The Future is Now: Taking Our Campaign Public | Teachers College Columbia University

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The Future is Now: Taking Our Campaign Public

Choosing the moment to take a campaign public depends so much on timing. Has the institution identified issues that matter to the world, now and in the future? Has it assembled the intellectual expertise to shape that future as envisioned? Are alumni and friends mobilized for action?

Choosing the moment to take a campaign public depends so much on timing. Has the institution identified issues that matter to the world, now and in the future? Has it assembled the intellectual expertise to shape that future as envisioned? Are alumni and friends mobilized for action?

This year, in launching Where the Future Comes First: The Campaign for Teachers College, I am so proud that we have answered each of the questions with a resounding, "Yes."

The issues we address have always been clear. Since our founding 126 years ago, our work has centered on translating knowledge about how people learn in all fields into more effective teaching; creating new fields by looking at the big issues through a big lens that combines knowledge from all our areas of expertise; leveling the playing field for all learners by reversing the corrosive effects of poverty; and advancing policy research and recommendations that help leaders identify and bring to scale the approaches that work best.

Expertise has never been a problem either. Throughout our history, we have marshalled the people and ideas to help the world meet these challenges during different eras -'" and we are doing it again right now. To cite just a few examples:

Great teaching has long been considered an art, but now TC stands at the forefront of adding a powerful new science-based dimension. On the back cover of this annual report, we celebrate O. Roger Anderson, a 50-year faculty member who has pioneered in applying cognitive and neuroscience theory to research on how students learn and think about science. Meanwhile, as President Fuhrman describes in her opening message, TC is emerging as a leader in mining data from new interactive technologies that reveal how students are making sense of new concepts. Far from mechanizing teaching, these approaches are shaping more personalized instruction for each and every student.

Yet even the best teaching cannot ensure success for impoverished children who suffer from poor diet, poor health and the stresses of living in unstable or violent circumstances. Health education professor Charles Basch has been working for years to document the ways that these and other health issues contribute to the achievement gap. Now he is working in New York City with the Children's Health Fund, a nonprofit founded by singer/ songwriter Paul Simon and Columbia public health authority Irwin Redlener, to test his model for using schools themselves as a focal point for delivering health services to disadvantaged students.

TC's Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy, founded two years ago through a generous gift from Trustee Emerita Laurie Tisch, is fighting at the local and national levels to shape healthier eating behaviors among children. This past summer, in its first major report, the Center documented the lack of quality nutrition education programs in New York City schools and called for a doubling of programs provided by outside experts. The Tisch Center has also co-convened a New York City alliance for renewal of a strong federal Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act that would best serve low-income children and families.

TC and its faculty are increasingly active in Brazil and other regions through collaboration with Columbia University's Global Centers, while several new Global Innovation Fund awards presented during the year supported research abroad by individual faculty members. The College's global engagement includes supporting STEM education in Indonesia, special education in Oman, technology deployment in Bulgarian classrooms, the creation of a Bachelor of Education degree in Pakistan, and research on teacher education and instructional models in math and science in the Pacific Rim. Small wonder that when President Fuhrman spoke in South Korea, alumni who attended responded by pledging $120,000 in Campaign contributions. This past October in TC's Milbank Chapel, we also held a symposium commemorating Kuo Ping Wen, who in 1914 became the first Chinese national to receive a doctorate from Teachers College, and announced creation of the Kuo Ping Wen Scholarship Fund for international students from China. Representatives of colleges and universities throughout China attended, as well as Yu Wei, a former Vice Minister of Education. The event was co-sponsored by the C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Columbia University and the China Institute. It was spearheaded by Carolyn Hsu-Balcer, Kuo's great grand-niece.

The Teachers College Community School (TCCS), which we founded in West Harlem in 2010, and REACH (Raising Educational Achievement Coalition of Harlem), our partnership with six pre-K-'"12 Harlem public schools, are demonstrating that universities can be transformative partners in public education. At TCCS, where kindergarten seats are now the most sought-after in the district, programs reflect the direct input of TC faculty in math, science, music, psychology, nutrition, reading and writing, physical education and art. More than 70 TC students worked at the school in 2013- 2014, serving as specialty and pre-service teachers, afterschool instructors, classroom assistants and psychological counseling and literacy interns. REACH, which is generously supported by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, provided 600 hours of professional development to teachers and principals and 1,500 hours of after-school and summer programs for students during the past year.

 Successes like these have enabled us to reengage our extended TC family and publicly commit ourselves to raising $300 million -'" the largest Campaign goal ever set by a graduate school of education.

 That work began with the efforts of Trustee E. John Rosenwald Jr. and Trustee Emerita Laurie M. Tisch, who placed us on a firm footing for launch by expertly guiding the Campaign through its quiet phase. Thanks to their leadership and support, we were halfway home by the time we formally announced our fundraising goal. At TC's 125th Anniversary Gala, held in November 2013 at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater, TC faculty, students, alumni and friends

SHOW OF SUPPORT Our 125th Anniversary Gala at Harlem's Apollo Theater brought faculty, students, alumni and friends out in droves to celebrate the College's legacy of "firsts."

This past summer, John and Laurie passed the baton to three Board colleagues with TC in their genes. Campaign Chair Marla Schaefer, the former Co-Chairman of Claire's Stores, is an alumna of our social organizational psychology program. Marla's Vice Chairs are Bill Rueckert, our Board Co-Chair and the great nephew of TC's founder, Grace Hoadley Dodge; and Leslie Nelson, a business and nonprofit leader now focusing her energy on New York City's public schools.                                                                        

Marla, Bill and Leslie have given huge amounts of time, energy and enthusiasm to Teachers College. They also created a Campaign Committee of TC alumni and friends hailing from across the country and representing fields that include education, psychology, journalism, finance, publishing, philanthropy and the nonprofit sector. This impressive group is spreading the word about the Campaign and the impact of Campaign giving. 

Meanwhile, the dedicated members of our Alumni Council have helped our Alumni Relations team organize Campaign rollout events in 15 states and six countries. These gatherings were attended by nearly 5,000 alumni and friends -'" including 1,000 at TC Academic Festival in April 2014. And by partnering with TC programs such as English Education, the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, and Movement Science & Education, we have fostered deeper networks among our 90,000 alumni around the world.

We also kept alumni informed about TC news, faculty research, student initiatives, networking opportunities, career resources and, of course, each other. Our stories of graduates who are winning accolades as college presidents, superintendents, school leaders, hospital administrators, national appointees, industry leaders, cutting edge researchers, authors, editors and entrepreneurs helped us garner some 2,300 likes on our alumni Facebook page and attract 13,500 new Twitter followers.

As a result, by the end of November 2014, the Campaign had raised $186.3 million, more than 61 percent of our overall goal. We have welcomed more than 80 new members to our Dewey Circle of supporters since the Campaign's launch, a 43 percent increase, and added 100 new Grace Dodge Society members, a 32 percent increase since Campaign launch.

Because our ultimate aim is to enable work that improves the world, program and faculty support have taken the lead, often establishing innovative new academic concentrations (see President Fuhrman's letter on page 1 for a terrific sampling).

Yet our top funding priority is scholarships and fellowships. We want students who dedicate themselves to service in fields where there is great need for talented education professionals to graduate without crushing debt. And we want to ensure that our faculty have an army of great doctoral students who can devote their full time and attention to advancing important research and their own careers. So far, we have raised $48.2 million for scholarships, and this year alone, we have created 23 new scholarships-'" including 18 that are endowed -'" across all 10 academic departments. 

The Campaign is making great progress, but we still have far to go. So won't you join us? Each and every one of you has the opportunity to participate in a way that makes a lasting and meaningful impact, whether by donating to the TC Fund, creating a $50,000 endowed scholarship or making that transformational gift that will change the College as we know it. The future of education, health, psychology and leadership depends on your support -'" and as this Annual Report demonstrates, at TC, the future really does come first.

 

SUZANNE M. MURPHY

VICE PRESIDENT

DEVELOPMENT & EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

 

LONGSTANDING AIMS:

TC creates better teaching; shapes new multidisciplinary fields; mitigates poverty's effects for all learners; and advances policy research on the best approaches.

Campaign Successes

Progress as of November 30, 2014

Foundation support accounts for 35 percent of funds raised

43 percent increase in Dewey Circle membership

Membership in our planned giving society, the Grace Dodge Society, has increased by 32 percent

23 new scholarships created across TC's 10 academic departments

Attendance at alumni events has increased by 60 percent

Both dollars and participation by alumni have already more than doubled versus TC's previous Campaign

 

Get Engaged! Join TC's Campaign

Inspired by TC's Campaign? Get in on the action and stay in the loop. Sign up to receive emails by updating your contact information at tc.edu/alumni, and/or follow us on social media at tc.edu/alumni/connect.

Check out the accomplishments of your fellow alumni in our Alumni Spotlight stories at tc.edu/alumni -'" and email us your own good news at tcalumni@tc.edu.

Visit tc.edu/alumni/events for the latest information about regional events in your area.

And circle April 11th, 2015,on your calendar to come back to TC's campus for our seventh annual Academic Festival, featuring a keynote address by actor, producer, director, writer and children's advocate Goldie Hawn. Visit tc.edu/festival to learn more.

 

New Scholarships

125th Anniversary Scholars

The Atkins Rosen Scholarship Fund

Counseling and Clinical Psychology

The Barnett Family Scholarship Fund

Arts Administration

James and Landis Best Scholarship Fund

Education Leadership

Eileen Cutler Scholarship Fund*

Endowed Scholarship, English Education

A.M. Gentile Scholarship Fund in Motor Learning

Biobehavioral Science

Patricia Green Endowed Scholarship Fund*

Ruth L. Gottesman Math & Science

Education Scholarship Fund

Mariam & Shervin Korangy Endowed Scholarship

Movement Science and Neuroscience

Dr. Elizabeth Phelan and Dr. Francis Xavier

Lawlor Endowed Scholarship Fund in

Honor of Professor Mary Budd Rowe

Science Education

Barbara Jean Lewis

Early Childhood Education Scholarship

LGBTQ Diversity Scholarship Fund

C.Y. Li Scholarship Fund

For a student from China

Nanzhu Endowed Scholarships for

Masters or Doctoral Students

Educational Leadership

National Center for Children & Families

Pre-doctoral fellows/EPSA

Franklin W. and D. Joan Neff

Endowed Scholarship Fund

For doctoral students in Organization and Leadership

The Nutritional Ecology Scholarship

Nutrition

Lida A. Orzeck Scholarship Fund

Social-Organizational Psychology

Ruth Treiber Rauch Endowed Scholarship

For preservice teachers for High-needs public schools

Carole L. Sleeper Scholarship*

The Kuo Ping Wen Scholarship Fund

For Students from China

Emanuel and Barbra Streisand Scholarship Fund*

The Kenneth and Anna Zankel Scholarship Fund

Art Administration/Art Education

Published Wednesday, Mar. 11, 2015

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