Teachers College is saddened to announce the passing, on January 18, 2022, of P. Michael Timpane who served the College with distinction as its president from 1984 to 1994. 

TC thrived during Timpane’s tenure, with the completion of a $50 million fundraising campaign, a near doubling of its endowment, and increased enrollment after years of decline. A true champion of the TC vision, Timpane prioritized diversity and strengthened research and instruction, with a particular focus on urban and minority education and school reform. TC’s Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship was a direct result of the Holmes Group, a national initiative co-founded by Timpane with the goal of increasing recruitment and retention of diverse teacher education faculty. 

While Timpane was president, TC created the incredibly successful Peace Corps Fellows Program, which served as a model for replication in colleges and universities across the country. He also established the Institute for Education and Economy (IEE), the Institute for Learning Technologies; and the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching (NCREST).

Mike was president when I first joined the TC community. He was instrumental in recruiting me and was deeply involved in launching the IEE which became the foundation of the Community College Research Center (CCRC). I am forever thankful for his warm welcome and collegial spirit.

—President Thomas Bailey

President Bailey recalled with warmth President Timpane’s important role in his own career at TC: “Mike was president when I first joined the TC community. He was instrumental in recruiting me and was deeply involved in launching the IEE which became the foundation of the Community College Research Center (CCRC). I am forever thankful for his warm welcome and collegial spirit.”

Timpane was an accomplished education scholar who served as Deputy Director of the National Institute of Education, Senior Advisor for Education Policy for the Rand Corporation, and Vice President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He helped direct the Aspen Institute's Program for Education in a Changing Society and served as a member of the Pew Forum on Education Reform. He co-authored, with Brian P. Gill, Karen E. Ross and Dominic Brewer, Rhetoric Versus Reality: What We Know and What We Need to Know About Vouchers and Charter Schools.

At the unveiling of his portrait at the College in 2001, Timpane referred to his tenure as president as “the job of a lifetime." He will be greatly missed, but his wonderful legacy at TC is secure.