Current Doctoral Students | Our Students | International and Comparative Education Program | International & Transcultural Studies | Teachers College, Columbia University

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Meet Our Doctoral Students

Leonardo Arevalo Rojas (He/Him/His)

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Leonardo Arevalo is a Fulbright doctoral student in International and Comparative Education at Columbia University (New York City). His academic interests focus on education in post-conflict settings, with a primary emphasis on Peace Education and Refugee Education. In his dissertation project, Leonardo employs qualitative and ethnographic methods to explore the relationship between Transitional Justice mechanisms and the teaching of peace and armed conflict in Colombian classrooms. With eight years of experience, he has worked as an Educational Consultant for the Colombian government, universities, and NGOs, specializing in Citizenship Education, Conflict Resolution in Schools, and Dialogic Learning. Currently, Leonardo is involved in two research projects with his advisor, Professor Garnett Russell: the Transitional Justice and Education Project in Colombia and a study on reception contexts and access to education for diverse newcomer families in New York City.

International & Transcultural Studies

Jonathan Beltran Alvarado (He/Him/His)

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

My work explores school change, educational inequalities, and intergenerational mobility. I am interested in Latin America as a region with a shared colonial past that resulted in the development of unequal societies with low social mobility. Interested in producing contextualized and relevant research to help practitioners and policymakers increase educational quality, my research program revolves around teachers, as they are a vital component of national education systems. As a doctoral student in Comparative and International Education with a concentration in Economics, I place my work in the subfields of economics of education, teacher education, and school change. I use quantitative methods such as econometric and causal inference models to explore, describe, and explain these problems. Economic theory, state theories, decolonial theories, and my experience as an educator inform my work.

International & Transcultural Studies

Theresa Cann

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Dissertation Advisor: Susan Garnett Russell

I am a doctoral candidate in International and Comparative Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. I have experience in various capacities in higher education including Academic, Student Affairs, and International Education Development. I am interested in the decolonial dimensions of education as an alternative way of studying education, and as a tool for addressing gender disparities in education in post-colonial countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. I am especially attentive to the documentation of women’s contribution to the historiography of social transformation in education, and the erasure of women’s role in social movement narratives. My current research examines women’s activism to decolonize educational policies and practices and its implication for women’s access and retention in higher education in Ghana. I use qualitative research methods situated in a sociological lens informed by postcolonial feminism, human rights, and social movement theories.

International & Transcultural Studies

Gabriela Chacon Ugarte (She/Her/Hers)

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Gabriela's research focuses on accountability policies regarding teachers in Latin America. Before joining Teachers College, she worked in the Peruvian Ministry of Education for seven years, leading teachers' assessment projects.
Gabriela uses critical studies and decolonizing frameworks to analyze educational policies.

International & Transcultural Studies

Mia Chin

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Dissertation Advisor: Gita Steiner-Khamsi

Mia Chin is a Ph.D. candidate in International and Comparative Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research examines the rise and global diffusion of early grade foundational learning reforms between 2005-2024, focusing on the role of USAID foreign assistance, and provides a unique country-case study of Jordan. Mia has over 13 years of experience in international development and education in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, with academic institutions, UN agencies, INGOs, and USAID. Most recently, Mia served as a Technical Specialist advising USAID's largest education portfolio globally, to improve quality education.

International & Transcultural Studies

Tsewang Chuskit (She/Her/Hers)

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Tsewang is a Ph.D. candidate and Doctoral Fellow in International and Comparative Education. Her research focuses on multilingual education, language policy, indigenous languages, and critical literacy, with a particular emphasis on the South Asian context. She is interested in critically examining the ideological frameworks that drive the formulation and implementation of contemporary language policies and practices. Tsewang is passionate about designing contextually relevant curricula that account for students' cultural and linguistic backgrounds, ensuring that education is both inclusive and reflective of diverse identities.

International & Transcultural Studies First-Generation College Student

Arnela Colic

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Arnela's research centers education as a tool of the state and reflects on the importance of education policies and structures in forming civic attitudes and national identities, particularly in post-conflict contexts. She also examines the influence of international and regional organizations on national education policies and systems in politically transitioning, multi-ethnic states. The intent of her research is to explore how internationally driven political and social reconstruction in the aftermath of conflict contributes to or hinders the peacebuilding and nation (re)building efforts in states emerging from conflict.

International & Transcultural Studies First-Generation College Student

Camille Fabo Njia (She/Her/Hers)

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Camille is a PhD student in International and Comparative Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, with a scholarly background in the field from Stanford University. Her research explores how education policies shape social cohesion through civic identity, imagined communities, and peacebuilding in crisis-affected contexts. Using mixed-methods research, she conducts macro-, meso-, and micro-level analyses, drawing on both a large-scale database and a case study of Cameroon.

International & Transcultural Studies Student-Parent

Kevin Henderson

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Dissertation Advisor: Oren Pizmony-Levy

Kevin is a PhD candidate in international organizations and global education policy whose research probes how international actors shape education narratives on skills, reskilling, and digital transformation. He employs mixed methods including discourse analysis to show how these narratives are constructed, institutionalized, and legitimized.

Kevin served as a program officer and founding program director of digital content at the United Board where he specialized in digital education initiatives in Hong Kong, Japan, India, and the Philippines. He is former editor in chief of Current Issues in Comparative Education, a member of the Comparative and International Education Society, and a cofounder of its Southeast Asia Special Interest Group. He holds degrees from Columbia, Fordham, and Nyack College.

International & Transcultural Studies Student-Parent

Whitney Hough

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Dissertation Advisor: Mary Mendenhall

My research centers around the intersection of education, conflict, development, and peacebuilding. I focus specifically on the agency of teachers in conflict-affected contexts, the provision of high-quality secondary education in emergencies, and the transformative role of education in protracted conflict. Outside of the doctoral program, I have worked in the international education and nonprofit sectors for over 15 years and am currently the Deputy Project Director for Fulbright Teacher Exchanges at IREX, a global international education development nonprofit.

International & Transcultural Studies Student-Parent

Sumit Karn (He/Him/His)

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Sumit Karn examines how ideas, innovations, and institutions diffuse across contexts and influence educational policies, reforms, and systems. He focuses on the processes through which certain ideas gain legitimacy while others fade, paying close attention to how global cultural and institutional norms interact with local dynamics. He pursues this work through the disciplinary lens of sociology and history, utilizing multiple and mixed-methods approaches. His work has appeared in journals such as Economic Analysis and Policy and Current Issues in Comparative Education.

Before starting his Ph.D. at Columbia, Sumit supported various impactful projects with organizations, including Bloomberg Philanthropies (Global Scholar program), the Gates Foundation (Ananya 3SI project with CDOT in Bihar, India), and Steps (DDA project of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services). Before that, Sumit worked as a journalist for the Everett Herald newspaper in Washington, USA.

International & Transcultural Studies First-Generation College Student

Samaya Mansour

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Samaya Mansour is a Ph.D. candidate in International and Comparative Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she also serves as a Doctoral Research Fellow for the Division of Academic Planning and Global Affairs. Samaya works at the intersection of research, policy, and practice to advance global education through meaningful partnerships. In her dissertation research, she uses a decolonial lens to explore how refugees reconstitute citizenship in displacement contexts.

Currently, she is the Senior Research Analyst with the Gender Equality in and through Education workstream and co-coordinates the Echidna Global Scholars Program at the Center for Universal Education at Brookings. Prior to her current role, Samaya co-led international research and development projects with INEE, UNHCR, UNDP, Plan International, and others, providing research-based insights and policy recommendations aimed at improving education systems in fragile and crisis contexts.

International & Transcultural Studies

Grace Na

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Grace Na is a Ph.D. candidate in international and comparative education with a specialization in political science. Her main research focuses on the global governance of education, specifically examining how its mechanisms have evolved over time. She is also helping spearhead a project that investigates the politics of knowledge production in intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), exploring the roles of the OECD, the World Bank, and UNESCO in shaping educational discourse and policy. Before embarking on her doctoral studies, she worked to advance global education reform by helping to establish a nonprofit organization that fosters partnerships among policymakers, educators, and business leaders. Additionally, she has experience in North Korea policy work in Washington, D.C., where she engaged with various government branches to address complex geopolitical challenges.

International & Transcultural Studies

Sara Pan Algarra (She/Her/Hers)

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Dissertation Advisor: Regina Cortina

Sara, Researcher and Policy Advisor, is a Doctoral Candidate in Comparative and International Education. She is a research assistant in the Latinidad Curriculum Initiative. She was the 2024-25 editor-in-chief of Current Issues in Comparative Education. Her PhD research centers on the intersection of climate mobility, internal displacement, disasters, and school abandonment among adolescent girls in Honduras. This work reflects her commitment to addressing pressing global issues through context-based academic inquiry and practical policy insights.

With a passion for advancing education policy and practice, Sara brings a wealth of interdisciplinary experience from her engagements in Switzerland, India, Italy, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Venezuela, and the United Kingdom. She was a Hillary Rodham Clinton Global Challenges Scholar in 2021-22 and an International Fellow at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in 2023-24.

International & Transcultural Studies

Darren Rabinowitz

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Dissertation Advisor: Oren Pizmony-Levy

Darren Rabinowitz is a PhD candidate studying International and Comparative Education at Teachers College (TC), Columbia University, and works as a research associate at the TC Center for Sustainable Futures. His dissertation research investiages the role of environmental provisions in national constitions and their influence on policy making, education, citizenship and activism. His research interests include globalization theories, peacebuilding, social movements, civil society, climate change education, citizenship education, and youth activism. He has previosuly worked on international education resesach projects with the, Global Education Monitoring Report (GEMR), Earth Institute, Columbia Univeristy, the The Monitoring and Evaluating Climate Communication and Education Project (MECCE) and the North American Association for Environmental Education.

International & Transcultural Studies

Kemigisha Richardson

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Dissertation Advisor: Mary Mendenhall

Kemigisha Richardson is a Ph.D. Candidate in Comparative and International Education at Teachers College, Columbia University and 2025 NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellow. Her research explores institutional structures, policies, curricula, and pedagogies that support empowering and sustainable teaching conditions, as well as positive academic and psychosocial outcomes for students in crisis-affected contexts. Prior to her doctoral studies, Kemigisha worked as a public school teacher in Hawai'i with students with diverse learning needs and newcomers with varied English literacy.

International & Transcultural Studies

Issa Rooney (She/Her/Hers)

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Issa is a doctoral student and graduate research assistant at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research interests include teacher identity and roles in the context of forced displacement.

Issa earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University, as a Peace Corps Fellow in the Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology. During her time at Teachers College, Issa also taught high school science at a project-based high school. She has worked with the International Rescue Committee's Youth Education team, supporting refugee education initiatives, and she has taught secondary science in Mozambique as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Currently, Issa serves as the Chair of Community Engagement for the New York City Peace Corps Association.

International & Transcultural Studies

Tiffany Tryon

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Tiffany Tryon’s research investigates how displaced and marginalized youth negotiate political identity, belonging, and state relations amid disrupted education and protracted displacement. She examines how structural exclusion from education intersects with broader questions of power, recognition, and state legitimacy, drawing on qualitative and participatory methods to center youth perspectives. Tiffany has worked across Iraq, Jordan, Afghanistan, Moldova, Hungary, and the United Arab Emirates, supporting international education, public diplomacy, teacher training, and humanitarian development for organizations such as USAID, the U.S. Department of Defense, and national Ministries of Education.

International & Transcultural Studies

Nina Yacher (She/Her/Hers)

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Nina is a Ph.D. student and Doctoral Fellow in the International and Comparative Education. Her passion is supporting teachers and school leaders to build inclusive and caring learning environments for all students. Her research interests lie at the intersection of educational policy, socioemotional and civic education, and teacher and principal education and practices. Prior to joining TC, Nina worked as a high school teacher in Chile. She also worked as a teacher coach in several organizations and at the Chilean Department of Education, where she led a national initiative on project based learning. Additionally, she conducted research in several organizations such as UNDP, Aptus, and EMElab. In 2023, following her relocation to the U.S., Nina joined the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) as a full-time research and policy intern, where she contributed to case studies on teacher preparation.

International & Transcultural Studies Student-Parent

Javiera Zamora Iturra (She/Her/Hers)

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

I focus on how education can empower and solve problems in marginalized communities, especially in realms of conflict. Drawing from my experience in anti-child trafficking and diverse teaching roles, I aim to create strategies that foster social cohesion driving a meaningful social change through education and edtech.

International & Transcultural Studies

We are delighted to announce the launch of our new online profiles for Doctoral Students at Teachers College.

If you are a currently enrolled doctoral student at Teachers College, please visit the profile submission page for more information on how you can create your own profile.