Former Chairman of Petroleum Company, Foundation President, Publisher of Science Weekly Appointed Vice Chairman of Trustees of Teachers College

John N. Irwin, III, a New York City businessman who was named vice-chairman of the Trustees of Teachers College, Columbia University, Thursday, has two family connections with the institution:

His late mother, Jane Watson Irwin, served as a Trustee of the College from 1949 until 1960, and his wife, Jeanet Hardigg Irwin, earned her Master of Arts in early childhood education at the College in 1988.

The 41-year-old Mr. Irwin has been a Trustee of the College since 1990. He is the co-founder and managing director of Hillside Capital Incorporated, a private industrial holding company.

Mr. Irwin joins a Trustee leadership consisting of Thomas W. Evans, chairman, and Antonia M. Grumbach, who also serves as a vice chair.

Teachers College, an affiliate of Columbia University, is legally and financially independent. It is overseen by its own Trustees.

Three new Teachers College Trustees were also elected in a meeting March 4. They are:

Ashmore Clark Johnson, Jr., former chairman and chief executive officer of Union Texas Petroleum, Inc.;

Julie J. Kidd, president and secretary of the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation; and

Dr. Claude A. Mayberry, Jr., founder, president and chief executive officer of Science Weekly, Inc., and the former president of the College's Alumni Council.

John N. Irwin III

In addition to his leadership at Teachers College, Mr. Irwin is a director of the Fresh Air Fund and a trustee of the Achelis and Bodman Foundations and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in politics at Princeton University.

Mr. Irwin's father, John N. Irwin II, served as the U.S. Ambassador to France from 1973 to 1974. Mr. Irwin's maternal grandfather, Thomas Watson, was a founder of IBM.

Mr. Johnson

Ashmore Clark Johnson, Jr., recently retired as chairman and CEO of Union Texas Petroleum, also served for several years as an executive with Allied Chemical Company. He was president of that firm from 1982 to 1983.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science at Haverford College, where he also serves as a member of the Board of Managers, and his Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Julie Johnson Kidd

Julie Johnson Kidd is the daughter of Christian A. Johnson, who established the Foundation in 1952. The Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation, which was named for Mr. Johnson after his death, supports several projects in education and the arts.

In September, the Foundation established the Christian A. Johnson Professorship of Outstanding Education Practice at Teachers College. That professorship is currently held by Thomas Sobol, the former New York State Commissioner of Education.

The professorship was endowed by a $2 million grant from the Foundation.

In addition to her leadership at Teachers College, Mrs. Kidd is a Trustee of Middlebury College, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in art. She is also a Trustee of Hamilton College and a former member of the Board of the Museum of the American Indian.

Dr. Claude A. Mayberry, Jr.

Dr. Claude A. Mayberry, a former official in the U.S. Department of Education, founded Science Weekly in 1984. The newspaper is a children's science periodical for grades K-8. He is also the publisher of Power Line, a mathematics and science eduation newsletter for elementary and middle school teachers.

Dr. Mayberry earned his Doctor of Education degree in mathematics education at Teachers College in 1974. He served as president of the College's Alumni Council from 1989 to 1993.

A dropout who earned his high school GEB while serving in the Air Force, Dr. Mayberry earned his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and physics from Purdue University and then taught for six years in the Gary, Indiana, public school system. He was named Indiana Junior Chamber of Commerce Teacher of the Year in 1970.

He first came to Teachers College as a master's student in 1972. As a student at the College, he played a major role in forming a more active African-American community.

He served on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania and Colgate University and then joined the U.S. Department of Education in the administration of Ronald Reagan. There he was instrumental in developing a curriculum design in mathematics and science education for grades 1-9, supporting President Reagan's "Young Astronaut Program" initiative.

Dr. Mayberry is president of the National Citizens Commission for African American Education. Among his published works are Urban Education: The City as a Living Curriculum and Bridging the Gap: From Arithmetic to Calculus.

Teachers College, a graduate school devoted to education across the lifespan and other in and out of the classroom, has more than 4,500 students.

Published Thursday, Jun. 27, 2002