Gerald Luss (BID ’49), a Pratt alumus and celebrated midcentury-modern designer, passed away at 98. Best known for his groundbreaking interiors for the Time-Life Building, Luss helped shape postwar office design and left a lasting legacy in the field.
Hats Off to Pratt’s Class of 2025!
Graduates accepted their diplomas during an exuberant Commencement at the iconic Radio City Music Hall. Honorary degrees were bestowed upon Claudia Rankine, Annabelle Selldorf, and Stefan Sagmeister.
Runway Ready: Pratt Fashion Seniors Shine at Powerhouse Arts
From Pratt Institute News
The 2025 Pratt Shows: Fashion runway presentation featured nearly 160 looks from collections by 30 graduating seniors; Haeone Son, BFA Fashion Design ’25, received the 2025 Christopher Hunte “On Point” Award.
Research Open House 2025 Awards Recognize Community Engagement, Sustainability, and Design Projects
From Pratt Institute News
Research Open House presented scholarship and partnerships to the public, demonstrating Pratt’s engagement with industry, community, and university partners, and its deep commitment to equitable forms of discovery and growth.
A Day of Service, Community, and Connection
From Pratt Institute News
The second annual Student-Alumni Day of service supported the local Hall Street shelter.
Guggenheim Fellowship Awarded to Film/Video Faculty Member Matías Piñeiro
From Pratt Institute News
Matías Gustavo Piñeiro was selected for the Guggenheim Foundation’s 100th Class of Fellows. The prestigious annual grants support up to a year of creative and scholarly work.
Dr. Peter West Appointed Dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
From Pratt Institute News
The accomplished writer, scholar, and academic leader joins Pratt Institute from Mercy University. He will assume the role on July 7, 2025.
Finding Form and Inspiration in Foundation Year
From Pratt Institute News
Foundation year at Pratt has introduced Massimo Brocchini, BID ’28, to friends and mentors and broadened his perspective as a designer.
The Latest
-
Emerging artist discovers his family’s Mexican roots through his work
Pratt student Angel Ortega explores his Mexican heritage and themes of cultural identity through his artwork and mentorship, inspired by his mother’s immigrant journey and supported by Pratt’s Young Scholars program.
-
Pratt’s MFA Exhibition Mirrors These Disjointive Times
Pratt’s 2025 MFA Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, Inside/Out, was featured in Hyperallergic for its powerful exploration of space, identity, and the complexities of the current moment.
-
Dona Ann McAdams’ Photography; Latest Tech News; Bab L’Bluz Performs Live; MUNA’s Katie Gavin
Photographer Dona Ann McAdams was recently interviewed on WNYC’s All of It with Alison Stewart, discussing her decades-spanning work capturing marginalized communities. The segment coincides with her solo exhibition black | box at Pratt Manhattan Gallery.
-
Op-ed: How Pratt Institute and Brooklyn Navy Yard are driving creative economic innovation
Pratt and the Brooklyn Navy Yard are driving creative economic innovation by fostering intersections between education, research, and industry, contributing to Brooklyn’s surge in small business growth and its leadership in the nation’s creative economy.
-
Dean of the School of Information Anthony Cocciolo published the chapter “Alice Roberts and the Breakdown of Segregation in Northern Library Schools, 1890–1940” in The Legacy of Black Women in Librarianship: When They Dared to Be Powerful (ALA Neal Schuman) edited by Nicole Cooke.
-
Professor in the School of Information Irene Lopatovska co-authored a new journal article with alumni Grace Pickering, MSLIS ’24, and Celia Coan, MSLIS ’24, titled “Ukrainian public libraries during the Russia-Ukraine war: Supporting individuals, communities, and the nation” in the Journal of Librarianship and Information Science.
-
Nick Brenner, MSLIS ’26, presented his paper “New Trends in Ottoman Transcription Software: Interventions for Librarian” at the 18th AATT (American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages) Graduate Student Conference. The paper was developed in INFO-601 Foundations of Information.
-
Pratt Trustee and alumnus Derrick Adams, BFA Art and Design Education ’96, curated the inaugural Scout Art Fair, featured on WBAL news radio and in Observer.
-
Professor in the School of Information Leanne Bowler presented “Transdisciplinary Epistemic Practices as a Teaching Narrative: Redesigning a LIS course that integrates STEM, Arts, and Design” at Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA) 2025 in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
-
Jack McKernan, Lauren Holmes, and Cleo de Lasa, all MSLIS ’26, will present their paper, “The Revolution, In Boxes,” at the Libraries in the Digital Age (LIDA) 2025 conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia, May 19–21, 2025. They also received funding from the Graduate Student Engagement Fund to attend. The paper was written for INFO 601 Foundations of Information taught by Professor Irene Lopatovska.
-
Haijing Gu, BID ’26, and Mingzhi Chen, MID ’25, won Silver in the Muse Design Awards in the product design student category.
Prattfolio
Perspective Shifts
Spring 2025
Change Your Gaze
An MFA Communications Design class explores new ways of thinking and making, finding collaborators in the natural world.