Strategic Plan Progress Report: Strategy 1 of 4

Strategy 1 calls for implementing a semester-long undergraduate fellowship program. This first strategy, out of a total of five strategies in the Plan, includes the Plan's first two goals. The first goal is to design, develop, implement and continuously improve a program of semester-long undergraduate fellowships for Pratt students, with a private gallery on the main floor of the old fraternity house as its core learning laboratory. The second goal is to develop an ongoing complementary Gallery House Program to retain select graduates of the undergraduate fellows program as volunteer Private Gallery Program staff, and coaches for undergraduate fellows (under Goal 1), and as associate members of the organization until their graduation from Pratt Institute and honorific induction as full members of the Alumni Association.

Both goals are on target in terms of progress. The Strategic Plan called for implementing the Gallery House Program by no later than during the Fall Semester of 2015. As of the date of the publishing of this report in October 2015, DGT Alumni Association announced that it selected two Pratt students as Fellows of the Gallery House Fellowship Program. Upon completion of their Semester-long Fellowship, these students will each receive $2,250, or at their option, one credit towards their graduation requirements at Pratt.

There were eight objectives under Goal 1, and all but four have been completed. These objectives were to: 1) develop an outline description of the program; 2) develop a program plan for the use of the gallery space; 3) develop a five year business plan; 4) develop a complete Gallery Program Plan; 5) develop an honors program for inducting associate members; 6) engage in grants and corporate gifts research to support the program; 7) start the Galley Program during the Fall Semester of 2015; and 8) annually evaluate the program. The completed objectives include 1, 2, 4, and 7. DGT Alumni Association, for the first time, developed a one-year budget, the budget for calendar 2015 in which it allocated, under a budget revision, a $7,500 gift to the DGT Foundation to support the implementation of the Gallery Program based on projected costs for 2015. This was in addition to a $1,500 initial gift at the end of 2014. Further progress on the business plan is anticipated in late 2015 as the 2016 budget is developed, and also in 2016, as we learn through the experience of implementing the program and develop a complete business plan that addresses all four strategies of the Plan. An initial grants research scan (Objective 6) has been completed, and several letters of inquiry have been submitted. However, no formal applications for funding have yet been prepared. Evaluation (Objective 8) of the program will begin to be conducted after the completion of the first semester of the Gallery Program.

Goal 2 addresses the desire to continue the fellowship, begun as an archetypal Greek-letter fraternity in 1898, by honorifically inducting new members who are academically high achievers and who are invited and who volunteer to support and continue to implement the Gallery Program for subsequent generations of Pratt students. Participation in the Gallery House Program is not contingent on, or require any commitment from any student to later volunteer in this way.

There are eight objectives under Goal 2: 1) develop an outline description of the program; 2) develop a program for use of the gallery space; 3) develop a business plan;  4) develop a detailed program plan; 5) develop the honors plan and induction ceremony; 6) engage in grants research and apply for grants and corporate gifts to support the program; 7) implement the Gallery Program during the Fall of 2015; and 8) annually evaluate the program.  All of these objectives closely follow, are part of, or dovetail with those under Goal 1. Under this Goal, additional progress is warranted in developing a business plan, and in developing the details of honorific selection and induction of new members to the organization.  A clear business plan for all of DGT Alumni Association's capital, program, and operational needs will emerge as key pieces of the 'feasibility' puzzle become clearer in 2016, particularly as capital needs are identified for renovation, and progress is made on the other four Strategies of the Plan, all of which are interrelated and interdependent.

DGT Alumni Association is grateful for the dedication and commitment of members who have contributed in time and resources to the implementation of Strategy 1. We are especially grateful for the initiative and passion demonstrated by Jon Levy, who has been the key leader in the development and progress of this strategy. DGT is also grateful for the support received through the Vice President of Student Affairs of Pratt Institute, Dr. Helen Matusow-Ayres, particularly for introducing and directing us to Laura Keegan, Assistant Director of Experiential Education within the Pratt Institute Center for Career and Professional Development (CCPD). DGT Alumni Association was able to recruit applicants for the Gallery House Fellowships Program through the resources and activities of CCPD.