Elections
Regular elections for senators and officers take place every three years and are conducted according to Senate Bylaws and Standing Rules. Senate constituents—faculty; chairs, assistant chairs, and academic coordinators; and staff who hold faculty titles or teach credit-bearing courses—are eligible to participate in their respective categories. Your participation in elections helps build a strong, inclusive, and representative Senate. Please contact the Senate (senate@pratt.edu) with questions.
The Academic Senate also elects members of Senate and Institute committees and nominates candidates for honorary degrees, faculty trustees, and Board committees. For details on these positions, see Nominations.
Nominations & Elections for Senate, 2025–2028
- The Academic Senate represents three groups at Pratt
- faculty (full-time and part-time);
- chairs, assistant chairs, and equivalent academic-administrative titles; and
- staff who hold faculty rank or teach credit-bearing courses
- The Senate’s main responsibilities include
- academic policy review,
- curriculum review,
- academic services,
- funding opportunities, and
- nominations and elections for Board and Institute committees, as well as
- nominating Pratt’s annual Distinguished Teacher.
- You can either be a senator representing your department, or a senator representing entire Pratt Institute groups, called at-large senators. Below is a brief explanation, and more details are available in the Bylaws on the Senate website http://prattsenate.org/bylaws/
- Constituents have representation through departmental senators AND at-large senators for their category (full-time faculty, part-time faculty, chairs category, staff who teach). Large departments have one additional departmental senator (large = 84, more than half of the largest dept) — see below for detailed figures
- Elections for senators are held every three years (for three-year terms).
- It is the duty of senators to discover and further the interests of their constituents, including
- soliciting opinions of their constituents on matters affecting education and governance;
- informing constituents of significant events, dates, and deadlines announced by the Senate, and of its actions;
- attending Senate meetings at which they have a vote or, if unable to attend, request that their alternate(s) attend; and
- serving routinely on Senate committees.
- Each senator has one alternate, who may be called upon to attend and vote in the absence of their senator
- The Senate meets once per month in the fall and spring semesters on Tuesdays from 12:30–2pm. Meetings have been online during the pandemic; prior to that, they took place on the Brooklyn campus and lunch was served.
- An orientation session for new and returning senators will be held on April 5 at 12:30pm.
- Officers will be elected at the April 26, 1pm meeting of the Senate-elect (newly elected senators)
- Nominations: Feb 4 – Mar 4 (announcement will come in mid-October) nominate at http://prattsenate.org/nominations
- Elections: Feb 14 – Mar 25 using Election Runner
- More info? http://prattsenate.org/elections/
- Questions? Contact senate@pratt.edu
- Want more – sign up for the Senate monthly newsletter http://prattsenate.org/newsletter/
Senate Seats, 2022–23 — 2024–25 Term
The following totals reflect the number of instructors in each department during the Fall 2021 nominations term. Each department is entitled to one seat, and each department with 84 or more faculty (more than half of the largest department), is allowed one additional senator.
| Department | Instructors | Senators |
| Art and Design Education | 25 | 1 |
| Associate Degree Programs | 33 | 1 |
| Construction/Facilities Management | 25 | 1 |
| Continuing and Professional Studies | 99 | 2 |
| Creative Arts Therapy | 44 | 1 |
| Creative Enterprise Leadership | 36 | 1 |
| Dean of School of Design | 32 | 1 |
| Digital Arts | 68 | 1 |
| Entrepreneurship | 5 | 1 |
| Fashion Design | 42 | 1 |
| Film/Video | 35 | 1 |
| Fine Arts | 111 | 2 |
| Foundation | 92 | 2 |
| Graduate Architecture | 129 | 2 |
| Grad Center for Planning | 70 | 1 |
| Graduate Communication Design | 68 | 1 |
| History of Art and Design | 72 | 1 |
| Humanities and Media Studies | 101 | 2 |
| Industrial Design | 64 | 1 |
| Information | 78 | 1 |
| Inter-Departmental Elective | 9 | 1 |
| Interior Design | 80 | 1 |
| Math and Science | 38 | 1 |
| Photography | 33 | 1 |
| Pratt Integrative Courses | 20 | 1 |
| Social Science and Cultural Stud | 73 | 1 |
| Undergraduate Architecture | 177 | 2 |
| Undergraduate Communication Design | 74 | 1 |
| Writing Department | 43 | 1 |
| At-Large Category | Senators | |
| Full-Time Faculty | 5 | |
| Part-Time Faculty | 5 | |
| Chairs Category | 5 | |
| Staff Who Teach | 1 | |
| Senate President | 1 |
Vacancies will be filled through a nominations process in Fall 2026.
Leadership
- President Uzma Rizvi (Associate Professor, Social Science & Cultural Studies)
- Financial Officer MJ Sieira (Adjunct Associate Professor, Graduate Architecture & Urban Design)
- Information Officer Sebastian Kaupert (Adjunct Associate Professor, UG Communication Design)
- Outreach Officer Jason Vigneri-Beane (Professor, Undergraduate Architecture)
- Parliamentarian Amy Ballmer (Chair of Library Teaching, Learning, and Collection Development; Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Information)