Two new reports by the Pratt Center for Community Development were featured in local publications. Brick Underground wrote about “Flipping Out: How Home Flipping Reduces Affordability in NYC Neighborhoods of Color,” while Streetsblog NYC covered “Better Buses for Flatbush Avenue: Participatory Action Research with Riders Alliance.”
The Daily Hub
A roundup of ideas and projects from around the Institute
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Asian Feminist Architectural Possibilities, a collaboration between Visiting Assistant Professor of GA/LA/UD, Ruo Jia and e-flux Architecture, and supported by Pratt Institute, is featured in e-flux.
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Professor of Fashion Design Adrienne Jones was interviewed about the fashion of funk in We Want the Funk!, a documentary film streaming now on PBS Independent Lens.
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Salman Toor, MFA Fine Arts (Painting) ’09, is profiled in an immersive, multimedia feature in The New York Times that explores his studio space, his art practice, and his background and influences. “When he graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 2009, Toor was painting as if he was an apprentice of the Italian Renaissance artist Giovanni Bellini. He had started making classical portraits of friends that included a strange scribble of paint above their heads. That is when Catherine Redmond, his painting professor at Pratt, knew something was about to change. His brushstrokes were becoming less about the Renaissance and more about him.”
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Young Jun Kim, BFA Fine Arts (Jewelry) ’24, was featured in The Good Men Project about his jewelry practice. “In a world where jewelry often begins and ends with surface beauty, Young Jun Kim dares to dig deeper, transforming metal into memory, ornament into narrative,” writes Noen Noah. “As both a designer and metalsmith, Young Jun Kim is redefining what it means to adorn the body, crafting pieces that not only captivate the eye but also question the nature of beauty, imperfection, and time itself.”
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The Pratt women’s tennis team won the 2025 Atlantic East Conference Championship, the first conference championship for Pratt since attaining full NCAA membership in 2022. Kayla Abraham, BA Critical and Visual Studies ’28, was named Tournament MVP after notching two wins in doubles and two straight-set victories at singles.
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Graphis awarded Satchel McLaughlin, AOS Graphic Design ’25, Silver for typography and design in their New Talent 2025 competition. She also received an Honorable Mention for her poster design.
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Pratt’s Puppet Club had its 5th biannual “Puppet Off” with puppeteers from The New School.
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Fadila Prastawa, Qinni (Nino) Xiang, Xueer Han, and Liliya Treyger, all MPS Design Management ’25, presented their project “Beacon of Light” to the American Institute of Architects, New York. The proposal addresses urban resilience during citywide blackouts. A pilot program is slated for Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, with plans for citywide expansion and partnerships with agencies like NYC Emergency Management and FEMA. Emphasizing community preparedness over infrastructure alone, Beacon of Light provides a scalable, human-centered model for blackout resilience that aligns with global sustainability objectives.
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Visiting Assistant Professor in the School of Information Claudia Berger, MSLIS ’21, and Gabby Evergreen, MSLIS ’24, led a workshop, “Exploring Environmental Data Through Data Physicalization,” at the 2025 METRO STEM Information Professionals Mini Conference. At that same conference, alumna Diedre Brown, MS Data Analytics and Visualization ’21, gave a talk, “Empathy for the Faceless: Using Coloring Books to Exploring the Urban Aerobiome Microclimate,” and alumna and METRO staff Mary Bakija, MSLIS ’20, helped organize the conference.
More Pratt Institute News
Dr. Peter West Appointed Dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
The accomplished writer, scholar, and academic leader joins Pratt Institute from Mercy University. He will assume the role on July 7, 2025.
Rafael de Balanzo Joue Receives Fulbright Specialist Program Award
From School of Architecture News
School of Architecture faculty member Dr. Rafael De Balanzo Joue has been awarded a Fulbright Specialist Program grant by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
Barbie, Houseboats, Book Arts, and Beyond
From Pratt Institute News
Class trips invite students to experience art, conduct research, and meet with industry experts in New York City and around the world.