Skip Navigation
Teachers College
Columbia University

Home>About TC>Introducing Teachers College

ABOUT TC

Introducing Teachers College

  • Letter from the President
  • An Introduction to TC


  • Letter from the President

    Susan h. fuhrmanAs both an alumna of Teachers College and its president, I welcome you to the nation's oldest and largest graduate school of education -- a place whose founding vision was to bring educational opportunities to all members of society, and whose faculty and students, time and again during more than a century of leadership, have demonstrated the power of ideas to change the world.

    Our legacy is the work of a long list of thinkers and doers that includes James Russell and John Dewey; Lawrence Cremin and Maxine Greene; Edmund Gordon and Isabel Maitland Stewart; Mary Swartz Rose and Morton Deutsch; Arthur Wesley Dow and William Heard Kilpatrick.

    These are people who created fields of inquiry. At Teachers College today, our work is about living up to their legacy by ensuring that we not only build knowledge, but enhance its impact by engaging directly with the policymakers and practitioners who will put it to use. Because of our preeminence, it is both our privilege and our obligation to focus our coursework and our research on the questions of the day in each of the fields we serve. To that end, we favor no ideology or single methodology, but instead seek answers that meet the genuine needs of teachers and other practitioners, and the children they ultimately serve.

    Whether you plan to teach, conduct research, serve as an administrator, or pursue a career in health or psychology -- or even if you are already active in one of these fields -- at Teachers College, you are undertaking a journey that will change your life and the lives of others by unlocking the wonders of human potential.

    As you explore this catalogue, I urge you to remember that the education you will receive at Teachers College is as much about the people you will meet -- your professors and your fellow students -- as it is about the knowledge you will find in books. So as you join with us in our work, open your hearts as well as your minds. Only then will you truly be able to say -- as I proudly do -- that you have learned everything you needed to know at Teachers College.

    Susan Fuhrman,
    President
    Teachers College, Columbia University

    Provost Thomas James Notes Difficult Job Market for Teachers

    In an interview on CNN's American Morning, Provost and Dean Thomas James says the economy is experiencing "the deepest dip" in demand for teachers "since World War II," but some teachers are still in demand.  Published: 6/28/2010

    Editor of Hechinger Report Weighs in on Race to the Top

    In the March 30 edition of U.S. News and World Report, Richard Colvin Assesses the Contest Results.  Published: 4/9/2010

    Bilingual Speech Pathology Team Appears on WABC's Tiempo

    Jessica Salas, a Speech Language Pathology graduate student; Angela Livingston, a Speech Language Pathology graduate; and Catherine Crowley, a lecturer and coordinator of the program, talk to Tiempo's Joe Torres about the critical need for bilingual speech pathologists.  Published: 3/30/2010

    Educational Budget Cuts: Unconscionable - And Unconstitutional

    Writing in The Huffington Post, Michael Rebell, Executive Director of The Campaign for Educational Equity, based at Teachers College, argues that children's right to a quality education, as guaranteed by state constitutions, does not evaporate in times of fiscal crisis.  Published: 2/24/2010

    In the Classroom: 100 7th Graders Invade Books-A-Million

    The Reading and Writing Workshop that was developed by Teachers College, Columbia University aims to use students' interests and creativity as the foundation for teaching curriculum standards. Marianne Schand a 7th grade reading teacher at Hunter Middle School uses the program to "light a fire and passion for reading-'"one of life's greatest joys! And to teach the skills as they read selections of their own choice from the classroom library."  Published: 2/17/2010

    Dwindling stimulus money might cost schools jobs

    Federal stimulus money may have only provided a one-year safety net for some New York school employees.  Published: 2/16/2010