Abraham Ravett Named Gregory S. Prince, Jr. Chair for Film and Photo Following Joukowsky Family Estate Gift

Artemis and Martha are the parents of filmmaker and entrepreneur Artemis Joukowsky III 81F, who co-chaired the Bellweather campaign celebrating Hampshire’s 30th anniversary, to which the pledge was made.

“My family has long nurtured a deep and abiding love for Hampshire,” said Joukowsky III. “My parents knew decades ago that this important, forward-thinking institution was deserving of their enduring support.”

The bequest from the estate establishes beloved Hampshire professor Abraham Ravett as the first Gregory S. Prince, Jr. Chair for Film and Photo, a title created to honor Hampshire’s fourth president.

“I’m extremely proud to be named as the first Prince Chair,” said Professor Ravett. “Greg was a passionate, supportive president, and the Joukowskys’ dedication to Hampshire’s film, photography, and video program has been deeply appreciated for many years.”

Said Prince, “The Joukowskys were great friends of the College and passionate believers in the importance of education. It is exciting to see their legacy live on through this generous bequest. To be the namesake of an endowed chair in a program as dear to the College’s heart as Film, Photography, and Video is a real honor, as is having its first recipient be Professor Ravett, whose artistic work and teaching themselves have given so much to Hampshire.”

The gift also supports the Joukowsky Lemelson Assistive Technology Development Center Endowment and the Sustainability Program Endowed Fund.

Abraham Ravett holds a B.F.A and M.F.A in filmmaking and photography and has been an independent filmmaker for the past 40 years. He was born in Poland and was raised in both Israel and in the U.S. Ravett received grants for his work from the Massachusetts Cultural Council; National Foundation for Jewish Culture: Fund for Documentary Filmmaking; National Endowment for the Arts; The Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities; The Japan Foundation; The LEF Foundation; The Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation; and a 1994 filmmaking fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. His films have been screened internationally, including at several one-person shows at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Artemis A.W. Joukowsky, Jr. held a long, successful career in global business with the American International Group Incorporated (AIG) before returning to Rhode Island to serve his alma mater, Brown University. Joukowsky, Jr., was a trustee, instrumental in supporting the medical school, and later became chancellor emeritus of the university.

Martha Sharp Joukowsky, a well-known archeologist and past president of the Archaeological Institute of America from 1989-93, taught for twenty years in the department of anthropology at Brown University. She conducted archaeological fieldwork in Lebanon, Italy, Turkey, and Greece, and spent ten years studying the Jordanian city of Petra.

Artemis Joukowsky III is an American director, author, and producer. To honor his grandparents, he co-directed the widely viewed Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War in 2016 along with fellow Hampshire alum Ken Burns 71F, offering a rare glimpse at high-stakes international relief efforts during WWII. He also published a book by the same name, and has directed and produced a number of other films, including a three-part series with Hampshire alum Cray Novick 13F called Re-Evolution: The Cuban Dream. This film, based on Cray’s Div III, features the Hampshire in Havana initiative. In 2001, Joukowsky III co-founded No-Limits Media, a non-profit organization focused on changing the idea of what it means to be “disabled” to how we all are "differently abled.”

In addition to the Joukowskys,145 alumni, parents, and friends have joined Hampshire’s Harold Johnson Society by declaring their intention to include the College in their estate plans. If you’re interested in putting Hampshire in your will, please contact the Advancement Office at giving@hampshire.edu or 413.559.5574.