Re-Seeding Memories Sarah Bolson Barnett (M.A. '09), Associate Vice President for Foundation Relations, hosted alumni at New York Botanical Garden.It’s called Global TC Day, but it lasts for weeks. For the 2017 edition, the TC family gathered to share meals in Seattle, San Francisco, Toronto, Miami, Manila and São Paulo. Yingshi Yang (Ed.D. ’09) led a behind-the-scenes tour at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, and Sarah Bolson Barnett (M.A. ’09) hosted TC alumni at the New York Botanical Garden, where she is Associate Vice President for Foundation Relations.
Painting the Town Half Red Bay area alumni toured San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art and dined with TC psychologist Derald Wing Sue. Here, Prentice Le Clair (M.A. ’12) contemplates “No. 14” by Mark Rothko. For more Global TC Day photos, visit Facebook.com/TeachersCollegeAlumniIn Japan, alumni gained special access to the Yokota Air Base, taking part in a series of education research presentations. In Jerusalem, alumni discussed Israeli education and ways to leverage a TC degree. Alumni in Atlanta beat the heat at an ice cream festival. And in the Berkshires, alumni and friends joined President Susan Fuhrman (Ph.D. ’77) at Jacob’s Pillow to enjoy the Paul Taylor Dance Company.
Once again, technology shrank time and distance. From TC’s Cowin Center, Christopher Emdin, Associate Professor of Science Education, gave a presentation on urban education via Livestream. And Fuhrman answered questions during a TC first-ever “Ask Me Anything” session on Facebook Live, moderated by Rosella Garcia, Senior Director of Alumni Relations. Questions touched on the preservation and advancement of public education and TC’s role in educational research.
Launched in 2013 (the College’s 125th anniversary), the biennial event marks TC’s worldwide impact. “Global TC Day is always a great success thanks to our alumni volunteers,” said Garcia. “No matter the distance between us, we’re all part of the same community, furthering TC’s mission to build a better world.” — Joe Levine
Shining Ever Brighter
Credit: TC ArchivesTime hasn't diminished TC’s Golden Alumni
It was 1955. Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. Rebel Without a Cause was a first-run feature and “Mystery Train” topped the charts.
Tennessee graduate schools weren’t admitting black teaching students — but a colleague told Velma Jones “that you could petition the state to pay for graduate school elsewhere,” recalled Jones (M.A. ’57) in May at TC’s third annual Golden Anniversary brunch for alumni who graduated 50 years ago or more. “She’d gone to TC that way, and she said I could, too.”
Jones,who became the first black classroom teacher to serve as President of the Tennessee Education Association, later earning special recognition from President Barack Obama, joined more than 30 Golden Alumni who brunched in Everett Lounge and then — wearing gold-colored robes — marched at the first of TC’s three 2017 master’s degree Convocation ceremonies. For more photos and video, visit tc.edu/alumni/golden.
[ ALUMNI FOCUS ]
Yasmin Morales-AlexanderYasmin Morales-Alexander (Ed.D. ’16) used to accompany her father, Victor, to his job as a janitor at Lehman College in the Bronx. While he mopped floors and collected garbage, she looked at atlases and encyclopedias in the library. “If I let him get his work done he’d take me to White Castle,” says Morales-Alexander, now Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at Lehman.
In May, Morales-Alexander received Teachers College’s inaugural Shirley Chisholm Dissertation Award, named for the late alumna who was the first African-American woman to serve in Congress and the first black candidate to seek a major party’s presidential nomination. The award recognizes recent doctoral graduates whose work has promoted racial and gender equality through a deeper understanding of people of color.
For her TC dissertation, Morales-Alexander interviewed Mexican immigrant families whose children attended a New York City Head Start Program. Contrary to stereotype, these Latino parents were “wholly engaged in their children’s education, passing on knowledge rooted in Mexican culture.
“They weren’t doing anything different than other parents, but their cultural knowledge is not validated across a wide spectrum of American society,” she says.
Earlier this year, Morales-Alexander received Lehman’s Urban Transformative Education Award for promoting justice, equity and caring in urban schools. The college also honored her father as a lifelong employee and committed parent.
“My father was invested in my development and success as a person,” she says. “I’m living proof that Latino families are very much committed to their children’s well-being and education.” — Robert Florida
The TC Alumni Association is 90,000 members strong. The 35-member Alumni Council serves as the voice of, and coordinating body for, the Association. I am honored to serve as the President of the Council for 2017-19.
My 20-year career at TC, which took me from doctoral student/work study to Director of International Services, was extremely rewarding. I worked with the best and brightest from around the world as well as with U.S. students interested in international educational exchange. International alumni from the 1990s and 2000s may remember me welcoming you to TC, making sure you “stayed legal” and cheering you on till graduation, and after. Since 2009, I have greatly enjoyed serving on TC’s Alumni Council, helping (re)connect alumni to the College. The Council is a diverse, distinguished and dedicated volunteer group.
TC is once again partnering with Publishing Concepts, Inc. (PCI) to publish our final printed Alumni Directory. PCI will be contacting alumni (look for the yellow postcard!), asking for your current information. We hope you’ll participate so we can stay in touch with you more effectively and your classmates will be better able to connect with you. www.tc.edu/alumni/directory
If you’d like a more active connection to the College, consider joining the Alumni Council! http://www.tc.columbia.edu/alumni/getinvolved/And if you know an alum who has made exceptional contributions to, and substantial impact on, their profession, please consider a nomination for the 2019 Distinguished Alumni or Early Career Award. www.tc.edu/alumni/awards
Caring for the Community
Paloma Izquierdo-Hernandez has expanded her father’s health clinic to serve low-income patients across New York City
Paloma Izquierdo-HernandezPaloma Izquierdo-Hernandez’s sister, born with Down syndrome, inspired her to study speech pathology at Teachers College.
Now President and CEO of Urban Health Plan (UHP), among the nation’s largest community health centers, Izquierdo-Hernandez (M.S. ’79) still helps people whom she understands like family.
Her sense of community begins with her grandfather, a Puerto Rican émigré who was among New York City’s first bodega owners: “He’d stand on a corner, and if a lot of people walked by, he’d open a store there. People loved him, and he loved the neighborhood.”
Izquierdo-Hernandez’s father, Dr. Richard Izquierdo, who has served the South Bronx for over 52 years, founded UHP as a single clinic in Hunts Point, one of America’s poorest neighborhoods: “When the fires raged in the 1970s, he stuck it out instead of moving out. Many merchants said, ‘If Doc is staying, we’ll stay, too.’”
Today UHP is a federally funded community health center serving over 80,000 uninsured or under-insured patients in three boroughs, with services from dental care to neurology and a strong focus on primary care. Its 23 sites include an Adolescent Health and Wellness Center, three WIC sites and a workforce development center.
UHP has been multiply honored, and Izquierdo-Hernandez has received the Heritage Award from Columbia University’s Latino Alumni Association: “We are trying to change the South Bronx’s infrastructure by building support systems for the people who chose to stay here.” — Robert Florida
IN MEMORIAM
Teacher-Philanthropist: Samuel Peabody
Samuel Peabody (M.A. ’59) New York City philanthropist Samuel Peabody(M.A. ’59) died in May at 92. He helped launch Prep for Prep, which prepares students of color to attend independent schools, and chaired Citizens Committee for Children, which helps New York legislators restore funds for social programs. He received TC’s 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award.
Peabody left Wall Street to become a substitute teacher at a Manhattan private school. He enrolled at TC and be-came a lower school principal in Rye, New York.
Peabody and his wife, Judy, who died in 2010, co-founded Reality House, a New York City drug rehabilitation center.
Nurse With A Ministry: Louise Fitzpatrick
M. Louise Fitzpatrick (Ed.D. ’72, Ed.M. ’69, M.A. ’68)Former Teachers College professor M. Louise Fitzpatrick(Ed.D. ’72, Ed.M. ’69, M.A. ’68), who transformed Villanova University’s College of Nursing into a national leader during her 40 years as Dean, died in September.
On Fitzpatrick’s watch, Villanova developed Centers for Global and Public Health, Obesity Prevention and Education, and Nursing Research. Villanova nursing students work around the world.
“Nursing, while a profession, is also a ministry,” said Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick’s many books include Prologue to Professionalism: A History of Nursing (R.J. Brady 1983). She received the National League for Nursing’s Award for Outstanding Leadership in Nursing Education.
Emotional Translator: Joel R. Davitz
Joel R. Davitz (Ph.D. ’51)Teachers College Professor Emeritus Joel R. Davitz(Ph.D. ’51) passed away in September at 91.
Davitz’s Ph.D. thesis, on techniques to defuse aggressive behavior in children, was widely cited in psychology and conflict resolution literatures. He published his explorations of the non-verbal communication of emotional states in The Communication of Emotional Meaning(1964) and summarized his widely-cited framework for language used to describe emotion in The Language of Emotion(1969). This work is cited and used in the areas of robotics and software agents.
Davitz’s wife of 72 years, Lois Leiderman Davitz, who survives him, was a TC psychology and education research associate. The couple collaborated on 17 books on couple and family relationships, including Swing in Sync: Men and Women in Love, and Making It: 40 and Beyond — Surviving the Mid-Life Crisis.
Educator With A Green Thumb: Lee Sing Kong
Singapore’s visionary — and TC's partner
Lee Sing Kong, former Director of Singapore’s National Institute of Education (NIE) and a long-time partner to Teachers College, died in May. He received Singapore’s prestigious Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 2011 and TC’s Distinguished Service Medal in 2013.
Lee Sing KongWith Lee at NIE’s helm, Singapore climbed to the top of global assessments in mathematics, science and reading. Much of that success has been attributed to Lee’s support and development of the nation’s teaching workforce.
In 2012, under Lee, NIE created a joint master’s degree program with Teachers College in Leadership & Education Change. The program, which seeks to establish a new generation of educational leaders for Singapore, the Asia-Pacific region and the larger international community, focuses on both instructional and curriculum leadership.
After stepping down from NIE, Lee was appointed Vice President for Education Strategies at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He was also a noted horticulturalist whose research on aeroponics — the growing of plants in an air or mist environment without soil — helped enable “the greening of Singapore.”
Lynne Margaret Brown (M.A., M.Ed. ’01) held a solo video-based art exhibition, “North to South, Berliner Voices: My Corner,” in Berlin in September 2016. She divides her time between New York and Germany.
COMMUNICATIONS & THEATRE ARTS
Joanna Kraus (Ed.D. ’72) has authored a new picture book, Blue Toboggan (Mascot 2017), in which a young boy’s sympathetic teacher and classmates help him preserve the memory of a friend who has died.
LANGUAGE, LITERATURE & SOCIAL STUDIES
Since retiring from full-time classroom teaching at Wellesley (MA) High School in 2000, Brooks Goddard (M.A. ’69) has a new career in adult education. He is also the President of Teachers for East Africa (TFEA) Alumni. TFEA is a Teachers College organization that prepared teachers to work in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
MUSIC & MUSIC EDUCATION
Alexander Marrero (M.A. ’10) founded “Bach in The Church” Intensive Summer Music Program, held at the United Methodist Church in Congers, New York.
Anastasia Pike (Ed.D. ’11) was Event Director for a pre-conference workshop sponsored by the College Music Society’s 2016 National Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She was joined by TC Professor of Music & Music Education Hal Abeles and Emily Ondracek-Peterson (Ed.D. ’13).
Guided by Deborah Annette Simmons (Ed.D. ’95), the music studies program at Manchester Community College was nationally accredit-ed by the National Association for Schools of Music in November 2016. The program is Connecticut’s only two-year music degree and one of three accredited associate music degree programs in New England.
TESOL (JAPAN)
Lavette Coney (M.A. ’14) has developed workshops and presented widely on the topics of teacher self-reflection and implicit bias. Her presentations include “The 21st Century Missing Link: Teacher Education and Professional Development,” at Kingswood Oxford Leadership Institute for Educators of Color, and the keynote presentation at the Fayerweather School in Cambridge. The anthology Social Justice in English Language Teaching features Coney’s research.
TESOL
Elizabeth Wong (M.A. ’97), a National Board Certified Teacher in English as a New Language, has been teaching and doing teacher leadership work in a New York City public elementary school for over 19 years. She was also granted a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching fellowship to study in Singapore.
TEACHING OF ENGLISH
Kimberely Durall (M.A. ’15) is the English Language Arts department head at Hendrick Middle School in Plano, Texas. She took part in her district’s reading advisory committee, which changed reading intervention across the middle grades.
Michele Haiken (Ed.D. ’06) published Gamify Literacy: Boost Comprehension, Collaboration and Learning (ISTE 2017), which provides tips on applying gaming techniques to improve literacy and deepen student collaboration and critical thinking.
Martha Eddy (Ed.D. ’98, M.A. ’95) delivered a webinar at TC on her latest book, Mindful Movement: The Evolution of the Somatic Arts and Conscious Action (Intellect, Limited 2016). Eddy is a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist, licensed Teacher of Body-Mind Centering and Certified Movement Analyst.
Gayle E. Hutchinson (M.A. ’84) was named President of California State University, Chico in March. The 12th president in the University’s 130-year history, she is the first woman to hold the job.
SPEECH & LANGUAGE
PATHOLOGY
Bernadine Gagnon (M.S. ’02) CCC-SLP, is the Chief Clinical Supervisor at Teachers College’s Edward D. Mysak Clinic for Communication Disorders and oversees the Mysak’s Aphasia Clinic. She publishes in peer-reviewed journals and speaks at conferences nationally.
John Bickford (Ed.D. ’72) is a guardian ad litem for a family court in South Carolina.
Silvia Mazzula (Ph.D. ’10, M.Phil. ’08), Associate Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has been selected to provide a field scan on behalf of RISE (Research, Integration, Strategy and Evaluation) for Boys and Men of Color. Her goal is to understand key interventions and policies that improve life outcomes for Latino boys and men of color.
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
David Gangsei (Ph.D. ’77) re-tired in 2016. He served as Clinical Director at Survivors of Torture, International in San Diego, where he oversaw psychological, medical, social and legal services to asylum seekers and refugees from more than 50 countries. He was also an international clinical advisor with The Center for Victims of Torture in St. Paul, where he worked with local NGOs in Africa and Central and Eastern Europe.
Noel Leyco (M.A. ’80) was recently appointed as Undersecretary for Finance and Administration at the Department of Social Welfare and Development in the Philippines.
PSYCHOLOGICAL
COUNSELING
Richard Campagna (M.A. ’92) is currently delivering a series of seminars, courses and workshops titled “The Role of Karaoke and Existentialism in Life, Love and Learning.” Campagna has served on TC’s Alumni Council.
In January 2017, Alison Desir (M.A. ’16), founder of Harlem Run, completed a 240-mile run from Harlem to Washington D.C. in support of Planned Parenthood. Desir and a team of three other women ran approximately two marathons per day, arriving in the capital on Inauguration Day.
Patricia Glick (M.Ed., M.A. ’96), a New York State Licensed Behavior Analyst, is the co-owner of a licensed professional agency that provides Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services across Long Island. Her company is opening a center-based program in Islandia, New York.
SCHOOL COUNSELOR
Health Education doctoral student Ian Levy (M.Ed. ’14, M.A. ’13) was named the 2016 New York State School Counselor of the Year by the New York State School Counselor Association for his work in creating a hip-hop therapy counseling program at a Bronx high school.
Marvin Lynn (M.A. ’96) was named Commissioner of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. He is currently Dean of the School of Education at Indiana University South Bend.
ELEMENTARY INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
Rachel Elin-Saintine (M.A. ’13) teaches at Miquon School in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. She has also begun her own painting business, 3 Little Pigments. She paints murals for babies’ nurseries and children’s play spaces in homes.
OLDER CHILDREN
Hinda Gewirtz (M.A. ’61)is publishing a new book on aging, The Last Taboo: Aging in America.
James Salamon (M.A. ’15) became a Data Analyst at The New School in January 2017. He works with Institutional Research and Academic Planning to achieve continuing student enrollment goals.
Led by CEO Debra Wein (M.S. ’94), Wellness Workdays held the 2017 Emerging Trends in Wellness Conference — its fourth annual conference — in April 2017.
HEALTH EDUCATION
Major General Irene Trowell-Harris, USAF Ret. (Ed.D. ’83), took part in “A Proud Heritage of Service: People of Color in the Military,” a Black History Month panel at NBC Universal.
Martha Higgins (Ed.D. ’04, M.S. ’01) established www.smallfitness.org, a website that deals with childhood obesity.
As artistic director of The Dreamscape Project Group, Pamela Newton Renna (M.A. ’69) builds power, authenticity and ecstatic experience through the arts. She is working on “River Spirits,” part of a three-year project for the Group, and teaches “Two Left Feet,” a dance class for adults.
LEARNING DISABILITIES
Dr. Marek Beck (M.A. ’99), Head of Upper School Education at Renbrook School, completed his Ph.D. in Curriculum & Teaching at Fordham University.
NURSING EDUCATION
PROFESSORIAL ROLE
Elizabeth Speakman (Ed.D. ’00) was promoted to Professor of Nursing at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA and was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing. She published Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice: Creating a Blueprint for Nurse Educators (Wolters Kluwer) in September 2016.
Linda Strong (Ed.D. ’96) of Sacred Heart University was selected to join the Nursing Board at the American Health Council.
SPECIAL EDUCATION
Anne Leslie Saunders (M.A. ’77) published the second edition of A Travel Guide to World War II Sites in Italy (CreateSpace) in December 2016.
As Director of Research at the Fontana Center for Child Protection, Amy J.L. Baker (Ph.D. ’89) is an authority on parental alienation (when a child unjustifiably rejects a parent). She has authored or co-authored eight books and over 100 journal articles, serves as an expert in family courts and provides telephone coaching for parents. She recently developed a specialized outpatient therapeutic program for parents and their adult children.
Laurie Cigal (M.A. ’03) has been a Spanish Teacher and an assistant to the presidents of Fortune 500 companies and nonprofit institutions. Now a grandmother, she serves in retirement as a youth mentor and outreach mission member.
Nitza Milagros Escalera (M.Ed. ’06), Dean of Diversity Initiatives at Fordham Law School, received the 2017 Giving Back Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo nominated Guillermo Linares (Ed.D. ’95), a former assemblyman and longtime education activist, as President of the state’s Higher Education Services Corp. Linares has previously served as New York City’s Immigrant Affairs Commissioner. He was the first Dominican-born immigrant elected to public office in the United States.
Graduate candidates in courses taught by Professor Colette Mazzucelli (M.Ed. ’11) at New York University represented the United States in the Facebook Peer to Peer (P2P) Global Showcase Event during the United Nations General Assembly. More than 150 colleagues and friends of the P2P program from around the world participated in the event.
Dina Paulson (M.A. ’10) and Mitch McEwen were married in Detroit in November 2016. Dina is Office Manager of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, an early education center, and a freelance writer and editor. Her work has appeared in journals including Minola Review and Flash Fiction Magazine and has been exhibited at Hudson Guild Gallery in New York City.
Bethany Wilinski (M.A. ’09) earned her doctorate in Curriculum & Instruction and Educational Policy Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is now Assistant Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. She is the author of When Pre-K Comes to School: Policy, Partnerships, and the Early Childhood Education Workforce (Teachers College Press 2017).
Jeremiah Sumter, Jr. (M.A. ’04) was promoted to Principal at the Roosevelt UFSD Middle School and received his Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Hofstra University.
SECONDARY SCHOOL
SCIENCE EDUCATION
Kushu Dhingra (Ed.D. ’99), founder and Executive Director of talkSTEM, has started a new initiative, walkSTEM, a series of math and science walks through the Dallas Arts District to teach elementary and middle school students and their families about the relevance of math in everyday surroundings. walkSTEM is conducted in partnership with moMath in New York City.
Gerda Govine Ituarte (Ed.D. ’84, M.A. ’76) has authored three poetry collections: Oh, Where is My Candle Hat?, Alterations Thread Light Through Eye of Storm and Future Awakes in Mouth of NOW. Ituarte has published in anthologies and journals in the U.S. and Mexico and held poetry readings in Canada, Colombia, Cuba, the U.K. and Mexico. She is the founder of Pasadena Rose Poets — nine published poets in Pasadena who bring “poetry within reach in unexpected places.”
ADULT EDUCATION GUIDED INTENSIVE STUDY
SAGE has published the second edition of Becoming a Multicultural Educator: Developing Awareness, Gaining Skills, and Taking Action, co-authored by William Alexander Howe (Ed.D. ’91). The book received the 2013 Philip C. Chinn Book Award from the National Association for Multicultural Education. Howe received TC’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2015.
ADULT LEARNING & LEADERSHIP
Sarah Siegel (M.A. ’12) is leading the design team for Watson Academy at IBM. She manages eight premier instructional designers and designs learning offerings for a range of IBMers.
EDUCATIONALADMINISTRATION
Kleon C. Andreadis (M.Ed. ’79) has moved to El Paso, Texas to establish a new law practice.
Katherine L. Norris (M.A. ’99) published Engage in the Mathematical Practices: Strategies to Build Numeracy and Literacy with K-5 Learners (Solution Tree Press 2016).
EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Joan Stamler (Ph.D. ’10) is an evaluation consultant and TC Adjunct Assistant Professor, teaching a course on the Evaluation of Educational and Social Programs. She volunteers with Reading Partners, which assists elementary school students.
INQUIRY EDUCATION LEADERSHIP PRACTICE
Carol D. Birks (Ed.D. ’13, M.Ed. ’11) is Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Leadership at Hartford Public Schools. Birks works with a Networked Improvement Community to help school leaders improve student academic outcomes for 11 schools. She is Founding CEO of Erudite Educational Consulting LLC.
Monica George-Fields (Ed.D. ’15) is President and Chief Education Officer of Reimagine Excellence and Achievement Consulting House (REACH), which coaches school communities that undertake school improvement and sustaining efforts.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Mildred García (Ed.D. ’87), President of California State University, Fullerton, has been elected the next Chair of the Board at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, beginning her service in 2018. García received TC’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2015.
Patrick McGuire (Ed.D. ’94), past President of TC’s Alumni Council, was named NY1’s Queens “Person of the Week” for his hours of dedication to New York Cares.
STUDENT PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION
Alice Croll (M.A. ’86), CSW, is celebrating three decades of counseling practice in Hackensack, New Jersey. She is a featured professional in the Psychology Today web directory.
Since graduating from TC, Natalie Schwartzstein (M.A. ’86) has worked in fundraising, including campaign oversight and management, for New York University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Vermont, Stanford University and, currently, George Washington University. She has worked with schools of law, medicine, business, and arts and sciences.
