Teachers College Alumnus is Project Director For New Columbia High School
Jose Gabriel Maldonado-Rivera, an alumnus of Teachers College, Columbia University, has been named project director for the Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science and Engineering, set to open in West Harlem in September 2007.
Maldonado-Rivera Will Lead Partnership With City's Department of Education
Jose Gabriel Maldonado-Rivera, an alumnus of Teachers College, Columbia University, has been named project director for the Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science and Engineering, set to open in West Harlem in September 2007.Maldonado-Rivera's appointment was jointly announced today by Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger and New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein The new school, which will be operated by the New York City Department of Education in close collaboration with Columbia University, will be initially located in a transitional space and will accept students in the sixth grade, eventually serving approximately 650 students from grades six through 12 in a new building in Manhattanville.
"Jos is precisely the kind of educator we need to lead this innovative partnership between our public schools and Columbia," Chancellor Klein said. "He has deep expertise in New York City education issues and significant experience as both a teacher and an administrator."
Maldonado-Rivera received his PhD in Science Education in 1998 from Teachers College and spent two years as an associate researcher at the College's Institute of Urban and Minority Education. Most recently Maldonado-Rivera served as assistant principal of the TASIS K-12 school in Dorado, Puerto Rico. Before beginning his service there in 2004, Maldonado-Rivera served for six years as chair of the Department of Education at Hartwick College, in Oneonta, New York, and 12 years as executive director of the Environmental Education project of Puerto Rico, a non-governmental organization devoted to training teachers and offering a wide variety of field learning experiences for K-12 students. Maldonado-Rivera also taught high school science and was a recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching in the early 1990s as a teacher in Puerto Rico.
"I was attracted to the Columbia Secondary School position by the opportunity to help create a world-class institution that serves the needs of the Upper Manhattan children and families I came to know when I was a graduate student and researcher at Columbia," Maldonado-Rivera said. "I was also drawn by the incredible possibilities of creating an ongoing partnership that connects the vast academic resources of Columbia University to a group of New York City public school students yearning to excel and be challenged by a world-class science, math and engineering education."
Teachers College professor Keith Sheppard, who is on the new Columbia school's advisory council, called Maldonado-Rivera a natural choice as project director for the school based on his background as a "bilingual, bicultural, innovative educator with strong academic, administrative and curricular experience in both science and science education."
Published Friday, Oct. 27, 2006
