Teachers College, Columbia University

Teachers College alumni and faculty have held prominent positions in academia, government, music, non-profit, healthcare, and social science research just to name a few. Overall, Teachers College has over 90,000 alumni in more than 30 countries.

Notable alumni

Thelma C. Davidson Adair (M.A. 1945; Ed.D. 1959), advocate for human rights; peace; and justice

Muhammad Fadhel al-Jamali (M.A. 1930; PhD 1934), Prime Minister of Iraq

Pam Allyn (M.A. 1988), literacy expert

Millie Almy (M.A. 1945, PhD 1948), psychologist and "Grandame of early childhood education"

Charles Alston (M.F.A. 1931), artist

Hafizullah Amin (M.A.), President of Afghanistan

Nahas Gideon Angula (M.A. 1978; Ed.M. 1979), Prime Minister of Namibia

Mary Antin (1902), immigration rights activist; author of The Promised Land

Michael Apple (Ed.D. 1970), professor of educational policy studies

William Ayers (Ed.M.; Ed.D. 1987), founder of Weather Underground; professor of education

Carolyn Sherwin Bailey (1896), author of Miss Hickory winner of the 1947 Newbery Medal

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

Louis T. Benezet (PhD 1942), former president of Claremont Graduate University

Sara Benincasa (M.A.), comedian and author

Randy E. Bennett (M.A. 1977; Ed.M., 1978; Ed.D. 1979), educational researcher

C. Louise Boehringer (B.S. 1911), the first female to be elected to office in Arizona

Zhang Boling (1917), Chinese founder and president of National Nankai University

Louie Croft Boyd (1909), nursing instructor

Augusta Fox Bronner (B.S. 1906; M.A. 1909; PhD 1914), psychologist and co-director of the first child guidance clinic

John Seiler Brubacher (M.A.; PhD), educational philosopher; professor at Yale

Paul G. Bulger (Ed.D. 1951), academic administrator

Donald Byrd (PhD 1982), jazz and fusion trumpet player; music educator

William Vincent Campbell Jr. (Ed.M. 1974), board director for Apple Inc.; CEO for Claris; Intuit Inc. and GO Corporation; chairman of the board of trustees of Columbia University

Betty Castor (1963), politician and president of the University of South Florida

P. C. Chang (PhD), philosopher and diplomat

Arthur W. Chickering (PhD 1958), educational researcher in student development theory

May Edward Chinn (B.S. 1921), first black woman to graduate from Bellevue Hospital Medical College

Shirley Chisholm (M.A. 1952), first African American woman elected to Congress and former US Presidential candidate

Carl Henry Clerk (PGDip. 1926), fourth Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast

Peter T. Coleman (PhD), psychologist; executive director of the Morton Deutsch ICCCR and the AC4

Satis N. Coleman (PhD 1931), music educator

Ennis Cosby (Ed.M. 1995), special education

Norman Cousins (B.A.), editor; peace activist

Margaret Mordecai Jones Cruikshank (1911), president of St. Mary's Junior College

Arthur Cunningham (M.A. 1957), composer

Frank W. Cyr (PhD 1930), educator and author

Bidhu Bhusan Das (M.A. 1947), public intellectual; professor; and ranking government official from India

Sarah Louise Delany (B.A. 1920; Ed.M. 1925), first African-American permitted to teach high school science in New York

Ella Cara Deloria (B.S. 1915), Yankton Sioux ethnologist

Patricia DiMango (M.A.), judge; star of CBS’ Hot Bench created by Judge Judy

Diane DiResta (M.S. 1977), media trainer; speech coach; certified speech pathologist

Marjorie Housepian Dobkin (M.A.), author; Barnard College professor and dean

Aaron Douglas (M.A. 1944), painter; illustrator; visual arts educator; and major figure in the Harlem Renaissance

Patricia Lynne Duffy (M.A. 1981), synesthesia expert

Edward C. Elliott (M.A.), educational researcher and president of Purdue University

Albert Ellis (M.A. 1943; PhD 1947), cognitive behavioral therapist

Blanche General Ely (M.A. 1923), principal and founder of multiple schools in Broward County, Florida

Claire Fagin (M.A.), 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

Rudolf Flesch (PhD 1955), Austrian-born American author; inspired Dr. Seuss to write The Cat in the Hat

William Patrick Foster (Ed.D. 1955), revolutionized college marching band technique

William Trufant Foster (PhD 1911), economist; first president of Reed College

Susan Fuhrman (PhD 1977), first female president of TC; former UPenn dean

Clarence Gaines (M.A. 1950), hall of fame basketball coach of Winston-Salem State University

Mildred García (Ed.D. 1987), president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU)

Art Garfunkel (M.A. 1967), singer (Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame inductee); poet; and actor

Gordon Gee (Ed.D. 1972), president of Ohio State University

Haim Ginott, child psychologist and psychotherapist and parent educator

Samuel E. Goldfarb, composer

Edmund W. Gordon (Ed.D.), psychologist

Erick Gordon (Ed.M. 1992), founding director of the Student Press Initiative (SPI)

Betsy Gotbaum (M.A. 1967), American politician and activist

Joan Dye Gussow (Ed.D. 1975), professor; author; food policy expert; environmentalist; gardener

Margaret H'Doubler (1916), dance education

Martin Haberman (Ed.D. 1962), academic

Tsuruko Haraguchi (PhD 1912), psychologist

Anna Mae Hays (B.S. 1958), first woman in the U.S. Armed Forces to be promoted to a General Officer rank

Virginia Henderson (B.S. 1932; M.A. 1934), nurse; researcher; theorist; the "first lady of nursing"

Martha Hill (B.S. 1929), first director of dance at the Juilliard School

Andy Holt (PhD 1937), president of University of Tennessee

Lois Holzman (PhD 1977), director and co-founder of the East Side Institute

Olivia Hooker (M.A. 1947), first African-American woman to serve in the U.S. Coast Guard

Lee Huan (M.A.), Premier of the Republic of China

Percy Hughes (M.A.; PhD), philosopher; teacher

Seymour Itzkoff (PhD 1965), professor emeritus of education and child study at Smith College

George Ivany (M.A. 1962), president of the University of Saskatchewan

Kevin Jennings (M.A. 1994), former assistant deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Education

David W. Johnson (Ed.D. 1966), social psychologist

Hazel Johnson-Brown (M.A. 1963), first female African-American general in the United States Army

Yoshi Kasuya (M.A. 1930, PhD 1933), Japanese educator

Thomas Kean (M.A. 1963), former governor of New Jersey

John D. Kendall (M.A.), leader in bringing the Suzuki Method to the US

Deborah Kenny (PhD 1994), CEO of Harlem Village Academies

Maude Kerns (M.A. 1906), pioneering abstract artist and teacher[49]

William Heard Kilpatrick (PhD 1912), philosopher of education; successor of John Dewey

Imogene King (Ed.D.), pioneer of nursing theory development

John King Jr. (Ed.M.; Ed.D. 2008), 10th United States Secretary of Education

Herbert Kliebard (Ed.D. 1963), historian of education

Ellie Krieger (M.S. 1994), nutritionist; host of Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger on Food Network and Ellie's Real Good Food on PBS

Eleanor C. Lambertsen (B.S. 1949; M.A. 1950; Ed.D. 1957), revolutionized nursing and health care organization and delivery

H. S. S. Lawrence (M.A.; Ed.D. 1950), Indian educationist

Maya Lawrence (M.A. 2010), Olympic fencer

Harriet Lerner (M.A.), clinical psychologist

Eda LeShan (B.S. 1944), writer; television host; counselor; educator; playwright

Mosei Lin (PhD 1929), Taiwanese academic and educator; first Taiwanese to receive a PhD degree

Guillermo Linares (Ed.D.), first Dominican elected to public office in the US

Mort Lindsey (M.A. 1948; Ed.D. 1974), orchestrator; composer; pianist; conductor; musical director

Ruth Lubic (B.S. 1959; M.A. 1961; Ed.D. 1979), leader of the nurse-midwifery movement in the US

Sid Luckman, quarterback in the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Ryah Ludins (B.S. 1921; artist and art teacher

Agnes Martin (B.A. 1942), artist

Rollo May (PhD 1949), existential psychologist

John C. McAdams (M.A.), associate professor of political science at Marquette University

Jane Ellen McAllister (PhD 1929), first African American woman to earn a PhD in Education in the United States

Margaret McFarland (PhD 1938), child psychologist, chief consultant to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Morris Meister (PhD 1921), first principal of The Bronx High School of Science, and the first president of The Bronx Community College

Olga A. Mendez (M.A. 1960), 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), 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

Belle Moskowitz (attended in 1894)

Jerome T. Murphy (M.A.), dean emeritus at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

Georgia O'Keeffe (1914), artist

Raphael Montañez Ortiz (Ed.D. 1982), founder of El Museo del Barrio

Annie-B Parson (M.A. 1983), dancer, choreographer, founder of Big Dance Theater

Hildegard Peplau (M.A.; PhD), nurse and nurse theorist who led the way towards the humane treatment of patients with behavior and personality disorders

Regina Peruggi (Ed.D. 1984), educator

Esther Peterson (M.A. 1930), consumer rights activist; 1981 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

Kuo Ping-Wen (M.A. 1912; PhD 1914), Chinese educator

Anita Pollitzer (1913), suffragette and national chairman of the NWP

Thomas S. Popkewitz (M.A. 1964), professor of curriculum theory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Neil Postman (M.A. 1955; Ed.D. 1958), cultural critic

Louise M. Powell (B.S. 1922), nurse and educator who led the University of Minnesota School of Nursing during its formative years.

Caroline Pratt (B.A. 1894), progressive educator; founder of City and Country School

Soon-Yi Previn (Ed.M.), special education

Thomas Granville Pullen Jr. (Ed.M.; Ed.D. 1926), president University of Baltimore; Maryland State Superintendent of Education

David Randolph (M.A. 1942), conductor; music educator; radio host

Robert Bruce Raup (PhD 1926), philosophy of education professor emeritus and critic of the American education system

Diane Ravitch (PhD 1975), historian of education; former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education

Betty Reardon (Ed.D. 1985), founder and director of the Peace Education Center

Helen Reichert (M.A. 1931), talk show personality; professor

June Reinisch (M.A. 1970; PhD 1976), psychologist and director of the Kinsey Institute

Richard Robinson (attended, 1963), former CEO of Scholastic Corporation

Henrietta Rodman (1904), teacher; feminist activist

Agnes L. Rogers (PhD 1917), educational psychologist; professor of education

Carl Rogers (M.A. 1928; PhD 1931), psychologist

Martha E. Rogers (M.A. 1945), nursing theorist; creator of the Science of Unitary Human Beings

Marvin Rosen (Ed.M.; Ed.D.), pianist; educator; musicologist; Classical Discoveries radio host

Miriam Roth (Ed.M.), Israeli writer and scholar of children's books; educator

Adolph Rupp (M.A.), hall of fame basketball coach of the University of Kentucky

Juanita Jane Saddler (M.A. 1935), dean of women at Fisk University

Angela Santomero (M.A.), television executive producer and creator

Morton Schindel (M.A. 1947), educator and film producer

William Schuman (B.S. 1935; M.A. 1937), former president of the Juilliard School of Music and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Jill Sheffield (M.A. 1963), women's reproductive rights advocate

Robert Sherman (M.A. 1953), radio broadcaster; author; educator

Tian-Ming Sheu (Ed.D. 1993), president of the National Academy for Educational Research in Taiwan

Frank Shifreen (2001), artist; curator; teacher

Hu Shih (PhD 1917), Chinese philosopher; essayist; and diplomat

Irma Salas Silva (PhD 1930), Chilean educator

Rawley Silver (Ed.D. 1936), art therapist

Lucy Diggs Slowe (M.A. 1915), first black woman to serve as Dean of Women at an American University; one of the original founders and first president of Alpha Kappa Alpha

Ian K. Smith (M.A. 1993), physician and author; appears on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club series; The View; NBC News; and HealthWatch with Dr. Ian Smith

Karl Struss (B.A. 1912), photographer and cinematographer; pioneer in 3D films

Elaine Sturtevant (M.A.), artist

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

Bobby Susser (M.A. 1987), children's songwriter; record producer; performer

Marius Sznajderman

Hilda Taba (PhD 1932), architect; curriculum theorist; curriculum reformer and teacher educator

Alma Thomas (M.A. 1934), expressionist painter and art educator

Ellen R. Thompson (M.A.) composer and music educator

Edward Thorndike (PhD 1898), psychologist

Robert L. Thorndike (M.A. 1932; PhD 1935), psychologist

Merryl Tisch (Ed.D.), chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents

Samuel Totten (Ed.D. 1985), genocide scholar

Minnie Vautrin (M.A. 1919), educator and missionary

Marion Verhaalen, (Ed.D, 1971) composer and musicologist

Lynd Ward (1926), artist and storyteller

Moshe Weinberger, rabbi and author

Joel Westheimer, professor of citizenship education at the University of Ottawa

Ruth Westheimer (Ed.D. 1970), sex therapist known as "Dr. Ruth", German-American, also talk show host, author, professor, Holocaust survivor, and former Haganah sniper.

Floyd Wilcox (M.A. 1920), third president of Shimer College

John Davis Williams (Ed.D. 1940), chancellor of the University of Mississippi

Henry Wittenberg (M.A.), Olympic wrestling champion

Carmen Rita Wong (M.A. 2000), personal finance expert; former host of On the Money on CNBC

Deborah Wolfe (M.S. 1938; Ed.D. 1945), Education Chief of the US House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor

Marion Thompson Wright (PhD 1940), first African-American woman in the United States to earn PhD in History

Tao Xingzhi (1917), Chinese educator and political activist

Darlene Yee-Melichar (M.S. 1984; Ed.D. 1985), gerontologist

Anzia Yezierska (1905), Polish-born American novelist

Shirley Zussman (1937), German-born American sex therapist