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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.

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...

Rania Dalloul

MATUP Class of 2015– Project Associate at Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB). Rania has a rich background in community engagement, freelance research among library archives and refugee camps, as well as access to education in Lebanon. Before moving to NYC, she co-founded Creative Space Beirut, where people were offered free design education. This led her...

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...

Alex Roesch

MATUP Class of 2014– Research Associate at Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB). Alex worked at the office of NYC’s City Council Member Helen Rosenthal upon graduation from the MA Theories of Urban Practice program. He assisted the housing constituent liaison and conducted research on affordable housing in his district. This endeavor was crucial to making...

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,...

Jonathan Lapalme

MSDUE Class of 2014– Founder of Les Interstices, Montréal, Canada. Since graduating from the MSDUE program in 2014, Jonathan has worked as consultant for the City of Montréal, la Société du Parc Jean-Drapeau, Building Product Ecosystems, and other organizations in and around Montréal. Recently, Jonathan founded Les Interstices, a strategic design studio intersecting several disciplines...

Sabrina Dorsainvil

MSDUE Class 2014– Director of Civic Design, Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, Boston, MA, USA. Immediately after graduation, Sabrina worked as a freelance designer, and for Contininuum, a global innovation design consultancy on design projects ranging from healthcare services to retirement and education. She then joined the Housing Innovation Lab as part of the...

Raquel de Anda

MSDUE Class of 2015– Independent Curator and Cultural Producer. Raquel is currently working in New York City as an Associate Producer on two nationally touring transmedia projects. The first addresses the economic security of America’s caregivers, and the second police accountability and state surveillance. These projects require Raquel to hold many interpersonal relationships and act...

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...

Alex Castillo-Kesper

MSDUE Class 2014– Organizer at the California Federation of Teachers – Oakland, CA, USA. Alex, who has a background in fundraising for arts based not-for-profits prior to her study at Parsons, started working right after graduation as an organizer The American Federation of Teachers union in New York City. Following her passion for social and...

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...

Joy Alise-Davis

MATUP Class of 2014– Chief Executive Officer at Design + Culture Lab, LLC. Joy hit the ground running right after graduation from the MA Theories of Urban Practice Program by starting up her own collaborative design firm, Design + Culture Lab, LLC, in Portland, Oregon. Her firm focuses on serving as the glue between disadvantaged...

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...

Sinead Petrasek

MATUP Class of 2016– Ph.D. student, University of Toronto. Sinead graduated in 2016 from the MA Theories of Urban Practice program. She holds a BA in Art History from McGill University, 2012. She is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Geography & Planning at the University of Toronto, working with Prof. Kanishka Goonewardena....

Fransisco Miranda

MATUP Class of 2017– Public Relations & Communications, Great Ink. Francisco is currently working at Great Ink, specializing in public relations and communications in New York’s intricate real estate world. He is also the US representative of Talents & Co., a Paris based representation agency for Design, Architecture, Development and Urban Planning Firms. Additionally, Francisco,...

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