Frances Bronet To Become Pratt Institute’s 12th President

CLINTON HILL – Pratt Institute has chosen Frances Bronet as the Institute’s 12th president.

Pratt Institute has been preparing its students for careers in art, design, architecture, information, as well as liberal arts and sciences on its campuses in Clinton Hill and Manhattan since it was founded 130 years ago – classes started on October 17th, 1887.

This announcement is about as clear as can be about Pratt’s excitement about it’s new leader:

Ms. Bronet is an experienced and inspired leader of academic institutions, who’s been developing multidisciplinary design curricula – connecting architecture, engineering, science, technology and society, dance, and electronic arts – for more than two decades receiving wide recognition for her work.

Take a look at her TEDx talk to get a glimpse of just what kind of creative thinker will lead Pratt Institute, and what inspired her to “connect geniuses” across disciplines:

Frances Bronet comes to Brooklyn from her position as senior vice president and provost at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), a technology-focused research university in Chicago with 7,500 undergraduate and graduate students.

“Frances Bronet’s achievements at IIT, the University of Oregon, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are a perfect prelude to her service to Pratt,” Mike Pratt, Presidential Search Committee Co-Chair and Vice Chair of the Pratt Board of Trustees, said in the Institute’s announcement.

“She brings visionary thinking, a collaborative style, and a commitment to higher education’s responsibility to link critical thinking with cultural, physical, and social enterprise.”

“Ms. Bronet is dedicated to excellence and innovation, the exact characteristics that Pratt needs in its next president”, said Board Chair Bruce Gitlin who also co-chaired the Presidential Search Committee.

“I am honored to have been chosen as the 12th president of Pratt Institute,” said Ms. Bronet. “This is a key moment for art and design education to critically address the complex challenges around us.”

Ms. Bronet will succeed President Thomas Schutte, who stepped down on June 30, 2017, after more than two decades at the helm of the art and design college. Provost Kirk E. Pillow serves as the interim president.

She will be the first woman to hold this role when she starts her new position on January 2, 2018.