At the December meeting, the Teachers College Board of Trustees elected Jan Krukowski to join the Board.

Although he is a new Trustee at TC, Krukowski is not new to higher education.

After studying politics and philosophy at New York University, he worked with the Democratic National Committee. Then, he worked briefly in financial public relations. About 30 years ago, he took the skills from these two fields, applied them to the non-profit world and founded Jan Krukowski & Company.

Jan Krukowski & Company does strategy, positioning, and communications in fund-raising and student recruitment. It partners with other firms to offer market research, Web development, and public relations. Some of the company's clients include Bowdoin University, Stanford University, Earlham College, Columbia University, Juilliard School, St. John's College, and Babson College.

"At the time when I started the company, non-profits weren't that professional-in terms of marketing and promotion-but since then, it has changed completely," said Krukowski. "The non-profit world has grown and its needs for better communications have grown with it."

He's no stranger to TC's theories of education, either. He studied at Horace Mann-Lincoln School, TC's laboratory high school that was based on John Dewey's ideas about education. Krukowski was a member of one of the last classes to graduate before the school was closed down in 1948. The building is now P.S. 125.

"The core courses-English, Social Sciences, Biology-were all taught with the same theme," said Krukowski. "It was all very experimental. The students would choose the subjects that they wanted to study. For example, one year my class chose to study European history rather than Soviet and Russian history."

His expertise is primarily in higher education and non-profits. However, he is interested in learning more about secondary and primary education. His time at the Horace Mann-Lincoln School influenced how he views secondary education.

He sees more room for experimentation in secondary education. Schools like the Heritage School, a school that uses art to engage kids with learning, are fascinating for Krukowski.

"Everyone doesn't learn the same way," he said. "It's what you learn, not how you learn it. "

Alice Elgart was also elected to the Board of Trustees in December. Elgart, a disabilities specialist, will be featured in the next issue of Inside TC.

Published Monday, May. 20, 2002