Pearl Kane Honored with the Endowed Chair for the Director of the Klingenstein Center
John Klingenstein, who has been a Trustee since 1979, and has served as Vice Chair since 1997, recently announced that he and his family were establishing The Klingenstein Family Chair for the Advancement of Independent School Education. The first recipient of the chair will be Associate Professor Pearl Rock Kane.
John Klingenstein, who has been a Trustee since 1979, and has served as
Vice Chair since 1997, recently announced that he and his family were
establishing The Klingenstein Family Chair for the Advancement of
Independent School Education. An endowed chair is one of the
most meaningful ways of rewarding faculty whose excellence merits
distinction. The first recipient of the chair will be
Associate Professor Pearl Rock Kane. The Klingenstein Family Chair for the Advancement of
Independent School Education was established as an instrument for
honoring extraordinary achievement and for recruiting and retaining the
most distinguished scholars. In providing permanent support for a chair
in independent school education, the Klingenstein family is the first
to recognize the role of independent schools in American education at a
major school of education.Mr. Klingenstein said he was speaking for
the Klingenstein Fund, which was established in 1946 as a vehicle for
expressing the personal philanthropic interests of its founders, Esther
A. and Joseph Klingenstein. Under the leadership of John Klingenstein
and members of the family, the Fund has made leadership for independent
education a major programmatic interest.The mission of the
Klingenstein Center is to improve the quality of independent school
education by developing and strengthening leadership among teachers and
administrators who work in and with independent schools. The aim is to
equip these educators with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary
for informed practice using the resources of Teachers College and
drawing upon a wide range of experts in education.John Klingenstein
called the Klingenstein Center "one of the signature programs of the
Fund" and called Professor Kane's work as Director of the Center for
the last seventeen years, "more than worthy of an endowed chair." Kane,
on hearing the announcement, said,"I am honored and privileged to be
the recipient of the chair." She added, "The Klingenstein family is
unique in its role as a foundation. They have always been directly
involved in a positive and constructive way. Members of the family come
to see our programs in action every year. That has made a big
difference to the people in the program and to me. They have a keen
interest in what we're doing and they are proud of the accomplishments
of our alumni/ae."Kane plans to use resources from the endowment to
build on the experience of the Center to promote open dialogue between
public and private schools and to foster global understanding through
greater involvement with international schools.
To accomplish these
goals, the Center will document successful aspects of the Klingenstein
programs and study the professional development of teachers and
administrators in independent schools. In part, independent schools
have justified their existence by claiming to provide models of what
might happen in the larger public sector but, in the past, the schools
have seldom served that purpose.
"Through the generosity of the
Klingenstein Fund, Teachers College has been given the opportunity to
make that happen," Kane said. "As someone who taught in public schools
in Harlem and Washington Heights in New York City and in Roxbury,
Massachusetts in the late '60s, I have a strong sense of social
responsibility that shapes my work with independent schools and the
content of my teaching. I want all students who graduate from our
programs to feel responsible for making a contribution to the larger
field of educational practice," said Kane.
Published Monday, Feb. 3, 2003
