Academic Initiatives Fund

Applications are open for the 2023–24 academic year

The Academic Senate seeks proposals to support academic initiatives such as events, exhibits, conferences, performances, publications, symposia, workshops, and other projects, which are open to the Pratt community. (Support for individual and collaborative research, scholarship, and professional development is available through the Faculty Development Fund. AIF does not support activities for courses, unless those activities are open to the Pratt community.)

Priority will be given to initiatives that are interdisciplinary in nature and to schools, programs, and areas of interest that have not received support during the current fiscal year and in past years. Events that are part of a series should be packaged into a single application, or the intent to apply at a later point should be stated clearly in the first application.

This opportunity is open to all Senate constituents (full-time and part-time faculty; chairs, assistant chairs, and equivalent titles; staff who teach), and may support initiatives, in whole or in part, through:

honoraria and travel costs (external participants)
materials and supplies
printing or other fees (e.g., design)
refreshments (excluding alcohol)
stipends (Pratt employees)
student work
fees for security, A/V, platforms (e.g., Zoom webinars), etc.

Key details

The maximum award amount in 2023–24 is $750
Events must occur between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024 (events that have already occurred are not eligible for funding)
In-person events must comply with Institute guidance described at https://www.pratt.edu/coronavirus.
Applications must be filed at least two weeks prior to the event (even earlier is appreciated)
The latest date we will consider applications is April 21, 2024.
All funds must be claimed within 60 days of the event, including completed requests for honoraria/stipends and reimbursement with receipts (no budget transfers are allowed). The awardee will work closely with the Senate Financial Officer to claim all funds.

Applications

To apply, please enter the following information in our Google form at http://bit.ly/prattsenateaifapply

Title and short description of the initiative (max. 300 words)
Organizers (names, affiliation, and contact info)
Date/time/location
Expected number of participants
Amount requested from Senate
Line-item budget (examples: $300 honoraria for speaker, $200 recording services, $200 faculty stipend), including how much will be funded by the Senate and how much will be funded by other sources (if applicable)

All proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis by the Senate Executive Committee, whose members are ineligible to apply for these funds.

All funded initiatives must state Academic Senate sponsorship in publicity materials and provide a short report (max. 500 words) describing the benefit of the activities for the Pratt community. Fund recipients may submit their report to the Senate via email to: prattsenate@gmail.com. Any recipient found in violation of this requirement will be ineligible to apply for AIF funds for up to 2 years, at the discretion of the Executive Committee.

Please contact Senate President Uzma Z. Rizvi (urizvi@pratt.edu ) with any questions.

Apply now

Supported events

View reports and photos from past events in our archive.

The Search for Egyptian Blue (April 26, 2023)
Equitable and Inclusive Pathways from School to College: Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (April 17, 2023)
RE:AL Estate Symposium and Workshop (March 31, 2023)
The Politics of Water: A Photographic Essay (March 20, 2023)
Architecture External Lectures (March 20, 2023)
Hidden in Plain Sight: Artist Panel Discussion (March 19, 2023)
Branching The Civic / A Symposium Exploring the Architectural Agency of the Neighborhood Library (March 9, 2023)
Pratt in Puerto Rico (Spring 2023)
Black Lunch Table Photobooth and Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon Workshop (February 24, 2023)
In Conversation with Marilyn Nance (February 2023)
Monthly Relaxation Moon Events (January 2023)
Scholars at Risk invited talk: Serdar M. Degirmencioglu (January 17, 2023)
STEAMPLant Weaving Threads: Natural Dyes at the Intersection of Art & Science (December 12, 2022)
Wast[ED] Symposium and Workshop in collaboration with the Center of Architecture (November 8, 2022)
Directed Research Books: Re-use at Governors Island and Red Hook (October 12, 2022)
Pratt and Punctum: A Conversation about Open Access and Climate Justice (October 24, 2022)
STEAMplant Initiative Che-Wei Wang Installation (October 6, 2022)
New Media Caucus Symposium (Sept 30, 2022)
Fine Arts Senior Thesis Show (April 28, 2021)
Book Launch: Contemporary PerforMemory (March 16, 2021)
Channels (March 4, 2021)
Urban Voices (February 9, March 2, and March 30, 2021)
First-Year Conversation: “Points of View” Across the Disciplines (February 9, 2021)
MFA Photography Alumni Talks (October 21, November 11, and December 4, 2020)
Filmmaker Loira Limbal Visit (October 15, 2020)
Killjoy: A Lecture-Performance. Re-membering French Female Surrealism & Activism (March 10, 2019)
Timothy Morton in Conversation with Pratt Students (March 9, 2020)
Ancient Wall paintings at Ostia Antica (Feb 25, 2020)
The Shape of Truth (Jan 21–31, 2020)
Grasslands in FIELD (Nov 21, 2019)
brethfest: bill bissett Performance and Book Signing (Nov 18, 2019)
Strengthening the Pratt Faculty Union: Lessons from Rutger’s Fight for Equity & Power (Nov 14, 2019)
Pratt Sessions 16, 17 (Institutional Engagements), and 18 (We Are The Asteroid) (Oct 24, 2019; Nov 7, 2019; Nov 14, 2019)
STEAMplant “Metric Units for the Solar System” and “The Unforeseen” projects events (Oct 17, 2019, Dec 3, 2019)
Teaching Photographs (Oct 10-12, 2019)
Wonderful Wallabout (May 4, 2019)
Accessibility for All: Inclusive Design in Libraries and Academia (April 10, 2019)
Dialogues on Justice: Borders, Boundaries, and Immigration (April 8, 2019)
50 Years of Teaching and Learning Theo. David A Process of Design St Nicholas Church WTC NY (March 25–April 11, 2019)
Digital Spatialities: A Critical Visual and Ethnographic Social Media Methodologies Workshop (March 26, 2019)
Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon (March 19, 2019)
Fun with Data! Planning after-school data literacy activities for teens (March 4, 2019)
The Vision Room (February 25, 2019)
Trinh T. Minh-ha: A Screening of Forgetting Vietnam and a Book Talk on Lovecidal (October 4, 2018 – May 19, 2019)
Avenue Project/Reconnect Brooklyn (Summer 2018)
xChange Salon (Spring 2018)
Accurate Photo (April 27, 2018)
Spaces of Repression and Resistance (April 24, 2018)
Ramon Tejada: Decolonizing (graphic) Design (April 12, 2018)
Meditation with Yingrik Drupba Rinpoche (April 5, 2018)
The Annual Akilah Oliver Memorial Reading Series with Rosamund S. King (March 29, 2018)
Salomé: Woman of Valor (February 23, 2018)
Karen McGrane lecture (November 11, 2017)
Ellie Irons artist talk (November 9, 2017)
Maya Krishna Rao Residency (November 3, 2017)
Habitat: Vernacular architecture for a changing world. Implementation of the Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals (September 21, 2017)
A Look at Contemplative Practices in the Studio: Can Contemplative Pedagogy impact Critique using Mindfulness, Meditation and Visualization (June 15, 2017)
Spaces of Resistance and Repression: Fragments of Global Crises (May 1, 2017)
Still/Moving: Kaja Silverman, Carrie Schneider & Kathleen Kelley in Conversation (April 27, 2017)
Creativity in the Neoliberal Era: A Discussion with Anne Sauvagnargues and Gregory Flaxman (April 24, 2017)
The 2017 Whitney Biennial + Controversy. Let’s Discuss! (April 19, 2017)
Information is Power: Libraries and Media Literacy in the Age of Post-Truth (April 5, 2017)
Dr. Roland Kays talk and campus visit on camera trapping and wildlife conservation (March 30, 2017)
Thinking and Dancing with the Global South (March 2–3, 2017)