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The first cohort of the MS Design and Urban Ecologies and the MA Theories of Urban Practice programs graduated in 2014, transforming the spaces they engaged with and envisioning new urban practices to address the challenges we face today. Since then, many more have followed, becoming part of a thriving alumni community that continues to inspire the next generation of urban students at Parsons. To celebrate and strengthen our alumni network, we are launching the Parsons Urban Alumni Initiative this Fall 2025.

A similar research and mapping project, which traced our alumni’s workplaces and practices, was first conducted in 2017 with participation from the early cohorts. We are now reviving, updating, and expanding that effort in exciting new ways by reaching out to our alumni community. If you are an alum, please check your New School email inbox for more information. If you no longer use your New School account and would like to participate, please contact us at urban@newschool.edu.

Silvia Resende Xavier

MSDUE Class of 2016– Professor of Design. Silvia completed her bachelor’s degree in Product Design back in 2010 in Brazil. She worked in furniture design until she decided to pursue a master’s degree. She enrolled in the MS Design and Urban Ecologies program and graduated in 2016. Her main interests are design and urban waste...

Claudia Rot

MSDUE Class of 2019– Lecturer and Researcher at Wageningen University, The Netherlands. Claudia graduated in Environmental and Climate Sciences (BSc) from the Amsterdam University College before attending Parsons. She graduated from MSDUE in 2019. She is an avid environmental scientist and is very much interested in the intersections of justice and environmental and climate change....

Jasmine Vasandani

MATUP Class of 2016– Co-Creator, Digital Bazaar NEW INC. Jasmine is a business and design strategist with nine years of work experience, abroad and locally, in the fields of urbanism, cooperatives, business development, social entrepreneurship, information science, civic engagement and art curating. Before coming to The New School, Jasmine received a Bachelor’s in Art History....

Braden Crooks

MSDUE Class 2014– Co-founder of Designing the WE – New York City, NY, USA. Braden is the co-founder of Designing the WE, a social impact design studio. This studio’s work with diverse communities around equitable and innovative projects connects to a larger ecosystem of social change. These projects include an urban farm as a tool...

Issac Green Diebboll

MSDUE Class of 2019– Artist and Filmmaker. Isaac Green Diebboll is an artist, documentary filmmaker and a co-founder of an educational non-profit, ENGN (“engine”) Civic Creative Center, 501(c)3 based in Sullivan County, NY. His work encourages human connection, collaborating intergenerationally between urban and rural communities, supporting ways in which neighbors, both local and global, can...

Guillermo León Gómez

MATUP Class of 2018– Program Director, Urban Design Forum NYC. Guillermo graduated in 2018 from the Theories of Urban Practice (TUP) program. Prior to TUP, he had received a BA in Art and worked in the art community in Miami. Guillermo currently works as the Program Director at the Urban Design Forum in New York...

Eduarda Aun

MSDUE Class of 2018– Program Associate at NACTO (National Association of City Transportation Officials). Eduarda Aun is an urban designer and DUE ’18 alumna. She has a background in architecture and urban planning from Universidade de Brasilia in Brazil and is the co-founder and former co-director of an organization called Coletivo MOB, based in Brasilia....

Sara Minard

MATUP Class of 2015– Capital Projects Manager at the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Sara has utilized the skills learned in MATUP for many different arenas. Along with five other TUP alumni, she is a co-founder of the in•site collaborative, a multidisciplinary research and design consultancy tackling issues surrounding uneven urban development. Her...

Mariana Roberti Bomtempo

MSDUE Class of 2016– Graduate Research Assistant at Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA). Mariana is an urbanist and architect by training, designer and activist in her spare time, Mariana is a professional extremely interested in topics related to the Right to the City. She graduated in Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Brasília,...

Matt Delsesto

MATUP Class of 2014– PhD Candidate of Sociology at Boston College. Matt is a PhD candidate in Sociology at Boston College. He received his MA in Theories of Urban Practice in 2014. What brought him to MATUP was his search for a critical and creative approach to exploring cities, oriented toward intervention or action. In...

Troy Hallisey

MSDUE Class of 2014– Information Management Officer, The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Troy started working as a Humanitarian Data Scientist intern after graduation and soon after became Information Management Officer at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), a body involved in crises management and the...

Yandong Li

MATUP Class of 2018– Ph.D. student at the University of Washington. Yandong was a sociology major (BA) and graduated from the MA Theories of Urban Practice program in 2018. He is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Washington’s Department of Cinema and Media. Yandong writes: “I am interested in the intersections of film,...

Drew Vanderburg

MSDUE Class of 2016– Senior Project Manager, RiseBoro Community Partnership. Drew is an artist and activist concerned citizen of humanity. Before joining Parsons, he was a theater designer/director and street performer/musician. He became interested in democratization and global solidarity movements through Occupy Wall Street. He was a member of the MSDUE cohort which graduated in...

Tait Mandler

MSDUE Class of 2016– Interdisciplinary scholar, activist, and freelance designer, writer and editor. PhD student in Anthropology and Urban Planning, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Tait (they/them) is an interdisciplinary scholar, activist, and freelance designer, writer and editor from New York City but currently living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Tait earned a BA in Environmental...

Aran Baker

MSDUE Class of 2015– Co-founder of the Red Hook Check-in Project – New York City, NY, USA. Aran worked as a graphic designer and art director for 10 years before coming to MSDUE at Parsons. Following her interests in environmental design, green building and public health, Aran developed her thesis project “The Red Hook Check-in...

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