List of Teachers College, Columbia University alumni explained

Following is a list of notable alumni of Teachers College, Columbia University.

Art and architecture

• Charles Alston (M.F.A. 1931), artist
• Aaron Douglas (M.A. 1944), painter, illustrator, and major figure in the Harlem Renaissance
• Maude Kerns (M.A. 1906), pioneering abstract artist and teacher^[1]
• Audrea Kreye (M.A.), metalsmith and jewelry designer
• Ryah Ludins (B.S. 1921; artist and art teacher
• Agnes Martin (B.A. 1942), artist
• Georgia O'Keeffe (1914), artist
• Raphael Montañez Ortiz (Ed.D. 1982), artist and founder of El Museo del Barrio
• Frank Shifreen (2001), artist; curator; teacher
• Elaine Sturtevant (M.A.), artist
• Marius Sznajderman, painter, printmaker, and scenic designer
• Hilda Taba (PhD 1932), architect; curriculum theorist; curriculum reformer and teacher educator
• Alma Thomas (M.A. 1934), expressionist painter and art educator
• Lynd Ward (1926), illustrator and artist known for his series of wordless novels using wood engraving

Academia

President

• Michael Apple (Ed.D. 1970), professor of educational policy studies
• Louis T. Benezet (PhD 1942), former president of Claremont Graduate University
• Zhang Boling (1917), founder and president of National Nankai University
• Paul G. Bulger (Ed.D. 1951), president of Buffalo State College
• Betty Castor (1963), President of the University of South Florida, member of the Florida Senate, and Florida Education Commissioner
• Margaret Mordecai Jones Cruikshank (1911), president of St. Mary's Junior College
• Bidhu Bhusan Das (M.A. 1947), university president/Vice Chancellor and ranking government official from India
• Marjorie Housepian Dobkin (M.A.), Barnard College professor and dean
• Edward C. Elliott (M.A.), educational researcher and president of Purdue University
• Claire Fagin (M.A.), the first woman to serve as president of an Ivy League university
• Abraham S. Fischler (Ed.D. 1959), academic; second president of Nova Southeastern University
• Edward Fitzpatrick (B.S. 1906; M.A. 1907; PhD 1911), president of Mount Mary College
• William Trufant Foster (PhD 1911), economist; first president of Reed College
• Susan Fuhrman (Ph.D. 1977), first female president of TC; former UPenn dean
• Mildred García (Ed.D. 1987), president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU)
• Gordon Gee (Ed.D. 1972), president of Ohio State University
• Andy Holt (PhD 1937), president of University of Tennessee
• George Ivany (M.A. 1962), president of the University of Saskatchewan
• Dock J. Jordan (A.B., 1925; M.A. 1928), president of Edward Waters University and Kittrell College
• J. Paul Leonard (1901–1995), university president, educator^[2]
• Morris Meister (PhD 1921), first president of Bronx Community College and first principal of Bronx High School of Science
• Jiang Menglin (PhD), president of Peking University; minister of education for the Republic of China
• Mary Eileen O'Brien (M.A. 1983), president of Dominican University New York^[3]
• Regina Peruggi (Ed.D. 1984), President of Kingsborough Community College
• Thomas Granville Pullen Jr. (Ed.M.; Ed.D. 1926), president University of Baltimore; Maryland State Superintendent of Education
• William Schuman (B.S. 1935; M.A. 1937), former president of the Juilliard School of Music and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
• Floyd Wilcox (M.A. 1920), third president of Shimer College
• John Davis Williams (Ed.D. 1940), chancellor of the University of Mississippi

Faculty

• Randy E. Bennett (M.A. 1977; Ed.M., 1978; Ed.D. 1979), educational researcher
• Josephine Thorndike Berry (B.S. 1904, A.M. 1910), college professor and home economist
• John Seiler Brubacher (M.A.; PhD), educational philosopher; professor at Yale
• Edith Buchanan (Ed.D. 1953), nursing educator, professor, and principal of the College of Nursing, (now Rajkumari Amrit Kaur College of Nursing) New Delhi, India
• Arthur W. Chickering (PhD 1958), educational researcher in student development theory
  • Satis N. Coleman (Ph.D. 1931), music educator and professor at Teachers College, Columbia University Erick Gordon (Ed.M. 1992), founding director of the Student Press Initiative at Teachers College, Columbia University
• Joan Dye Gussow (Ed.D. 1975), professor emerita and former chair of the Nutrition Education Program at Teachers College, Columbia University
• Margaret H'Doubler (1916), dance instructor who created the first dance major at the University of Wisconsin
• Martin Haberman (Ed.D. 1962), dean and distinguished professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
• Martha Hill (B.S. 1929), first director of dance at the Juilliard School
• Percy Hughes (M.A.; Ph.D.), leading fia gure in the Philosophy, Education, and Psychology Department at Lehigh University
• Seymour Itzkoff (Ph.D. 1965), professor emeritus of education and child study at Smith College
• Yoshi Kasuya (M.A. 1930, Ph.D. 1933), educator at Tsuda College in Kodaira, Tokyo
• William Heard Kilpatrick (PhD 1912), philosopher of education; professor of Teachers College, Columbia University
• Herbert Kliebard (Ed.D. 1963), historian of education and professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
• Julius B. Maller (PhD 1929), professor and research sociologist
• John C. McAdams (M.A.), associate professor of political science at Marquette University
• Jane Ellen McAllister (PhD 1929), college professor and first African American woman to earn a PhD in education in the United States
• Lin Mosei (PhD 1929), Dean of Arts at the National Taiwan University and the first Taiwanese to receive a PhD degree
• Jerome T. Murphy (M.A.), dean emeritus at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Kuo Ping-Wen (M.A. 1912; Ph.D. 1914), chancellor of the Shanghai College of Commerce
• Thomas S. Popkewitz (M.A. 1964), professor of curriculum theory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Louise M. Powell (B.S. 1922), nurse and educator who led the University of Minnesota School of Nursing during its formative years.
• Robert Bruce Raup (PhD 1926), philosophy of education professor emeritus and critic of the American education system
• Betty Reardon (Ed.D. 1985), founder and director of the Peace Education Center at Teachers College, Columbia University
• Agnes L. Rogers (PhD 1917), educational psychologist; professor of education
• Juanita Jane Saddler (M.A. 1935), dean of women at Fisk University
• Irma Salas Silva (Ph.D. 1930), head of the Department of Education of the University of Chile's Faculty of Philosophy and Education
• Rawley Silver (Ed.D. 1936), art therapist
• Lucy Diggs Slowe (M.A. 1915), first Blacthe k woman to serve as Dean of Women at an American University; one of the founders and first president of Alpha Kappa Alpha
• Samuel Totten (Ed.D. 1985), genocide scholar and professor at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
• William E. Warner (Ph.D. 1928), industrial arts professor at Ohio State University and founder of Epsilon Pi Tau honor society
• Joel Westheimer, professor of citizenship education at the University of Ottawa
• Marion Thompson Wright (Ph.D. 1940), professor at Howard University and first African-American woman in the United States to earn Ph.D. in Ha istory^[4]

Activism

• Thelma C. Davidson Adair (M.A. 1945; Ed.D. 1959), advocate for human rights; peace; and justice
• Mary Antin (1902), immigration rights activist; author of The Promised Land
• Belle Moskowitz (attended in 1894), social activist
• Esther Peterson (M.A. 1930), consumer rights activist; 1981 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
• Anita Pollitzer (1913), suffragette and national chairman of the NWP
• Henrietta Rodman (1904), teacher; feminist activist
• Jill Sheffield (M.A. 1963), women's reproductive rights advocate
• Leon Sullivan (M.A. 1947), civil rights leader and social activist; 1991 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
• Ruth C. Sullivan (M.A. 1953), autism activist

Business

• William Vincent Campbell Jr. (Ed.M. 1974), board director for Apple Inc.; CEO for Claris; Intuit Inc. and GO Corporation
• Richard Robinson (attended, 1963), former CEO of Scholastic Corporation
• Carmen Rita Wong (M.A. 2000), personal finance expert

Education

• Millie Almy (M.A. 1945, Ph.D. 1948), psychologist and "Grandame of early childhood education"
• Florence E. Bamberger (PhD 1922), pedagogue; school supervisor; progressive education advocate
• Sarah Bavly (M.S. 1929; PhD 1947), Dutch-Israeli nutrition education pioneer in Israel
• Frank W. Cyr (PhD 1930), educator and author known for his contribution to school busing
• Sarah Louise Delany (B.A. 1920; Ed.M. 1925), the first African-American permitted to teach high school science in New York
• Florence Dunlop (Ph.D. 1935), a pioneer in education for special needs children
• Blanche General Ely (M.A. 1923), principal and founder of multiple schools in Broward County, Florida
• John D. Kendall (M.A.), promulgated the Suzuki Method in the United States
• Deborah Kenny (PhD 1994), CEO of Harlem Village Academies
• H. S. S. Lawrence (M.A.; Ed.D. 1950), Indian educationist
  • Caroline Pratt (B.A. 1894), progressive educator; founder of City and Country School in the Greenwich Village Tao Xingzhi (1917), Chinese educator and author of children's literature

Entertainment

• Sara Benincasa (M.A.), comedian and author
• Donald Byrd (Ph.D. 1982), jazz and fusion trumpet player; music educator
• Ennis Cosby (Ed.M. 1995), murder victim and son of comedian Bill Cosby
• Arthur Cunningham (M.A. 1957), composer
  • Patricia DiMango (M.A.), judge; star of CBS' Hot Bench William Patrick Foster (Ed.D. 1955), bandmaster, composer, and author
• Agnes Moore Fryberger, educational director of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
• Art Garfunkel (M.A. 1967), singer (Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame inductee); poet; and actor
• Samuel E. Goldfarb, composer
  • Ellie Krieger (M.S. 1994), nutritionist; host of Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger and Ellie's Real Good Food Eda LeShan (B.S. 1944), writer; television host; counselor; educator; playwright
• Mort Lindsey (M.A. 1948; Ed.D. 1974), orchestrator; composer; pianist; conductor; musical director
• Margaret McFarland (PhD 1938), child psychologist, chief consultant to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
• Annie-B Parson (M.A. 1983), dancer, choreographer, founder of Big Dance Theater
• Soon-Yi Previn (Ed.M.), wife of filmmaker Woody Allen
• David Randolph (M.A. 1942), conductor; music educator; radio host
• Helen Reichert (M.A. 1931), talk show personality; professor
• Marvin Rosen (Ed.M.; Ed.D.), pianist; educator; musicologist; Classical Discoveries radio host
• Angela Santomero (M.A.), television executive producer and creator
• Morton Schindel (M.A. 1947), educator and film producer
• Robert Sherman (M.A. 1953), radio broadcaster; author; educator
• Karl Struss (B.A. 1912), photographer and cinematographer; pioneer in 3D films
• Bobby Susser (M.A. 1987), children's songwriter; record producer; performer
• Ellen R. Thompson (M.A.) composer and music educator
• Marion Verhaalen, (Ed.D., 1971) composer and musicologist
• Ruth Westheimer (Ed.D. 1970), sex therapist known as "Dr. Ruth", talk show host, author, professor

Literature and journalism

• Pam Allyn (M.A. 1988), literacy expert
• Carolyn Sherwin Bailey (1896), author of Miss Hickory winner of the 1947 Newbery Medal
• Norman Cousins (B.A.), editor; peace activist
• Ella Cara Deloria (B.S. 1915), novelist and Yankton Sioux ethnologist
• Rudolf Flesch (PhD 1955), author who inspired Dr. Seuss to write The Cat in the Hat
• Neil Postman (M.A. 1955; Ed.D. 1958), author and cultural critic
• Miriam Roth (Ed.M.), Israeli writer and scholar of children's books; educator
• Grace Steele Woodward, writer and historian
• Tao Xingzhi (1917), Chinese educator and author of children's literature
• Anzia Yezierska (1905), novelist

Medicine and psychology

• Louie Croft Boyd (1909), nurse and hospital superintendent of nurses
• Augusta Fox Bronner (B.S. 1906; M.A. 1909; Ph.D. 1914), psychologist and co-director of the first child guidance clinic
• May Edward Chinn (B.S. 1921), the first black woman to graduate from Bellevue Hospital Medical College
• Peter T. Coleman (PhD), psychologist; executive director of the Morton Deutsch ICCCR and the AC4
• Diane DiResta (M.S. 1977), media trainer; speech coach; certified speech pathologist
• Patricia Lynne Duffy (M.A. 1981), synesthesia expert
• Albert Ellis (M.A. 1943; PhD 1947), cognitive behavioral therapist
• Haim Ginott, child psychologist and psychotherapist, and parent educator
• Edmund W. Gordon (Ed.D.), psychologist
• Tsuruko Haraguchi (PhD 1912), psychologist
• Virginia Henderson (B.S. 1932; M.A. 1934), nurse; researcher; theorist; the "first lady of nursing"
• Lois Holzman (Ph.D. 1977), psychologist, director, and co-founder of the East Side Institute
• David W. Johnson (Ed.D. 1966), social psychologist
• Imogene King (Ed.D.), pioneer of nursing theory development
• Eleanor C. Lambertsen (B.S. 1949; M.A. 1950; Ed.D. 1957), revolutionized nursing and health care organization and delivery
• Harriet Lerner (M.A.), clinical psychologist
• Ruth Lubic (B.S. 1959; M.A. 1961; Ed.D. 1979), leader of the nurse-midwifery movement in the US
• Rollo May (PhD 1949), existential psychologist
• Margaret McFarland (PhD 1938), child psychologist, chief consultant to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
• Hildegard Peplau (M.A.; Ph.D.), nurse and nurse theorist who led the way toward the humane treatment of patients with behavior and personality disorders
• June Reinisch (M.A. 1970; PhD 1976), psychologist and director of the Kinsey Institute
• Carl Rogers (M.A. 1928; PhD 1931), psychologist
• Martha E. Rogers (M.A. 1945), nursing theorist; creator of the Science of Unitary Human Beings
• Celestine Smith (Ed.D. 1952), the first Black woman to become certified as a Jungian psychoanalyst, in 1964
• Ian K. Smith (M.A. 1993), physician and author
• Edward Thorndike (PhD 1898), psychologist
• Robert L. Thorndike (M.A. 1932; PhD 1935), psychologist
• Darlene Yee-Melichar (M.S. 1984; Ed.D. 1985), gerontologist
• Shirley Zussman (1937), sex therapist

Military

• Anna Mae Hays (B.S. 1958), the first woman in the U.S. Armed Forces to be promoted to a general officer rank
• Olivia Hooker (M.A. 1947), first African-American woman to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard
• Hazel Johnson-Brown (M.A. 1963), the first female African-American general in the United States Army

Politics and government

• Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali (M.A. 1930; PhD 1934), Prime Minister of Iraq
• Hafizullah Amin (M.A.), president of Afghanistan
• Nahas Gideon Angula (M.A. 1978; Ed.M. 1979), Prime Minister of Namibia
• William Ayers (Ed.M.; Ed.D. 1987), founder of Weather Underground; professor of education
• C. Louise Boehringer (B.S. 1911), the first female to be elected to office in Arizona
• Peter L. Buttenwieser (Ph.D.), Democratic donor and fundraiser
• Betty Castor (1963), Florida Senate, Florida Education Commissioner, and President of the University of South Florida
• P. C. Chang (PhD), philosopher and diplomat
• Shirley Chisholm (M.A. 1952), first African American woman elected to Congress and former US presidential candidate
  • Betsy Gotbaum (M.A. 1967), Public Advocate for New York City Lee Huan (M.A.), premier of the Republic of China
• Kevin Jennings (M.A. 1994), former assistant deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Education
• Thomas Kean (M.A. 1963), former governor of New Jersey
• John King Jr. (Ed.M.; Ed.D. 2008), 10th United States secretary of education
• Guillermo Linares (Ed.D.), the first Dominican elected to public office in the US
• Olga A. Mendez (M.A. 1960), the first Puerto Rican woman elected to a US state legislature
• Jiang Menglin (PhD), president of Peking University; minister of education for the Republic of China
• Chester Earl Merrow (1937), educator; U.S. Representative from New Hampshire
• Yvonne B. Miller (M.A. 1962), the first African-American woman to be elected to the Virginia state house
• Richard P. Mills (Ed.D. 1977), former commissioner of education for Vermont and New York
• Diane Ravitch (PhD 1975), historian of education; former U.S. Assistant secretary of education
• Tian-Ming Sheu (Ed.D. 1993), president of the National Academy for Educational Research in Taiwan
• Hu Shih (PhD 1917), Chinese diplomat
• Merryl Tisch (Ed.D.), chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, presiding over University of the State of New York and the New York State Education Department
• Deborah Wolfe (M.S. 1938; Ed.D. 1945), education chief of the US House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor

Religion

• Barnett R. Brickner (M.A.), rabbi
• Carl Henry Clerk (PGDip. 1926), fourth synod clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast
• Minnie Vautrin (M.A. 1919), educator and missionary
• Moshe Weinberger, rabbi and author

Sports

• Clarence Gaines (M.A. 1950), hall of fame basketball coach of Winston-Salem State University
• Maya Lawrence (M.A. 2010), Olympic fencer
• Sid Luckman, quarterback in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Adolph Rupp (M.A.), hall of fame basketball coach of the University of Kentucky
• Henry Wittenberg (M.A.), Olympic wrestling champion

Notes and References

1. Book: Trenton, Patricia . Independent Spirits: Women Painters of the American West, 1890–1945 . D'Emilio, Sandra . University of California Press . 1995 . 978-0520202030 . 126–130.
2. News: March 31, 1995 . J. Paul Leonard, TC Educator, India Expert, Is Dead at Age 93 . 2022-08-04 . . 20 . 22 . 0747-4504.
3. Web site: 2023-10-27 . Mary Eileen O'Brien to Retire From Presidency of Dominican University in Orangetown, New York . 2023-12-20 . Women In Academia Report.
4. Book: Encyclopedia of New Jersey . 2004 . Rutgers University Press . Lurie, Maxine N., 1940–, Mappen, Marc. . 0813533252 . New Brunswick, N.J. . 57590112.