Our Students | 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

Emily Bailey

Ph.D. Student, Anthropology and Education

Emily Bailey is a doctoral candidate studying autism, employment, and futurity in France. In particular, her dissertation project focuses on the intersection of State-led efforts to produce an idealized, normative future and the lived experiences of autistic adolescents and their educators at an employment training program. Through ethnographic fieldwork, Emily seeks to examine how autistic adolescents and their caregivers contend with the future that’s been imagined for them and, when necessary, imagine something different.

As the sibling of an autistic person, the motivations behind her research interests are deeply personal. As a researcher, Emily strives to center autistic voices in her work and affirm neurodivergent experiences of the world through an anthropological lens.

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

Anna Burns (She/Her/Hers)

Ph.D. Student, Anthropology and Education

Anna is a second year doctoral student in Anthropology and Education. She is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and she works within her community to understand the effects that settler colonialism have had on sovereignty and self-identity for Choctaw tribal members. Previously, at the University of Oxford, Anna studied Bilingual and Intercultural Education (EIB) in Ecuador. Her undergraduate work at Dartmouth College similarly focused on Peruvian EIB and its implementation in Urban and Peri-Urban schools in Cusco. Largely, Anna is interested in understanding the ways in which how we learn, what we learn, and the context of that learning have direct implications on Indigenous identity, tribal sovereignty, and Indigenous self-determination.

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

Samantha Clarke (She/Her/Hers)

Ph.D. Student, Anthropology and Education

Samantha Clarke is a Ph.D. student in Anthropology and Education, focusing on culturally affirming education in Haiti. Her research examines the gaps in the education system in rural Haiti, to develop a framework that integrates meaningful and purposeful pedagogy rooted in cultural relevance. Centering on Haitian knowledge, history, and language, she seeks to create a stronger educational model for rural students.
Samantha has taught French at the high school and university levels, including the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and Villanova University. As an Adjunct Lecturer at Penn, she teaches Haitian Creole, fostering linguistic proficiency and cultural literacy while exploring global and historical contexts.
With a background in legal studies and military service, she bridges the fields of anthropology, education, and policy to reimagine inclusive and equitable learning frameworks, and aims to promote educational reform that is locally rooted yet globally connected.

International & Transcultural Studies Student-Parent Veteran

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

Sasha Dobos-Czarnocha

Ph.D. Student, Anthropology and Education

As doctoral student in the Anthropology and Education Program, my research explores meaning and the dancing body. I am concerned with the ways that embodied processes and site are impacted by the political economies or power dynamics within eras of colonialization, globalization, and virtual education. My dissertation ethnographically explores pedagogies and meaning associated with Afro Cuban Folkloric dance as it moves between religious ritual in 1960’s Cuba to public dance studios in current New York City. In order to get a sense of the impact that on-line learning has on educative practices that center the body and place, my research scope will eventually expand to the globalized market of virtual dance education platforms. After fifteen years teaching with the New York City Department of Education, my academic work is grounded by the ways ethnographic methods can support teachers and artists to identify, explore, and counter oppression via embodied and creative perspectives.

International & Transcultural Studies Student-Parent

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

Madeleine Hassankhani

Ph.D. Student, Anthropology and Education

International & Transcultural Studies First-Generation College Student Student-Parent

Kevin Henderson

Ph.D. Student, Comparative and International Education

Dissertation Advisor: Oren Pizmony-Levy

Kevin is a Ph.D. candidate specializing in international organizations and global education policy. His research examines how international actors influence education discourse, particularly in policies on skills, reskilling, and digital transformation. Using qualitative methods, including discourse analysis, he explores how education narratives are constructed, institutionalized, and legitimized. His work engages institutional and world society theories to analyze policy, power, and transnational governance.

He has presented at the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) and published on digital education and global governance. He was the founding Program Director of Digital Content at the United Board, overseeing digital education initiatives across 16 Asian countries. He is the former editor-in-chief of Current Issues in Comparative Education and co-founder of the CIES 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

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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.