Dear Members of the Teachers College Community,

I am saddened to report the passing of P. Michael Timpane, who served Teachers College with distinction as its president from 1984 to 1994.

TC thrived during Mike’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, Mike prioritized diversity and strengthened research and instruction, with a particular focus on urban and minority education and school reform. In fact, TC’s Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship was a direct result of the Holmes Group, a national initiative co-founded by Mike with the goal of increasing recruitment and retention of diverse teacher education faculty. While Mike was president, TC created our incredibly successful Peace Corps Fellows Program, which served as a model for replication in colleges and universities across the country, established the Institute for Education and Economy (IEE), the Institute for Learning Technologies; and the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching (NCREST).

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

Mike 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, Mike 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.

Thomas Bailey
President, Teachers College