Pratt Commencement 2020

Welcome to A Celebration of the Class of 2020. We are glad you are here. This unique site has been created to honor and acknowledge the tremendous achievement of our graduating class and provide an experience that seeks to capture the spirit of their time at Pratt. We hope you will explore all that the site has to offer—from videos of our speakers, including Neil Gaiman, to the section honoring each graduating student to Stories from the Class of 2020, a special area where graduates can continue to share memories and messages. Please enjoy, and congratulations to the class of 2020!

Yilin Yan, Yuting Xu, May Xu, Lu Bai

Devin Monet Alexander, Claire Burkett, Amberrose Venus-Gordon

Valentina Ramirez-Cruz, Lawrence Scotti, Diana Branzan, Aaron Cohen

PRESIDENT,
PRATT INSTITUTE

Frances Bronet

Frances Bronet is president of Pratt Institute in New York City. An educator and leader at the forefront of interdisciplinary learning, Bronet previously served as senior vice president and provost at Illinois Institute of Technology; acting provost and dean of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts of the University of Oregon; and architecture professor, associate dean, and acting dean at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Her extensively funded work on multidisciplinary design curricula—from architecture and engineering to dance and fine arts—coupled with her own action-based installations with internationally acclaimed artists-have been highly recognized.

Neil Gaiman

Doctor of Letters

These remarks cannot be transcribed or used in any way without written permission from Pratt and the author.

"I make things up and write them down" is the way Neil Gaiman describes his varied art. And as a "feral child raised in libraries", he credits librarians with fostering a lifelong love of reading. Today, as one of the most celebrated writers of our time, his popular and critically acclaimed works bend genres while reaching audiences of all ages.

His best-selling and critically acclaimed books, many of which have been adapted for film and television, include The Graveyard Book, American Gods, Coraline, and the highly influential Sandman series. The recipient of numerous honors and awards, he was appointed as a global Goodwill Ambassador in 2017 and is a professor in the arts at Bard College and a visiting professor at University of Liverpool.

These remarks cannot be transcribed or used in any way without written permission from Pratt and the author.

Claire Donato

Adjunct associate professor
writing department,
continuing and
professional studies

Claire Donato has taught at Pratt Institute since 2014 and is currently an adjunct associate professor of creative writing. She is the author of Burial (Tarpaulin Sky Press, 2013) and The Second Body (Poor Claudia, 2016; Tarpaulin Sky Press, reissue forthcoming). Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in publications including The Believer, BOMB, Territory, Poetry Society of America, DIAGRAM, Bennington Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Fanzine, and The Elephants.

"Take your skills out into the world.

revitalise it.
Leave it better

Than you find it."

Neil Gaiman

Undergraduate student speaker

Axel Jenson

Bachelor of
Fine arts (Photography)

Born and raised in Singapore, Axel Jenson is a photographer, artist, and graphic designer who lives and works in Brooklyn. Inspired by personal experience, queer theory, and social movements, Jenson's work engages transgender and immigrant identities and narratives. Jenson is committed to sharing these narratives in order to communicate their value and worth in a diverse and rapidly changing world.

"You follow the credos of hard

work, addressing the unpredictable, thinking

big, and living compassionately -

exactly what the world is demanding."

Frances Bronet

Graduate student speaker

Zoë Priest

Master of fine arts
(Communications Design)

Zoë Priest was born and raised in London until the age of eighteen. She graduated from NYU with honors in 2017 with a BA in urban design and architecture and minors in art history and digital art and design. Her passion for visual design led her to undertake an MFA in communications design at Pratt. Her thesis examined the role of the media in American politics. The result of her research was a prototype for a choose-your-own-adventure game following a hypothetical election campaign.

Laurels from the
Board of Trustees

Bruce J. Gitlin

Chair,
Board of Trustees

Bruce Gitlin has served as chair of Pratt Institute’s Board of Trustees since 2012. He joined the board in 1997, leading the Buildings and Grounds Committee that spearheaded transformation of Pratt’s campus into an art and design showplace. Gitlin is the CEO of MILGO/BUFKIN, the Brooklyn-based international metal fabrication company that has produced monumental works for landmark architecture and for hundreds of important artists.

The Alma Mater

Aaron Cohen

Bachelor of fine arts
(Photography)

Aaron Cohen is graduating in Pratt Institute's class of 2020 with a BFA in photography and minors in art history and community art and design education. He currently works as office manager and student outreach coordinator for Poster House, a new museum in NYC.

Shijun Gong

Bachelor of
Architecture

Before she came to Pratt, Shijun Gong practiced as a soprano at the Beijing Philharmonic Choir for 12 years. She participated in the operas Tosca and Noye's Fludde, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremony, and several international competitions. She says, "Singing is part of my life! I am glad to share my excitement of graduation with my colleagues, and I wish this can be one of your precious memory of Commencement."

Lyrics (excerpt) by Mary Wright Plummer (1856–1916), composed by
H.S. Thompson (active 1849–1885)

Devin Monet Alexander, Claire Burkett, Amberrose Venus-Gordon

Emma Stephens, Theo Hannan, Teresa Russo

Emily Kimes, Austin Braddock, Sofia Tardif

Tara Vellara, Ashika Amarnath, Shibani Raney, Priyanka Unadkat, ShreyaGera, Shilpa Kalaichelvan

Sabrina Wu, SamanthaMei, Iris Chemtob, Dylan Cabral, Ferhad Kojic, Harshpreet Singh, Joseph Kelly, Alexander Mount, William Baker, KanavNayyar, Faizan Qamar, Echo Yu, Eleanor Fessler

Zhang Chen, Zhengkai Hu, Weixue Zhang