A World of Ideas Inside Inside a Primer on Trusteeship

Inside 6 No. 14, Volume 2009 May The source for news, events and people at Teachers College, Columbia University A World of Ideas Inside Inside A primer on trusteeship...... 8 Longtime journalist John Merrow keynotes an academic A patron of TC art...... 12 festival for TC alumni, students and friends TC at Work: Danielle Curtis...... 19 World class: TC student ohn Merrow doesn’t think there is one achievement gap, but four. Ryan Schetelick...... 28 Merrow, the veteran education journalist who delivered the keynote J address at Teachers College’s inaugural Academic Festival on April 24, said that the K–12 educational system is plagued by yawning gaps in leadership, opportunity and expectations that leave poor and minority students at a Vietnam distinct disadvantage. “If you have those gaps, of course you have an outcomes gap, but if you and the only focus on the achievement gap you treat children as if they’re gerbils to be taught to turn wheels and do well on tests,” said Merrow, the former education correspondent for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour and now Executive Producer Media and President of Learning Matters Inc., a nonprofit television, radio and Web Taking on both history and production company. “The results are disastrous because you see kids strictly historical perspective as test scores. And I think there is a fifth he people that brought you gap, an affection gap. We suffer from innovative social studies affection deficit disorder when it comes curricula about Hurricane to other people’s children, children who T Katrina and its aftermath, and African are not from our own economic status or American history in New York City who don’t look like us.” are now tackling the Vietnam War Merrow’s speech kicked off a new- and its portrayal in the American look academic homecoming event for Closing the gaps Journalist and TC media. TC alumni and friends. Styled as an Trustee John Merrow keynotes the Margaret Crocco and Bill College’s Academic Festival Continued on page 4 Continued on page 2 Curriculum

VIETNAM NOW Continued From Front page Gaudelli, both faculty members in TC’s Social Studies digitized materials but will also hear talks by guest faculty, and Education program, are leading the design of a new including noted 1960s cultural historian Todd Gitlin multimedia curriculum called “Vietnam and Vietnam War historian Charles Armstrong, both at Now,” which is based on footage from a Columbia, as well as experts on the use of digital media in 13-part documentary on Vietnam that teaching history and Vietnam War veterans. aired on WGBH public television in The use of documentary footage is central to the Boston during the 1980s. whole effort, Crocco and Gaudelli say, with the curriculum Crocco and Gaudelli focusing as much on media portrayal of the war as it does have been given access on the war itself. not only to the 20 hours “There is as much truthiness as truth in a documentary, of documentary segments at least potentially,” says Crocco, Chair of TC’s Arts and that were actually broadcast, but also Humanities Department, who two years ago led the to many additional hours of footage creation of TC’s “Teaching The Levees” curriculum. That that have never been publicly work, which was distributed to 30,000 schools, colleges shown. and community groups nationwide, also keyed off a The course is being funded documentary, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, by a grant from the Institute of by Director Spike Lee. “So it’s especially interesting to Museum and Library Services consider what we mean by truth in the context of history awarded to the WGBH Media and Library and representation, and to help students understand that Archives, the University of Massachusetts-Boston and perspective is exceedingly important in the teaching and Columbia University. Columbia’s Center for New Media learning of history.” Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL), under the direction “We did a segment in the “Teaching The Levees” of Columbia and TC faculty member Frank Moretti, is curriculum that used that famous moment of Bush the lead partner for Columbia with WGBH. CCNMTL in Jackson Square where the klieg lights were set up. is working with Teachers College, the Columbia School People thought, in fact, that electricity had come back to of Journalism, and the Columbia University Department downtown New Orleans. And when he was done with of History. his presentation, of course, the electricity vanished with “Vietnam Now” is being offered on a pilot basis to him. So the power of media to create a sense of reality is an initial group of secondary and college educators who mediated by human agency, the way that textbooks are, will gather at Teachers College in late June. That group too. will not only have an opportunity to work with the newly And whether the medium is a book or a film, students

Inside teachers college Columbia university need to be able to get behind the curtain and see who’s there United States, of course, and of course Laos, Cambodia manipulating what we know and don’t know about.” and the Indo-China Region as a whole. So there really is a Perhaps the most powerful aspect of the course much broader global history here that can be told with the offering is the unvarnished nature of the combat footage documents we now have access to.” that WGBH presented during the 1980s. And then there are the current-day perspectives of “Vietnam was really the last war in which the govern- people who were themselves key actors in the conflict. ment did not regulate the access of the media, and it was a “We’re going to have interviews of Robert McNamara, time during which television was bringing into Americans’ for example, who was Secretary of Defense as the war was living rooms the truly brutal nature of war,” Gaudelli says. unfolding,” Crocco says. “And then we have the experience “Since then, governments everywhere have pretty much of The Fog of War, of Robert McNamara’s reflecting back on sanitized war coverage. the decisions that were So in many ways the made, and the incredi- curriculum is a com- Vietnam was really the last ble evolution of his per- mentary on how the war“ in which the government spective. [The Fog of War: media presents social Eleven Lessons from the issues today.” did not regulate the access of the Life of Robert S. McNamara Then, too, he says, is a documentary film by the aspects of the Vietnam media, and it was a time during director Errol Morris.] So, conflict that were not to hear someone say, at the forefront of which television was bringing ‘I was wrong,’ or ‘we Americans’ conscious- were misguided,’ and to ness decades ago emerge into Americans’ living rooms the have that in someone’s now with greater clar- truly brutal nature of war. own words where one ity. can both hear as well as “Using digital ~Professor William G”audelli look at the body image, media resources makes the messages that it easier to get beyond the dyadic representation of the McNamara sent as he sat on that stage in what was truly a war as the United States and Vietnam,” Gaudelli says. confessional experience, is quite amazing.” ❖ “Vietnam was much more than that—a regional war that was also a proxy of the Cold War. The Russians were For more information or to register for the Vietnam Now involved to some degree. The Chinese were involved, the course, please visit www.tc.columbia.edu/ceoi.

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside May 2009 Academic Festival

Academic Festival Continued From Front page “academic festival” and themed “Thinkbank 2.0: A World and business, and make sure the program is relevant and of Ideas,” the event was unique in that the presentations rigorous so that people can walk out and apply what spanned the breadth of TC’s academic programs. The they’ve learned immediately.” breakout sessions, almost all of which featured TC The event also featured a panel session by four faculty members, dealt with everything from technology alumni, all of whom have pursued nontraditional career and organizational change to trauma, loss and human paths. One of the presenters, Alice Wilder (Ed.D., resilience. Educational Psychology, 1998), President of the TC “We’ve made an effort to bring all of TC together for Alumni Council, said that her dream had been to you,” President Susan Fuhrman told alumni. “We’re not develop educational toys. However, the connections she featuring one aspect because while Teachers College is made at the College allowed her to move into children’s our revered historical name, it only gives a sense of part television as Producer and Director of Research and of what we do. There is so much wonderful work going Development for the popular Nickelodeon television on here that is not captured by our name, and we’ve series Blue’s Clues. made a special effort to feature all that work.” “Since we created Blue’s Clues, there are a lot of copies Among the presenters was TC alumna Debra of the show on TV now that use the kind of interactivity Noumair, Associate Professor of Psychology and with the kids that we developed,” said Wilder, who is Education at TC, who told alumni about an academic now Co-creator and heads research and education for program that has yet to be formally established at TC. the PBS series Super Why! “We have stuck to our guns, Noumair said that TC’s Department of Organization and however, in that whenever we ask kids to interact Leadership plans to launch a master’s degree program in with our shows, it’s about education and teaching—not organizational change and learning in the spring of 2010. getting some prize or premium. The one-year program is designed for business “Teachers College really nourished my interests and executives and human resources and organizational passions and gave me a broad array of skills that allowed development professionals, Noumair said, and will me to do my job. Now, when I look to hire people, I find involve both on- and off-campus courses, as well as an that Teachers College students stand out not only for online learning component. their breadth of knowledge, but their balance between “In order to really survive in organizations, whether the applied and theoretical knowledge.” you are in HR or organizational development or are In addition to the breakout sessions, the College a line manager, you need to know something about presented its Distinguished Alumni Award to honorees organizational change,” Noumair said. “What we’re Patricia Lynne Duffy (M.A., ’81), an instructor of English going to do is focus on the application of psychology as a second language and communications at the United

Inside teachers college Columbia university Students Awarded Diversity Grants THE MEDALISTS At TC’s Academic Festival, from The Committee for Community and left Keiichi Ogawa, Joan Dye Gussow, Edward Diversity at Teachers College has Dunkelblau and Patricia awarded $3,000 grant awards to Lynne Duffy with President two doctoral students as part of Susan Fuhrman. INSET: the President’s Grant for Student Alice Wilder, President of Research in Diversity. the TC Alumni Council Receiving the grants are: Annie Smiley, a student in the Nations; Edward Dunkelblau (Ed. International Educational M., ’76), Director of the Institute Development Program, and Grace for Emotionally Intelligent Clarke Hillyer, a student in the Learning; Joan Dye Gussow (Ed.D., Health Education Program. In ’75; Ed.M., ’74), the Mary Swartz addition to Smiley and Hillyer, Rose Professor Emerita at TC; and Hakim Williams, a doctoral student Rawley Applebaum Silver (M.A., in the International Educational ’36), artist and art therapist. Development Program, has TC’s Early Career Award was received a $1,000 honorable presented to Keiichi Ogawa (Ph.D., mention award. ’99; M.A., ’97; Ed.M., ’95), Professor Smiley will use the funding to of Economics and Education at the support her dissertation research Graduate School of International training in those critical early years on scholarships for orphans and Cooperation Studies at Kobe of their careers. He also said that K– vulnerable children in Lesotho. University in Japan. 12 education must innovate across Hillyer’s research focuses on Merrow, who is also a member the board rather than continue to the need to educate uninsured of TC’s Board of Trustees, showed a rely on the same approaches to Hispanic women in New York number of clips from his NewsHour teaching and learning. And he called City regarding colorectal cancer reports highlighting some of the for national standards that clearly screening. Williams is examining problems in and out of the classroom outline the skills students need to the causes of youth violence at a that lead to educational inequity. have at various grade levels. school in Trinidad and Tobago. He also outlined some steps that he “We have to set those standards, The grant initiative is designed believes need to be taken to close and the time is right to do it,” to provide support for outstand- the gaps that hinder many poor and Merrow said. “It’s all doable, but we ing student research projects that minority students from succeeding have to do it now because time is focus on diversity in research, academically. running out.” teaching, learning, or community The nation, he said, needs to get To learn more about the building. away from the notion that anyone academic festival, go to www. can teach. Instead, school systems thinkbank2.org. For a profile of John must recruit the best teachers and Merrow, go to www.tc.edu/news/ provide them with support and article.htm?id=6958. ❖

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside May 2009 Honor Bound TC to award Booker, Shapiro, Gentile and Paterson medals at convocation ceremonies

ewark Mayor Cory Booker, former Barnard in front of the Sunset Pines Housing Project to protest College President Judith Shapiro, Teachers blatant drug dealing. College Professor Emerita Antoinette In 2000, he lived for five months in a mobile home, Gentile and New York Governor David parking on street corners where drug dealers were rampant. NPaterson will receive the College’s Medal for Distinguished (He lived for a few years in one of Newark’s most danger- Service at its 2009 Convocation exercises. ous housing projects and now resides in a rental apartment Booker, Shapiro and Paterson will receive their medals in the city’s tough south side.) On his second attempt, he at the ceremonies for master’s degree candidates on the unseated corrupt Newark Mayor Sharpe James, and has afternoon and evening of Tuesday, May 19. since enabled the city to lead the nation in reduction of Gentile will receive her medal at the doctoral ceremony shootings and murders; double its production of affordable on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 20. housing and expand special needs housing; launch a major In all, the College will award more than 1,300 master’s charter school initiative that expands offerings for high and doctoral degrees performing students during the Convocation and protects students ceremonies, which will ooker conducted a 10-day at risk; and attract new all be held at Riverside B businesses to the area Church in Manhattan. hunger strike to protest blatant and increase jobs. Booker, who also Gentile, who serves as a Trustee of drug dealing, camping out in retired in spring 2008 Teachers College, after 44 years on the won election as a tent in front of a dangerous TC faculty, is an inter- Newark’s Central Ward nationally recognized Councilman in 1998. He housing project. leader in movement quickly came to nation- sciences and neuromo- al attention not only tor research. Beginning because of what he accomplished—increased security in in the early 1970s, Gentile pioneered the applying of theo- public housing, the construction of new playgrounds, the ries of brain function in movement disorders to patient repeated challenging of the Council’s corrupt practices— treatment. Previously, treatment had been shaped largely but also because of how he accomplished it. In 1999, he by defining the extent of damage to patients’ brains. conducted a 10-day hunger strike, camping out in a tent Gentile, whose training encompassed neuro-anatomy,

Inside teachers college Columbia university ConvocationResearch Honor Bound TC to award Booker, Shapiro, Gentile and Paterson medals at convocation ceremonies

movement, motor learning and to receive the TC medal at the developmental research, focused TC’s 2009 MEDALISTS FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE College’s 2008 Convocation, but instead on the impact of environ- was unable to do so because of a ment on brain function and the sudden illness.) potential for behavioral change. Shapiro—the first woman She was an early champion of the ever appointed to the Department notion of “neuroplasticity”—the of Anthropology at the University concept that the brain can reor- of Chicago—achieved early fame ganize following trauma, shifting for her pioneering work on social functions to new regions. theory and gender differentia- Paterson, who is legally tion among the Tapirapé and blind, became known early in Yanamamo peoples in South his career for his powerful advo- America. In 1994, after serv- cacy on behalf of minorities, ing as Provost at Bryn Mawr women and those who are physi- College, she became President of cally and visually impaired. The Barnard, and under her leader- son of Basil Paterson, Harlem’s ship, applications for admission longtime champion and the first to the College soared to an all- African American to serve as New York Governor David Paterson, former time high, even as Barnard set New York’s Secretary of State, he Barnard College President Judith Shapiro, ever higher standards for selec- is recognized for his far-reaching Newark Mayor Cory Booker, and Teachers tivity. The institution also dra- understanding of health issues College Professor Emerita Antoinette Gentile matically increased its recruit- ranging from diet and exercise ment and retention of faculty to stem cell research, and for his of exceptional distinction. Under leadership in the fight for such measures as New York Shapiro, Barnard also refocused its curriculum with “Ways State’s Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act. He of Knowing,” a nationally praised model that, through has also championed causes ranging from affordable hous- nine linked areas of inquiry, explores the major cross- ing and environmental issues to architectural preserva- disciplinary means by which human knowledge has been tion and race relations, serving, particularly on the latter constructed. ❖ front, as a voice of reason and conciliation. (Paterson was

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside May 2009 Opinion What Exactly D o Trustees Do? A primer on the oft-unsung role of a college’s best friends

Editor’s Note: Teachers College is unique in many ways, Trustees perform their fiduciary responsibility by not the least of which is that it is affiliated with Columbia working with the president and top administrators to University but stands as a legally separate entity, with approve major policies, make long-range plans and oversee its own President and Board of Trustees. Below, Trustee the budget. Dawn Brill Duques (M.A., ’76) explores the roles and The board also works to preserve and protect the responsibilities of the latter. institution’s reputation by helping define, support and ecently, I gave a presentation on trusteeship protect its mission. Here the board must make decisions as to higher education graduate students at an to the number and types of degrees offered, and the depart- East Coast university. Some faculty members ments, divisions and schools or colleges through which the showed up; and, at the end of the session, a curriculum is administered. Along with that, the board Rnumber of them thanked and the administration me, and most added a must have effective and comment such as, “I had Board service may not efficient internal and no idea.” “ external communica- While researching sound so difficult, but in tions in place to ensure my dissertation on the transparency and to be courting and orienting our rapidly changing world, certain that an accurate of trustees, I learned that trustees are finding increasingly picture of their institu- many other institutional tion is being presented. stakeholders—faculty, challenging and time- Here it is important to students, parents, and the note that, like a chorus, public—lack knowledge consuming work to do. a board speaks with one about the roles of an indi- voice, one that is des- ~Trustee Dawn” Duques ignated to present the vidual trustee and of the M.A., 1976 collective board. Here is a majority position. thumbnail sketch of how trusteeship works. A major responsibility of the trustees is selecting, Boards at universities and colleges are generally made critiquing, supporting, and, when necessary, replacing the up of 30 to 45 members who operate collectively and president. They must also do the same with their fellow within committees to take on everything from reviewing trustees. academic programs to raising funds for the institution. Finally, board members have monetary responsibilities

Inside teachers college Columbia university What Exactly D o Trustees Do? A primer on the oft-unsung role of a college’s best friends

to their institutions to help in the securing of funds both management. They by donating what they can and by encouraging others to must also under- do the same. stand the concept of Board service may not sound so difficult, but in our conflict of interest, rapidly changing world, trustees are finding themselves and the inappropri- TC with increasingly challenging and time-consuming work ateness of using their Trustee to do. position to ask for Dawn They must learn to understand and address the far special favors and of Brill • Duques more heterogeneous and far more outspoken student speaking out indi- population of today. vidually when not • They have to comprehend the makeup of far more authorized to do so. complicated faculty composition as well as the tenure • Trustees must continually update their understand- system and the ramifications of using part-time and ing of campus technology with its computer labs and non-tenured faculty. classrooms, its Internet libraries, its online classes, and • They must stay abreast of far more intricate its new computer-driven communication between fac- programs: collaborations between departments and ulty and students. colleges within universities and between different • They must learn and participate in elaborate institutions; a variety of summer semesters and fundraising tactics, that include online searches for programs; special institutes and seminars run at and communication with potential donors, the design various times of the year; research programs; overseas and implementation of fundraising campaigns, the affiliates; travel abroad programs; and online degrees accepting of gifts with possible strings attached, and and programs. the approach to estate planning, deferred gifts and • They must work to understand best practices in bequests. outsourcing. Today, institutions are seeking out joint • Trustees need to understand the new globalization ventures with other schools and businesses that may of higher education. Once able to concentrate on the include anything from computers to food services. institution within its walls, boards now have to grapple • Legal responsibilities for everything from weather with competing institutions, both for- and not-for- damage to campus security have to be understood so profit, in other cities, states and even countries. that they can be handled efficiently and with concern • Higher education has become increasingly market for those involved. Trustees must be students of risk driven. Trustees must know their competition, be able Trusteeship Continued on page 11

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside May 2009 Research Applied Arts Can art play a role in adult education? TC Professor Lyle Yorks and alumna Sandra Hayes think so, and they have the examples to prove it

yle Yorks and Sandra Hayes would be the first to Yorks and Hayes’ work together began in the mid- tell you that they are scholars—not artists. 2000s while Hayes was still a doctoral student. She and L Nonetheless, Yorks, TC Associate Professor of Yorks were hired to serve as facilitators for a series of col- Adult and Continuing Education, and Hayes, who earned laborative inquiries by eight community arts leaders and her doctorate at TC in adult education in 2006, find them- activists from around the country. One of these inquiries selves in the avant garde of a movement that seeks to tap was about how the arts could foster social change. the power of the arts in facilitating adult learning. The stories they heard about the arts and how they “This is a very different world for me, for sure—and for were transforming individuals and communities proved to Lyle,” says Hayes, who is now a consultant and lecturer in be, well, transformative. TC’s Summer Principals Academy. “We are really building “We were on our way to Seattle, on a plane, and talking on other work done about the role of the arts in adult about how we were seeing the arts in adult education in a learning. While there has been some discussion about new way because of the group and the discussions, and the role of the arts in adult education, we wanted to offer then I saw an article in the [New York] Times,” Yorks says. something new or at least build on some ideas that had “It was about this program using drama and theater with been circulating in the adult learning community for some prisoners, and I said, ‘Look at this article: This is what time. We wanted to highlight the arts as a real possibility we’re talking about,’ and we thought, ‘We ought to do for adult learning.” something about all of this.’ So we started talking about A key idea driving the notion of the arts—be it how we could carry the whole idea of the arts in adult literature, painting or even music—as a powerful tool in education forward.” adult learning is that it has the potential to draw on a They did that by co-editing one of the first books person’s feeling and emotions in a way that traditional in the field to deal specifically with the role of the arts classroom instruction might not. Tapping those emotions in adult learning. Arts and Societal Learning: Transforming and engaging with others can lead to transformative Communities Socially, Politically, and Culturally, published in learning, the concept pioneered by TC scholar Jack 2007 as part of Jossey-Bass’s New Directions in Adult and Mezirow that refers to person’s complete change of Continuing Education series, includes chapters written by perception or world view. both scholars and practitioners. The goal isn’t to teach or learn a specific art form, In some ways, the volume is a practical guide with Yorks says, but instead to use the arts as a tool to help examples of how community groups are using the arts people learn about themselves and others, an essential to promote adult learning and transformation. There is a component of transformational learning. chapter, for example, on Ifetayo Cultural Arts in Brooklyn

10 Inside teachers college Columbia university Trusteeship Continued From page 9 to assess marketing trends and strategies, and assist in generating new ideas to promote their institutions to the outside world. • Budgets are increasingly tight today. Trustees must be involved in the delicate process of setting tuition rates that will bring in necessary revenues but not scare away potential students or raise the wrath of the government. They also must understand competing needs within the institution. • Communication has become increasingly important and more complicated. Not only do boards have to communicate to their institutions’ many stakeholders, by the organiza- but they also have to select from a variety of methods tion’s executive director that including open meetings; newsletters, magazines and describes how it uses the arts in community newspapers; online publications; and local and national development. Another chapter deals with the produc- print and broadcast mass media. Too, they must keep up tion of Shakespeare plays in a prison. with what other stakeholders are saying. “One thing we wanted to show was that an • Trustees must be aware of their institution’s invest- important component of adult education takes place ment strategies. From property purchases, complicated outside the classroom,” York says. “And, at least for me, rental agreements and joint ventures with other busi- it was important to show that you can use art as part of nesses to investments in stock and bonds, trustees have the learning process but you don’t have to be an artist to understand and weigh in on the choices that are being yourself. You can have a relationship to art that is part made. of the learning process, but you don’t have to have a • Trustees need to understand the new rules and particular grounding in art per se.” regulations set forth and the recordkeeping and reporting Since publishing the book, Yorks and Hayes mandated by the federal government for higher education remain as convinced as ever about the transformative and be ready to sign off on them. power of the arts. Both the agree that art has had a • Finally, trustees cannot rest on their knowledge base. powerful affect on human learning and development They must keep up with the rapidly changing trends and for a very long time, but the scholarly attention from mandated changes within the field of higher education. the field of adult education has the potential to make Board members have a lot to deal with, but deal they its contributions more visible and understood. can and do. For various reasons, but all for the good of “I think the role of the arts in education has been their institutions, they will continue to sing their school’s there all along,” Hayes says. “We just brought it to the praises, but they must be certain that their songs are well fore, made it more visible. I think the time was right for studied and well performed. that. It was up to people like us to take up the mantle. Dawn Brill Duques earned her M.A. from Teachers College How much the idea of the arts in adult education and Ed.D. from Nova Southeastern University. She joined TC’s develops will depend on how much interest this book Board of Trustees in 2007. She is also a former member of the generates, and how much those of us who believe in Board of Trustees of Mitchell College, and a member of the this continue to put these things out there in front of National Council on Education and Human Development at The ❖ people.” George Washington University. ❖

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside May 2009 11 Community A Patron of TC Art Funding from foundations established by alumnus Colonel Eugene Myers has had a tangible influence on the College’s art scene

f you page through some of the exhibition catalogues mote, particularly because we now have state-of-the-art and other publications produced by the Art and digital projection which enables us to do all sorts of excit- Art Education Program at Teachers College, you’re ing and innovative work. And, perhaps most significantly, likely to come across the following acknowledge- it has allowed us to bring a litany of diverse and prestigious Iment: “This publication has been made possible through speakers from all parts of the world to Teachers College.” the generous support of the Florence H. and Eugene E. Colonel Myers was a decorated war veteran, museum Myers Charitable Remainder Unitrust.” administrator and philanthropist. During World War II, It would be easy to overlook the acknowledgement he served in the Pacific and was later appointed Chief of tucked amid the glossy photos and lithographs. What isn’t Protocol and Chief of the Air Force Presentation Support so easy to overlook, however, is Division based at the Pentagon. He received his master’s the influence of the late Colonel degree from TC in drawing, painting and graphics in 1947, Eugene E. Myers (M.A., ’47) and was an instructor at the College from 1940 to 1941. and his wife, Florence, on TC’s He retired from the Air Force as a colonel in 1966, and art scene over the past decade. became Dean of the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, The trust funds creat- D.C., and later Vice President for Management of the ed by Colonel Myers in the Corcoran Gallery of Art. In 1974, he married Florence 1990s (and since renamed Hutchinson. the Myers Foundations) have In 1997, Myers established the trusts to support art funded an array of art educa- in higher education and selected TC, as well as other tion publications, exhibitions institutions he had attended, to receive funding. Today, the and other initiatives at both TC’s Foundations support a wide range of projects and facilities Macy Gallery and the College’s around the country, including the Colonel Eugene Myers Gottesman Libraries. Gallery at the University of North Dakota. Today, the “The funding has had a major Myers Foundations are administered by trustee Joseph M. influence at TC,” says Judith Fleming, who facilitates the funding process each year for Burton, Director of TC’s Art and Art Education Program. TC and the other colleges or universities. “It’s allowed us to improve the quality of Macy Gallery, At TC, the support has made possible the preservation and it has allowed us to offer a very sophisticated presen- of five major art collections in the Gottesman Libraries, tation of the work we do here through our galleries. It has including one by Edwin Ziegfeld that numbers more also had a major impact on the kinds of art we can pro- than 300 paintings, drawings, prints and collages made

12 Inside teachers college Columbia university A Patron of TC Art Funding from foundations established by alumnus Colonel Eugene Myers has had a tangible influence on the College’s art scene

by young people from 32 countries. Ziegfeld was a TC exhibition catalogues and other faculty member from 1945 to 1970 and was founder of publications. Burton says the the International Society for Art Education, a division of first publication funded by the UNESCO. Myers was a student of Ziegfeld’s during his Myers Foundations was an years at TC. illustrated volume, The Ziegfeld Brian Hughes, Associate Director of the Gottesman Collection: International Artworks of Adolescents from the 1950s. Libraries, says funding has also allowed the library to In more recent years, Burton established the “Practices of create a digital art residency program, which brings artists Investigation” series, which focuses on pedagogy, art and to TC to conduct research and create artworks. The digital research. To date, the series has produced nine books and art developed by the artists is exhibited at the library. Last monographs. year, the library hosted three artists, and Hughes says plans Burton also established the Myers Lecture series that are to bring another cohort to the College this summer. brings four or five artists or scholars to speak at TC, often “The residency program has allowed us to do in conjunction with TC’s annual Conversations Across something that adds to Macy Gallery’s program,” Hughes Cultures series. “That has provided a tremendous resource says. “Because of the library’s mission to work with new to go outside of our expertise and bring here for lectures technologies, and thanks to the Myers funding, we’ve been and workshops people who can add richness to our teach- able to better explore digital art.” ing,” Burton says. “It’s allowed us to be responsive to The money also supports gallery space in the library people and ideas in art and art education.” and production of outreach materials related to the various To honor Florence and Eugene Myers, the Art and installations and exhibitions. In addition, the library, Art Education Program commissioned eminent artist and Hughes says, is planning to use some of the funding to TC ceramics instructor Tom Lollar to create a mural. The commission art. Plans are in the works to have an artist mural, which is composed of a set of ceramic tiles, was create artwork focused on community building as part of completed in 2004 and adorns the foyer in Whittier Hall. orientation for new students in the fall. “Colonel Myers was very pro-Teachers College and “We really try to make good use of that funding,” was very proud of having been here,” says Burton, who Hughes says. “We’re able to able to do a lot of good things met with him on several occasions before his death. “And with art in terms of collecting and exhibiting works that he was very proud of the quality of the work we did and we wouldn’t be able to do otherwise.” the seriousness with which we used the money. I think he The funding also has helped the Art and Art would be very pleased to see what the funding has allowed Education Program publish a number of monographs, us to accomplish.” ❖

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside May 2009 13 Leading Latino Research A new TC faculty working group is bringing greater visibility to educating Hispanics in the United States

hen Regina Cortina, Associate The reality, Cortina says, is that there are actually a Professor of Education, joined the number of faculty members doing research on Latinos at TC Teachers College faculty in the fall of and even more on issues that affect them. However, their 2007, she was already an established work simply wasn’t unified and accessible. So Cortina and Wscholar, known for her research on gender equity and Bartlett set out to change things, first by bringing faculty education among girls and women in Latin America. and students together to share their research through the Eager to get a sense of the kind of research being done working group, and then establishing an online presence by her new colleagues at TC on Latinos—in the United (www.tc.edu/latino-ed) on the College’s Web site that she States and elsewhere—she turned to the College’s Web hopes will evolve over time into a clearinghouse for TC site. research on Latinos. “I typed in the word Latino and basically didn’t “The research just was not easily available to people,” get anything,” she says. “The Cortina says. “If you were only thing that showed up looking for it on the Web was a study by Professor I typed in the word site, you’d have to do a tre- Francisco Rivera-Batiz, and “ mendous amount of work. that was from 2004. So I said Latino and basically didn’t Now, at least, it’s in one to myself, ‘That’s not going place.” to work.’” get anything...So I said Over the course of the A year and a half after to myself, ‘That’s not academic year, the working Cortina’s initial Web search group has met periodically to and, thanks in large measure going to work. hear presentations from fac- to her efforts, things have ulty ranging from Assistant ~Professor Regina” Cortina changed. Prompted by the Professor Christopher Emdin lack of visibility of Latino on his work, with students research at TC, Cortina and TC colleague Lesley Bartlett, in the Bronx and Harlem, to Associate Professor Michelle Assistant Professor of Education, put together a proposal Knight on Latino critical theory. for seed funding from the Provost Opportunity Fund in the In addition, the group launched a speaker series that fall of 2007 to establish the Latina/o and Latin American to date has brought three prominent education scholars Faculty Working Group that now numbers more than 25 to TC to discuss Latino education, often in conjunction faculty, students and administrators. with the Working Group on Latin American Migration, a

14 Inside teachers college Columbia university Research Leading Latino Research A new TC faculty working group is bringing greater visibility to educating Hispanics in the United States

separate initiative Cortina helped organize with professors at Columbia and New York University. For Nicolas Stahelin, a doctoral student in international development, the potential of the working group was made clear when it hosted the first speaker in the series, Gates Foundation Program Officer Gilberto Conchas. More than 80 faculty members, students and staff packed the conference room at 179 Grace Dodge Hall UNIF YING COMMunit y to hear the presentation. Professors Regina “But what was most special for me was when we Cortina (middle) had the reception after Gilberto Conchas’ talk, I saw and colleague Lesley Bartlett (bottom) put together a both students and professors having a chance to really proposal for seed funding from the Provost Opportunity talk for the first time about how much their work had Fund to promote the visibility of Latino research at TC in common,” says Stahelin, who developed the working and establish the Latina/o and Latin American Faculty group’s Web site. “TC is a big institution, and it’s easy to Working Group—which now numbers more than 25 faculty, lose track of what other people are doing. But once you students and administrators. Web developer and doctoral get students and faculty talking, they can see how much, student Nicolas Stahelin (top) launched the working through collaboration, they can enhance and strengthen group’s Web site, www.tc.edu/latino-ed, at the group’s each other’s work. The working group, I think, can help inaugural event last fall. nurture and promote those discussions.” In addition to creating a forum for faculty research “Many of those schools have high levels of Latino on Latino issues and increasing the visibility of that work students,” Cortina says. “We need to train the students both within and outside the institution, Cortina said a who can serve these communities and schools. We have third focus—an area that the group has invested much time the programs in bilingual school psychology, bilingual discussing—is increasing the number of Latino students at speech pathology and in bilingual/bicultural education. TC. These are high-need areas, but the reality is that we don’t The working group has sought to make a strong case have the Latino students. We need to find more funding for a more aggressive recruitment and enrollment of Latino for these students so they can come to TC, and I think the students by focusing on TC’s increasing commitment to working group can serve as a support structure when they working with Harlem public schools. come here.” ❖

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside May 2009 15 A Method to H is Research TC’s Michael Lau puts the widely used survey research tool, the Likert scale, under the microscope to make sure it yields valid results

ost people don’t recognize the term “Likert certain things methodologically, you can wind up with scale,” but almost everyone knows the different results—or come up with spurious results.” thing itself: the familiar questionnaire It is that possibility for distortion that drove Lau, in which a respondent reads a statement an expert in quantitative methods, to examine some of Mand then picks an answer that best describes his or the biases that can creep into Likert scales, specifically her reaction to it, ranging from, say, “strongly agree” to a phenomenon known as extreme response style (ERS), “strongly disagree.” or the tendency of some respondents to choose the more In the social sciences, extreme ends of a scale regardless of what a given statement the Likert scale is such a might say. dexterous instrument that There is nothing wrong with choosing a more extreme researchers can—and do— option, Lau says, if it is an accurate reflection of the degree use it to gauge attitudes to which a person endorses a given statement. If, however, about everything from polit- the way that the scale is presented affects these responses, ical issues to how roman- then the validity of the responses becomes suspect. So, tic we consider ourselves as the focus of his dissertation at the University of Notre to be. Not surprisingly, it Dame, Lau tested three aspects of a Likert scale that could has become the most widely lead people to respond using the more extreme options. used attitude scale in survey One possible bias he examined was the use of absolute research. terms. Would, for example, a questionnaire that used the Given its ubiquity, it term “completely disagree” versus something less defini- would be easy to assume that the Likert scale is beyond tive, such as “strongly disagree,” lead more people to opt reproach—an assumption Michael Lau, Assistant Professor for an extreme response? He also analyzed whether label- of Counseling Psychology at Teachers College, believes ing only the end points of a scale might lead to ERS. And would be a mistake. he also considered the length of questionnaires and the “We take a lot of scientific methods for granted,” says role fatigue might play in leading people to choose an Lau, who joined the TC faculty in 2007. “We’ve elevated extreme answer. science to a level where we trust it. Where we say: ‘There Lau found that the length of a test and the labeling are no problems with these methods.’ Actually, if you look of only the extremes in a scale weren’t important. He into methodology and philosophical assumptions, you’ll detected little evidence of ERS in either case. The use of find a lot of gray areas. In other words, if you tinker with absolute terms, however, did result in evidence of ERS.

16 Inside teachers college Columbia university Faculty A Method to H is Research TC’s Michael Lau puts the widely used survey research tool, the Likert scale, under the microscope to make sure it yields valid results

The more absolute the terms, the more likely respondents research methodology by collaborating with a number of were to choose one of the extremes. his colleagues in exploring methodological issues within Lau hastens to add, however, that he is not calling into a number of areas ranging from reviewing and critiquing question the overall accuracy of Likert scales. The effect research methods that could be effective in the study he found was relatively small and would not have been of racial microaggressions—a term that has come to significant enough to raise concern for most researchers. mean various subtle insults directed toward minorities, Nevertheless, he hopes his study will help to scholars who often unconsciously—to using qualitative methodologies use Likert scales to understand potential biases. in building theories on gender roles in various ethnic “It’s really an issue of accuracy,” Lau says. “You want groups. to get a sense that the results are not a function of how In the end, Lau says he has come away from his research you put together the scale, but rather that it reflects with an appreciation of the power of the Likert scale— solely a person’s attitude and its potential to whatever it is that limitations. you are measuring. My We take a lot of scientific “I think the dissertation shows that “ goal of the disserta- how you label things in methods for granted. Actually, if tion was to inform,” terms of absolute terms he says. “If you can have an effect.” you look into methodology and are trying to run a For now, Lau is at study and putting a loss to explain why philosophical assumptions, you’ll together a ques- an absolute term would find a lot of gray areas. tionnaire, what can make it more likely for you do to minimize people to select it than ~Professor” Michael Lau issues of extreme a less definite term. His responding? Can original hypothesis was the opposite: A less definitive you use certain ways of phrasing the anchor points—the term would more likely yield more extreme responses. extremes—that might minimize extreme responding? The One possible explanation, he says, is that a less definitive answer is that you can, and if you minimize potential term simply doesn’t map fully a respondent’s attitude or methodological biases, you are going to get more valid and feeling. accurate results.” ❖ At TC, Lau has continued his general interest in

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside May 2009 17 Research Talking About Education in Africa A TC student group convenes an inaugural symposium for scholars and students

’m not a scholar of edu- and its evolving educational systems. Portia Williams, TC’s Director for cation, so what am I The symposium was organized by the International Affairs, who herself “I doing here?” Mahmood College’s African Studies Working spent more than six years directing Mamdani asked his bemused audi- Group (ASWG), which numbers education and development pro- ence as he began his keynote address some 25 TC students. grams in East and Southern Africa, at the first Student Symposium Besides offering a chance to panel sessions throughout the day on African Education at Teachers exchange research and ideas, the covered a wide range of educational College on February 27. goals of the conference were simple, issues facing the continent, includ- Mamdani might not be according to its organizers. “It’s a ing improving school quality, alter- an education scholar, but as an chance to network, make connec- native approaches to teaching and expert in African history and poli- tions and for graduate students to learning, and universal primary edu- tics and Professor of Government practice presenting in a less formal cation. With more than 50 countries and Anthropology at Columbia environment,” said doctoral student spread across the African continent, University, he was more than com- Annie Smiley, a conference orga- it was impossible to cover them all fortable discussing how history and nizer and panelist, who has been an in a day, Smiley said. Nonetheless, social change have framed educa- ASWG member since its founding panelists discussed developments tional policy in Africa. in 2003. and educational initiatives in coun- Mamdani’s speech was the cul- The idea of putting on a con- tries from Mali to Zambia, Nigeria minating event of a full day of discus- ference came to Smiley and ASWG to Mozambique. sions among students and scholars Co-chair Chidimma Agwu- “There was a great deal of enthu- from TC and elsewhere about Africa Jones, a master’s degree student siasm about the event. A lot of people in the International Educational networked and made connections KEYNOTING Columbia’s Herbert Development Program, last spring that will last beyond the conference,” Lehman Professor of Government and after another TC student group, Smiley wrote in a post-conference e- Anthropology, Mahmood Mamdani. To the Association of Latin American mail. “And I think we helped estab- download Scholars, organized its sixth annual lish TC as a major center of scholar- symposium conference. ship on African education.” presentation “We thought: If they can do it, “Overall, it was a great sympo- PDFs, visit we can too,” Smiley said. sium,” Agwu-Jones said. “We look www.tc.edu/ And so they did. forward to planning another one students/ After welcoming remarks by next year.” ❖ aswg.

18 Inside teachers college Columbia university People TC at Work: Danielle Curtis Telling the TC story to prospective students

Who She Is employee, and a fulltime Danielle Curtis’ official title employee. So I think I is Admissions Counselor, but she have unique perspective on TC and, graduating this semester stop me will be the first to tell you that she of course, I’ve loved all of my expe- in the hallway and tell me ‘You wears many hats. She also serves as riences here.” gave me a tour back when I was a the TC Admissions Office’s transfer Background prospective student. I have had an incredible experience here. You gave credit coordinator and campus visit She grew up on a seven-acre me such a great perspective on TC.’ coordinator. Curtis spends much farm near New Haven, Connecticut, That was a great moment, and I was of the fall traveling to graduate and received a bachelor’s degree in so happy to have been part of her school fairs to recruit students. English from George Washington experience here at TC.” Her specialty area is the Arts University. She spent a year as a Administration Program, but will paralegal in order to prepare for law Did you know? often recruit students for all of the school, but changed her mind and “I actually ride horses competi- other TC academic programs. When decided to pursue a career in higher tively. I do my riding on the week- back at the office, Curtis manages education. ends and a few nights during the campus visits for prospective Best Part of the Job week I try to get out to Connecticut and accepted students, and once and ride. I even trained horses pro- “For me, it’s seeing students enrolled, she helps them get credit fessionally for a little while—kind of from the first moment they learn for any graduate-level courses they on the side. I’ve been riding since I about TC—when I’m on the road, may have taken elsewhere. was 10. I had actually been allergic for example—and seeing them to horses and then around 12 or 13 Time at TC through the process. You get to see my allergies started to dissipate, so Curtis joined the admissions them actually accepted and enroll I started riding and competing. I office in 2006 as a work-study stu- and then you see them on campus. love horses, and I’m lucky enough dent while completing her master’s Being able to see these students go to have three of them. They’re my degree in higher and postsecondary through that whole evolution is outlet outside of work and outside education. She took her current really a unique perspective.” position in August of 2007, after of city life. I’m not a city person earning her degree. “I’ve been a Most Memorable by nature, so it’s nice to have that part-time student. I’ve been a full- TC Experience outlet.” ❖ time student. I’ve been a part-time “I just had a student who is

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside May 2009 19 TC Campus News

Bill Cosby of poverty and lack of opportunity Examining Discusses Urban extend well beyond the black Education in Latin community. “It’s not a black issue, Education at TC it’s an American issue,” said Noguera America of intergenerational poverty. “There In April, the Association of Latin are a lot of white people in this American Scholars (ALAS) at Teach- country who also have been left ers College hosted its Seventh Annual behind…I think we make a mistake Education Across the Americas Con- of framing it only in racial terms.” ference. The conference, which drew Cosby sharply disagreed. scholars and doctoral students from “You have to frame it in racial throughout the country, featured an terms,” Cosby said. “I don’t care address by Sylvia Schmelkes, former Comedian Bill Cosby made a return about white people. I’m aiming at director of bilingual and intercul- appearance at Teachers College on my people. We have a problem. What tural education at the Mexican Min- March 11 as part of his ongoing I am saying is that we are 13 or 14 istry of Education. conversation with TC students on percent of the population, yet we The conference was sponsored issues of race, poverty and urban are No. 1 in what? In people going by the Institute of Latin American education. into prison. It is our problem. I want Studies at Columbia University, the Cosby, who has emerged in my people to be able to appreciate Office of Student Activities and Pro- recent years as a staunch critic of each other.” grams, the Teachers College Stu- what he perceives to be a culture Cosby’s appearance at the Cowin dent Senate, the Latina/o and Latin of victimhood among African Center was his third since February American Faculty Working Group at Americans, engaged in a sometimes of 2008—all them discussions about TC, and the Working Group on Latin spirited discussion with fellow race, poverty and culture. Over the American Migration. panelists Pedro Noguera, Professor years, the comedian has maintained of Education at New York University; close ties to TC. His late son, Ennis, and Christopher Johnson, Principal was an alumnus of the College, of the Benjamin Franklin High School and Cosby was awarded TC’s Medal in Philadelphia. for Distinguished Service in 1998. More than once, the discussion The discussion was sponsored by took on the trappings of a debate, the Office of Student Activities and Talking Shop Bradley Levinson of Indiana with Noguera arguing that issues Programs. University and TC’s Regina Cortina at ALAS

20 Inside teachers college Columbia university TC Rocks Earth Day a way of reaching newborn babies Folk singer Pete Seeger headlines all the way up to elderly people. It’s day devoted to promoting the a beautiful thing to watch and be a environment at the College’s first part of.” Rockin’ Earth Day Fest Seeger, a longtime environ- “This world is going to be saved mental activist, was the headline not by big things but by millions act—the lineup also featured bands and millions of little things,” Broken Wind, Urban Sun and Sounds announced folk music legend Pete of Cuba—that drew hundreds of Seeger to the sun-soaked hundreds people to the College for the event who gathered in Russell Courtyard intended to promote the environ- for Teacher College’s Rockin’ Earth ment. date, Art and Art Education) and Day Fest on April 18. Vendors and display tables filled Natalie Hadad (M.A. candidate, So began Seeger’s performance the courtyard, where people could Developmental Psychology), has at TC, switching between his banjo learn about different green initia- launched a pilot project to increase and 12-string guitar as he sang tives like green markets and other recycling at the College. Other ini- classics like “This Land is Your local food movements, purchase tiatives designed to make TC more Land” before an appreciative and organic baked goods or herbal eco-friendly are also in the works. enthusiastic audience, often urg- drinks, and even make art, instru- “We hope people who came to ing everyone to sing along, as with ments and clothing from recycled the festival learned how they can the syncopated chorus in “Take It materials. reduce their carbon footprint,” from Dr. King:” The idea behind the Rockin’ Earth Stein said. “We hope they learned Don’t say it can’t be done/ Day Fest began in the fall after the how important Mother Earth is The battle’s just begun/Take Go Green Committee learned that and how the way we live our lives it from Dr. King/You too can Brita, the German company that really impacts our future. We hope learn to sing/So drop the gun makes water filtering products, attendees saw how to think cre- “I think Pete was a perfect was sponsoring a $10,000 grant for atively when it comes to the envi- choice for this event because of his a college-initiated environmental ronment, and we also hope people commitment to the environment event or project. had fun and celebrated the earth.” and the way he lives his life,” said Though the committee didn’t TC student Jaymie Stein, co-chair get the grant, the effort provided of the Go Green Committee, which the impetus for what became the organized the event. “We wanted Rockin Earth Day Festival. a musician who many generations In addition to the Festival, could relate the Go Green Committee, which is to. Pete has co-chaired by Stein (M.A. candi-

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside April 2009 21 Celebrating bia-Pr ince ton Philanthropy in Club in midtown Manhattan, drew Tough Times about 100 donors TC honors donors for their and students. generosity and support of students This year, the at annual Scholarship Luncheon gloomy economic Every Thursday morning, picture that has Teachers College doctoral stu- affected endow- Celebrating Scholarship TC alumna Elaine Wolfensohn, doc- dent Guillermo Marini leaves the ments and bud- toral student Guillermo Marini and President Susan Fuhrman Upper Westside of Manhattan and gets of colleges travels to Rikers Island, New York and universities large and small to minimize tuition increases, as City’s largest jail. There, he sets lent a keener sense of urgency to well.” about the task of helping some of the proceedings. Elaine Wolfensohn, who the teenagers and young adults “By helping our students, received a master’s degree from imprisoned in the vast facil- you are, by extension, helping TC in 1997 and currently serves on ity document their life stories the many generations of scholars the President’s Advisory Council on paper as part of TC’s Student and professionals whom they, in and the International Advisory Press Initiative. turn, will teach, influence and Council, addressed the gathering It is work that has deeply inspire to similarly go on and on behalf of donors. In 2002, she affected his notion of education find ways to improve the world,” endowed the Wolfensohn Family and social justice. President Susan Fuhrman told the Foundation Scholarship Fund at “I confess that my under- donors. “That’s ever truer dur- TC to provide scholarships for standing of what education is ing tough times like these. With international students. has changed for good and for- the problems we face today, the Wolfensohn said she traveled ever,” said Marini, who calls the world has perhaps an even great- the world during the 10 years program “the highest point” in er need for gifted teachers, com- her husband, James Wolfensohn, his Ph.D. work in philosophy and mitted researchers, and expe- was president of the World Bank, education. “If not a fun or always rienced practitioners. Similarly, visiting schools and meeting with uplifting task, going to jail every the founding vision of Teachers teachers, students and parents. Thursday morning and spending College, which was to bring edu- Endowing a scholarship, she hours of work with the students cational opportunity to all mem- said, is a key way to make a TC and teachers seems to me real bers of society, also becomes education possible for students and educational in every possible important. throughout the world. sense.” Fuhrman added that although “I focused on international Marini, who receives financial the current “financial turbu- students not only because the support through an Arthur Zankel lence” has been challenging, rest of the world needs better Urban Fellowship, spoke about his TC is committed “to not only to teachers as much as we do—if experiences at Rikers Island in maintaining financial aid, but in not more—but also because there early April at the College’s annual fact to increasing it. Next year, is so much to learn from hav- Scholarship Luncheon. aid will be increased by $1 mil- ing the international students at The event, held at the Colum- lion, and we are doing all we can Teachers College,” Wolfensohn

22 Inside teachers college Columbia university said. Referring to her travels, she New Employees Lelia Spears added, “No matter how poor the Teachers College was pleased to Academic Specialist, National country I was in, in each country welcome the following new employees Center for Restructuring of something creative and wonder- in January, February and March. Education, Schools & Teaching ful was happening.” Inside will now list new employees as Nicolas Stahelin Marini, meanwhile, told donors their information is processed and Assistant Director, Peace Corps that his is also the recipient becomes available from the Office of Fellows Program of a Weinberg Fellowship. That Human Resources. If you are a new fellowship has made it possible employee and are not listed below, for him to work with other TC please contact the Office of Human Promotions students to develop the Philosophy Resources, and we will include you in Samantha Lu Outreach Program that engages an upcoming issue. Director, Office of International high school students in Harlem in Student Services philosophical discussions about Samira Afzali life and its meaning. The program, Program Coordinator, Office of he said, has grown to include five International Affairs Honoring Long- high schools. Inez Alexander term Service to TC “With the help of Sue Ann Faculty Associate, Department of In an effort to recognize employees, Weinberg and the enduring Arts and Humanities Inside will list staff members who have generosity of Arthur Zankel and provided 10 or more years of service his family,” Marini said, “I am in Maria Delgado Program Coordinator, NCREST to the College in an issue following the fortunate position of focusing their employment anniversary. Below all of my attention on my studies Katherine Hutter are those employees with anniversary and research interests.” Director of Advancement Services, dates in January and February. If you Development and External Affairs have 10 or more years of service and Spanning the Timothy Ignaffo are not listed, please contact the Globe Program Manager/Field Coordinator, Office of Human Resources, and we Teachers College celebrated Curriculum and Teaching will include you in an upcoming issue International Week from April 1 of Inside. to 8 with a flurry of activities, Barbara Kantrowitz ...... Years of Service including everything from Greek Editor, Hechinger Institute on dance lessons and a Bollywood Education and the Media Maureen Horgan...... 42 night to a ring toss at the Taiwan- Monica Marx Associate Director of ese Night Market pictured below. Instructor, Department of Administrative Services, Curriculum and Teaching Gottesman Libraries

Maeve O’Grady Aida Christian...... 40 Academic Secretary, Health and Secretary, Office of the Registrar Behavior Studies Connie McQueen...... 38 Birger Ohlsson Senior Loan Coordinator, Office of Academic Specialist/ Financial Aid Coordinator, NCREST

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside May 2009 23 Robert Tucker...... 35 Scott Schnackenberg...... 17 Director of Academic Director, Office of Institutional Administration, Department of Studies Inside Health and Human Behavior James Jimenez...... 15 Volume 14 • number 6 Dilcia Linares...... 33 Painter, Maintenance NEXT ISSUE: June 2009 Library Assistant, Gottesman DEADLINE: May 22, 2009 Patrice Nichols...... 15 Libraries Program Manager, NCREST Inside, the newsletter of Roselouise Daly...... 31 Teachers College, Columbia University, Vincent Del Bagno...... 13 is produced by the office of Library Assistant, Gottesman Director of Capital Projects, External Affairs. Libraries Office of Construction www.tc.edu/inside Robert Schwartz...... 31 Management Assistant Director of the Business Executive Director, Alex Bass...... 12 Services Center, Duplicating external affairs Custodian, Operations Joe Levine Services Corine Best Campbell...... 12 Carole Saltz...... 25 Director of media relations Coordinator, Plant Facilities Patricia Lamiell Director, Teachers College Press Ivo Antoniazzi...... 12 Web Director Nadine Boston...... 24 Academic Computing Analyst, Paul Acquaro Loan Counselor, Office of Office of Academic Computing Financial Aid ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF Publications Maureen Coughlin...... 11 Claudette Chung...... 23 Lisa A. Farmer Director of Telecommunications Secretary, Office of the Registrar and Classroom Technology, Senior writer/editor Rance Osborne...... 22 Office of Academic Computing Victor Inzunza Painter, Department of Seynabou Diop...... 11 Administrative Assistant Maintenance Kalena Rosario Program Coordinator, Online Jennifer Govan...... 22 M.A. Program Editorial Assistants Associate Director, Gottesman Natalie Hadad Patrizia Magni...... 11 Elise Martingale Libraries Academic Computing Analyst, Francis Webster...... 22 Office of Academic Computing Copyright 2009 by Associate Director, Gottesman Teachers College, Columbia University Inkyung Pini...... 11 Libraries Human Resources Assistant, Contact Us! Brian Ellerbeck...... 20 Office of Human Resources We want to hear from you! Executive Acquisitions Editor, Jacqueline Diaz...... 10 To submit story ideas or other Teachers College Press information of interest, visit: Director of Student Accounts, www.tc.edu/newsbureau/newsrequest.htm Dennis Chambers...... 20 Office of the Controller or e-mail: [email protected] Security Officer, Public Safety or send via campus mail to: Office of External Affairs, Box 306

24 Inside teachers college Columbia university BetterT ogether Teachers College Annual Fund 2008-2009

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8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside May 2009 25 Research Remembering a Trailblazer TC Professor Josephine Rathbone’s career in physical education and health spanned six decades in a male-dominated field

t’s just a picture of a group at Norwalk Community College, who degrees in physiology, decided a of people smiling back at the was one of Rathbone’s students at few years ago that one of the camera, but to Carol Ewing Springfield College, where she taught chief troubles with modern men & Garber, Associate Professor of after retiring from TC. women is that they do not know IMovement Sciences, it speaks volumes Griese, who was Rathbone’s grad- how to relax.” about its time. Taken in the early uate assistant and has researched her The description of Rathbone was 1960s, it shows Josephine Rathbone— career, recalled coming across a Time the kind of patronizing attitude that the lone woman founding member she would endure in her career, but of the American College of Sports Griese said that when he met her late Medicine (ACSM)—amid five men. in her life, she was neither bitter nor “When you think about the role phased by working in a field domi- of women when she started and being nated by men. Instead, he found her to the only woman founder of ACSM and be strong, confident and kind. then realize that now more than half of “She had her cake and ate it, the attendees at the annual meeting are too,” Griese says. “She was definitely women, it illustrates how far ahead of a strong person and a pioneer in so her time she was,” Garber says. many areas, and she nonetheless exem- Rathbone, a professor of health plified very traditional feminine ways and physical education at TC from in many aspects. 1930 to 1958, is considered among the Rathbone, a TC professor of health and “She was not a large person, but pioneering American scholars in the physical education from 1930 to 1958, is she could fill up a room. There was cer- considered a pioneering American schol- field of physical education and activity tainly an unquestioned air of author- ars in the field of physical education. for those with disabilities. Rathbone’s ity—a quietly strong one about her. life and times were the subject of a ret- There was never any question about rospective at TC on March 31 as part magazine article from 1939 that featured who was in charge in the classroom. of Women’s History Month. the then-Assistant Professor at TC and She had a tremendous air of comfort The event, “Josephine Rathbone, her work on relaxation. It began: with herself, with who she was and Ph.D.: A Role Model for Contemporary “Dr. Josephine L. Rathbone wor- what she had done.” Women in Academia and the ries about people who worry. Dr. During a career that spanned six Professions,” was organized by Garber Rathbone, a stocky, cheerful little decades, Rathbone became known and featured the reflections of Tyler woman who rowed four years on for her work on adaptive physical Griese, Assistant Director of Fitness the Wellesley crew and got three education, or physical activity for

26 Inside teachers college Columbia university Schetelick Continued From Back COver The facility’s music, theater and visual arts teachers are mostly professionals turned educators; members of the community serve as artists-in-residents for six to 12 weeks every semester. “The fact that it’s a small school and that it’s a charter school are two things that drew those with disabilities. Her CELEBRATING A LEGACY TC Associate Professor Carol me here,” says Schetelick, who book, Corrective Physical Garber (left) organized a retrospective event on formerly worked as a literacy Education, published in Josephine Rathbone at TC on March 31 as part of consultant in Newark and Women’s History Month, featuring reflections by 1934, was one of the first Manhattan. “Since I began Tyler Griese, Assistant Director of Fitness at Norwalk on that topic in the United teaching, I’ve looked for small Community College (right). States and became a classic settings, because they offer the text, going through seven health and wellness. opportunity for change.” editions over some 30 years. In 1954, Rathbone and her hus- At 37, Schetelick not Rathbone joined the TC fac- band, the eminent Springfield College only embraces change, he ulty in 1930 as an instructor while physiologist Peter Karpovich, helped pursues it. Thus the decision still a doctoral student in physiol- found the Federation of Sports to shift academic focus: After ogy at Columbia University. She Medicine, which the following year earning graduate degrees in was appointed Assistant Professor changed its name to the American teaching English and in English of Physical Education in 1936 and College of Sports Medicine, now a education—both at Teachers promoted to Associate Professor in flagship organization for the field College—he’s now concentrating 1942. She was never promoted to full with some 20,000 members around on the leadership track. professor. the world. In 1974, the organiza- How does it feel to be In addition to work in adaptive tion awarded Rathbone its highest simultaneously a consumer physical education, Rathbone wrote honor. of education and a producer? extensively about the medical appli- After her death in 1989, ACSM To be honest, Schetelick says, cations of exercise for rehabilitation created the Josephine L. Rathbone there’s not that much difference and the role of relaxation as part Memorial Breakfast at its annual between the two roles. of overall well-being. At TC, she meeting—an event that Garber rou- “In my mind, everything is established a relaxation clinic, which tinely attends. teaching and learning. Even as a treated patients for stress and other “It’s one way that her legacy is classroom teacher and now as a ailments by teaching them ways to honored, and the breakfast focuses director in a leadership role, my relax. on the role of women in the college day at work is full of opportunity She also wrote books that were and women’s roles in sports and for learning,” he says. “Every time widely read by lay reader, including exercise-related professions,” Garber I’m in a classroom speaking with How to Relax and Health in Your said. “She was a visionary and trail- a student is a chance to learn a Daily Living, and was routinely blazer and I and others owe her a little more and at the same time quoted in the press on issues of great debt.” ❖ to apply a little learning.” ❖

8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND ONLINE AT: www.tc.edu/inside May 2009 27 “The idea of becoming too comfortable with your Taking the surroundings is a big issue for me. I like to jump start myself and my ways of thinking about myself,” says Schetelick, a doctoral candidate in the Curriculum and Teaching Road Teaching Program at Teachers College and Upper School Director of the Bronx Charter School for the Arts. Just how many points on the globe has the New Less Traveled Jersey native lived in or visited? Take a deep breath: “Almost every country in South America, every one in Central America, almost every state in the United States, Doctoral student Ryan Schetelick’s Western Europe, Japan, Korea, Thailand. I haven’t been to wanderlust has led him around the Australia, but I have been to Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar.” world to ‘a lovely little school’ He taught English to wives of wealthy businessmen in the Bronx in Kyoto and high school students in the urban jungle of Guatemala City. He tended bar in Japan to better absorb wo photos of a beach in Zanzibar tacked to his the country’s rhythms and fell in love with Thailand’s office corkboard tell everything you need to know spicy cuisine. These experiences inform both Schetelick’s about Ryan Schetelick: Travel is not mere passion, T world view and his approach to education, which in some but a full-blown compulsion. ways are one and the same. “It’s the idea that the way you are thinking and the truth that you hold may not be that cemented, that reality is different for different people in different countries,” he says. “Keeping that in mind makes you live your life in a more critical way, questioning norms, asking both teachers and students to dig a little more deeply into beliefs they hold and why they hold them.” Reality for Schetelick these days is a converted building in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx whose current occupants speculate it might once have been used to store sausage. Now painted in colors evoking the sunny outdoors, the school is home to 300 students from kindergarten through the sixth grade, 30 teachers, and walls filled with youngsters’ artworks. “It’s a really lovely little school,” says Schetelick, who is midway into his second year on the job as upper school director. Continued on page 27

Student Profile  28 Inside teachers college Columbia university 8 ALL ARTICLES CAN BE FOUND AT: http://www.tc.edu/inside