About Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute is a coeducational, private, professional college offering associate, bachelor and master's degree programs in art and design, architecture and library science. The Institute has been educating professionals for productive careers in artistic and technical fields since its founding on its present site in Brooklyn in 1887 by the industrialist and philanthropist Charles Pratt. His revolutionary philosophy of education emphasized applied knowledge and the teaching of specific skills demanded by a growing industrial economy.

The Institute currently occupies 25 tree-filled acres in the landmark Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn-an historic residential district featuring turn-of-the-century brownstones, Victorian mansions and wide tree-canopied boulevards. Midtown Manhattan, the heart of New York City, is a 1/2-hour subway ride away and offers students a wealth of vocational, cultural and recreational opportunities. Pratt is the only college for art and design on the east coast that has a traditional enclosed campus with on-site student housing.

Pratt is one of the largest undergraduate and graduate schools for art, design and architecture in the country and offers a wide range of cross discipline study options, dual degrees and major concentrations. The Institute houses five schools: Architecture, Art and Design, Information and Library Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Professional Studies.

The Institute's 25-acre campus contains twenty-four buildings, including landmark Romanesque and Renaissance Revival-style structures, clustered around spacious lawns and tree-canopied plazas. Sixteen buildings contain extensive studio, shop and technical facilities needed to support work in all media-from the traditional to the experimental. Five buildings are student residences. All have computer networking capacities and are Internet accessible. Computer labs, established with the most current equipment and the latest software, are available for instructional purposes and individual project use. Gallery space is extensive and the work of students, alumni, staff and other well-known artists is shown throughout the academic year. Pratt's Library, an historical landmark built in 1896, was the first fully automated academic library in the New York City area. Its art and architecture collection is excellent and contains approximately 208,000 volumes, 500 periodical and newspaper subscriptions, 66,000 slides, 190,000 pictures, 50,000 microforms, and 45,000 governmental documents.

The energy, foresight, money and spirit Charles Pratt gave to his dream remains even today. Here careers are molded, and goals, like those of Charles Pratt, are encouraged. Inscribed on the seal of the Institute is the motto: Be True To Your Work And Your Work Will Be True To You.