Eve Baron has been appointed chair of the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment within the School of Architecture. She assumed the role on August 1, 2016, succeeding John Shapiro, who stepped down to join the full-time faculty in July.
Baron brings extensive experience in higher education, advocacy, and government to the chair position. She is a familiar presence at Pratt, where she was Adjunct Associate Professor in the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment (2004-2013) and Senior Fellow for Planning and Policy at the Pratt Center for Community Development (2010-2013). Most recently, she was Academic Program Manager of Urban and Community Studies at The Murphy Institute in the City University of New York’s (CUNY) School of Professional Studies (2013-2016).
“Professor Baron is well known to many of our faculty through her past teaching in the graduate planning program and work at the Pratt Center, and we are very pleased to welcome her back to Pratt,” said School of Architecture Dean Thomas Hanrahan. “She comes with a strong appreciation and understanding of the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment’s unique mission and innovative graduate programs that will truly benefit our students.”
As chair, Baron will oversee the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, an alliance of four urbanism programs, including City and Regional Planning, Historic Preservation, Sustainable Environmental Systems, and Urban Placemaking and Management. The department includes approximately 170 students and 50 faculty members.
“My lifelong teaching goal is to help students achieve awareness of the power of human agency in the shaping of diverse and just cities,” said Baron. “In my earlier time at Pratt, I worked with colleagues to help form our curriculum around these principles. It’s wonderful to be back, and I look forward to the opportunity to build on the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment’s excellent work and take it to the next level.”
Baron holds a Ph.D. in Planning and Public Policy from the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. She earned an M.S. in International Development and a B.A. in French and International Studies from Ohio State University.