Current Student Profiles
Deidre B. FlowersDeidre B. Flowers is a Ph.D. student in the History and Education program. She has several years of experience in government, non-profit and higher education, and is currently the Associate Director for Business Services in Columbia University’s Office of Alumni and Development. Deidre’s scholarly interests include Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Higher Education Leadership and Women’s education. She has presented her research at Teachers College’s 50th anniversary conference on The Impact of the Brown Decision on American Education and Society. Her resulting article, “The Launching of the Sit-In Movement: The Role of the Black Women at Bennett College,” was published in the 2005 Winter/Spring issue of the Journal of African American History. In addition to serving on the History of Education Society’s Graduate Student Committee, she has presented her Bennett College research at the Society’s annual conferences. Deidre earned her BA from Hampton University, an MPA from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs; as well as an Ed.M. from Teachers College in Higher and Postsecondary Education Administration.
Barry Goldenberg
Barry Goldenberg is currently a M.A. student in the History and Education program and a Graduate Student Fellow at the Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME) where his research interests include analyzing the intersections of race and education, with an emphasis on how history instruction can be used to empower urban youth. Barry holds a B.A. in History (highest departmental honors), magna cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a minor in education studies. His award-winning senior honors thesis, entitled "The Unknown Architects of Civil Rights," has been published by Critical Minds Press and is currently available on Amazon.com in addition to being featured on the Harlem World Magazine Radio Show. Prior to TC, Barry has served as an Intern for U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and volunteered abroad in Cape Town, South Africa. You can find his personal blog at www.barrygoldenberg.com.
Diane McKoy
Diane McKoy is an Ed.D. student in the History and Education program. She has been an admissions officer for 20+ years at Columbia University Office of Undergraduate Admissions. She is a consultant with College Board/Overseas Project and works with international counselors in Africa. Prior to Columbia, she was a middle school history teacher in Newton, MA. Diane earned a B.A. in History from Yale University and has a M.A. and M.Ed. in History and Education from Teachers College. Her research interests are in higher education for minority women in the South and the overlap of religion, community and culturally based organizations.
Jean Park
Jean Park is a M.A. student in the History and Education program. Prior to her graduate studies, she served as the Development Director at St. Joseph School in lower Manhattan for two years. Jean earned her A.B. degree from Princeton University in 2008, where she majored in History and received a Certificate in East Asian Studies. Jean will begin her Ph.D. studies in History and Education in Fall 2012. Her research interests include: urban education, immigration, and cultural and intellectual history.
Sharon G. Pierson
Sharon Pierson is a Ph.D. student in History and Education. She earned her B.A. at the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, and her M.A. at Teachers College, where her analyses of inequalities in schooling and social justice in education ignited her interest in educational history. Her doctoral research critically examines the unbalanced historical portrait of African American schooling, with special interest in the role of Black laboratory schools. Prior to graduate studies Sharon was a consultant with Merrill Lynch. In education, she created and taught special curricula for grades 1-5, while also teaching at Ramapo College of NJ.
Antonia Abram Smith
Antonia Abram Smith is a Ph.D. student in the History and Education program. She is also the Director of the Arts and After School Program and the Arts Summer Camp at the Children’s Aid Society in Greenwich Village. Antonia earned her B.A. from the University of Chicago in 2003 where she concentrated in Art History and Early Modern European History. Her research interests include industrial education, prison education and reform, and the history of children and families. Antonia is currently starting a new arts program for children at Greenwich House in Greenwich Village.
Fevronia K. Soumakis
Fevronia K. Soumakis is a doctoral candidate in the History and Education program. Her research interests include religion and education, women's history, and immigration studies. She has presented her work at the History of Education Society's Annual Meeting as well as other scholarly forums. Fevronia currently volunteers her time as Treasurer on the Board of Directors of the Sophia Institute, an advanced research institute and philanthropic foundation. She also serves on the School Board of A. Fantis Parochial School in Brooklyn, NY.
Eric Strome
As a Ph.D. student working at the intersection of history, philosophy, and education, Eric’s dissertation addresses the development of the German University model in the United States during the Age of the University, with particular attention to the seminar as pedagogy and locus of institutional reform. Eric is also interested in methodological change in the digital humanities, and is at work on a book chapter featuring quantitative analysis of early Republican educational writing. When not working, he teaches chess to 2nd & 4th graders and raises vegetables.
Megan Summers
Megan Summers is a M.A. student in the History and Education program. She teaches social studies at Gill St. Bernard’s School in Gladstone, New Jersey and previously worked at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. Megan earned her B.A. in History at Princeton University in 2006, where she also received certificates in African American Studies and Teacher Preparation. Her historical interests include school choice, race and education, and music education’s relationship with jazz and popular genres. She has taught popular music history courses at Montclair State University, and recently published a music history text, These Distorted Times, in 2011.
Cassandra Virgin
Cassandra Virgin is a M.A. student in the History and Education program. She is also pursuing an advanced certificate in Cooperation and Conflict Resolution offered by the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (ICCCR). Prior to her graduate studies, she worked for three years in Asset Management Operations at Goldman Sachs, which included a short-term assignment abroad in the Bangalore, India office. Cassandra earned a B.A. from Georgetown University in 2008, where she majored in History and minored in Government and Modern Greek. Her research interests include urban and metropolitan history, residential segregation, and educational inequality.
Jennifer Boyle
Jennifer Boyle is a Ph.D. student in the History and Education program. She graduated with honors from Fordham University in 2009, earning her B.A. with a concentration in American Studies. She completed her M.A. in the History and Education program at Teachers College in 2011. Her Master's thesis focused on the black Episcopal church in Harlem and its role in securing education for the community during the Civil Rights Era. As a doctoral candidate, her interests include the history of urban education, community activism and the relationship between race and education. Prior to Teachers College, Jennifer interned at the American Irish Historical Society and taught an after-school program at Quest to Learn in New York City.