Alumni, faculty and friends are supporting TC’s students as never before through new and existing scholarships and fellowships.

One way or another, Edmund Adjapong was bound to earn his master’s degree in science education. Accepted by every graduate school he applied to, Adjapong says TC, which boasted an urban science education program led by his longtime mentor and former high school science teacher, Christopher Emdin, “was everything I wanted – but it would have been a financial struggle.”

Enter Tim Greeman, a former New York City teacher whose father, Peter had been an early supporter of training urban educators. Last year, as the College was launching its $300 million campaign, the younger Greeman created the Peter Greeman Scholarships to support qualified students who commit to teach in low-income, high-needs schools for at least two years. Edmund Adjapong, who graduated in the spring, was TC’s first Peter Greeman Scholar.

“When you train and put an effective teacher in the classroom, you help their students year after year,” Tim Greeman says.

TC’s campaign, Where the Future Comes First builds on the College’s history of charting new directions in education, health, psychology and leadership, while it renews that legacy for the 21^st century.  That’s why the campaign’s number-one funding priority is to increase financial support for the College’s talented and promising students.

It’s a message that resonates strongly with TC supporters. As of August 31, scholarship giving for fiscal year 2014 stood at $12.4 million, a 35 percent jump over last year’s final total of $9.2 million. Increasing the power of giving, friends and benefactors are establishing new scholarships and contributing to existing endowments in all 10 of the college’s departments to support students in programs in teaching, psychology, health, policy and more. 

“There are a lot of great graduate institutions of education out there that can make very attractive financial offers, but students come to TC because they want to acquire the knowledge and skills that will help them change the world,” says Thomas Rock (Ed.D ’02), Associate Dean for Enrollment Services. “Scholarships ensure that financial need and the prospect of debt won’t prevent them from doing so.” TC students primarily enter public service fields that are not generally high-paying. As a result, their student loan debt repayment burden can be crushing. “So this increase in giving is really important,” Rock says. “It’s going to help us recruit students; it’s going to help us retain students; it’s going to help us compete with other institutions for top students.”

TC’s successful scholarship drive builds on major gifts from the some of the College’s staunchest supporters: an $11 million commitment last year from Trustee Emerita Abby O’Neill to establish the O’Neill Fellowship Program, which provides $35,000 to students earning dual certification in areas of great need for New York City schools, such as science/inclusive education, elementary education/bilingual, or TESOL; and a $500,000 pledge this spring from Trustee and alumna Pat Green. 

But just as important have been a host of gifts from other generous alumni and friends – people such as Lida Orzeck (PhD ’72), co-founder and CEO of the trend-setting lingerie business Hanky Panky and a regular TC supporter over the years.  “Education is my number-one philanthropic priority,” says Orzeck, who recently endowed the Lida A. Orzeck Scholarship for doctoral students in the social and organizational psychology programs. “The best and brightest come through Teacher’s College. It’s an institution of very high standards. The people who come here have a passion for education, and they certainly shouldn’t be hampered by inadequate access to funding.” 

Scholarship donor Celia Genishi, who retired from TC in 2013 as Professor of Early Childhood Education, couldn’t agree more.

“My devoted parents came from generations of farmers, and they couldn’t afford to send my sister and me to college,” says Genishi, who created a scholarship fund more than a decade ago in her family’s name. “Yet through scholarship support we were both able to attend Barnard, and I also received aid while I was earning my master’s degree at Harvard and my doctorate at Berkeley. So I thought that supporting students at TC would be a nice way to pay it forward.

“I’d love to see more faculty members at TC consider creating scholarships,” Genishi adds. “I’m not a rich person, so the way we did it was basically through the installment plan – we contributed every year until we reached the level needed to create an endowed fund. I add to it now annually, since it is important to me to keep supporting students.”

Sometimes, Genishi says, people tell her they can’t understand why she would give money back to her employer. “I don’t think of it that way,” she says. “I tell them I’m giving support to students at a school that, like most top institutions, has high tuition.”

The fund created by Genishi has supported a succession of students in early childhood education. The most recent, Karina Malik (M.A. ’14) will teach this fall at P.S. 75 on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

“I had the pleasure of escorting Karina across the stage at graduation,” says Genishi, who was representing all those who have created endowed funds. “It’s so wonderful to see someone you’ve helped going on to realize her dream.”

Tim Greeman has similar hopes for his scholarship: “The great thing would be that, at some point, we have a bunch of smart TC applicants to choose from, and one of them writes in the application essay, ‘My high-school teacher was a Peter Greeman Scholar, and I want to be one too.’” 

Where the Future Comes First: The Campaign for Teachers College sets support for students as the top funding-raising priority, with a goal of $124 million. Since September 2013, 22 new scholarship funds have been created across all departments —18 of those are new endowed scholarships. 
                                                                                                                                                                                    

Published Monday, Sep. 8, 2014