Academic Festival 2017 (Photo Credit: Roy Groething)
“A Source of Hope, Strength, and Even Love” Showcasing TC’s efforts to “Make a World of Difference”
Showcasing TC’s efforts to “Make a World of Difference”
“I am honored to stand before you,” said Phyllis L. Kossoff at April’s Academic Festival. “You have achieved mightily, translating hope into making our society a better place.” Kossoff (M.A.), who lost her daughter, Stephanie, to cystic fibrosis (CF), received TC’s President’s Medal of Excellence for boosting awareness, research and treatment. Kossoff funds TC's annual Phyllis L. Kossoff Lecture on Education Policy and generously funds TC students.
DEBATING BRAZIL'S COMMON CORE Academic Festival was the scene of the first international public discussion of Brazil's new national learning standards for primary- and middle-schoolers. From left: TC Vice Dean A. Lin Goodwin; Brazilian Common Core advocate Alice Andrés Ribeiro; and TC Early Career Award recipient Leticia Guimaraes Lyle. Also participating were Lemann Foundation Visiting TC Scholar Vera Cabral and TC President Susan Fuhrman. Click here to watch a video of the panel.
TC President Susan Fuhrman (Ph.D. ’77) said Academic Festival 2017, “Making a World of Difference,” affirmed TC’s community as “a source of hope, strength, and even love.” She also reported TC’s Campaign had raised $285 million toward its $300 million goal.
Another President’s medalist inspired by a daughter named Stefani — Cynthia Germanotta, mother of singer Lady Gaga and President of the Born This Way Foundation — spoke of teens creating a kinder world: “Young people are compassionate, generous and determined to lead lives not defined by personal gain.”
Academic Festival also featured the first international discussion of Brazil’s new national learning standards, and sessions on risk and resiliency in LGBTQ populations, and teaching in diverse classrooms.
BEST OF THE 'FEST Academic Festival 2017 featured 16 breakout sessions, stellar honorees, performances and Kids Camp. Below, from top: faculty member Marla Brassard (left) and President’s medalist Cynthia Germanotta, mother of singer Lady Gaga; Kate Russell, who presented the best student research poster; and President’s medalist Phyllis L. Kossoff (center) with Susan Fuhrman and faculty member Aaron Pallas.
TC ON TOUR
The College's leaders have been meeting with alumni, most recently in:
Photo Credit: Venjhamin "Venji" Reyes
[ FLORIDA ] President Susan Fuhrman and Provost Tom James visited alumni and friends in January. At a reception in Palm Beach, scholarship student Rebecca Martinez described her cognitive neuroscience project on the Pirahã people in the Amazon. TC Campaign Committee member Lin Lougheed (Ed.D. ’77) hosted a luncheon at The Kampong National Tropical Botanical Garden in Miami.
[ WASHINGTON, D.C. ] With TC’s Federal Policy Institute (FPI), Alumni Relations held its annual January reception. Ruthanne Buck, Senior Advisor to Obama administration Secretary of Education John B. King (Ed.D. ’08), spoke. FPI is led by Professor Sharon Lynn Kagan.
[ ENGLAND AND IRELAND ] In March, President Fuhrman met with TC’s London community, first at the House of Commons and then at a party for organizational psychology alumni at the Covent Garden Hotel. Alberta (M.A. ’62) and Henry Strage and TC alumnus Randall Thiel organized both events. TC faculty member Ted Fleming (Ed.D. ’80, at right) spoke at a dinner in Dublin, and Fuhrman lectured at Trinity College on “Designing and Implementing Educational Reform: Experiences and Lessons from the United States.” Fuhrman also lunched with TC alumni in County Cork.
[ ALUMNI FOCUS ]
Giving Immigrants a Voice
Sayu Bhojwani prepares first- and second-generation Americans to run for office
Sayu Bhojwani (Photo Credit: Frances Janish)
Following the 9/11 attacks, Teachers College doctoral student Sayu Bhojwani watched horrified as immigrants were harassed and labeled terrorists. So when the Bloomberg administration asked Bhojwani, who was already directing a nonprofit to help young South Asian immigrants, to become New York City’s first Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs, she put her studies in Politics & Education on hold.
“As an immigrant and social justice advocate, I couldn’t pass it up,” says Bhojwani (Ph.D. ’14), whose family moved from India to Belize when she was little. “Immigrants were terrified of law enforcement. I knew I had to give them voice.”
Bhojwani has since founded the New American Leaders Project (NALP), which prepares first- and second-generation Americans to run for elected office.
“In politics, representation matters — and that’s why we should elect leaders who reflect our country’s diversity,” says Bhojwani. Last year more than 60 percent of NALP alumni candidates won races for seats on city councils, school boards and state legislatures. A TC professor helped Bhojwani develop NALP’s training curriculum, and recently, fellow alum Kevin Jennings (M.A. ’94) donated $35,000 to NALP from an “anti-inauguration ball” he held in January.
“With Trump as president, many people who trained with us, our alumni and their families, are directly affected by his policies, and many first-generation immigrant families are rightly worried,” says Bhojwani. “On the other hand, more first-generation Americans are motivated to run for elected office and become leaders in their communities. Ultimately, that benefits everyone.”— ROBERT FLORIDA
Executive Sweethearts
For wife-and-husband principals Jacqui and David Getz, it’s all about the dialogue
David and Jacqui Getz (Photo Credit: Desiree Halpern)
Jacqui and David Getz, discussing the finer points of school leadership, make eye contact and laugh. “The mommy otters?” says Jacqui (M.A. ’85).
“We were watching this nature show,” explains David (M.A. ’84).
“We thought the mommy otter was going to leave her kids, but no — she was just teaching them a life lesson. Then she broke the abalone shell on her chest.”
“So how can we convince teachers we trust them to let kids struggle?”
The Getzes are both principals in New York City’s District 2 — he at East Side Middle School on 91st Street, she most recently at PS 126 in Chinatown, and now at a new school opening this fall. She is elegantly coiffed, with spiffy outfits and tastefully chosen earrings and necklaces (“Plan B was to be an image consultant”); he is a bearded former children’s author who confesses to owning one suit. She always wanted to teach (“I like being a bit bossy”); he had a cosmic revelation in an elevator. She’s an organizer, he likes to get to know the kids; he agonizes over the city’s categories for writing teacher observations while she simply ignores them.
They both believe in engaging the entire school community in dialogue.
“This is a profession where you have to listen to people,” Jacqui says. “Please don’t tell me you have to save the world. You’re part of a community, so come to learn.”
“Some younger principals think they’re running a factory, and that it’s all about quantifiable output — which is crazy,” David says. “Ross Greene [the child psychologist] says your influence comes from your expectations — but teachers won’t absorb your expectations unless you mirror their experience, which is transaction-al. You have to create a relationship.”
The Getzes met at Teachers College, where, they say, they were encouraged to be curious, ethical and unafraid. Both have played a key role in organizing a District 2 student council that, among other things, has created Gender Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) — safe spaces for LGBTQ students to work on promoting inclusion. Students from David’s school asked the New York City Council to support GSAs citywide.
At Jacqui’s new school (named for Jane Jacobs, the late urban activist), the community is already engaged. Parents fought to ensure diversity. They’ve weighed in on class sizes, admissions policy and hiring the principal.
“They put their sneakers on and they went out and did it,” Jacqui says. “I’m psyched.” — JOE LEVINE
Lynne Margaret Brown (M.A., M.Ed. ’01) held a solo video-based art exhibition, “North to South, Berliner Voices: My Corner,” in Berlin in September 2016. She divides her time between New York and Germany.
COMMUNICATIONS & THEATRE ARTS
Joanna Kraus (Ed.D. ’72) has authored a new picture book, Blue Toboggan (Mascot 2017), in which a young boy’s sympathetic teacher and classmates help him preserve the memory of a friend who has died.
LANGUAGE, LITERATURE & SOCIAL STUDIES
Since retiring from full-time classroom teaching at Wellesley (MA) High School in 2000, Brooks Goddard (M.A. ’69) has a new career in adult education. He is also the President of Teachers for East Africa (TFEA) Alumni. TFEA is a Teachers College organization that prepared teachers to work in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
MUSIC & MUSIC EDUCATION
Alexander Marrero (M.A. ’10) founded “Bach in The Church” Intensive Summer Music Program, held at the United Methodist Church in Congers, New York.
Anastasia Pike (Ed.D. ’11) was Event Director for a pre-conference workshop sponsored by the College Music Society’s 2016 National Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She was joined by TC Professor of Music & Music Education Hal Abeles and Emily Ondracek-Peterson (Ed.D. ’13).
Guided by Deborah Annette Simmons (Ed.D. ’95), the music studies program at Manchester Community College was nationally accredit-ed by the National Association for Schools of Music in November 2016. The program is Connecticut’s only two-year music degree and one of three accredited associate music degree programs in New England.
TESOL (JAPAN)
Lavette Coney (M.A. ’14) has developed workshops and presented widely on the topics of teacher self-reflection and implicit bias. Her presentations include “The 21st Century Missing Link: Teacher Education and Professional Development,” at Kingswood Oxford Leadership Institute for Educators of Color, and the keynote presentation at the Fayerweather School in Cambridge. The anthology Social Justice in English Language Teaching features Coney’s research.
TESOL
Elizabeth Wong (M.A. ’97), a National Board Certified Teacher in English as a New Language, has been teaching and doing teacher leadership work in a New York City public elementary school for over 19 years. She was also granted a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching fellowship to study in Singapore.
TEACHING OF ENGLISH
Kimberely Durall (M.A. ’15) is the English Language Arts department head at Hendrick Middle School in Plano, Texas. She took part in her district’s reading advisory committee, which changed reading intervention across the middle grades.
Michele Haiken (Ed.D. ’06) published Gamify Literacy: Boost Comprehension, Collaboration and Learning (ISTE 2017), which provides tips on applying gaming techniques to improve literacy and deepen student collaboration and critical thinking.
Martha Eddy (Ed.D. ’98, M.A. ’95) delivered a webinar at TC on her latest book, Mindful Movement: The Evolution of the Somatic Arts and Conscious Action (Intellect, Limited 2016). Eddy is a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist, licensed Teacher of Body-Mind Centering and Certified Movement Analyst.
Gayle E. Hutchinson (M.A. ’84) was named President of California State University, Chico in March. The 12th president in the University’s 130-year history, she is the first woman to hold the job.
SPEECH & LANGUAGE
PATHOLOGY
Bernadine Gagnon (M.S. ’02) CCC-SLP, is the Chief Clinical Supervisor at Teachers College’s Edward D. Mysak Clinic for Communication Disorders and oversees the Mysak’s Aphasia Clinic. She publishes in peer-reviewed journals and speaks at conferences nationally.
John Bickford (Ed.D. ’72) is a guardian ad litem for a family court in South Carolina.
Silvia Mazzula (Ph.D. ’10, M.Phil. ’08), Associate Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has been selected to provide a field scan on behalf of RISE (Research, Integration, Strategy and Evaluation) for Boys and Men of Color. Her goal is to understand key interventions and policies that improve life outcomes for Latino boys and men of color.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
David Gangsei (Ph.D. ’77) re-tired in 2016. He served as Clinical Director at Survivors of Torture, International in San Diego, where he oversaw psychological, medical, social and legal services to asylum seekers and refugees from more than 50 countries. He was also an international clinical advisor with The Center for Victims of Torture in St. Paul, where he worked with local NGOs in Africa and Central and Eastern Europe.
Noel Leyco (M.A. ’80) was recently appointed as Undersecretary for Finance and Administration at the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the Philippines.
PSYCHOLOGICAL
COUNSELING
Richard Campagna (M.A. ’92) is currently delivering a series of seminars, courses and workshops titled “The Role of Karaoke and Existentialism in Life, Love and Learning.” Campagna has served on TC’s Alumni Council.
In January 2017, Alison Desir (M.A. ’16), founder of Harlem Run, completed a 240-mile run from Harlem to Washington D.C. in support of Planned Parenthood. Desir and a team of three other women ran approximately two marathons per day, arriving in the capital on Inauguration Day.
Patricia Glick (M.Ed., M.A. ’96), a New York State Licensed Behavior Analyst, is the co-owner of a licensed professional agency that provides Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services across Long Island. Her company is opening a center-based program in Islandia, New York.
SCHOOL COUNSELOR
Health Education doctoral student Ian Levy (M.Ed. ’14, M.A. ’13) was named the 2016 New York State School Counselor of the Year by the New York State School Counselor Association for his work in creating a hip-hop therapy counseling program at a Bronx high school.
Marvin Lynn (M.A. ’96) was named Commissioner of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. He is currently Dean of the School of Education at Indiana University South Bend.
ELEMENTARY INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
Rachel Elin-Saintine (M.A. ’13) teaches at Miquon School in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. She has also begun her own painting business, 3 Little Pigments. She paints murals for babies’ nurseries and children’s play spaces in homes.
OLDER CHILDREN
Hinda Gewirtz (M.A. ’61)is publishing a new book on aging, The Last Taboo: Aging in America.
James Salamon (M.A. ’15) became a Data Analyst at The New School in January 2017. He works with Institutional Research and Academic Planning to achieve continuing student enrollment goals.
Led by CEO Debra Wein (M.S. ’94), Wellness Workdays held the 2017 Emerging Trends in Wellness Conference — its fourth annual conference — in April 2017.
HEALTH EDUCATION
Major General Irene Trowell-Harris, USAF Ret. (Ed.D. ’83), took part in “A Proud Heritage of Service: People of Color in the Military,” a Black History Month panel at NBC Universal.
Martha Higgins (Ed.D. ’04, M.S. ’01) established www.smallfitness.org, a website that deals with childhood obesity.
As artistic director of The Dreamscape Project Group, Pamela Newton Renna (M.A. ’69) builds power, authenticity and ecstatic experience through the arts. She is working on “River Spirits,” part of a three-year project for the Group, and teaches “Two Left Feet,” a dance class for adults.
LEARNING DISABILITIES
Dr. Marek Beck (M.A. ’99), Head of Upper School Education at Renbrook School, completed his Ph.D. in Curriculum & Teaching at Fordham University.
NURSING EDUCATION
PROFESSORIAL ROLE
Elizabeth Speakman (Ed.D. ’00) was promoted to Professor of Nursing at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA and was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing. She published Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice: Creating a Blueprint for Nurse Educators (Wolters Kluwer) in September 2016.
Linda Strong (Ed.D. ’96) of Sacred Heart University was selected to join the Nursing Board at the American Health Council.
SPECIAL EDUCATION
Anne Leslie Saunders (M.A. ’77) published the second edition of A Travel Guide to World War II Sites in Italy (CreateSpace) in December 2016.
As Director of Research at the Fontana Center for Child Protection, Amy J.L. Baker (Ph.D. ’89) is an authority on parental alienation (when a child unjustifiably rejects a parent). She has authored or co-authored eight books and over 100 journal articles, serves as an expert in family courts and provides telephone coaching for parents. She recently developed a specialized outpatient therapeutic program for parents and their adult children.
Laurie Cigal (M.A. ’03) has been a Spanish Teacher and an assistant to the presidents of Fortune 500 companies and nonprofit institutions. Now a grandmother, she serves in retirement as a youth mentor and outreach mission member.
Nitza Milagros Escalera (M.Ed. ’06), Dean of Diversity Initiatives at Fordham Law School, received the 2017 Giving Back Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo nominated Guillermo Linares (Ed.D. ’95), a former assemblyman and longtime education activist, as President of the state’s Higher Education Services Corp. Linares has previously served as New York City’s Immigrant Affairs Commissioner. He was the first Dominican-born immigrant elected to public office in the United States.
Graduate candidates in courses taught by Professor Colette Mazzucelli (M.Ed. ’11) at New York University represented the United States in the Facebook Peer to Peer (P2P) Global Showcase Event during the United Nations General Assembly. More than 150 colleagues and friends of the P2P program from around the world participated in the event.
Dina Paulson (M.A. ’10) and Mitch McEwen were married in Detroit in November 2016. Dina is Office Manager of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, an early education center, and a freelance writer and editor. Her work has appeared in journals including Minola Review and Flash Fiction Magazine and has been exhibited at Hudson Guild Gallery in New York City.
Bethany Wilinski (M.A. ’09) earned her doctorate in Curriculum & Instruction and Educational Policy Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is now Assistant Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. She is the author of When Pre-K Comes to School: Policy, Partnerships, and the Early Childhood Education Workforce (Teachers College Press 2017).
Jeremiah Sumter, Jr. (M.A. ’04) was promoted to Principal at the Roosevelt UFSD Middle School and received his Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Hofstra University.
SECONDARY SCHOOL
SCIENCE EDUCATION
Kushu Dhingra (Ed.D. ’99), founder and Executive Director of talkSTEM, has started a new initiative, walkSTEM, a series of math and science walks through the Dallas Arts District to teach elementary and middle school students and their families about the relevance of math in everyday surroundings. walkSTEM is conducted in partnership with moMath in New York City.
Gerda Govine Ituarte (Ed.D. ’84, M.A. ’76) has authored three poetry collections: Oh, Where is My Candle Hat?, Alterations Thread Light Through Eye of Storm and Future Awakes in Mouth of NOW. Ituarte has published in anthologies and journals in the U.S. and Mexico and held poetry readings in Canada, Colombia, Cuba, the U.K. and Mexico. She is the founder of Pasadena Rose Poets — nine published poets in Pasadena who bring “poetry within reach in unexpected places.”
ADULT EDUCATION GUIDED INTENSIVE STUDY
SAGE has published the second edition of Becoming a Multicultural Educator: Developing Awareness, Gaining Skills, and Taking Action, co-authored by William Alexander Howe (Ed.D. ’91). The book received the 2013 Philip C. Chinn Book Award from the National Association for Multicultural Education. Howe received TC’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2015.
ADULT LEARNING & LEADERSHIP
Sarah Siegel (M.A. ’12) is leading the design team for Watson Academy at IBM. She manages eight premier instructional designers and designs learning offerings for a range of IBMers.
EDUCATIONALADMINISTRATION
Kleon C. Andreadis (M.Ed. ’79) has moved to El Paso, Texas to establish a new law practice.
Katherine L. Norris (M.A. ’99) published Engage in the Mathematical Practices: Strategies to Build Numeracy and Literacy with K-5 Learners (Solution Tree Press 2016).
EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Joan Stamler (Ph.D. ’10) is an evaluation consultant and TC Adjunct Assistant Professor, teaching a course on the Evaluation of Educational and Social Programs. She volunteers with Reading Partners, which assists elementary school students.
INQUIRY EDUCATION LEADERSHIP PRACTICE
Carol D. Birks (Ed.D. ’13, M.Ed. ’11) is Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Leadership at Hartford Public Schools. Birks works with a Networked Improvement Community to help school leaders improve student academic outcomes for 11 schools. She is Founding CEO of Erudite Educational Consulting LLC.
Monica George-Fields (Ed.D. ’15) is President and Chief Education Officer of Reimagine Excellence and Achievement Consulting House (REACH), which coaches school communities that undertake school improvement and sustaining efforts.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Mildred García (Ed.D. ’87), President of California State University, Fullerton, has been elected the next Chair of the Board at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, beginning her service in 2018. García received TC’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2015.
Patrick McGuire (Ed.D. ’94), past President of TC’s Alumni Council, was named NY1’s Queens “Person of the Week” for his hours of dedication to New York Cares.
STUDENT PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION
Alice Croll (M.A. ’86), CSW, is celebrating three decades of counseling practice in Hackensack, New Jersey. She is a featured professional in the Psychology Today web directory.
Since graduating from TC, Natalie Schwartzstein (M.A. ’86) has worked in fundraising, including campaign oversight and management, for New York University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Vermont, Stanford University and, currently, George Washington University. She has worked with schools of law, medicine, business, and arts and sciences.
