President’s Letter
Spring is always a time of culminating energy at Pratt, and it is also a time of transitions. Students become professionals, admitted students prepare to join Pratt’s community, and at the cascade of end-of-year events that are underway as I write this, we take a moment to reflect on the promise of these pivotal stages. There is uncertainty, there may be doubt, but practice, experimentation, and collaboration with our people have prepared us to take those next steps into the different or unknown.
I must acknowledge the unpredictability we have collectively been facing and the caution and concern this has generated on all levels, from the institutional to the personal. In my conversations with our community, I have emphasized our guiding principles: Pratt continues to be committed to our values of excellence, community engagement, democratic practice, freedom of expression, and education open to all, equipping our emerging professionals with the skills and prowess to succeed and contribute, as flexible creators and leaders within a changing world.
Over the years, I have heard countless stories of Pratt graduates’ adaptability, courage, and resourcefulness, some of which alumni have shared for this issue of Prattfolio. They have met moments of adversity, navigated shifting terrain, and in some cases redefined their lives and practices, drawing on the confidence they built at Pratt, anchored in their good work, their creativity, and their people. As the alumni stories in this issue reflect, our paths may be intricate and unexpected, but pivotal moments are when our creative vitality shines.
Experiences of uncertainty, tumult, or confusion can be creative moments. They are times to remember what we have made with our resources, and to channel our strengths into constructive work and connection.
This March, we mourned the loss of our friend and colleague Pratt Institute President Emeritus Thomas F. Schutte, whose extraordinary leadership gave us a foundation for the bold moves this community makes every day. He joined the Institute at a critical point in its history and during his 24-year tenure ushered in a new era, transforming Pratt into a global leader in art, design, and architecture education. We remember his indelible influence.
Under complex circumstances, communities come together. Our collective work as makers, planners, designers, and cultivators of the next generation of creative minds is more important than ever. These are times to work as colleagues, to find what is generative about the moment and what we are capable of building with one another.
—President Frances Bronet