Alumni Day and Reunion 2015 was a tremendous success, with 500 attendees registering to return to the Brooklyn campus and reconnect with classmates on September 19. This year’s event featured a full schedule of indoor and outdoor activities, including alumni readings, outdoor sketching, campus tours, roundtable discussions, and workshops. Reunions were celebrated for class years ending in zero and five.
Members of the class of 1965 gathered for a special 50th reunion brunch in the Main Hall courtyard, where they took turns at the microphone to share favorite memories and anecdotes. In other venues across campus, alumni had the opportunity to attend a lunch with the deans of each school, with welcome remarks by Pratt’s new Provost, Kirk E. Pillow.
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Another highlight of the day was the Alumni Exhibition, which showcased the work of 100 graduates in a range of artistic disciplines. The juried exhibition was the largest art exhibition for alumni at Pratt and displayed work by Mickalene Thomas (B.F.A. ’00), Adam Selman (B.F.A. Fashion Design ’04), and many others in campus galleries. Mix-and-mingle receptions were held in the afternoon, giving attendees the chance to meet artists whose work was on view.
The program offered many opportunities to reconnect with old friends as well as to meet other alumni for the first time. The Black Alumni of Pratt (BAP) celebrated its 25 anniversary at a gathering attended by alumni from a wide range of class years. Jean Ellington (Fashion Design ’52) was the guest of honor at the event, which featured a display of yearbook photographs of graduates of African and Latino descent from 1915 onward and BAP-related documentation. Other forums for discussion and networking included The Recent Alumni Committee (RAC) Meet and Greet event and student/alumni roundtable discussions.
Capping off the day was a New Orleans-themed evening reception hosted by President Thomas F. Schutte and his wife, Tess L. Schutte, at the Caroline Ladd Pratt House. Guests sipped Sazerac cocktails and danced to jazz played by Joey Morant and Catfish Stew. The reception was also the setting for a wedding proposal between Michael Sargent (B.Arch. ’03) and Erin Robertson (B.F.A. Photography ’02), who first met during their freshman year at Pratt. As the couple became engaged, the crowd broke into warm and heartfelt applause, followed by more dancing as the festivities drew to a close.