Pratt Institute in New York City has launched a new initiative honoring and celebrating the institution's historic legacy of female design leadership. Organized by the School of Architecture, the Mistresses of Pratt program presents "a multifaceted project focused on the contributions to architecture and planning education by female-identifying faculty and alumnae." 

Kicking off the initiative at a Dinner Party on March 9th, Dean Harriet Harris shared, "To be mistresses is to reclaim your right to public life—to leadership, to expertise, to autonomy, and to simple equality. Pratt is a school strongly associated with many such women both historically and among us today, and we are here to launch the beginning of what will become an institute-wide Mistresses Archive—an initiative determined to restore Pratt women to their respective disciplinary canons, one school at a time."

Included among the list of honorees were women such as Sibyl Moholy-Nagy, a noted architecture critic and Pratt's first full time female architecture professor, professor Mimi Lobell, Cynthia Davidson (Visiting Professor of Graduate Architecture and Urban Design), and Karen Bausman (Adjunct Associate Professor of Undergraduate Architecture), among others. 

During the event, guests were asked to participate in discussions by reflecting and responding to these two questions: "What do you believe your place at the table represents?" and "As you sit at this table, what are your future forecasts?" 

The initiative highlights the growing female presence and leadership within architectural academia and practice while also celebrating the trailblazing women of the past who continuously influence all architecture students to help change and rewrite what it means to practice architecture today. 

To learn more about the Dinner Party and Mistresses of Architecture click here.