Pratt Institute
PA-2: Sustainability Planning

During the 2018/2019 academic year, Pratt underwent its latest Strategic Planning Process. The outcomes of how sustainability is integrated into our new strategic plan is outlined below:

"Engage critically and creatively with contemporary and near-future issues of socio-ecological urgency, prioritizing the sustainability of humanity, culture, and the environment. As artists, architects, designers, thinkers, critics, and curators of our culture, Pratt students will go on to shape the world in which we live, and our aim is to empower them through agile programs that anticipate a radically changing world. To train and nurture tomorrow’s leaders, we will support and incentivize faculty research and student experimentation related to socio-ecological futures, with attention to opportunities at the graduate level. In addition, we will create a curriculum that engages the Fourth Industrial Revolution, bringing together the physical, digital, and biological realms of knowledge and practice. Finally, we will develop the campus as a living laboratory in which students and faculty engage with and advance various models of sustainability."

During the 2018/2019 academic year, the Strategic Plan Oversight Committee is overseeing the implementation of the plan with input from the Department Sustainability Coordinators. Many of the DSCs sit on their department or school curriculum committee as well as the institute curriculum committee.

From its launch in 1887 amidst the rapid industrialization, urbanization, and social dislocation of the post-Civil War era, Pratt Institute has embodied extraordinarily progressive values in almost every discipline, admitting students regardless of class, race, and gender, and offering art classes early on to children from the surrounding community. The Pratt Center for Community Development was launched during the economic uncertainty and civil strife of the mid-1960s to help community groups rebuild and revitalize their neighborhoods. Today, faculty and student commitment to civic engagement is reflected throughout Pratt, both in well-established networks and programs such as the Global South Center and the Social Justice/Social Practice minor and in the innumerable efforts of individual teachers and students.

We now face not only widening economic and racial inequalities, but also widespread attack on fact-based inquiry and rational decision making, fundamental building blocks of education and democracy. For Pratt to remain intellectually and ethically relevant, we must prepare scholars and designers to contribute to the social compact and leverage creative practice to build a more equitable and sustainable world. And as part of the economic and social engine that has transformed our neighborhood into a new, creative economy, we must address the unintended consequences of displacement and unequal participation, particularly for people of color.

Expanding the school’s commitment to civic engagement and societal benefit will advance Pratt’s standing as a world-class institution, bringing unparalleled opportunity for interdisciplinary and collaborative learning, and attracting faculty and students who share our sense of urgency and purpose. We must work with our neighbors to model new ways an academic institution can collaborate to create a more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable community. We need to take action as bold as that of founder Charles Pratt, not only opening our doors to all people, but inviting them in.

Ensure that a culture of civic ethos governs campus life. In accordance with the findings of the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement (organized by the Association of American Colleges and Universities), we will create an Office of Civic Engagement (OCE) that will support faculty, students, and staff in their efforts to incorporate civic and community-based service learning into their teaching, research, and personal development, as well as in their efforts to build and sustain relationships with the broader community. To position Pratt as a leader in civic engagement, the OCE will develop an infrastructure that allows the Institute to realize fully its longstanding commitment to civic engagement by tracking all related activities, measuring their impacts, working with Institutional Advancement and the Provost’s office to raise funding, and facilitating internal and external communications, while also ensuring that civic engagement is embedded in the Pratt mission and vision.
Establish civic literacy as a learning goal and ensure that every student acquires it. We will cultivate Pratt students’ knowledge of the fundamental concepts of human rights and governance, their familiarity with key historical developments and social movements, and their ability to think critically about complex matters that have public consequences. We will assess existing coursework and co-curricular activities for their contribution to civic literacy, sustaining and expanding curricular and co-curricular opportunities for civic engagement, and supporting departments and schools across the Institute in developing discipline-appropriate learning outcomes. We will institute a process for recording civic literacy activities and accomplishments on the graduation transcript, followed in time by an assessment of whether civic engagement should be made a graduation requirement.
Support civic inquiry throughout the Institute. The practice of civic inquiry should be pervasive within Pratt’s curriculum, including the exploration of the personal, social, and environmental impact of choice; the consideration of differing views; and the exercise of civic debate and analysis within one’s areas of study. We will support community-based research, teaching, and engagement by faculty and staff, while also taking civic engagement into consideration in promotions, tenure decisions (if appropriate and requested by faculty), and the hiring of new faculty. To facilitate and promote course development and activities with civic outcomes, and to recognize ongoing community-based research, pedagogy, and engagement, we will provide support in the form of release time, grants, and awards.
Instill a sense of agency and commitment for life-long civic action. The capacity for collective work, coupled with the ability to prepare analytically and the moral and political courage to take risks for the greater good, is essential to addressing our shared problems around life quality and sustainability. We will expand Pratt’s client-based studio work with community groups and organizations, with an emphasis on building long-term, sustainable partnerships. We will develop opportunities for knowledge and resource exchanges with community-based organizations, as well as K-12 initiatives around civic engagement, scholarship, and pedagogy that will create a pipeline of engaged Institute students. By increasing the permeability of the campus, we will bring in more community members, allowing greater collaboration, and by creating new, service-based opportunities for alumni, we will open a new pathway for community engagement.

Pratt Institute has a 2009 Climate Action Plan, which was initially developed for two voluntary carbon
challenges the Institute joined in 2006 and 2007, The Bloomberg 30/10 Challenge and the AASHE ACUPCC.
end of this document.
Pratt has updated the Plan in 2019 with data gathered during the NYC Carbon Challenge – 2007 through
2017 and the updated Challenge through 2040, Table 3, p 14.
Current targets are 40% X 2040 and compliance with Local Law 97 which is approx. 50% X 2030 and 80% X
2050.
Pratt is developing a Roadmap to reach carbon reduction targets of 50% X 2030 and 80% X 2050 and
specifically Local Law 97.
Pratt Institute is currently developing an Energy, Greenhouse and Infrastructure Master Plan, The
Roadmap, to determine how to revitalize old infrastructure, reduce energy and greenhouse gasses (GHG)
and meet the ambitious NYC Climate Targets of LL 97. The Roadmap will include a new Climate Action Plan.
The Roadmap is expected to be complete in 2020.

Recognizing the strength that stems from a diversity of perspectives, values, ideas, backgrounds, and beliefs, Pratt’s leadership launched a major effort in 2015 to promote ongoing diversity, equity, and inclusion across the Institute. The Diversity Strategic Planning Committee worked with various constituents in the Pratt community through town hall meetings and focus groups, making sure all voices were heard. The resulting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Plan, finalized in 2018 and now incorporated into the comprehensive Strategic Plan, is organized into four areas of focus: Creating a Welcoming Environment, Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Student Body, Hiring and Retaining a Diverse Faculty and Staff, and Expanding “Beyond the Gates” to the External Community.

Creating a welcoming environment. With the recently updated Pratt Community Standards as a guiding framework, we will ensure that all students and faculty feel valued and respected in every Pratt classroom and studio, in a learning environment that supports students, faculty, and staff to facilitate student success. We will provide access to increased financial and institutional support for students with fewer resources. We will improve communication and transparency across the institution at every level, and develop an institution-wide onboarding process for staff hires. We will generate increased social and professional interaction and engagement for faculty and staff across the institution.

Recruiting and retaining a diverse student body. Building on existing work to increase both the geographic diversification of international students and the number of African-American undergraduate students, we will expand and improve recruitment efforts to achieve higher enrollment of underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students. We will focus in particular on developing pipelines for such students from New York City. We will leverage Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) best practices to expand academic support for other underrepresented students, and take steps to reduce the disparity in retention rates between Pell grant and non-Pell grant recipients.

Hiring and retaining a diverse faculty and staff. We will take steps to align institutional hiring processes and the search for full-time faculty with diversity initiatives, including training Diversity Advocates to serve on Search Committees. We will increase diversity hires in schools and departments with few or no faculty members of color, and leverage part-time faculty hiring processes to support diversity goals. In academic leadership, we will achieve diversity hires at the Chair level and above, and, in administrative-unit leadership, at the Director level and above. We will seek improved retention through better integration of new faculty and staff into the Pratt community, supported by higher levels of opportunity and preparedness for advancement. We will encourage and support school- and department-level diversity and inclusion goals, and also provide professional development consonant with those goals for faculty through the Center for Teaching and Learning, and for staff through Human Resources.

Expanding “Beyond the Gates” to the external community. Pratt seeks to advance its long history of outreach and engagement with the surrounding community. We will strengthen the pipeline from high school to art school for underrepresented students, and provide increased support through scholarship and research grant funding. We will expand local community development and engagement, and provide increased internship and job opportunities for underrepresented students. We will improve engagement with diverse alumni through many channels, including targeted alumni giving campaigns. We will retool branding and messaging on Pratt’s web, social media, and other communication platforms to convey a greater emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Pratt's new Strategic Plan, approved by the Board of Trustees in the Spring of 2019, is divided into 5 thematic pillars: academic excellence; student success; diversity, equity, and inclusion; global education; and civic engagement. Each pillar states 4-5 goals, totaling in 22 goals to make up the entire plan. Rather than having one pillar around sustainability, Pratt took a more wholistic approach, embedding language throughout the 5 pillars, while including 4 explicit sustainability in it's plan. They are articulated below:

Academic Excellence Goal 4:
Engage critically and creatively with contemporary and near-future issues of socio-ecological urgency, prioritizing the sustainability of humanity, culture, and the environment. As artists, architects, designers, thinkers, critics, and curators of our culture, Pratt students will go on to shape the world in which we live, and our aim is to empower them through agile programs that anticipate a radically changing world. To train and nurture tomorrow’s leaders, we will support and incentivize faculty research and student experimentation related to socio-ecological futures, with attention to opportunities at the graduate level. In addition, we will create a curriculum that engages the Fourth Industrial Revolution, bringing together the physical, digital, and biological realms of knowledge and practice. Finally, we will develop the campus as a living laboratory in which students and faculty engage with and advance various models of sustainability.

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT Goal 3:
Support civic inquiry throughout the Institute. The practice of civic inquiry should be pervasive within Pratt’s curriculum, including the exploration of the personal, social, and environmental impact of choice; the consideration of differing views; and the exercise of civic debate and analysis within one’s areas of study. We will support community-based research, teaching, and engagement by faculty and staff, while also taking civic engagement into consideration in promotions, tenure decisions (if appropriate and requested by faculty), and the hiring of new faculty. To facilitate and promote course development and activities with civic outcomes, and to recognize ongoing community-based research, pedagogy, and engagement, we will provide support in the form of release time, grants, and awards.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION Goal 4:
Expanding “Beyond the Gates” to the external community. Pratt seeks to advance its long history of outreach and engagement with the surrounding community. We will strengthen the pipeline from high school to art school for underrepresented students, and provide increased support through scholarship and research grant funding. We will expand local community development and engagement, and provide increased internship and job opportunities for underrepresented students. We will improve engagement with diverse alumni through many channels, including targeted alumni giving campaigns. We will retool branding and messaging on Pratt’s web, social media, and other communication platforms to convey a greater emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

GLOBAL EDUCATION Overview:
We live in a global society, with the ever-greater permeability of national borders bringing new opportunities for economic growth. At the same time issues of climate change, income and racial disparity, and increased migration impact our lives with growing urgency. These are remarkably complex challenges that call for innovative practices and visionary creativity, approaches that flourish in the realms of technology, media, design, and the visual arts. Pratt Institute must lead within the global context by providing integrative learning that reflects and interlinks the rich linguistic and multicultural diversity of our local, national, and international communities. Through the diversity of Brooklyn and New York, and building upon our existing efforts, we are poised to do so. Our research with students, faculty, and staff, and our comparison of Pratt with peer institutions, have brought us to a set of goals and initiatives that will ensure our place as an art and design leader of Global Education, allowing our students to critically address differences and develop innovative frameworks within which to meet the challenges of a richly diverse world.

GLOBAL EDUCATION Goal 4:
Expand Pratt’s strategic partnerships and projects. We will create an institutional global presence at various scales through satellite campuses, smaller outposts, and innovative opportunities for short- or longer-term study, and extend that presence through partnerships, both with local organizations having a global reach and with overseas-based groups. We will support projects according to the impact of the issues involved and the global location of resources, and by engaging the Pratt community’s expertise in ecology, sustainability, quality of life, human rights, and global justice.

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