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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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

Rehanna Azimi

MSDUE Class of 2015– Project Associate at Hester Street Collaborative – New York City, NY, USA. Upon graduating from the MSDUE program, Rehanna interned as an urban planner at the Union County Bureau of Planning and Economic Development in New Jersey. She joined the Hester Street team in the fall of 2015. Rehanna works as...

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....

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,...

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...

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...

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...

Michaela Kramer

MSDUE Class of 2017– Program Strategist, TYTHEdesign. Michaela is currently a Program Strategist at TYTHEdesign, a capacity-building firm that uses the lens of design and strategy to support social impact. At TYTHE, Michaela contributes to workshop design and facilitation, written and visual communication and creating engagement tools. Michaela’s work has helped communities steward public space...

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,...

Jason Azar

MSDUE Class of 2018– Experiential Graphic Designer at Page Southerland Page. Jason Azar holds a BA in Urban Studies and Art History, and an MS in Design and Urban Ecologies, 2018. Jason is a designer and researcher living and working in Austin, TX. His expertise is in the fields of wayfinding and environmental design and...

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...

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...

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