The College’s signature homecoming event will underscore the arts as a national priority

TC’s eighth annual Academic Festival, to be held on April 2, 2016, will be themed “Full STEAM Ahead,” underscoring the College’s support for adding the Arts to the nation’s focus on STEM (science, technology, math and engineering).

The College’s signature homecoming event, which annually draws more than 1000 alumni, students, faculty, staff, admitted students and guests, will feature a keynote address by the composer Theodore Wiprud, host of the New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts. The Philharmonic’s Vice President of Education and Sue B. Mercy Chair since 2004, Wiprud has overseen a wide range of in-school programs, educational concerts, adult programs, and online offerings.

The day will also include a range of panels, presentations and performances by members of the extended TC community. Among the featured speakers: faculty members Warner Burke, Lori Custodero, Victoria Marsick, Ernest Morrell and Lena Verdeli. Featured alumna include Elaine Davidson (M.A.’05), founder and CEO of Works4Her. (Click here for a full schedule of events and follow #TCAcFest for more information.)

Also at Academic Festival, TC will recognize a group of accomplished alumni. The College will give its 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award to:

Randy Bennett (Ed.D. '79), the Norman O. Frederiksen Chair in Assessment Innovation at Educational Testing Service. Bennett’s research on using advances in the learning sciences, technology, and measurement to design approaches to educational assessment has laid the groundwork for moving the National Assessment of Educational Progress to technology delivery, which is to occur by 2017.

Olivia Hooker (M.A. '47), who taught third grade before enlisting during World War II to become the first African-American woman to serve in active duty in the Coast Guard. Hooker, 100, went on to earn a master’s degree in Psychological Services at TC and a doctorate from the University of Rochester, where she was one of two black female students. She has been honored by the Coast Guard and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators.

MaryEllen McGuire (Ph.D. '02), founder and President of the Postsecondary National Policy Institute (PNPI), the leading source of professional development for Congressional staff who work on higher education issues. Prior to creating PNPI, MaryEllen served on the White House Domestic Policy Council as President Obama’s senior advisor for education and, before that,  on the U.S. Senate’s Heath, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee, where  she played a lead role in the 2008 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.  

Lida Orzeck (Ph.D. '72),  co-owner of the world-renowned lingerie brand, Hanky Panky. Orzeck, who earned her PhD from Teachers College in Social Psychology in 1972, is a Barnard Trustee and serves on the board of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Nancy K. Schlossberg (Ed.D. '61), an expert in the areas of adult transitions, retirement, career development, adults as learners, and intergenerational relationships. Schlossberg is the past President of the National Career Development Association, Co-President of a consulting group TransitionWorks and Professor Emerita at the University of Maryland’s College of Education. She was also the first female executive at the American Council of Education (ACE), where she established the Office of Women in Higher Education (1973).   

Yupha (Sookcharoen) Udomsakdi (M.A. '60), a public health pioneer who became Thailand’s first female Minister of Education and the first female MP to be appointed as a Minister in the Thai cabinet. Udomsakdi consulted for UNICEF on women’s and children’s health, founded Thailand's first bachelor’s degree program in health education, helped establish the nation’s first Institute of Population and in “retirement” served as Vice Chairman of Thailand’s Constitution Drafting Assembly. 

TC will also present its Early Career Award to David J. Johns (M.A. ’06), Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. Johns is a former senior education policy advisor to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) and was a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Fellow in the office of Congressman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.  

Finally, Academic Festival will again include a Student Research Poster Session, presented in partnership with TC’s Student Senate, and TC Kids Camp, led by the College’s Hollingworth Center.

Published Wednesday, Mar 9, 2016