Welcoming a Diverse Class Inside Inside They Come from All Walks to Walk Dewey’S Halls a Student Leader’S Vision

VolumeNo.1 14, 2008 October

InsideThe source for news and events at Teachers College, Columbia University

Welcoming a Diverse Class Inside Inside They come from all walks to walk Dewey’s halls A Student Leader’s Vision ...... 2 TC in Jordan ...... 3 et me start by congratulating you on getting into one of the best “ and leading schools of education in the country, and in making TC and West Point ...... 10 L the right choice in coming here.” New Faculty ...... 12 Those were TC President Susan Fuhrman’s opening words to the nearly 1,500 members of this year’s entering class at the New Student Continued on page 6 Obama and McCain Education Advisors will Debate at TC Annual equity symposium and conference on university-public school partnerships round out a busy fall ith the Presidential elec- tion now just weeks W away, TC is hosting three three major events this fall that COMMUNITY BUILDERS At the State of the College meeting in September, (from right) George B. Schuessler, Director of Academic Computing; Yvonne Wallace, Department Secretary for Biobehavioral are likely to have a bearing on nation- Sciences; and Graeme Sullivan, Professor of Art and Art Education; received TC’s Elaine Brantley al education policy. Memorial Award for Community & Civility for 2008-09. Named for a cashier who passed away in June On Tuesday evening, October 21, 2003, the Award recognizes employees who go beyond the expectations of their position to promote a the College will host “Education and sense of community and a culture of civility at the College. Also present were (from left) VP for Diversity and Community Affairs Janice Robinson, President Susan Fuhrman, and Brantley’s daughter Eboné and the Next President,” a debate between granddaughter Bria Elaine Foster. For more on the state of the college, visit www.tc.edu/news/6680. Continued on page 4

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside The Student Voice

Rebelling with Truth The new Student Senate President offers the Senate’s VISION 2010

n his posthumously published work The By holding Monthly Student Forums, we Vision, Kahlil Gibran writes: will provide a plethora of opportunities for I “Life without rebellion is like sea- students to tell us their needs and expectations, sons without spring. Rebellion without truth and to give us feedback on our own perfor- is like spring in a bleak, arid desert.” mance. The new Student Senate Web site will I happened to stumble on those words include a portal where students can find regu- this past summer just as the Student Senate lar updates, listings of important events and was in the process of completing VISION discussion boards. 2010, our plan to enhance the student expe- We also want to strengthen relationships rience at TC academically, professionally, Ricco Wright between students and their academic depart- socially, culturally and virtually, and to con- ments. By forming a Student Advisory Group tribute positively toward the overall student condition and for each program, we hope to perpetuate dialogue about campus climate. improved academic advising, faculty/student mentorship For me, Gibran’s words really resonated. A rebellion and more. Our department representatives will collaborate might be interpreted as either a revolution or a movement— with their respective Student Advisory Groups on framing but either way, it has its genesis in a vision. proposals for such improvements. As the Student Senate talked about our vision, we realized Our other goals include improving financial aid and that a movement is in the cards this year. First, though, we campus safety; setting in motion the Go Green Project; and had to envision a TC where not only administrators, but also increasing membership in the Senate from 30 to 200 by 2010 faculty, embrace the idea that students are truly the lifeblood by including students on a wide range of standing and ad of the institution. That’s especially important at a place like hoc committees. TC, where we have such a range of student diversity, yet also Gibran’s insights inspire me to envision a richer, better TC such widespread commitment to unifying our community. experience for others and myself. I invite you to do the same. So It is to the latter end that we officially launch our don’t just complain or suffer in silence. Join our movement and VISION 2010 movement and offer our goals and objectives live life at TC with rebellion—and rebel with truth. for this year. First and foremost, the Student Senate will strive to connect with all our fellow students. We will increase our accessibility to all members of the TC community, especially This is the first in a series of columns by Wright that will appear through- students; strengthen our role as representatives of the student out the year. A profile of Wright appears on the back cover of this issue. voice; respond to student concerns; and fortify our role as 8 For more information on the Student Senate, visit student liaisons to the administration. www.tc.edu/senate

2 Inside teachers college Columbia university International Improving Teaching in Jordan A TC delegation rolled up its sleeves in Amman in August

n August, Teachers College pedagogical technique in specific Fuhrman visited Jordan in the fall sent a delegation of faculty subject areas,” said Dr. Tayseer of 2006, along with Columbia’s I members and consultants to Nueimi, Jordan’s Minister of President Lee Bollinger, follow- Amman, Jordan to assist Jordan’s Education. ing an invitation Queen Rania Ministry of Education in mak- “The efforts of our faculty in extended at a dinner at President ing mass-scale improvements to Amman are another important Bollinger’s house in New York the nation’s public school system. step in our ongoing partnership City. That visit was followed in Members of the Teachers College with Jordan’s Queen Rania and the summer 2007 by the six-week visit delegation led a five-day retreat to Ministry of Education there—work of 11 Jordanian public school teach- design pre-employment training that we are hopeful will be every ers to TC’s summer TESOL certifi- for Jordan’s newly hired public bit as much a learning experience cate program. school teachers. for Teachers College as for Jordan’s “Columbia is deeply commit- In addition, several visiting public schools,” said TC President ted to engaging in educational faculty members stayed on to teach Susan Fuhrman. exchange and partnership in the Jordanian public school teachers a The visit by the Teachers Middle East—and Jordan, through three-week course in the Teaching College delegation reflects the the vision of Their Majesties King of English to Speakers of Other broader involvement of Columbia Abdullah and Queen Rania and the Languages (TESOL). University in Jordan. President Ministry of Education, is an ideal “We are location for us to pleased to be able base our work,” to draw upon the said Dr. Safwan expertise of the Masri, Professor world’s leading at the Columbia graduate school Graduate School of education in of Business and designing and Director of implementing Columbia’s Office new programs in of International teacher training Relations. and professional The five-day development, as “design retreat” well as in content Ongoing exchange Jordanian teachers Mohammad Zammanoun (left) Continued on knowledge and and Affaf Koshman visited TC in 2007. page 19

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside OCTOBER 2008 3 Fall Events Continued from front page

Linda Darling- Instruction, is The conference will focus on Hammond, known in edu- the conditions for success in differ- education cation circles as ent models of partnership between advisor to a leading advo- universities and public schools; les- Senator Barack cate of charter sons from past start-ups of partner- Obama, and schools (The ship schools; and how partnerships Lisa Graham National Review can inform curriculum and learning

Keegan, edu- Darling-Hammond Keegan wrote that she at the college level. Other speakers cation advisor “created the will include TC Trustee and Yale to John McCain. most effective charter school program University faculty member James The event, which will be held in in the country”), standardized testing Comer; Jennifer Raab, President the Cowin Conference Center, will and looser certification of teachers. of Hunter College; Manuel Rivera, be moderated by TC President Susan At the 2008 National Republican New York State’s Deputy Secretary Fuhrman. Seats will be made available Convention, she was a vice chair- for Education; and Merryl Tisch of by electronic RSVP. Details will be man of the GOP’s political platform the New York State Board of Regents. announced soon. committee and helped develop policy And on November 17 and 18, Darling-Hammond, who taught statements on education. She also TC’s Campaign for Educational at Teachers College for many years, is spoke at the convention, during Equity will host its fourth annual the Charles E. Ducommun Professor prime time, on education and disas- symposium, this year titled of Education at Stanford University, ter relief issues. In 1998 she received “Comprehensive Educational Equity: where she has launched the Stanford the Milton Friedman Foundation Overcoming the Socioeconomic Educational Leadership Institute and Award for free enterprise innovation Barriers to School Success.” the School Redesign Network. She is in education. She has written numer- Speakers at the symposium an expert on issues of teaching qual- ous articles for the Hoover Institute, will include Helen Ladd of Duke ity, school reform and educational the Manhattan Institute and the University; Geoffrey Canada, equity. Among her more than 200 Pioneer Institute. President and CEO of the Harlem publications is The Right to Learn, which On October 22, Darling- Children’s Zone; Arne Duncan, earned the American Educational Hammond and Joanna Duncan Superintendent of Chicago Public Research Association’s Outstanding Poitier, New York State’s Senior Schools; Pedro Noguera of New Book Award for 1998, and Teaching as Deputy Commissioner of P–16 educa- York University; and from TC, fac- the Learning Profession (co-edited with tion, will be the keynote speakers at ulty members Sharon Lynn Kagan, Gary Sykes), for which she received the “University-Assisted Public Schools as Jeannie Brooks-Gunn, Charles National Staff Development Council’s a Model for P–16 Education in New Basch and Equity Campaign Outstanding Book Award for 2000. York State,” a working conference Executive Director Michael Rebell. Keegan, who served for two hosted by TC’s Office of School and TC Professor Emeritus Edmund terms in the Arizona House of Community Partnerships. Gordon will also speak.  Representatives and then as the For more information, visit For more information, visit state’s Superintendent of Public 8 www.tc.edu/oscp 8 www.tcequity.org

4 Inside teachers college Columbia university At the College Dining Chez TC Two words rarely heard here in the past sum up the new cafeteria: Bon appétit

ever mind presidential oldtimers, the combination of a debates, new courses, gleaming, tastefully reconfigured N partnerships with City service area, cheerful new paint job Fresh fruit and reasonable prices. schools or any of the other stuff and—best of all—better food (at happening at TC this fall. similar prices; the only difference is from local and often organic grow- The really big news is the new that now tax is added to your total ers. The company has even restored cafeteria. instead of figured into the price TC’s automatic dishwasher, which If you’re new to the College, of each item) is nothing short of means the cafeteria can now use that may sound odd, but for manna from downstairs. china instead of paper. The revamped cafeteria opened Harvey Spector, Vice President a week into the fall for Finance and Administration, semester after a sum- praised Jim Mitchell, Assistant mer of extensive Vice President for Campus and renovations, the Auxiliary Services, who managed cost of which was the project on a day-to-day basis partly underwritten with the assistance of Jim Vespi, by CulinArt, the new Director of Facilities, and Vince food services vendor. Del Bagno, Director of Capital It features a new grill Projects, for successful completion and sandwiches named of the cafeteria project. after senior staff—The “They did a great job on a tight Susan Fuhrman (turkey schedule,” Spector said, “and now we club); The Tom James look forward to seeing everyone using (ham and cheese); The and enjoying the new facility.”  Scott Fahey (grilled vegetables, reflecting its 8 Visit the new Dining Web site at namesake’s new www.culinartinc.com/teacherscollege. focus on cholesterol See the Grace Dodge Café weekly menu, concerns). service concepts and hours of opera- CulinArt is also tion; CulinArt’s bi-monthly Eat Well tc’s renovated cafeteria is offering better food, nutrition newsletter; the full online green-minded, buying a cheerier environment and big-name sandwiches. catering order system; and more! much of its produce

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside OCTOBER 2008 5 A Diverse Class new partnerships with schools in Continued from front page Harlem and its growing list of collaborations with education ministries Experience/Orientation held in the and schools in other countries. Cowin Center at the beginning of She closed by advising the new September. Fuhrman reminisced students to “luxuriate in the oppor- about her own first day at TC in tunity to read and learn. 1972 (“I had Donna Shalala for my “Be self-indulgent intellectually,” advisor—talk about luck”), discussed she said. “As an undergraduate you TC’s legacy of great thinkers (“You’ll were fulfilling college requirements, walk in the halls that John Dewey and in your jobs, you’ve had to meet walked in—and we apologize if the demands of the people you work some of them still look like they for. But this is the time where you Tyler Whittenberg did then”), and talked about TC’s get to decide what you want to study, history and continuing tradition of and that’s something that will guide t YLer Whit tenberg making an impact in the real world. you for the rest of your life.” Tyler Whittenberg is a third- “Your experience here is not just Fuhrman also sketched a quick generation reformer. His great uncle about your scholarship but also about demographic portrait of the entering A. J. Whittenberg, a gas station preparing you to work directly with class. (For the numbers, see the box owner, was a plaintiff in a 1963 our constituents out there,” she said, below.) The following are portraits NAACP federal suit that desegre- and went on to describe the College’s of six new TC students. gated schools in Greenville County, South Carolina and brought Fall 2008 incoming class them into compliance with the • 1,443 students, chosen from over 5,430 applicants—one of TC’s most Supreme Court’s famous Brown v. selective classes ever. Board of Education ruling. The A. J. • 11% are pursuing doctoral degrees, 89 percent are pursuing master Whittenberg Elementary School is degrees. scheduled to open in Greenville, the county seat, in August 2010. • The oldest person is 67, the youngest is 20. Whittenberg’s father, Charles, • 53% self-identified as non-white. who was the first African American • 7.3% are citizens of another country. physician in Greenville County, is a • 82% are women, 18% percent men. pediatrician in Simpsonville, where • Collectively, the entering class represents 44 U.S. states, the District Whittenberg grew up and went to of Columbia and Puerto Rico. school. It’s where he says he learned that, as much as South Carolina’s • More come from New York (568 students) than from any other state. and the nation’s race relations have New Jersey is second (118 students) and California is third (73). changed in the past 40 years, they • Collectively, the entering class represents 25 different countries other still need hard work and repair. than the U.S. South Korea ranks first, with 14 incoming students. “Education is a social issue,” China is second with 12 (including of 3 from Hong Kong), Taiwan is declares the intense 23-year-old, deliv- third with 10 and Canada is fourth with 8. ering a message he learned from his

6 Inside teachers college Columbia university mother, Ernestine, a nurse who works a foundation, which can help diag- with pregnant teens. “You can put all nose what’s wrong with America’s the money into a school and make it schools (although he already has a brilliant school, but children don’t plenty of opinions about that). And learn if they aren’t supported. You while he has no aspirations to per- can’t just change the school. You have sonal wealth, he wants to control to change the communities.” enough money to fund systemic, It was no surprise, then, bold solutions. that upon graduating from the Whittenberg begins his stud- University of South Carolina in ies this month at TC with three Columbia in 2007, Whittenberg of the best policy thinkers in the decided to study education policy country: Michael Rebell, Executive at TC. But first, because he believes Director of the Campaign for Michelle Grappo too few policymakers know what Educational Equity; Douglas Ready, it’s like to stand up in front of a a sociologist and Assistant Professor kind of intellectual diversity any- classroom, he spent a year teach- of Education, whose research where else.” ing social studies at one of the examines the influence of educa- Grappo should know. She most troubled middle schools in tional policies and practices on has lived more than half of her 25 Columbia, where 15 of his students educational equity and access; and years abroad, including in Central were gang members. Jeffrey Henig, Professor of Political America, Portugal and the Middle “I knew this was not going to be Science and author of Spin Cycle: East. She considered graduate pro- a joy ride,” he recalls. How Research Is Used in Policy Debates, grams all over the English-speaking Indeed, the experience only The Case of Charter Schools, (Russell world—England, Ireland, the reinforced Whittenberg’s belief that Sage Foundation/The Century United States, Australia and New America’s schools are broken and Foundation, 2008). For Tyler Zealand—before choosing TC. can’t be fixed by one middle school Whittenberg, studying with these Diversity was the hallmark of teacher at a time, however brilliant faculty members is part of fulfilling Grappo’s years attending, and then or well-intentioned. If there is a a dream. “I’m in class with the lead- teaching in, the AIS system. “You’re solution, he believes it will be sys- ers in their fields,” he says. “It’s sur- going to have at least a class of 20, temic, it will be discovered by big, real to be here.” and at least 10 different nationali- visionary thinkers—he includes in ties,” Grappo says. “You see kids from this number some faculty members Michelle Grappo countries that have political prob- at Teachers College—and executed Michelle Grappo began a long- lems playing together beautifully.” by armies of courageous doers like distance relationship with Teachers Her plan now is to get a mas- his great uncle, father and mother. College when she was teaching spe- ter’s degree in school psychology Whittenberg wants a “politi- cial needs children at an American and return to the Middle East to cally active” career, but not a career International School (AIS) in the start a regional health and educa- in politics. To be a politician, he Arab country, Oman, in southwest tional center for local students. The says, “you have to take favors and do Asia. “I fell in love with it online,” school would provide health and favors.” Instead he would like to run the first-year school psychology psychological care and nutrition a nonprofit organization, perhaps student says. “You can’t find this Continued on page 8

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside OCTOBER 2008 7 A Diverse Class HarperCollins Children’s Books, she Continued from page 7 can barely resist the urge to strike up a conversation. counseling, as well as traditional But there’s a good chance she’d academic courses, delivered by U.S.- be up on Olivia’s doings anyway. educated professionals. “I guess you could say I’m Grappo would first look to hire obsessed with reading,” laughs the among Teachers College alumni. “It is 33-year-old native of Woodmere, such a privilege, in my eyes, for clients Long Island. She entered TC this to have access to affordable services year to become a reading specialist from leading experts in the field.” and to learn to work with children who are experiencing reading and Kerry Johnson writing difficulties. She will also Kerry Johnson will tell you flat learn about the cognitive processes Chris McBride out that she’s a major fan of Olivia the involved in learning to read. But Pig, Ian Falconer’s endearing tale of a mostly, she’s excited about the mind, body and heart. He looks feisty little shoat in polka-dot paja- chance to share her deep love of forward to talking with students, mas, who loves reading so much that books with children. even those of elementary school she requests too many bedtime stories. And on her down time? Well, age, about ideas deeper and more True, her interest is somewhat the Teachers College Bookstore (on profound than how to execute the professional. Johnson, a Harvard campus at the corner of Amsterdam perfect “downward-facing dog.” Yet graduate in English literature, and West 120th Street) has a num- he believes that if teachers in general worked as an editor of children’s ber of Olivia books for purchase. are to have the opportunity to do books and wrote promotional mate- that, he says, there will have to be rials about them. If she sees a child Chris McBride major reform in public schools. on the subway open a book that As a long-time yoga teacher, “Schools should be more caring she worked on at Harcourt, Inc. or Chris McBride knows how to about developing the whole human engage his students’ bodies—but being,” he says, which, in his view, McBride, who graduated from the would include more arts, nutri- University of California at Santa tion and physical education. Above Barbara in 2003, came to Teachers all, “there should be more heart in College to learn how to reach hearts education”—a concept with which and minds. no good yoga teacher would dissent. “I never really was that passionate about yoga,” confesses the 32-year- Courtney Grzesikowski old Vancouver native and first-year Well before Courtney student in the master’s in elementary Grzesikowski was awarded her bache- school education program. “I much lor’s degree at the University of Miami prefer verbal interaction.” in special education and sociology last McBride believes the best May, the 22-year-old Tampa native Kerry Johnson teachers engage the whole student— had decided to pursue a graduate

8 Inside teachers college Columbia university degree in education with an emphasis “It just came together that this on research and education reform. was where I was supposed to be,” Her reasons for choosing to do Grzesikowski says, “the City, the expe- so at TC could be part of a mission rience, the school’s reputation.” She statement for the College: “I am is enrolled in the master’s program in mainly interested in how research special education and sociology, but can affect policy change and how fully intends to pursue a doctorate doing academic and scholarly work and then become a university profes- can be transformed into change at sor, researcher, or both. She wants to schools. I am mostly interested in work on “anything related to policy policies related to equity, and educa- and equity issues. I would also be tion equity as a moral imperative.” open to doing consulting, whether on a state or district level, or working for an education think tank.” Robert Cortes

Robert Cortes he was finishing the 100 pages of Robert Cortes barely clears required reading for his first class five feet, but he seems taller when in education law with Professor Jay he explains why, at age 41, he left Heubert. He was looking forward a 20-year teaching career in the to that class, but also to his courses Philippines to come to TC. in leadership development at the Five years ago, Cortes was a Klingenstein Center. successful Latin and English teacher He plans to earn a master’s handling some administrative duties degree and return to the Philippines at Southridge, a private high school ready to become a school admin- Courtney Grzesikowski for boys in the Manilla suburb istrator—but not before making of Muntinlupa City. Wishing to the most of his TC experience, for Clearly Grzesikowski has read expand his administrative as well which he left a good job, a good sal- TC’s Web site, but it was more as teaching skills, he began look- ary and his homeland. than mere rhetoric that brought ing on the Internet for graduate Cortes takes an Aristotelian her here. Her undergraduate men- programs in education. He quickly approach to the sacrifices he has tor, who knew people at TC, found TC’s Klingenstein Center for made to come here. “Aristotle doesn’t strongly encouraged her to come Independent School Leadership, equate happiness simply with emo- because he thought her research which develops teachers, leaders and tional happiness, but rather, reach- and policy interests were a good administrators for private and inde- ing in the end for that which you fit. (Coincidentally, University of pendent schools across the globe. were made to be. Being here, being Miami President Donna Shalala was He knew it was the best fit, but stretched to the limit—I may have a TC faculty member in the 1970’s “it was only now that I found the moments of unhappiness here. But in and a mentor to Susan Fuhrman, courage and the funding” to come the end I am moving toward the full TC’s President, when Fuhrman was to New York City, Cortes says. potential of my intellect, and in that in graduate school here.) On orientation day in September, sense, I am happy.” 

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside OCTOBER 2008 9 At the College TC’s Cadets The College’s master’s program for West Point is making its mark on military training

s situations around the social-organizational psychology and Chair of TC’s world nowadays make Department of Organization & Leadership (and a abundantly clear, mili- former Army field artillery lieutenant) for help in designing and teaching a master’s program for mid- tary engagement in the career Army officers, many fresh from tours of duty 21st century is as much in Afghanistan or Iraq. about breeching cultural divides and build- The program took its first cohort of officers in A 2005 and begins its fourth year this fall. After 12 ing trust as it is about combat. months of full-time study including weekly visits So when Lt. Col. Todd Henshaw at West Point to the TC campus and a six-month internship, par- was looking for a new leadership training program ticipants earn a master’s degree in organizational for young Army officers, he didn’t ask the Pentagon psychology. Most stay at West Point for another or turn to a business school or a commercial program two years to train Army cadets, who, in turn, learn like Six Sigma or Franklin Covey’s “The Seven Habits to incorporate these concepts into their work with of Highly Successful People.” Instead, Henshaw young soldiers on the battlefront. Each of them chose an unlikely source of military-style style becomes a new type of leader who is as focused on instruction or business management: TC. the psychological and cultural growth of soldiers as Henshaw had some explaining to do to West on fighting prowess. Point alumni, staff and curious onlookers. “I got a On Wednesdays, Burke and his colleagues travel lot of e-mails saying, ‘What are we doing messing to West Point to teach. On another day (this year around with all those liberals down in New York?’ it’s Mondays), the West Point students come to TC, he recalls, laughing. “Columbia doesn’t let ROTC split up, and take a Group Dynamics course along- recruiters on campus. It was almost like we brought side other TC students. This system has brought somebody home from the wrong side of the tracks.” mutual benefits for both cohorts of students, Burke But, working with Col. Thomas Kolditz, says. “Our students now really welcome them, and Chair of the Department of Behavioral Science why? It’s because the West Point students are mature and Leadership at West Point, he approached and experienced. You know exactly who they are Warner Burke, coordinator of graduate programs in when they are walking down the hall. It’s been good

10 Inside teachers college Columbia university for both sides. And the military students love coming One of Henshaw’s proudest to the City. That’s no small benefit.” The program Burke and his colleagues designed, moments came when two and now teach, is very different from most traditional military training programs, which tend to emphasize retired, four-star generals, physical as much as intellectual development. Without sacrificing physical training, the officers in this program each now working as also learn about psychology, counseling and coaching, business consultants, called adult development, organization development and leadership strategic planning—areas of study that enhance him for advice. their ability not only to be strong personal role models for those under their command, but to lead large orga- and Henshaw has begun to get calls from businesses that nizations and look more broadly at cultural and political want to adopt the program. differences, wherever they are serving. Henshaw believes the program could radically West Point and TC just renewed their contract to change the military. “I am such a huge fan. If you collaborate for five more years on the program, which think about the types of situations that the Army is has graduated 20 to 25 officers per year since 2006 and is going to be involved in over the next 20 to 30 years, starting to get attention from other branches of the mili- they’re going to be cross-cultural. We’re going to need tary. According to Henshaw, after looking carefully at to understand people, understand organizations and the West Point program, the Navy designed something institutions, understand markets, change popula- similar. And one of Henshaw’s proudest moments came tions, set up micro-societies. The more sophisticated when two retired, four-star generals, each now working those challenges, the more we will need programs as business consultants, called him for advice. The New like this. I wish somebody would say, ‘Henshaw, just York City Department of Education sent a delegation crank it up to 100 [students per year]. Bring in the to West Point, led personally by Chancellor Joel Klein, Air Force, the Navy—bring them all in.’ 

west point cadets at tc

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside OCTOBER 2008 11 New Faculty New Faces at TC New faculty share their perspectives and experience

When Numbers Aren’t Cold University in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, Johnson went on to earn a master’s and doctor- Statistician Matthew Johnson is using his ate in statistics at Carnegie Mellon University. During craft to plumb the human brain his second year of graduate school, he received his first Statistics is the bane of many aspiring social sci- exposure to psychological measurement models and the entists. For Matthew Johnson, who joined TC this fall idea of developing methods to measure what he calls the as Associate Professor of Statistics and Education, it “unobservable.” He has been hooked ever since. has been a way of defining the most intangible areas of Johnson subsequently spent two years working for human intelligence. Educational Testing Services, the company that admin- That’s a pursuit that, more than a century after the isters the GRE and SAT tests. He also worked on the French psychologist Alfred Binet first tried it, many in National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the field still view as an impossibility. analyzing data from the 2000 mathematics assessment “Everyone has an idea about what intelligence is,” and the 2001 geography assessment. says Johnson, “but how do we quantify it?” Six years ago, he left that position to become an Johnson, an applied statistician, answers that associate professor of statistics at Baruch College of the question by analyzing data from the City University of New York, where perspectives of educational, behav- he mainly taught business students. ioral and social science, sometimes During his time at Baruch, Johnson developing new statistical models realized that he wanted to return to measure everything from panic to applying statistics to education. attacks and how they relate to sui- That’s been a controversial subject cide, to how the health literacy of since the No Child Left Behind Act parents affects their children. “In made standardized testing the topic of very basic terms,” he says of this dinner-table conversation. “It’s a chal- work, “it’s taking the responses to a lenging thing to develop methods for bunch of questions and converting educational testing,” he says. “I always them into one answer.” found it interesting, and obviously it’s Johnson developed his love of important because we need to have a numbers as a kid growing up in a way to assess student performance.” small town in Indiana, where his Johnson jumped at the opportu- mother taught him addition in nity to work at Teachers College, in the church to help stave off boredom. Matthew Johnson, Associate Professor of Measurement, Evaluation and Statistics Statistics and Education After graduating from Indiana Program of the Department of Human

12 Inside teachers college Columbia university Development, and he is looking for- a family, dedicating her life to rais- ward to collaborating with people from ing her children. In her subsequent other disciplines around the school— struggle to escape minimum-wage psychologists, sociologists, economists— jobs, she worked as a bodybuilder and and helping them analyze their findings. fitness center manager; sold western He’s also eager to turn a new wear; made belts; and ran river trips group of students on to the world of in Jackson, Wyoming. statistics. This semester, he is teach- “I’m 47, I’ve gone through a lot of ing an introductory level statistics hard things,” says McIsaac. “Still, to course. Next semester, he will teach this day, the hardest is being a single a more advanced class for statistics mom going through school.” majors and students interested in When an orthopedic surgeon that applying statistical models to their McIsaac knew from the fitness cen- own research. ter in Jackson suggested she consider Sharing his enthusiasm about sta- physical therapy as a career, she figured tistics is definitely the most rewarding Tara McIsaac, Assistant Professor of it was worth a shot. After earning her Movement Science and Education part of the job for Johnson, but he’s bachelor’s degree in the field at the not naïve about how students may University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse in view the subject. “There’s always math phobia,” he says. 1992, she spent a year doing rotations at a local hospital, “You try and encourage them and let them know it’s not followed by geriatric work in Flagstaff, Arizona. as difficult as it seems.” It was in Portland, Oregon, while doing clinical work with people who had suffered spinal cord and following in great footsteps traumatic brain injuries, that McIsaac became fascinated with researching the neurological underpinnings of reha- Tara McIsaac has taken a winding road to bilitation. She decided to earn her doctorate in neurosci- academia. Now she’s come to where a role ence at the University of Arizona in Tucson. After two model once worked more years of post-doctoral work—one at Columbia, the Tara McIsaac’s goal is to contribute to the field of other at Arizone State University in Tempe—McIsaac is motor learning and rehabilitation by discovering unique now ready to take her 16 years of clinical and nine years ways for people with Parkinson’s disease and other disor- of research experience into the classroom. ders to move around naturally and effortlessly. She speaks passionately of her desire to make the For a rookie faculty member, that might sound like fruits of her research applicable outside traditional hubris—but McIsaac’s role model is Ann Gentile, a giant medical channels. McIsaac says she will look to help in the field of movement sciences whose retirement this students, athletic trainers, yoga instructors—whomever spring created a job opening for McIsaac at TC. Then, might stand to benefit—understand the unique ways too, McIsaac has already defied some considerable odds. people with and without neurological impairments At 16, she aspired to be a jazz pianist like McCoy learn movements. Tyner. At 18, she became pregnant and chose to start Continued on page 14

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside OCTOBER 2008 13 New Faculty Continued from page 13

“People with problems mov- already thriving at TC. This fall, ing due to injury or disease, such as TC’s new Assistant Professor of stroke, brain injury or Parkinson’s Technology and Education is teach- disease, are seen in the medical system ing a unique course, “Instructional by physical, occupational and speech Design of Educational Technology,” therapists for a defined amount of in which she and her students will time,” she says. “Eventually they may examine how virtual environments, participate in sport or leisure activi- distance learning, robots and other ties in the community, at the local autonomous pieces of machinery gym, yoga class or dance studio, and that can also live in a computer or will be much better served by instruc- PDA should be designed, imple- tors educated in the unique problems mented and assessed. associated with their injuries.” “Teachers College is one of the Discovering that relationship few schools of education today that between the brain and movement is have an established focus on this kind McIsaac’s quest, the thing that moti- Sandy Okita, Assistant Professor of of interdisciplinary research,” Okita vates her to take her research out of Technology and Education says. “The students and faculty are the lab, into the classroom and, ulti- stimulating, adventurous and open to mately, out into the community. new ideas. It’s a great fit for me.” At the same time, she believes that the field of physi- Okita grew up in California and attended Keio cal therapy benefits from research at a rigorous level that University in Japan, drawn by an undergraduate pro- is on par with the hard sciences. gram that was “half technology, half humanities.” From Pushing further in that direction won’t be easy—but there, she earned a master’s degree in psychology and a for McIsaac, the journey has always been half the fun. doctorate in education, both from Stanford University. It was there, doing volunteer work in an eating disor- I and Robot ders clinic, that she found her true calling. As a way to get anorexic teenagers to eat, doctors in the clinic were How, really, can futuristic gadgets help assigning them caretaking responsibilities for virtual us learn? Sandy Okito explores the rela- pets. Okita helped out and also used technology to tionship between people and technology teach life-altering behaviors to children suffering from Where others walk through today’s toy stores and juvenile diabetes. see high-priced stuff with complicated instructions, While at TC, Okita will investigate how children Sandy Okita envisions a world where toys and other ages three to five perceive robotic toys. Do they see these tools evolve into technological partners that expand stu- robots as alive, or not? Do they think the robot will get dents’ understanding of the world. hungry? That it grows? That it has a heart? Okita, whose expertise spans engineering, psychol- “I ask myself, ‘What can we learn about the way ogy and education, takes an interdisciplinary approach these children interact with robots that will help us to to the study of technology in education, an area that is design technologies that enhance learning? And how can

14 Inside teachers college Columbia university we design robots that actually learn In it, Tyner, a sociologist who along with students, creating a rela- just joined TC’s Department of tionship that is dynamic, so that the Human Development as a minor- robot can anticipate the needs, for ity post-doctoral fellow, explores instance, of children with learning the perspectives of graduates from disabilities and devise the next step CPESS’s first five graduating classes of their learning experience?” (she graduated in the fourth class, in Using (what else?) videoconfer- 1994). She chronicles CPESS’s role encing, Okita will also continue her in the vanguard of small schools and collaborations with scientists at the describes the powerful forces that Honda Research Laboratories and would ultimately reshape it, even the Research Institute of Digital as the movement it helped spawn Media and Content, both in Japan. would take root in urban districts As she explores the relation- across the country. ships between people and tech- “The school was once a beacon nology, Okita says her ultimate Alia Tyner, of alternative education, and now it emphasis is always on the human Minority Post-Doctoral Fellow isn’t thought of in that way,” Tyner partner. “My interest is to tease says. “A lot of people don’t even out the features that are actually helping children learn know about CPESS anymore. It’s now a normal small more deeply, more individually, more profoundly, and school that no longer has that legacy.” In their heyday, to design technologies that enhance those features,” she CPESS and its sister elementary school, Central Park explains. “I don’t care whether the technology is simple East, were widely heralded for their progressive teach- or sophisticated. Whatever helps the student learn, ing methods in the tradition of John Dewey and for the that’s what is important.” high academic achievement of their mostly low-income minority students. The schools would become the sub- Pondering the Small School ject of two books, one by Meier herself, and a documen- experience tary. But as Tyner demonstrates, CPESS as initially con- stituted would not be sustained. minority post-doc Alia Tyner is According to Tyner, two key forces conspired to chronicling the rise, decline and alter the nature of the school. The first was the quick reincarnation of her alma mater succession of departures of key leaders, beginning with Central Park East Secondary School (CPESS) looms that of Meier, who left the school in early 1990s. large in Alia Tyner’s imagination. Tyner’s four years as a “Because the school was so successful, its teachers student at the pioneering East Harlem alternative school, and administrators were invited to start other schools founded by the legendary educator Deborah Meier, were or felt very motivated to do other things,” Tyner said. among the most formative of her life—so much so that “And so within five years of Deborah Meier leaving, six a decade after her graduation, it would form the basis of or seven other teachers decided to leave to start their her doctoral dissertation at CUNY. Continued on page 16

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside OCTOBER 2008 15 New Faculty Continued from page 15

own schools or consult on other projects. So you then has had on students over time. She will also take an in- had this very strong leadership core that went off to do depth look at the school’s curriculum. other things because they wanted the small school idea “I would like this to be research that gets out to to spread. people,” Tyner says. “I want it to be something that “It was what I have started calling the supernova can help parents who are thinking of these schools for theory, where you have this thing that gets so bright their children, and also help educators in creating these that it just explodes, and what you are left with is so schools and making sure they survive.” much less than what it was.” The other factor behind the sea-change at CPESS Quantifying the Greatness was external. Prior to the 1990s, CPESS had been able of Expectations to choose its own students, Tyner says, but the district eventually did away with that and began assigning Minority post-doc Michael Wilson is students to it who had no particular knowledge of its applying the scientific method to a pedagogical approach. For Tyner, that development lesson he learned in high school combined with the exodus of the school’s founding As an education researcher, Michael Wilson has leaders proved to be the perfect storm. repeatedly found hard evidence that lower expectations Yet as she is quick to point out, the school that in predict lower achievement. many ways helped launch the small school movement But it was as a high school student in Washington, is alive and well, and appears to be on the upswing. D.C. that he first learned that the reverse of that propo- Meanwhile organizations such as the New York sition holds equally true. Performance Standards Consortium and the Coalition That was when Wilson took a class on social for Essential Schools, which include dozens of small justice with a tough Vietnam veteran named Robert schools in New York, nationwide and even in other Hoderny. Hoderny railed against racism and sexism, countries, continue to embody the principles that were and made his students volunteer at soup kitchens and at the heart of CPESS. read newspaper articles about the inequities of the Tyner is convinced that groundbreaking schools world. Wilson, who says he was far from a serious like CPESS are not necessarily doomed to flame out. student of social issues at the time, didn’t like it and Some alternative schools, she says, have set limits on didn’t like Hoderny, either. how many teachers can leave in any given year. Others “It was strange, in my eyes, for this white guy now require teachers to commit to a certain number of to be teaching us these issues,” says Wilson, who is years of service. Tyner also has seen the emergence of African American. “I had no idea until I was an adult mentorship programs that socialize new teachers into that he had changed my world view—that other cul- a school’s pedagogical practices and history so as to tures might have something different to offer and that ensure that core principles remain intact. you should take care of your neighbor. That was the At TC, Tyner plans to continue her research on one thing I took from my high school experience that CPESS. She intends to interview graduates from more changed my life.” recent classes (and possibly their parents, as well) to Wilson never got to thank Hoderny, who was hit by gain a fuller understanding of the impact the school a car and killed during Wilson’s senior year at Frostburg

16 Inside teachers college Columbia university State University in Maryland. But it Wilson ultimately earned his was his former teacher’s passion that Ph.D. in special education. Today, nudged Wilson to look beyond his as a minority post-doctoral fellow post-graduation job as a research asso- in TC’s Curriculum and Teaching ciate for a government contractor. department, he is passionate about Before long, he had left his addressing the systemic failure to secure desk job for graduate school at educate children who find them- the University of Maryland and was selves in the juvenile justice system. spending an inordinate amount of He also is slowly unpacking time in juvenile prisons in Maryland, the results of a one-year quantita- trying to put his finger not only tive analysis he completed while at on the reason why the adolescent Maryland that measured the math inmates there couldn’t read, but also achievement results of 6,000 high on the source of their utter hopeless- school students at more than 600 ness about even trying to learn. schools from around the country. Michael Wilson, “The kids had internalized this He is analyzing the experience of the Minority Post-Doctoral Fellow idea that they can’t read because schools’ non-cognitively disabled ‘you are dumb,’” says Wilson. “I students, who make up a fifth of the remember thinking, ‘Wow, I can see someone told you study sample. Many of his findings so far mirror his this so many times you really believed it.’” earlier conclusion as a researcher of the juvenile justice He recalls talking with students as young as 13 who system: expectations drive achievement. had given up on reading, on school “and on life.” So far his data are showing that disabled students Wilson and his research partner quickly figured who are required to take more advanced math classes as out that a quarter of the teenagers at two of Maryland’s part of the college preparatory curriculum advocated at main penal facilities for juveniles came from fewer than some schools show a significantly higher rate of math a dozen schools. Something was obviously broken at achievement at graduation than those who are allowed these schools, and a statistical analysis quickly con- to pursue lower level classes at other schools. firmed that teachers there were less likely to be certi- Of course, it’s tougher to explain nuanced pro- fied, student proficiency rates were lower than the state cesses than to run statistical models, however sophisti- median, and suspension rates were two or three times cated. Wilson says he was particularly keen to come to the average. Teachers College because of the opportunity he’ll have However, Wilson also soon concluded that some- over the next two years to work with faculty members thing greater than the sum of even those parts was across disciplines who can add social and historical occurring at these problem schools. context to the numbers he’s generating. “Being a good teacher is important,” Wilson says, “Numbers are good for talking about outcomes,” he “but a large part of what is happening is really at a says. “But no matter how strong those numbers are, we structural level. What are your expectations for these don’t operate within a closed system. I’m not sure that students? What is your curriculum?” numbers are ever useful outside of some context. 

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside OCTOBER 2008 17 At the College New Responsibilities for Key Staff

anice Robinson, President Susan Fuhrman in profit organization that identifies and TC’s longtime announcing the new position prepares public high school students J General Counsel and the choice of Robinson from underrepresented backgrounds and head of its to fill it. Robinson will for admission to the nation’s most Office of Diversity retain her duties as General highly selective colleges and univer- and Community, Counsel until the College has sities. Prior to that, Lane was the has been promoted completed its search for her founding principal of a public charter to Vice President successor. high school in Richmond, California, for Diversity and Robinson is being aided as well as the Director of Education Janice Robinson Community Affairs. in her new role by Jolene A. of an independent middle school in In creating the Lane, TC’s new Director for Providence, Rhode Island. new position at the vice president Diversity and Community. Lane pre- Thomas Rock, formerly Director level, TC is “recognizing and backing viously served as Executive Director of Admissions, has been promoted this work as central to our mission as of Leadership Enterprise for a to Executive Director of Enrollment an educational institution,” said TC Diverse America (LEDA), a not-for- Services. Rock will continue to oversee the Office of Admissions, but will also provide leadership and oversight to the Financial Aid Office, Marketing and SIS/Technology support for enrollment and student service areas. Rock has been covering these areas on an interim basis over the past few months. Katie Embree, the Associate Vice Provost, has agreed to add Student Services to her responsibilities. In addition to her other duties, Embree mix will provide leadership and oversight and to Career Services, International mingle Services, Student Activities and SAVORING REFRESHMENTS Students, staff, faculty and TC community family Programs—including student groups members joined in Russell Courtyard to welcome new and returning international students and the TC Student Senate—and and scholars for 2008-09. The International Welcome Reception, co-sponsored by OIS and Access and Services to Individuals the International Outreach Committee of the TC Alumni Council, concluded a series of with Disabilities.  special events celebrating the new academic year.

18 Inside teachers college Columbia university Jordan Continued from page 3

facilitated by the TC delegation courses they taught were held at Professor of Language and was attended by more than 100 King’s Academy, the boarding Education at Teachers College. prominent Jordanian educators, school recently created by Jordan’s The Teachers College delega- including Ministry of Education King Abdullah II near Amman. tion expects to continue TESOL staff and faculty from Jordanian The chair of the board of King’s instruction online with Jordanian universities. Jordan hires between Academy is Columbia’s Dr. Masri, teachers in the fall. They will also 4,000 and 5,000 new teachers each who also serves as an education conduct research to assess the effec- year for its public schools, but at advisor to Queen Rania. tiveness of the program. present the new teachers enter the “Jordan has a critical need for In the future, other Teachers system with only the equivalent of more English speakers, and for College faculty members are an undergraduate degree. teachers who have expertise in expected to visit Jordan to offer “A large percentage of new pub- teaching English based on work in to public school teachers in math, lic school teachers in Jordan don’t a setting with native English speak- science, special education and have any professional training,” ers,” said Dr. Purpura, Associate other areas.  says Thomas Corcoran, who directs Teachers College’s participation in the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE), a federally funded center for research on public school policy that was founded in the 1980s by President Fuhrman. Dr. Corcoran is the principal investigator for the Teachers College project in Jordan. “Hiring is done centrally through the civil services, with college graduates signing up and getting the call as positions open. The Ministry’s goal is to provide pre-employment professional training, almost like a fifth-year teacher education program in the U.S.” WELCOMING A FRIEND TC President Susan Fuhrman introduced Iceland’s President, The four Teachers College Olafur Ragnar Grimsson (center), to Columbia University’s Annual World Leaders Forum faculty members who taught in September. Also welcoming Grimsson was TC’s Health and Behavior Studies Department Chair John Allegrante. The evening before, TC formally signed a partnership agreement TESOL courses in Jordan are James with Iceland’s Reykjavik University, where Fuhrman appeared as commencement speaker Purpura, Linda Wine, Barbara last spring and where Allegrante served as Acting Dean of RU’s School of Health and Hruska and Charles Combs. The Education and collaborated with faculty on public health research.

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside OCTOBER 2008 19 Calendar

OCTOBER 3 - 5, 2008 OCTOBER 8 On Campus Information Session GSCOPE - Graduate Student Conference on College Conversation Series with 11:00am - 1:00pm • Cowin Center Philosophy of Education Ombudsman Erwin Flaxman Prospective students will have the oppor- Gottesman Libraries, Third Floor 11:30am - 12:30pm, TBA tunity to learn about the various programs The keynote panel of this conference College Ombudsman Erwin Flaxman will available at TC. takes place on October 3 will address meet with TC students, faculty and staff OCTOBER 14 Globalization in Education and will fea- members for an informal afternoon of food Fall Film Series: ture Judith Green, Fordham University; and dialogue. Free admission, but limited Education in America: 19th Century David Hansen, TC; and Jan Masschelein, to the first 25 members to RSVP with the Office of the President for Diversity and 12:00pm - 1:00pm • Second Floor, Russell Hall Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The Community Affairs in 128 Zankel or by Education in America is a series of archival conference is free and open to the TC e-mail to [email protected]. films about the history and origins of school- Community and colleagues from other ing in our country. Part 2 discusses the campuses. For more information or to Booktalk with Janet Youngblood development of free public school systems register in advance, contact gscope@gmail. 4:00pm - 6:00pm • Russell Hall Room 305 and describes the contributions of Daniel com or visit http://journal.tc-library.org/index. Janet W. Youngblood will read and discuss Webster, William McGuffey, Gideon php/gscope. Learning Democratic Practices: Political Parties, Hawley and Horace Mann. For more infor- Media, and American Political Development. mation, contact Jennifer Govan at govan@ OCTOBER 3 The book “helps advance our understand- tc.edu or visit www.tc-library.org. Macy Gallery Exhibition Reception ing of transformative citizenship learning 5:00pm - 8:00pm • Macy Gallery and assists in the broader project of further OCTOBER 15 Macy Gallery’s latest exhibition will show democratizing our democratic institutions.” TC Fall Community Breakfast “Chinese Flavor,” a collection of Zheng 8:00am - 9:30am • TC Cafeteria Qinyan’s paintings and calligraphy. The OCTOBER 9 Meet other members of the TC Community show is on view from September 29 to Thinking About Money Workshop and enjoy a delicious warm breakfast. Enter October 10. 12:00pm - 2:00pm • 277 Grace Dodge Hall raffle to win TC prizes including a free lunch In this workshop you’ll get tips about plan- at Faculty House. OCTOBER 4 ning your budget and financial resources, Trip to the Bronx Zoo finding on-campus work, and looking for Lessons from When the Levees Broke 10:00am - 5:00pm scholarships and aid. 1:30pm - 4:00pm • 179 Grace Dodge Hall Tickets must be purchased in advance Using portions of the documentary as a from the Office of Student Activities and October 10 spring board for discussion, this facilitated Programs in 160 Thorndike. Please bring TC Happy Hour dialogue is intended to foster dialog among cash and your TC ID. $10 Each, 2 per ID. 4:30pm - 6:00pm • TC Cafeteria TC Community employees—professional, For more information, contact Start the semester off right by enjoying a faculty and union. Please plan to attend [email protected]. glass of wine and some finger foods with the and to bring someone else from across the TC Community—faculty, staff, and students. boundaries of a department, ethnic back- OCTOBER 7 ground or employee status. Live Performance: Anthony Maceli Trio OCTOBER 11 5:00pm - 6:00pm • Everett Library Cafe Writing Workshop for Non-Native Getting More than a Degree - How to Make Come grab a coffee and enjoy the music of English Speakers the Most of Your U.S. Experience TC student Anthony Maceli, bass, Alex 9:30am - 12:00pm 1:30pm - 3:00pm • Grace Dodge Hall Room 279 Mincek, saxophone/clarinet, and Roy For more information, contact Get advice from Marion Boultbee, Ed.D., Dunlap, piano. [email protected]. Director of the OIS and an experienced

20 Inside teachers college Columbia university international advisor on how to take advan- bers for an evening of food and dialogue. tage of opportunities that will assist you in Casual Conversations Admission to this event is free, but limited your future professional life. 12:30pm - 1:30pm to the first 30 members to RSVP with the For more information, contact Office of the President for Diversity and Mathematics Education Program Open House [email protected]. Community Affairs in 128 Zankel or by 7:00pm - 9:00pm • Russell Hall Room 305 e-mail to [email protected]. For more information, contact Deanna An Illustrated Talk by Ceramic Artist Ghozati at [email protected], x3041, or Fée Halsted-Berning New Service-Learning Grants visit www.tc.columbia.edu/academic/mst/MathEd. 11:30am - 1:30pm • Macy Gallery There are three new service-learning grants Halsted-Berning is the dynamic founder/ available for the 2008-2009 academic year. OCTOBER 16 director of Ardmore, a world-renowned Current fellows and alumni are eligible to Stressbusters ceramics project in South Africa, employing apply. For more information, contact pcfout- 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm • Grace Dodge Dining Hall 70 Zulu women and men whose products [email protected] or visit the service-learning sec- For more information, contact are in great demand worldwide. For more tion of www.tc.edu/pcfellows. [email protected]. information, visit www.ardmoreceramics.co.za. OCTOBER 31 - NOVEMBER 1 Live Performance: David Chidsey & Dave Malito October 22 South Asian Imaginaries: 5:00pm - 6:00pm • Everett Library Cafe To the Altar We Go…Marriage, Partner A Symposium on Art, Film and Music Come grab a coffee and enjoy the music of Benefits and the State of the Law for Gay 9:00am - 5:00pm TC student David Chidsey, guitar, and Dave and Lesbian Couples Engage with a range of contemporary works Malito, saxophone. 4:00 - 6:00pm; TBD of art, film and music from South Asia Suzanne Goldberg, JD, director of through presentations, discussion panels, a OCTOBER 20 Columbia’s Sexuality and Gender Law concert and an exhibition. For more infor- Kwame Appiah on Experiments in Ethics: Clinic, will speak about current topics for mation, contact Professor John Baldacchino University Seminar on Innovation in Education gay and lesbian families affecting them pro- at [email protected]. 7:00pm - 9:00pm • Russell Hall Room 305 fessionally and personally. Reception follows Explore the findings and implications of new Goldberg’s discussion. November 1 adventures in philosophy, where philosophers Brooklyn Brewery Tour sometimes measure the neural activity of their October 29 1:00 pm subjects as they respond to ethical dilemmas. Diversity Film Series For more information, contact 2:00 pm • 136 Thompson Hall [email protected]. OCTOBER 21 The Office for Diversity and Community Fall Film Series: This Brave Nation: Parts 3 & 4 Affairs will sponsor a Diversity Film Series, Individuals with disabilities are invited to request 12:00pm - 1:00pm • Second Floor, Russell Hall and we invite you to the screening of the sec- reasonable accommodations including, but not This documentary series raises questions and ond film in this series, TBA, Light refresh- limited to sign language interpretation, Braille stimulates conversation about social justice ments will be served. or large print materials, and a campus map of and constructive social and political change. accessible features. Address these requests to the For more information, contact Jennifer OCTOBER 30 Office of Access and Services for Individuals with Govan at [email protected] or visit www.tc-library.org. College Conversation Series: Disabilities at (212) 678-3689, [email protected], or In’s & Out’s of Teacher Certification Dinner with Harvey Spector Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services at (212) 678- 4:00pm - 5:00pm • Russell Hall Room 400 5:00pm - 6:30pm • Location TBA 3853 V/TTY, [email protected]. What do I need to do before I graduate? This Vice President for Finance and workshop is open to all students seeking Administration Harvey Spector will meet teacher certification. with TC students, faculty and staff mem-

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside OCTOBER 2008 21 Ricco Wright in brief Continued from back page Gabriela Simon-Cereijido a chat with their colleagues over a is his hero—his greatest source of (M.S., 2000) has been awarded beverage,” he says. His goals this strength and the motivational force the Trailblazer Award of the Latino year are to improve student finan- behind his academic achievements. Alumni Association of Columbia cial aid, strengthen relationships “Mom demystified the erro- University, LAACU. The Trailblazer between students and departments, neous ideology of the poor black Award recognizes outstanding and, in general, improve the TC male’s predetermined life careers experience for all students. Oh, and and aspiration choices,” he says— Columbia University Latino he’d also like to increase the number meaning that, among other things, alumni who have demonstrated of student senators from 30 to 200. she prodded him to dream of being courage, initiative, motivation, “Government by the people, for more than a good basketball player. risk-taking and leadership in the people,” he says with a grin. “We “She made sure her sons believed their professional endeavor. need more students involved so that that any possibility was available to Born and raised in Buenos Aires, we can be assured that the Senate is them as long as they had the will Simon-Cereijido earned a B.S. working on behalf of students from and invested the time and effort to from Columbia and an M.S. in all walks of life and carrying out its grab them.” Speech-Language Pathology from mission as the voice of the students.” Early in September, when TC in 2000. Now working toward With his calm demeanor and Wright again stood up in Cowin a Ph.D. in the joint Language easygoing ways, Wright may be a —this time to welcome the incom- and Communicative Disorders student leader whom administrators ing class—that was more or less his program at the the University of feel they can work with, but he’s not message. He urged the new students California, San Diego and San shy about voicing criticisms. to enjoy New York City, travel Diego State University, Simon- “Student concerns at TC are abroad on study tours, build their Cereijido has received three often not addressed properly or at curriculum vitae, attend professional all,” he says. “But so long as we push and academic conferences, apply for consecutive Minority Biomedical the envelope and remain consis- as many fellowships as possible, and, Research Support Program grants, tent and persistent, we can affect of course, to get involved in Student funded by the National Institute change.” Senate. of General Medical Sciences at Those words represent some- “I’ve had a great experience here, the National Institutes of Health. thing of a life philosophy. Wright but you want to hit the ground run- She has presented her theories on grew up poor in Tulsa, Oklahoma. ning, because Week One is like mid- bilingual language development His family lived in government- terms, and it doesn’t slow down,” he and assessment at professional subsidized Section 8 housing, and said. conferences around the world, and neither of his two older brothers Later, he said to me, “I’ll be she has been published in several finished high school. happy if I helped someone have a peer-reviewed scientific journals, “I broke the curse,” he says. better experience at TC.” including three co-authored Wright, who grew up without The betting here is that he will.  articles in The Journal of Speech, his biological father, says that along Rick Louis is a doctoral student in Adult Language, and Hearing Research. with Nelson Mandela, his mother Learning and Leadership.

22 Inside teachers college Columbia university long-term service awards

Inside n Thursday, June 26, Teachers College held its annual Long-Term Service lun- Volume 14 • number 1 cheon, honoring employees who have served more than 15 years at TC. Each year, Oemployees whose terms are reaching a multiple of five are honored by speeches NEXT ISSUE: November 2008 from top TC officials such as president Susan Fuhrman and Dean Bill Baldwin, as well DEADLINE: October 15, 2008 as appreciative comments from the TC Community. • “Teachers College is fortunate to Inside, the newsletter of have many employees who stayed committed for so many years,” says Human Resources Teachers College, Columbia University, is produced by the office of representative Angela Bai. “We often do not have an opportunity to thank our staff for External Affairs. all that they do, and this ceremony provides a chance for us to applaud them in public.” www.tc.edu/inside • Linda Wooten, Lead Secretary in Career Services, was honored for her 40-year tenure. “I thought the service was wonderful,” she said. “Who wouldn’t want to be honored? Executive Director, It makes people feel special and appreciated.” Wooten has been at TC through six external affairs • presidential tenures, and she’s seen academic programs blossom and branch out, as well Joe Levine as the College itself. She said she stayed because of the job’s benefits as well as the TC Director, Community. “I’m a people person,” she said. “No one plans to stay this long, but it hap- media relations pens. I don’t regret one moment of it.” The honorees are: Patricia Lamiell • Barbara Purnell, 40 years Karen Harris, 20 years Web director Barbara Burke, 40 years Gary Lord, 20 years Paul Acquaro Linda Wooten, 40 years Marion Speights-Magas, 20 years ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF John Astore, 35 years Patricia Osbourne, 20 years Publications John Vincent, 35 years Diarah N’Daw-Spech, 15 years Lisa A. Farmer Roselouise Daly, 30 years Migdalia Rodriguez-DelValle, 15 years Web content developer Joseph Gilchrist, 30 years Jacqueline Ancess, 15 years Cameron Fadjo Ida Esannason, 30 years Ruixue Zhao, 15 years

Administrative Robert “Rocky” Schwarz, 30 years Cherlyn Johnson, 15 years Assistant Zoraida Grady, 25 years Grace Chough, 15 years Kalena Rosario William Manning, 25 years

Editorial Assistants Melissa Christy Elise Martingale

Contact Us! We want to hear from you! To submit story ideas or other information of interest, visit: www.tc.edu/newsbureau/newsrequest.htm e-mail: [email protected] or send via campus mail to: Office of External Affairs, Box 306 40 years and counting Linda Wooten, Barbara Burke and Barbara Purnell at awards ceremony.

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside OCTOBER 2008 23

Student Profile He’s Working for You He’s an easygoing guy, but Student Senate President Ricco Wright is serious about change By Ricardo Louis Last fall, when Ricco Wright stood up to speak in TC’s Cowin Center at a special town meeting called by President Susan Fuhrman in the aftermath of racist incidents on campus, there was a sense of anticipation in the big auditorium. • With his friendly grin and trademark dreadlocks, the rangy, six-foot Wright, an African American doctoral student in mathematics education who has been at TC for the past four years, was someone most people at the College already knew. But over the past 24 hours, as one of the leaders of the protest marches and discussion groups, he had achieved a new order of visibility, appearing on CNN Live and CNN International to talk about the internal climate at TC. Now the floor was his to set a very public tone for how students might conduct themselves in the coming weeks. • Wright addressed himself to Fuhrman and Tom James, TC’s Provost. “If you have expectations of us right now, I hope you’ll share them,” he said, “because we’re a family, and we don’t want this to be the students attacking the administration. We need to work together.“ • Not long afterward, the TC Student Senate asked Wright to join them as Senator for Institutional Affairs, and in the spring, he was elected President for the next two years. • If you know Wright, none of this is that surprising. The first time I met him, some years back, I asked him about his dress code, which seems to call exclusively for slacks, long sleeve shirts and ties. • “If you look like you take yourself seriously, then others will take you seriously,” he said. He also freely admits that he would like to serve as a U.S. Senator some day. Still, Wright says he joined the Student Senate out of a genuine desire to work on behalf of others (“servant leadership,” he calls it). • Of all the Senate’s achievements last year, he is proudest of its success in changing Everett Lounge from a study room to a social space, “as students need places to relax and have

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