to ensure more meaningful collaboration of services to the international student body. Referrals are given to ensure that students receive appropriate assistance at Pratt as well as outside agencies.

Immigration counseling, including aid with extension of stay and interpreting federal regulations, completing employment requests and other matters pertaining to students leaving and re-entering the United States, are important functions of this office.

The OIA offers both individual and group counseling services. These services are conducted by utilizing both informal and formal advising techniques.

Pratt Institute maintains five residence halls accommodating approximately 1,000 students. The focus of our residential life program is on providing a comfortable yet challenging environment for students to become integral members of the campus community. This is fostered by educational approaches and programming. Pratt residence halls offer a variety of housing options, including rooms with and without kitchens, doubles, singles, and apartments. Pratt also offers campus meal plans for students who like the convenience of eating on-campus.

Pratt Institute
Division of Student Affairs
Goals and Objectives
2006-2011
Goal I

Improve the Division’s contribution to the overall mission of Pratt Institute

Objectives

Review and Enhance co-curricular programs and experiences
Develop programs and services to address the needs of students in each year of their education
Review and revise all institute student policies to insure that they are teaching students to be responsible and meeting the needs of the institute.
Support Student Leadership/Expand leadership experiences available to students
Coordinate all Institutional student leadership opportunities
Provide a supportive environment for a diverse student body
Expand Family programming

Goal II

Improve Effectiveness

Objectives

Improve Administrative delivery of Student Services
Improve web based services
Assess and improve student development programs
Improve office organization
Assess space and facility needs of each department and develop an appropriate plan for growth
Explore opportunities for external funding for Division programs

Goal III

Increase recognition of the Division mission, goals and activities and improve understanding of what we do among members of the Pratt community

Objectives

Improve division publications
Utilize technology to promote the Division and Division events
Produce and publicize data about students and our division
Meet with all campus departments to inform them about our Division

Goal IV

Build Division Unity

Objectives

Develop cross functional teams to address division objectives
Increase each staff members understanding of each department in the division
Continue current team building efforts and expand and improve them
Develop a Division brand identity

Pratt Institute
Student Affairs Division
Strategic Plan
2006-11
Yearly Action Steps

Goal I
Improve the Division’s contribution to the overall mission of Pratt Institute

• On-going
• Explore, expand and develop student leadership training programs
• Promote opportunities for students in leadership activities
• Provide leadership for all non-credit community service activities
• Continuously improve Family Weekend

• 2006-07
• Inventory co-curricular activities institute-wide
• Develop educational goals for co-curriculum
• Create Division-wide Programming Committees: Health Issues and Cultural Programming
• Set monthly programming goals
• Promote and Encourage Campus-wide programming committees
• Advocate for and begin planning for a Student Union that provides student organization office and meeting space.
• Assess current environment for support of diversity
• Collaborate with Admissions to coordinate open house program and family orientation
• Expand family weekend and family orientation programming
• Create a web presence for family issues
• Create an on-line family newsletter

• 2007-08
• Assess effectiveness of existing co-curricular programs
• Establish co-curricular committee to recommend programs and changes
• Collaborate with faculty to develop co-curricular experiences
• Involve all Student Affairs Departments in Residential Life's Freshmen, Sophomore and Senior experience initiatives
• Create appropriate policy review task forces.
• Create a position to coordinate student leadership programs
• Create Institute-wide Leadership Programming Committee, chaired by Student Activities
• Integrate Residential Life and Student Activities Leadership Development experiences
• Implement recommendations on improving environment for diversity
• Increase staff awareness about the needs of a diverse student population and increase their cross cultural competency.
• Encourage consideration of diversity issues in staff hiring

• 2008-09
• Develop integrated series of co-curricular programs
• Reinstitute First Year Seminar course
• Establish a co-curricular transcript to record student leadership and other co-curricular experiences
• Serve as a clearinghouse for all volunteer opportunities
• Inventory all student work experiences
• Collaborate with other departments to provide leadership training experiences
• Develop diversity training programs for staff
• 2009-10

• Develop program for co-curricular leadership training

• 2011
• Open the Student Union

Goal II
Improve Effectiveness

On-going

• Expand services offered at the 14th Street Campus
• Review policies and procedures for the administrative delivery of student services
• Provide customer service training to all service departments.
• Continue to update all departments hardware and software as needed
• Develop and expand services offered on the web in each department
• Provide services through the web portal
• Review procedures and establish new procedures where appropriate
• Advocate for appropriate improvements in residence hall facilities as needed
• Collaborate with Administrative Affairs to implement Housing Master Plan
• Collaborate with Administrative Affairs and Development to plan and build a new student union
• Research grant opportunities
• Write appropriate grants

2006-07

• Conduct a needs assessment and develop a plan to meet the needs
• Create student referral card
• Create evaluation forms for each program and event and use forms to make recommendations for future programming (on-going)
• Determine benchmarks and use to measure all aspects of division programs and services
• Determine desired learning outcomes
• Create and implement customer service evaluations for each student affairs department
• Develop tools and program to assess software and hardware and process for updating technology in each department
• Improve Financial Appeals Data base and notification process
• Increase the number of written protocols to include all division procedures
• Review and improve non-student office filing system
• Create job descriptions for student workers
• Determine programming needs of the student union and how that impacts student affairs departments
• Study Division organizational structure and evaluate effectives

2007-08

• Explore other assessment tools and consider changing or adding new assessments
• Develop or find an instrument that measures the desired learning outcomes
• Utilize instrument to evaluate all division programs and services

2008-09

• Organize Division in work groups that will best address the desired learning outcomes.
• Collaborate with Administrative and Academic Affairs to new space for Student Affairs at 14th Street when the gallery moves to the first floor

2009-10

• Propose new organizational structure appropriate to needs
• Open new space at the Manhattan campus

Goal III

Increase recognition of the Division mission, goals and activities and improve understanding of what we do among members of the Pratt community

• On going
• Widely distribute Student Affairs poster
• Review content and revise and improve as necessary
• Create other printed materials, as necessary:
• Review and revise descriptions of the Division and Student Affairs departments that are published in campus publications
• Review and revise all student affairs and student affairs departmental publications, as appropriate.
• Provide campus community with descriptions of current students
• Communicate our successes with existing and new resources

2006-07

• Update and improve Division and department websites
• Develop an online quarterly newsletter
• Link poster to site
• Create list-serve for interest areas
• Use web portal to publicize division and departmental programs, events and activities and to communicate with students, parents and the Pratt community
• Create a web presence for family issues
• Create an on-line family newsletter

• 2007-08
• Improve utilization of the Campus Calendar
• Improve utilization of Campus Announce universal e-mail system
• Include a virtual tour of each office
• Post administrative deadlines for division
• Post divisional calendar of events
• Develop presentation about Division
• Make presentations at department meetings

Goal IV
Build Division Unity

On-going

• Continue to institutionalize orientations so that it meets the needs of all institute departments
• Provide training to office staff in each department about the functions of other departments in the division
• Bring front-line staff in each department together more regularly
• Hold regularly scheduled division retreats; social events; semester opening meetings; recreational activities
• Conduct on-going strategic planning review meetings

2006-07

• Create cross-departmental programming boards around topical areas
• Create cross-departmental committees to address topical issues
• Expand professional development committee
• Provide opportunities for departments to educate staff members from other offices about each other’s departments.
• 2008-09

• Create logo, t-shirts, brochure format

Pratt Institute
Division of Student Affairs
Vision Statement
2006-2011

The Division of Student Affairs has a recognized role in the advancement of the unique mission of Pratt Institute. This role is clearly articulated and widely understood. The Division helps to create a learning environment that fosters student development and creativity through an array of programs, services and relationships that anticipate and respond to student needs. These programs and services are integrated into the educational enterprise and they provide opportunities that encourage students to become active participants in their education. The seven Student Affairs departments are a cohesive unit that accomplishes Division goals through individual efforts and collective action.

Mission Statement
2006

• The Student Affairs division includes the Office of the Vice President and the departments of Athletics and Recreation, Campus Ministry; Career Services; Disability Services; International Affairs; Health and Counseling Services; Residential Life and Student Activities and Orientation. The vice president’s office adjudicates human rights complaints, offers a variety of ombudsperson services and coordinates the annual Family Weekend.

• As a partner in the academic enterprise, the Student Affairs Division:

• provides programs and services that promote student personal and professional development;
• fosters a campus environment that is conducive to student learning;
• advocates for and supports students as they meet the challenges of the Pratt experience

• Enduring Goals:

• Provide leadership to the institute community in the enhancement and coordination of all campus co-curricular experiences
• Build a stronger sense of community by increasing student satisfaction with the Pratt experience; Develop programs and services that increase Family/parent satisfaction.
• Provide opportunities for students to be responsible, active participants of the Pratt community; expand and promote opportunities for students to develop leadership skills
• Provide experiences that will help students to think critically and make effective and socially responsible decisions and lifestyle choices
• Cultivate an environment that celebrates and supports diverse cultures; provide students with experiences that expand their world view.
• Continue to advocate for improved facilities to meet student needs. Including, but not limited to the building of a new student union, improvement of campus residence halls, and the creation and improvement of community gathering and recreational spaces
• Continuously explore avenues to make our services and programs more accessible through the effective use of technology and innovative approaches to communication.
• Integrate assessment into all student affairs programs and services