Institute
The Joseph and Gail Gromek Institute for Business is Parsons’ institute for business, where creative industries and commercial disciplines meet.
The mission of the Gromek Institute is to prepare the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs for the creative economy: design, fashion, music, and the performing arts. Students come to the institute to develop the business acumen their fields demand and to take part in research on the generation reshaping these industries—their own. Here Gen Z and Gen Alpha are not the subject of the work; they are its authors.
Education: The institute shapes business education at Parsons through curriculum development and faculty engagement, building on programs including the MPS in Fashion Management and the Gromek Fashion Business minor, and is extending business education to all the creative disciplines taught at the university and to executive education.
Careers: Students work directly with operators and founders defining modern creative commerce. The Proenza Schouler mentorship, now in its third cohort, places students in a working design house. The master class series has brought Kith leadership, Mickey Drexler, Coach's Lew Frankfort, Brooks Brothers' Ken Ohashi, and Ralph Lauren's design leadership into the room, in conversation, beyond a stage. Through the Student Program of the National Retail Federation (NRF) Foundation, students spend four days with recruiters from the brands they want to work for. The institute's reach extends from New York to Paris.
Research: The institute is establishing a research program on Gen Z and Gen Alpha as consumers, creators, and future leaders, with the aim of investigating how they spend, what they value, how emerging technology shapes their work, and where they are taking the creative economy. The work is conducted to academic standards, with students engaged as researchers alongside faculty and academic partners, and translated for industry.
For industry partners, the institute offers direct access to the generation that will decide the future of the creative economy, as studied rigorously and interpreted by that generation. Partnership takes shape through sponsored research, custom programs, and structured access to emerging talent and directly funds student research, mentorship, and opportunity.
Established in 2019 through an $8.5 million gift from Joseph and Gail Gromek, the institute champions innovation and excellence throughout Parsons and The New School.
To learn more, contact [email protected].