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, 2022–2025
Overview (printable) Voter Guide View results
- 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: Oct 1 – Dec 20 (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 | 18 | 1 |
| Associate Degree Programs | 38 | 1 |
| Construction/Facilities Management | 31 | 1 |
| Continuing and Professional Studies* | 6 | 1 |
| Creative Arts Therapy | 47 | 1 |
| Dean of School of Design | 5 | 1 |
| Design/Arts and Cultural Management | 35 | 1 |
| Digital Arts | 54 | 1 |
| Fashion Design | 32 | 1 |
| Film/Video | 33 | 1 |
| Fine Arts | 97 | 2 |
| Foundation | 92 | 2 |
| Graduate Architecture & Urban Design | 90 | 2 |
| Grad Center for Planning | 63 | 1 |
| Graduate Communications Design | 52 | 1 |
| History of Art and Design | 51 | 1 |
| Humanities and Media Studies | 87 | 2 |
| Industrial Design | 64 | 1 |
| Information | 60 | 1 |
| Intensive English Program | 22 | 1 |
| Interior Design | 98 | 2 |
| Math and Science | 28 | 1 |
| Photography | 45 | 1 |
| Social Science and Cultural Stud | 63 | 1 |
| Undergraduate Architecture | 167 | 2 |
| Undergraduate Communications Design | 80 | 1 |
| Writing Department | 36 | 1 |
*only includes instructors teaching credit-bearing courses
| At-Large Category | Senators | |
| Full-Time Faculty | 5 | |
| Part-Time Faculty | 5 | |
| Chairs Category | 5 | |
| Staff Who Teach | 1 | |
| Senate President | 1 |
Election Results
At-Large Senators
Full-Time Faculty
This category has up to 5 senators and 5 alternates.
Erika Hinrichs
Debera Johnson
Juan Jofre Lora
Erica Morawski
Uzma Rizvi
Jonathan A. Scelsa (alternate)
Part-Time Faculty
This category has up to 5 senators and 5 alternates.
Heather Horton
Scott Santoro
Maria Sieira
Chairs Category
This category has up to 5 senators and 5 alternates and includes chairs, associate/assistant chairs, and academic coordinators.
Staff Who Teach
This category has up to 1 senator and 1 alternate.
Departmental Senators
Art & Design Education
Arts/Design & Cultural Management
Associate Degree Programs
Construction/Facilities Management
No candidates; see Vacancies
Continuing & Professional Studies
Rhonda Schaller
Joelle Danant (alternate)
Creative Arts Therapy
Digital Arts
Fashion
Gabriela Galvan
Film & Video
Fine Arts
This large department has up to 2 senators. No candidates; see Vacancies
Foundation
This large department has up to 2 senators.
Todd Ayoung
Sean Sullivan
Andrea Merkx (alternate)
Graduate Architecture & Urban Design
This large department has up to 2 senators.
Olivia Vien
Grad Center for Planning
Beth Bingham
Graduate Communications & Package Design
Ballots were distributed to all faculty and teaching staff in Grad ComD; voting closed on March 25, 2022.
Joseph Burwell
Anton Ginzburg (alternate)
History of Art & Design
William Bracken
Mary Edwards (alternate)
Humanities & Media Studies
This large department has up to 2 senators.
Industrial Design
Information
Interior Design
This large department has up to 2 senators.
Caleb Crawford
Alexandra Goldberg
Library
Math & Science
Charles Rubenstein
Dan Wright (alternate)
Photography
Sara Greenberger Rafferty
Stephen Hilger (alternate)
Social Science & Cultural Studies
Kumru Toktamis
Martin Dege (alternate)
Undergraduate Architecture
This large department has up to 2 senators. Ballots were distributed to all faculty and teaching staff in UG Arch; voting closed on March 25, 2022.
Ane Gonzalez Lara
Jason Vigneri-Beane
Tulay Atak (alternate)
Undergraduate Communications Design
Writing
Vacancies will be filled through a nominations process in Fall 2022.
Leadership
- President Uzma Rizvi (Associate Professor, Social Science & Cultural Studies)
- Financial Officer Deb Caponera (Visiting Assistant Professor, Associate Degree Programs)
- Information Officer Nancy Smith (Assistant Professor, School of Information)
- Outreach Officer Farzam Yazdanseta (Acting Associate Chairperson, Undergraduate Architecture)
- Parliamentarian Amy Ballmer (Chair of Library Teaching, Learning, and Collection Development; Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Information)