Interior Design Student Younghae Grace Shin Wins $25,000 Charles Pratt Memorial Scholarship

The Charles Pratt Memorial Scholarship is a $25,000 award conferred to third-year undergraduates in a given department. Each year, a new department is chosen, with Industrial Design, Fashion Design, and Digital Arts represented the last few years and Interior Design stepping into the spotlight this fall.

The Charles Pratt Memorial Scholarship was established by Edmund S. “Ned” Twining III, great-great grandson of Charles Pratt, the founder of Pratt Institute, and grandson of Charles Pratt II, and is one example of the Pratt Family’s continued commitment to the Institute.

On November 15, four undergraduate students from the Interior Design Department presented projects, including design plans for the Bedford Public Library, located near Pratt Institute’s Brooklyn campus, and a headquarters for nonprofit Housing Works that features both an office and space for one of their thrift shops. The students spoke to a group including Undergraduate Interior Design Department Chair Anita Cooney, Provost Peter Barna, President Thomas F. Schutte, other Pratt staff, and several members of the Twining family who are descendants of Charles Pratt II, president of Pratt Institute from 1937–53, for whom this scholarship is named. 

Ultimately, Younghae Grace Shin (B.F.A. Interior Design, Class of ’15) was honored for her bold, eclectic spaces, one of which was her sliding, movable retail designs for the Housing Works project.   

Text: Ruth Samuelson
Photos: Peter Tannenbaum