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Pratt Institute

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Pratt Institute is a specialized, private college in New York City with campuses in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as well as in Utica, New York. Pratt is one of the leading art schools in the United States and offers programs in art, architecture, fashion design, illustration, design, digital arts, creative writing, library science, and other areas. Pratt is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD), a consortium of thirty-six leading 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. In 1886, he founded and endowed the Pratt Institute, which opened in Brooklyn in 1887.

Presidents

  1. Charles Pratt (1830-1891), president from 1887-1891
  2. Charles Millard Pratt (1835-1935), 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) (gt-grandson of Charles Pratt), 1972-1990
  9. Warren F. Ilchman (1933-), 1990-1993
  10. Thomas F. Schutte (1936-), 1993 to present

Campus

Pratt Institute is a closed campus with four public entrances, two of which close in the evening hours. The main gate on Willoughby Avenue is guarded by a security post 24 hours a day. 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. There is also on campus housing for faculty. Off campus building includes the newly renovated Higgins Hall which contains all the Architecture studios.

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, Cannonner, ELJ and Pantas), while those off campus are able to sign-up for an optional meal plan (Willoughby and Grand Avenue).

Cannoneer Court

Cannoneer Court, or "The Can" was designed by famed architecture firm SOM in 1986 and 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. It accommodates 94 students between two hallways. This traditional corridor style residence houses students in double rooms. 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 well as late-acceptance students and transfers. The first floor of this two-floor building is used as Graduate Fine Arts studios.

Esther Lloyd-Jones Hall

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

Leo J. Pantas Hall

Designed by SOM in 1986, Leo J. Pantas domitory sits centrally located on campus. Students live in four-person suites, which consist of two double-rooms (two people in each double-room). Each suite has its own bathroom. Suites are single sex, but floors are coed. Each suite is responsible for the healthy upkeep of the common bathroom area. The building boasts a large work area in addition to a dramatic main lounge area with large screen TV and pool table. Its central location on campus makes it desirable to students, with its clock tower serving as a campus landmark.

Grand Avenue

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 is two students sharing a one-room apartment (with kitchen and bath). A single efficiency is one student in a private one room apartment (with kitchen and bath. A shared single is two or more students, each with their 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 Hall

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 coed. In addition to the standard furniture, all apartments have a kitchen table, stove and refrigerator. All students assigned to double, triple and 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 2–6 students (depending upon the size of the converted apartment - studio, one bedroom, two bedroom or three bedroom).

Stabile Hall

Vincent A. Stabile Hall opened in the Fall of 1999. Named for the donor and graduate of the Engineering School, Stabile Hall 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. Suites are single sex, but floors are coed. With few exceptions, the room dimensions, not including the small entry foyer, are 12 x 12. Each suite is responsible for the healthy upkeep of the common bathroom area. There are kitchenettes located on each floor. The award-winning design 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.

Schools

  • 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
    • Department of Critical and Visual Studies
    • Intensive English Program
    • Department of Math and Science
    • Department of Social Science and Cultural Studies
    • Department of Writing for Performance, Publication and Media
  • School of Information and Library Sciences
  • Center for Continuing Education and Professional Studies

Notable Alumni

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".

Due to Pratt's recent record against Polytechnic, Harry Cheadle of The Prattler, started a movement in early 2008 to "switch to a team we can actually win against," and began a campaign against the Cooper Union Pioneers.

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 which stands prominently near the main gate to the campus. Cast in bronze in Seville, Spain, the cannon bears the insignia of Philip the Fifth and was brought to Pratt from the walls of Morro Castle in Havana, Cuba in 1899.

Trivia

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

  • The school had a radio station in the mid 1980s which 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.prattradio.com.

  • 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.

  • Several scenes of the 1978 best-selling pornographic movie Debbie Does Dallas were shot in the Pratt Institute library, as well as the ARC showers, without the administration's approval.

  • 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 have been filmed on campus.

  • Pratt has a closed-circuit television station, PRATT TV, located on channel 66 on campus. (Founded in 2000). Until recently, the channel was home to a blank VCR screen.

  • Pratt's Brooklyn campus is home to a number of cats which are known as the 'Pratt Cats'.

  • The school's colors are black and cadmium yellow deep.

  • The oldest continually functioning elevator in all of Brooklyn, installed in 1910, was located at Pratt's Main Building, until it was upgraded in October, 2004.

  • Pratt has the oldest continuously accredited library science school in the United States of America.

  • In 2007, Pratt received more applications than any other art school in the country with 4,400 applications for 585 freshman spots.

  • 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.

References

References

External links



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Last updated on Monday March 10, 2008 at 09:46:57 PDT (GMT -0700)
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