Donna Karan

Donna Karan’s numerous accolades include six acknowledgments from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA, of which she is also a board member), most recently a 2010 nomination for the Womenswear Designer of the Year award. In 2007, Karan received an honorary doctorate from Parsons and was an honoree at the 2012 Parsons Benefit, where the school announced the Donna Karan Fashion Design and Society Scholarship Fund to support rising talent in Parsons’ master’s fashion program. One of Parsons’ most committed graduates, Karan has offered her time, talents, and resources in myriad ways, serving on committees, hiring graduates, and advising the community broadly. Since 1998, Karan has worked with the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. One of Karan’s current projects is Urban Zen, a luxury lifestyle store and foundation dedicated to the preservation of cultures, which she established in 2007. Recently the Urban Zen Foundation collaborated with Parsons students and artisans at the Design, Organization, Training Center (D.O.T) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Karan is directly involved in developing products with Haitian artisans and devising new entrepreneurial models employing design as a tool for local community empowerment.

Sourced from The New School Parsons School of Design