The numbers — dollars raised, faculty hired, increases in research grants and student support, renovations of buildings and classrooms — paint an impressive enough portrait of Teachers College during the past 12 years. But the most powerful testimonials of all come from faculty and recent graduates, who describe an environment that has helped them advance professionally and further their efforts to build a better world.

Interviews by Robert Fuller and Steve Giegerich

FACULTY

Amra Sabic-El-Rayess
Associate Professor of Practice (EPSA) 
“President Fuhrman is a true academic who is exceptionally well versed in everything we cover in our departments and fields and what each faculty member does individually. She also has a very intuitive ability to keep a step ahead in knowing the next topic relevant to not only academia but well beyond. That’s made her a very astute leader.”

Sandra Okita 
Associate Professor of Technology and Education
“Susan has always been open to new, innovative ideas and created a foundation that allowed us to continue our work in robotic technology and learning. She’s wanted to know more about what we were doing. We tend to stay in our lab and do research, but she’s helped connect us to the outside world.”

Michelle Knight-Manuel 
Professor Education and Associate Dean
“TC has opened opportunities for me, as Associate Dean, professor, the New York City Department of Education’s Director of Culturally Relevant Education & College Readiness, and partnering with Sauti Yetu Center for African Women and Girls, to enact visions of social justice with colleagues, students and community members.”

Judith Scott-Clayton 
Associate Professor of Economics and Education
“By focusing on creating a crossdisciplinary policy department, Susan Fuhrman enabled us to rethink how we work and even start from scratch. TC’s Community College Research Center has let me take my own angle on issues such as racial disparities in student debt, which had not gotten the attention it deserved.”

Laudan Jahromi 
Associate Professor of Psychology & Education
“President Fuhrman’s vision for truly high-impact work, which looks past traditional disciplinary boundaries, has influenced my own research on children with disabilities and their families, and in reimagining a master’s program that prepares graduates to work with individuals’ developmental disabilities across contexts, in and out of the classroom.”

Christopher Emdin 
Associate Professor of Science Education
“President Fuhrman and Provost James have engaged with my work, given me the freedom to express my work and pushed the work in interesting ways, enabling my voice to become prominent and providing a setting for young people to come here to rap. To be welcomed and celebrated, I think, would not have happened elsewhere.”

Mariana Souto-Manning 
Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, Co-Director (CITED)
“Susan has listened to my ideas and supported their development. She was instrumental in developing our triple certification degree program in early childhood education, which better prepares teachers for fully inclusive and multilingual classrooms. She supported establishment with King’s College London of CITED [the Center for Innovation in Teacher Education and Development], which transforms teacher education and development with a clear focus on justice. She has changed TC’s landscape.”

Xiaodong Lin-Siegler 
Professor of Cognitive Studies; Director, Education for Persistence and Innovation Center
“My career path may appear smooth, but I was rejected by three graduate schools and initially failed to get the post-doctoral position I wanted, and my study on failure was repeatedly rejected before being published. I’ve come to understand that we must teach young people to learn and grow from such universal experiences. I feel privileged to work at TC, which encourages daring scholarship and original thought.”

Mary Mendenhall 
Associate Professor of Practice
“Under President Fuhrman’s leadership, our faculty and students have built incredible momentum tackling the challenges facing displaced children, teachers and families worldwide. We have created a platform for making important contributions to research, policy and practice in refugee education across camp, urban and U.S. resettlement contexts.”

Building Capacity

“President Fuhrman’s support has been really beneficial for helping build capacity for graduate students on externally-funded research projects. It has helped multiple doctoral students get their degrees, do real research on National Science Foundation projects and push forward in very meaningful ways.” – Alex Bowers, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership

Cindy Huang 
Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology
“TC wanted a specialist in children and youth counseling psychology, which perfectly combined my interests and training. I’ve since interviewed Asian immigrant parents about the cultural factors that undermine their children’s mental health treatment. As far as I know, this hasn’t been done before.”

ALUMNI

Nathan Alexander (Ph.D. ’15) 
JAMES KING, JR., VISITING PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS TEACHING, MOREHOUSE COLLEGE 
“TC has enabled me to see the status and situation of students of color across cities and areas. My research has confirmed that institutional context matters in how those students experience their lives.”

Eric Oberstein (M.A. ’09) 
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, DUKE PERFORMANCES; EMMY AND LATIN EMMY AWARD WINNER 
“The faculty and students in Arts Administration supported each other like family. I still work with a lot of them.”

Lauren Leigh Kelly (Ph.D. ’16) 
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF URBAN TEACHER EDUCATION, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY 
“Ivy League schools and grad schools are often seen as a means for people to get letters after their names. Seeing how [Associate Professor of Science & Education] Chris Emdin and [former Macy Professor] Ernest Morrell used TC’s knowledge to create spaces for public school students on campus demonstrated that parts of the institution are also about serving the community.”

Dena Simmons (Ed.D. ’14) 
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, YALE CENTER FOR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE 
“My now-lifelong TC friends were my study buddies who held me during personal or school-related problems I was experiencing. We learned that relationships are how we get to where we need to be. Now, in the field of social and emotional learning, we know that relationships are key to teaching, in the workplace and in our homes.”

Hakim M.A. Williams (Ph.D. ’12, M.E. ’06, M.A. ’05) 
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, AFRICANA STUDIES AND EDUCATION, GETTYSBURG COLLEGE 
“I came to TC for the Peace Education Program, and its teachers and students remain my colleagues and mentors. It gave me the foundation for my social justice orientation in research and teaching.”

Cindy Wiltshire (M.S. ’17) 
DOCTORAL CANDIDATE, DEPARTMENT OF NEUROSCIENCE & EDUCATION 
“TC introduced me to neuroscience’s importance in children’s everyday education, socially and emotionally as well as academically. You’re encouraged to approach personal interests by getting outside your own comfort zone.”

Alaa Alhomaizi (M.A. ’15) Dalal Alhomaizi (M.A. ’15) 
TC DOCTORAL CANDIDATES, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 
DALAL: “We advocate for the rights of people with mental illness in Kuwait. TC was very quick to recognize our potential, and to invest in us.” ALAA: “TC always has our backs. The faculty gets you to your finish line, and Lena Verdeli is a trailblazer.” DALAL: “We’ve gotten robust training as clinical psychologists and support for our international advocacy work.” ALAA: “TC attracts people like us, who won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. We create solutions when there’s none.”

David Johns (M.A. ’06, current TC doctoral student in Sociology & Education Policy) 
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL BLACK JUSTICE COALITION 
“At TC, I learned to connect theory and praxis, be a policy pro and unapologetically address inequity. After learning about so many seemingly intractable problems in D.C. [through directing the White House Initiative for Educational Excellence of African Americans and other work], I returned to TC to think, research and write about the most neglected students’ experiences.”

Kara Carpenter (Ph.D. ’13), Rachael Labrecque (Ph.D. ’15), Dana Pagar (Ph.D. ’13) 
CO-FOUNDERS OF THE AWARDWINNING EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANY TEACHLEY 
RACHAEL: “We all came from the classroom and wanted to make a big impact in education.” DANA: “We were excited about cognitive research and technology deepening student learning.” RACHAEL: “We got to manage large grants and co-write large proposals, which really opened doors.” DANA: “Dr. Fuhrman and Provost James were excited to have student entrepreneurs. They had a real vision of TC leading in ed tech, and they gave us a seat at the table.” KARA: “Their support was key when we applied for our first small business grant. Not many students write dissertations that become Apple Design Award-winning apps or develop a prototyping grant.”

Alison Hard (M.S. ’17) 
SENIOR ASSOCIATE, FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS, NATIONAL WIC ASSOCIATION 
“At TC’s Tisch Food Center, I contributed to state- and federal level research, communicated it to decision makers and got to know people I now work with. Now I advocate for families, set legislative priorities, direct grassroots advocacy and help distribute funding to other programs. This is my dream job, and it was possible because Pam Koch [Tisch Center Executive Director], Claire Uno [Deputy Director] and others gave me such valuable experience. They made me marketable.”

Frank Golom (Ph.D. ’12) 
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY AT LOYOLA UNIVERSITY MARYLAND 
“I wouldn’t be the psychologist I am without the TC Social-Organizational Psychology program’s unique approach to understanding the complexity of organizational life. Helping Debra Noumair and Warner Burke design the Executive Master’s Program in Change Leadership was one of the highlights of my career. TC allows you to be a little on the edges of what a discipline traditionally expects, and always for the better.”

Annie Feighery (Ed.D. ’14) 
CO-FOUNDER OF MWATER, ADVISER TO NATIONS ON HEALTH AND SANITATION 
“I didn’t want to write a bunch of papers no one would read. I wanted to help people lead better lives. Our work to change countries’ water and sanitation behavior jumps directly off the shoulders of my TC courses, which applied health education to public health.”

Vikash Reddy (Ph.D. ’16) 
POLICY ANALYST, THE CALIFORNIA POLICY LAB AT U.C. BERKELEY 
“It’s rare to see someone come out of grad school with a peer reviewed published book [Performance Funding for Higher Education, co-authored with TC professor Kevin Dougherty], but at CCRC, research assistants are trained to do rigorous research. Now I help run statewide randomized control models. I’m heading to the U.C. Berkeley Chancellor’s office to discuss state education policy. These skills were developed at TC.”

Fitting Tribute

“My perspective on fitness and wellness comes from TC’s social justice component, which has influenced my understanding of how identity and privilege affect the Harlem community. Without it, I wouldn’t have created Harlem Run in such a thoughtful way.” –Alison Desir (M.A. ’16) Founder, Run 4 All Women & Harlem Run