Pratt Institute
PRE-2: Points of Distinction

During the 2016/17 academic year, The Provost’s office and the Center for Sustainable Design Strategies (CSDS) supported a new initiative called the Departmental Sustainability Coordinator (DSC). Each DSC’s role is to promote sustainability in their home department, focusing on enhancing the curriculum and promoting the achievements of students and faculty. Each DSC works with their chair, curriculum committee, fellow faculty and students to identify opportunities and to provide resources related to sustainability. They work collaboratively to create a written mission/vision statement around sustainability for their home department, create benchmarks for success, and find ways to record and document this. In addition to the individual departmental work, all of the DSC representatives meet together monthly to coordinate best practices, as well as report curriculum developments (including, for example, the Academic portions of this report).

The Center for Sustainable Design Strategies serves as a physical and virtual hub for Pratt’s commitment to educate environmentally responsible citizens. CSDS encourages the use of Pratt’s campus as a living laboratory linking the classroom to campus initiatives. The CSDS houses a materials research center that supports faculty, students and alumni in the integration of sustainability into their professional lives.

GiveTake is a campus-wide art material reuse program. Throughout the year, materials are donated, collected, sorted, and given back to students, free of charge, through a free store. All materials donated back to students are weighed. At the end of each semester, GiveTake staff distribute special blue bags to all of the studios and additional donation space is marked in common areas and hallways. These materials are then collected and sorted so that they can be reused by students the following semester. Givetake has recovered over 20 tons of materials since its launch in 2016.