Support for the Best
Students are the lifeblood of Teachers College. All too often there are impediments in matching our expectations with student aspirations. The barriers principally are built around funding. Affordability is the issue.
The principal way to bring equity to the process is by financial support. And the building blocks of financial support are scholarships and fellowships. To that end, we have earmarked $28.5 million in the Campaign for Teachers College for fellowships and scholarships. Considered one of the priorities in the campaign, the goal has been realistically fashioned on the strength of decades of financial support for Teachers College students made possible by private philanthropy. Against this background, the campaign has generated a number of significant scholarship programs that serve as leadership gifts in achieving our goal. They are: Tess Magsaysay and Ken Boxley Scholarship Fund, Neff Fellows, Elihu Rose Fellowships, Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women, and Nicholson Family Scholarship. The Magsaysay-Boxley Scholarships Tess Magsaysay and Ken Boxley made an initial gift of $1 million toward the creation of a $10 million endowment to help recruit the best students into the teaching profession. What they hope to create with their scholarships whose focus is academic excellence is the equivalent of the Rhodes Scholarship or the National Merit Scholarship. Tess Magsaysay has a Master of Education in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College and is working on her Ed.D. In the same field. Commenting on the significance of the endowment, Ken Boxley notes that "several years ago I decided that the best thing I could do with the money I had was to further education." Pam Cheng, one of the first recipients of the scholarship, calls it a "tangible affirmation that teaching is worthy of one's highest aspirations." Neff Fellows Established by James L. Neff, a retired vice president of trusts with the Bank of New York, the Neff Tutorial Program helps support participation of Teachers College students in improving the reading skills of elementary students in New York City schools. The program emerged from Mr. Neff's own volunteer service tutoring fourth and fifth graders in Manhattan's P.S. 6. As Neff Fellows, master's degree candidates work with elementary students in four 45-minute sessions a week. Carolyn Choi, one of the early recipients, says she is struck by "the individual time that I've been able to devote to children at risk. What I have learned most is how to work at a school, with its teachers, and, most important, how to use my skills." Elihu Rose Fellowships The Rose Fellowships link Teachers College students as interns with a wide range of institutions concerned about educational policy and practices. For example, Terry Marx interned at the Center for Educational Innovation which distributes private funds for creative projects in the public schools. One of her projects is to develop a technology model for a high school in Queens. As a degree candidate in Computing and Education, her interest is to integrate computers and technology into school curricula. Jewish Foundation Women Scholars Program Providing a grant of $135,000, the Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women directed the scholarships "to women who intend to pursue teaching careers in mathematics or science in the New York City public schools." Under provisions of the grant, Teachers College "agrees to provide teaching positions for scholarship recipients upon graduation in the New York City public schools (and) also agrees to develop support programs and mentor relationships for grant recipients during their first two years of teaching." Nicholson Family Scholarship Possibilities for the Best Teachers College President Arthur Levine reflects on the importance of the scholarship program with a sense of personal regret. Admitted to Teachers College as a young man, he was unable to enroll, even though he "wanted desperately" to attend, because he could not afford the tuition. "We need to make it possible for the best people, no matter their personal resources, to come here," President Levine maintains. Sources of Scholarship Funds Newly Created Capital Campaign Scholarships Since September 1, 1997 John and Caroline H. Clark Scholarship in Elementary Math Scholarships Receiving Contributions for Ongoing Support Anthropology Research Fund |
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Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001