Thomas M. Philip, Assistant Professor at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education, Division of Urban Schooling, and in Center X’s Teacher Education Program, will explore these questions in a lecture on Tuesday, Feb. 3, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Milbank Chapel at Teachers College. CLICK HERE TO RSVP.

Philip studies how teachers perceive and act on their sense of agency as they navigate and ultimately transform classrooms and institutions toward more equitable, just, and democratic practices and outcomes.

His lecture will explore the distinct responsibilities of teachers and teacher educators in the contemporary struggle for racial justice. His discussion will be grounded in studies of ideological change in teachers and how teachers develop racialized analyses and identities in teacher education classrooms and programs. He will consider the possibilities and challenges in reshaping these spaces, so that teachers may critically examine and define their role as educators in a democratic, but stratified, inequitable, and unjust society.

Philip holds a Ph.D in Cognition and Development and a bachelor’s of science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, both from the University of California at Berkeley. His work as an educator began as a science teacher at a public high school in South Los Angeles.

This lecture is part of the College’s Sachs Lecture Series, which seeks to understand the rapidly shifting landscape of university-based teacher education and explore these essential questions:  What should be the curriculum of doctoral level work to prepare teacher educator-scholars? What research is needed to guide this work?

Published Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015