Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute
Motto	Be true to your work, and your work will be true to you.
Established	1887
Type	Private
Endowment	$73.5 million
President	Thomas F. Schutte
Academic staff	899
Undergraduates	3,070
Postgraduates	1,607
Location	Brooklyn, NY, USA
Campus	Urban 25 acres (10 hectares)
Colors	Black and cadmium yellow
Mascot	The Cannoneer
Affiliations	Pratt at Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Delaware College of Art and Design
Website	www.pratt.edu
Pratt Institute Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
The Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY
Location:	Roughly bounded by Hall St., Dekalb Ave., Willoughby St. and Emerson Pl., Brooklyn, New York
Coordinates:	40°41′28″N 73°57′50″W
Area:	9 acres (4 ha)
Architect:	Multiple
Architectural style:	Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Renaissance, Romanesque
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	90001138
Added to NRHP:	March 23, 2005

Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design, Industrial Design, Fashion Design, Jewelry Design, Illustration, Interior Design, Digital Arts, Creative Writing, Library and Information Science, and other areas. Pratt is named one of the best design schools in the world by Bloomberg Businessweek and a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD), a consortium of 36 leading private art schools in the United States.

History

Charles Pratt (1830–1891) was an early pioneer of the natural oil industry in the United States. He was founder of Astral Oil Works in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, New York. He joined with his protégé Henry H. Rogers to form Charles Pratt and Company in 1867. Both companies became part of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil in 1874.

Pratt is credited with recognizing the growing need for trained industrial workers in a changing economy.^{[citation needed]} In 1886, he founded and endowed the Pratt Institute, which opened in Brooklyn in 1887.

Pratt ended its engineering program in 1993 citing "a continuous decrease in its enrollment and the growth of competition for a shrinking pool of prospective students."

Presidents

1. Charles Pratt (1830–1891), president from 1887–1891
2. Charles Millard Pratt (1855–1935), 1891–1893
3. Frederic B. Pratt (1865–1945), 1893–1937
4. Charles Pratt (1892–?), 1937–1953
5. Francis H. Horn, 1953–1957
6. Robert Fisher Oxnam (1915–1974), 1957–1960
7. James Britt Donovan (1916–1970), 1968–1970
8. Richardson Pratt Jr. (1923–2001) (grandson of Charles Millard Pratt and great-grandson of Charles Pratt), 1972–1990
9. Warren F. Ilchman (1933–), 1990–1993
10. Thomas F. Schutte (1936–), 1993–present

Campus

Higgins Hall center section rebuilt by Steven Holl

DeKalb Avenue gate

Campus has many sycamores

Pratt Institute is an enclosed landscaped 25-acre (100,000 m²) campus in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, with historic buildings, library, and an athletic center. A residential campus, it offers several different kinds of residential options. It has two public entrances,which close in the evening hours. The main gate on Willoughby Avenue (for pedestrians and cars) is guarded by a security post 24 hours a day. The Hall Street entrance is convenient for commuters. Buildings on campus include the Library, Dekalb Hall, ISC Building, Main Building, North Hall, East Building, Student Union, Memorial Hall, Machinery Building, Chemistry Building, Engineering Building, Pratt Studios, Steuben Hall, and the ARC building. Off-campus buildings include the newly renovated Higgins Hall, which contains the School of Architecture and Myrtle Hall, an environmentally green building on Myrtle Avenuefor digital arts programs and student services including admissions, which opened in Fall 2010. The contemporary sculpture park on campus is open to visitors during the day.

Pratt Institute Historic District is a national historic district that consists of 36 contributing buildings built between 1885 and 1936. It includes the Main Hall (1886), library (1896), South Hall (c. 1890s), and Memorial Hall (1926–1927). It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. Pratt boasts the oldest continuously operating, privately owned, steam-powered electrical-generating plant in the country. The facility's historic value was recognized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and named a National Mechanical Engineering Landmark.

The library at Pratt Institute, which was opened in 1888 to serve not only students but the general public as well, was the first free public library in Brooklyn. The architect of the building was William Tubby of Brooklyn. The decoration in the building was done by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company.

Residence Halls

All residence hall students are provided with a bed (twin extra-long), a drafting table, a chair and a dresser. Students residing in a dorm on campus are required to be on a mandatory meal plan (Stabile, Cannoneer, ELJ, and Pantas), while those off campus are able to sign up for an optional meal plan (Willoughby and Grand Avenue).

Cannoneer Court, or the Cann, was designed by famed architecture firm SOM in 1986 and was constructed using a then-unique form of modular construction. Each individual dorm room was constructed off-site and then set into place like building blocks. This traditional corridor-style residence houses students in double rooms, and bathrooms are communal. The building has a lounge and work area as well as a garden courtyard. The rooms are air-conditioned and carpeted. Although it was meant for temporary housing in 1986, this building still stands today for use as freshman housing. As of Fall 2010, the first floor rooms are used for housing freshman students as well.

Esther Lloyd-Jones Hall is named for a trendsetter in modern American higher education. ELJH accommodates students single and double rooms. ELJH is occupied primarily by upperclassmen continuing students; vacancies for new transfer and graduate students sometimes do occur.

Designed by SOM in 1986, the Leo J. Pantas dormitory sits centrally located on campus. Students live in four-person suites, which consist of two double rooms (two people in each double room), and each suite has its own bathroom. Suites are single sex, but floors are co-ed. Each suite is responsible for the healthy upkeep of the common bathroom area. This building has no air conditioning. The building boasts a large work area in addition to a dramatic main lounge area with a large screen TV. Its central location on campus makes it desirable to students, with its clock tower serving as a campus landmark.

Grand Avenue Residence is home to new and continuing graduate students. The building can accommodate 50 students in efficiency apartments (double and single) and private single rooms within two- and three-bedroom apartments. A double-efficiency apartment is two students sharing a one-room apartment (with kitchen and bath). A single-efficiency apartment is one student in a private one-room apartment with kitchen and bath. A shared single is two or more students, each with its own private bedroom, sharing kitchen, bath, and living room. The building is located one block from campus. Each living room is furnished with a sofa, club chair, coffee table, kitchen table, and chairs.

Willoughby Residence Hall is a former 16 (no 13th floor) story apartment co-op, and is the largest residence hall. It accommodates 800 undergraduate men and women. Very few apartments are now co-ed. In addition to the standard furniture, all apartments have a kitchen table, stove, and refrigerator. All students are assigned to double, triple, or single spaces. The converted apartments consist of at least one double or triple that occupies the former living-room space of the apartment. The number of students residing in a given apartment ranges from two to six students, depending upon the size of the converted apartment—studio, one-, two-, or three-bedroom.

Vincent A. Stabile Hall opened in the Fall of 1999. Named for the donor and graduate of the Engineering School, it was designed for new undergraduate students. It houses 240 students in four-person suites. Each suite consists of two double rooms with a shared bath. There are kitchenettes located on each floor. The award-winning design^{[citation needed]} of the building boasts a large common lounge with smaller work and lounge spaces on each floor, all of which contribute to a vital living and working environment.

A new Myrtle Avenue building currently under construction will house the Student Services Center, Digital Art Center and the Convergence and Fine Arts studios, as well as the Pratt Center for Community Development, which will share space with Pratt's Development and Alumni Relations department.Retail shops will occupy the first floor. The building was designed by Pratt Institute School of Architecture alumnus Jack Esterson AIA of the New York City architecture and engineering firm WASA/Studio A, and is on track to achieve LEED Gold Certification.

Outside Brooklyn

The Pratt Manhattan campus, located at 144 West 14th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenue, is home to Pratt's associate degrees programs in graphic design, illustration, and digital design and interactive media, an undergraduate program in construction management and several of Pratt's graduate programs including the School of Information and Library Science, Communication Design (MFA and MS), Historic Preservation, Facilities management, Design Management and Arts and Cultural Management. This seven story historic building was acquired by Pratt in 2000. The Institute restored the building's exterior to its original facade highlighting its decorative architectural and design elements and renovated the interior to feature its high ceilings and wood beams. A lovely staircase from the building's lobby leads to the Pratt Manhattan Gallery offering a rich array of shows from fine art and sculpture to fashion.

This new building houses the Graduate School for Information and Library Science, the Graduate Programs in Communications and Package Design, Design Management, Arts and cultural Management and the two-year Associates Degree Programs in Digital Design, Graphic Design and Illustration. The modern building has many resources like a library, computer lab and meeting spaces.

In 2010 Pratt acquired the entire 3rd floor of a building on W 18th Street to serve as a studio space for its new MFA program in Communications Design.

In 1977, the original school was opened in a nineteenth-century women's dress-design school, a New York City Landmark building at Lexington Avenue and 31st Street. At this time, Manhattan had long been the epicenter of publishing design during the latter-twentieth century, and this new commercial-art-dedicated satellite was modeled to apply intensely concentrated vocational training in graphic design, illustration, package design, and textile design. Its faculty was largely composed of Manhattan's working professionals, who themselves had achieved the level of skill necessary to meet the city's global-defining standards. Magazines, books, music albums, movie posters, print and television advertisements and packaging for all forms of retail products were the intended goals for its graduates, as well as Manhattan's omnipresent fashion industry. In addition, the below-ground space in the school was converted into a state of the art printmaking facility, teaching artist-created lithography, silkscreening and engraving.

Pratt also has a campus in Utica, New York, referred to as PrattMWP, at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. Students there complete their first two years of study at Munson-Williams-Proctor campus and finish their BFA degree at the Brooklyn campus. PrattMWP has a world-class museum, extensive academic facilities, and programs in graphic design, illustration, fine arts, art education, photography, and interior design.

Schools

• Pratt Institute School of Architecture
  • Department of Undergraduate Architecture
  • Department of Graduate Architecture
  • Department of Construction Management
  • Department of Facilities Management
  • Department of Graduate Architecture and Urban Design
  • Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment
• School of Art and Design
  • Department of Foundation Art
  • Department of Art and Design Education
  • Department of Creative Arts Therapy
  • Department of Arts and Cultural Management
  • Department of Communications Design
  • Department of Graduate Communications/Packaging Design
  • Department of Digital Arts
  • Department of Design Management
  • Department of Fashion Design
  • Department of Fine Arts
  • Department of the History of Art & Design
  • Department of Industrial Design
  • Department of Interior Design
  • Department of Media Arts
  • Associate Degree Programs
• School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Department of English and Humanities
  • Critical and Visual Studies
  • Intensive English Program
  • Department of Math and Science
  • Department of Social Science and Cultural Studies
  • Writing Program
• School of Information and Library Science (Pratt has the oldest continuously accredited library-science school in the US.)
• Center for Continuing Education and Professional Studies

Rankings and lists

Pratt is regarded as one of the top art and design schools in the U.S.^{[citation needed]}and was named one of the country's best values in private colleges and universities according to Kiplinger's Personal Finance, which ranked Pratt as one of the top values for academic quality and affordability out of more than 600 private institutions. Pratt is the country's only college specializing in art and design included on the publication's 2010-2011 list of the top 100 private college and universities ranked as best values.[3] In 2007, Pratt received more applications than any other art school in the country with 4,400 applications for 585 freshman spots.

· #1 Interior Design U.S. News & World Report[4]

· #4 Industrial Design U.S. News & World Report [5]

· #9 Graphic Design U.S. News & World Report[6]

· #9 Architecture by DesignIntelligence [7]

· #15 Fine Arts U.S. News & World Report [8]

Notable faculty

• Fritz Eichenberg, printmaker
• Philip Guston, painter
• Jacob Lawrence, painter
• Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, painter, School of Visual Arts
• George McNeil, painter
• Jonathan Beller, film theorist
• Manuel de Landa, philosopher, artist
• Eva Zeisel, ceramic artist/designer

Alumni

Pratt alumni include:

• Tone Aanderaablog (painter)
• Ralph Appelbaum (museum designer)
• David Ascalon (sculptor)
• Ken Bald (illustrator, newspaper comic strip artist) (did not graduate)
• Joseph Barbera (animator) (did not graduate)
• Gwendolyn B. Bennett (poet, artist) (graduated in 1924)
• Dave Berg (cartoonist, Mad) (attended classes at age 12, in 1932)
• Emery Bopp (painter and sculptor) (did not graduate)
• Joe Boudreau (painter) (graduated in 1981)
• Rich Burlew (author, game designer, and graphic designer)
• Cecily Byk (painter)
• William D. Byron, Maryland (politician)
• Paul Calle (1928–2010), artist who created the 1969 stamp commemorating the first manned moon landing.
• Bernard Chang (illustrator)
• Echo Chernik (illustrator)
• Daniel Clowes (screenwriter, cartoonist, Art School Confidential, a story related to his experience at Pratt)
• Bryan Collier (children's book illustrator)
• Roger Cook (graphic designer)
• Jennifer Dalton (artist)
• Joshua Davis (web and graphic designer)
• Ben de Lisi (fashion designer)
• Louis Delsarte (artist)
• Tomie dePaola (children's author-illustrator)
• Gus Edson (cartoonist)
• Lloyd Espenschied (electrical engineer)
• Jules Feiffer (cartoonist)
• Harvey Fierstein (actor)
• Suzanne Fiol, avant-garde music producer and founder of ISSUE Project Room
• John Flansburgh (musician, half of They Might Be Giants)
• Richard Foster (architect)
• Roderick Gilchrist (director of the Cartoon Art Museum)
• Bob Giraldi (director, filmmaker)
• Eric Goldberg (animator)
• Félix González-Torres (artist)
• Bill Griffith (cartoonist, Zippy)
• Jan Groover (photographer)
• Donald A. Hall (aeronautical engineer, designer of the Spirit of St. Louis)
• Christian Hawkey (poet, novelist)
• Gregory Henderson (photographer)
• Eva Hesse (sculptor)
• Malcolm Holzman (architect)
• William Howard Hoople (minister and inventor, one of the first 12 students)
• Ryszard Horowitz (photographer)
• Terrence Howard (actor)
• Betsey Johnson (fashion designer)
• Matt Johnson (of the indie rock duo Matt and Kim)
• Malcolm Jones III (comic book artist)
• Ellsworth Kelly (painter, sculptor)
• Jack Kirby (comic book artist, did not graduate)
• Ben Knight (designer, installation artist, inventor)
• Frances Kornbluth (painter)
• Josh Koury (filmmaker)
• Martin Landau (actor, artist)
• Elizabeth Lee (from the MTV show My Life as Liz)
• Arnold Lobel (illustrator, author of the Frog & Toad books)
• George Lois (art & advertising director)
• Robert Mapplethorpe (photographer)
• Irvin Leigh Matus, (Shakespearean scholar)
• Earl Mayan (magazine illustrator)
• Peter Max (artist)
• Vera Maxwell (fashion designer)
• Marcus McLaurin (comic book writer/editor)
• Wendy McMurdo (artist)
• George McNeil (painter)
• Emil Memon (artist)
• Morton Meskin (comic book artist)
• Colleen Mulligan (painter)
• Judith Murray (painter)
• Kadir Nelson (illustrator, children's book author)
• Tom Nikosey (designer and illustrator)
• Martin Nodell (comic book artist)
• Norman Norell (fashion designer)
• Laura Numeroff (children's book author)
• Abraham Nathanson (1929–2010), developer of the game Bananagrams.
• Bryan Osburn (painter)
• Roxy Paine (conceptual artist)
• Roberto Parada (illustrator)
• Beverly Pepper (sculptor)
• Denis Peterson (photorealist painter)
• John Peterson (author) (children's book author)
• Pelle Petterson (yacht and automobile designer)
• John M. Pierce (writer on amateur telescope making)
• Sylvia Plachy (photographer)
• Charles Pollock (chair designer)
• Charles E. Pont (painter, illustrator, printmaker, graphic designer)
• Bob Powell (comic book artist)
• George Pratt (painter and graphic novel artist)
• Hawley Pratt (layout artist under Friz Freleng)
• Paul Rand (graphic designer)
• Robert Redford (actor, director)
• J. Noel Reifel (printmaker)
• Matthew Reinhart (creator of pop-up books)
• Willy Bo Richardson (painter)
• Robert Riger (illustrator, photographer)
• Michele van de Roer (artist, designer, and engraver)
• Robert Sabuda (children's book creator)
• Stefan Sagmeister (graphic designer) {note: He was an exchange student}
• Kim Schifino, member of Matt and Kim, indie pop duo
• Sarah Schkeeper (Guard of New York Sharks and designer)
• Jeremy Scott (fashion designer)
• Nat Mayer Shapiro (painter)
• Rob Sheridan (artist, graphic and web designer, editor, art director)
• Jean Shin (installation and multi-media artist)
• Robert Siegel (architect)
• David Silverman (animator)
• Louis Silverstein (graphic designer, The New York Times)
• Pamela Colman Smith (artist, illustrator, writer)
• Patti Smith (singer and poet)
• Yoshi Sodeoka (artist and musician)
• Leonard Starr (comic strip illustrator)
• Therman Statom (glass artist)
• Lynne Stewart (civil rights lawyer)
• Elke Reva Sudin (artist, illustrator)
• Swoon (street artist)
• Joseph Szabo (photographer)
• Mickalene Thomas (artist)
• Elliot Tiber (screenwriter who "saved" Woodstock Festival)
• Dante Tomaselli (director, score composer, writer)
• Boaz Vaadia (sculptor)
• William Van Alen (architect, the Chrysler Building)
• Frank Verlizzo (design artist)
• Lindsey 'LynZ' Way (musician, artist)
• Max Weber (painter)
• Kent Williams (illustrator)
• William T. Williams (artist)
• Robert Wilson (director)
• Terry Winters (artist)
• Mary Elizabeth Wood (librarian)
• Rob Zombie (musician, director, writer)
• Peter Zumthor (architect)
• Justin I. Lewis (Industrial Designer, Interior Designer)

Student media

Pratt has multiple student media groups through which students can use their art and explore new mediums. If you are interested in being a part of a student media groups feel free to contact them at any time.

The Film Club promotes the art of film throughout Pratt Institute.

Pratt Radio is a student-run internet radio station that broadcasts internationally on the web. The school had a radio station in the mid-1980s that broadcast on a limited-range signal. After students modified the broadcast tower, the FCC stepped in and shut it down. The station later re-emerged in 2001 as an Internet-only station and continues to broadcast from http://www.pratt.edu/radio.

The Prattler is Pratt's student magazine. Everything from newsletter articles, art reviews, concerts and events can be found in our publication, which usually comes out the first Monday of the month.

Static Fish was established over 20 years ago and is Pratt's oldest comic book publication.

Ubiquitous, Pratt's Literary and Arts magazine, is published twice a year with reading event on campus per semester, and maintains a blog of additional submissions. Ubiquitous accepts poetry, fiction, essays, reviews, and journalism writing submissions. They also accept reproductions of photography, paintings, drawings, sculpture, prints, and architecture models. Their blog can be accessed at http://www.ubiquitousmag.blogspot.com/. Those interested can also join our group on Facebook.

Prattonia Pratt's yearbook which is designed by selected Pratt students each year.

Athletics

The Pratt Cannoneers, a founding member of the Hudson Valley Athletic Conference (NCAA Division III), has varsity teams competing in men's basketball, soccer, cross-country, indoor/outdoor track, and tennis; as well as women's soccer, tennis, cross-country, indoor/outdoor track, and volleyball.

The men's basketball team has a storied tradition, including the 4th longest collegiate basketball rivalry in the nation between Pratt and Polytechnic University (Brooklyn, NY), with Pratt holding the overall record 78-59. The Cannoneers also took home a national collegiate championship title in 1901, and made four NAIA ('59, '60, '61, and '62) and two ECAC ('77,'79) post-season appearances. Former players included Ed Mazria ('62), who was drafted by the New York Knicks, and Anthony Heyward ('94), who currently tours with the And1 streetball team as "Half Man Half Amazing".

The women's cross-country team recently captured the 2006 HMWAC championship title and coach Dalton Evans won "Coach of the Year" honors. The men's cross-country team also has a championship title. The women's tennis team has won three HVWAC titles, including an appearance in the ECAC tournament.

In addition, there are intramural activities schedules throughout the year, ranging from individual (tennis and track & field) to team sports (soccer, basketball, volleyball, and touch football). Two premier student intramurals events include the fall classic Halloween Pratt Ratt Outdoor Obstacle Relay Race and the annual Mr. & Ms. Pratt All Thatt Fitness & Artistic Expression Pageant finale.

The Athletics Resource Center (A.R.C.) is home to the athletic department, and features the largest clear-span space in Brooklyn. It also hosts the annual Colgate Games, the nation's largest amateur track series for girls from elementary school through college.

The school's mascot, the Cannoneer, takes the name from the 19th century cannon that stands prominently near the main gate to the campus. Cast in bronze in Seville, Spain, the cannon bears the insignia of Philip V and was brought to Pratt from the walls of Morro Castle in Havana, Cuba, in 1899.

In popular culture

• Parts of the pornographic film Debbie Does Dallas were shot in the school library without permission.
• The music video for Billy Joel's song The Longest Time was filmed in its entirety at Pratt Institute in 1984.
• Comic book artist Daniel Clowes's experience at the Pratt Institute provided the inspiration for his satirical comic Art School Confidential, upon which the 2006 film of the same name was based.
• Segments of the 1990 movie Jacob's Ladder were filmed at Pratt, as well as scenes for the 2006 film The Good Shepherd, directed by Robert De Niro. Some episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit were filmed on campus.
• Pam Beesly from The Office was accepted to Pratt in the episode "Goodbye, Toby." She studies for three months and leaves Pratt by the episode "Business Trip."
• Liz Lee, star of the quasi reality series My Life As Liz currently attends Pratt and much of the filming of the second season was done on location.

References

• Elbert Hubbard, 1909, Little Journeys to the Homes
• Tarbell, Ida M. 1904, The History of Standard Oil
• Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Web site, Pratt Institute page
• Pratt Institute official Web site, History page
• New York Times article announcing end of engineering school

External links

• Pratt Institute official site
• WPIR Pratt Institute Radio Station