Department & Program
DEPARTMENT SUMMARY

As Teachers College embarks upon a new century, it is strengthening its commitment to the international arena. For the first time, it has committed the resources of an entire department to developing research and instructional programs in international and transcultural studies. As indicated by the name of the new department, the College is broadening its approach to this area. The introduction of the term trans-cultural conveys an additional perspective that reflects the challenges of the era in which we live. New technologies have led to a rapidly increasing flow of people, information, goods, and services within and across national boundaries. As these boundaries become more permeable, modern societies are characterized by greater diversification of people and resources. Such diversification introduces complex forces that can be best understood as transcultural. As individual and institutional identities increasingly reflect diverse cultural traditions and values, a major challenge to education is to promote new ways of understanding and negotiating these identities.

Our own country is a powerful exemplar of an international and transcultural society, and the metropolitan area in which Teachers College is located is a particularly vivid expression of such a society. New York City and the United States are, in many ways, harbingers of what the 21st century will bring to cities and countries around the world. International and transcultural forces will be increasingly present in all societies, and these forces will be crucial in understanding education in every domain of human experience—family, community, school, the workplace. In all these domains, people will be educated to participate in a world that is increasingly international and transcultural: such education will take place not only in schools, colleges, and universities but in all societal institutions—families; churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples; libraries, museums, and parks; mass media such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and computer networks; and the various kinds of workplaces that are emerging in our technological era.

Our department prepares professionals to provide leadership in the educative configurations emerging in the new century. To do so, we offer a range of disciplinary and professional programs and specializations with distinct emphases within the collective mission. The programs in Anthropology, Economics, and Comparative and International Education emphasize research on the social, cultural, economic and political aspects of global processes. The programs in International Educational Development and Bilingual Education prepare professionals across the whole range of educational practice to gain a global perspective. Students work with faculty within the department in concentrations such as African education, applied educational finance; bilingual/ bicultural education; international humanitarian issues, language, literacy, and technology; family and community education; gender studies; and peace education. We work with other departments at the College to provide our students additional concentrations in such areas as adult education, conflict resolution, curriculum and teaching, educational leadership, health education, and policy studies. In addition, we cooperate with the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University to provide regional specializations (e.g., African Studies, Eastern European Studies, Middle East Studies, Russian Studies, East Asian Studies, South Asian Studies). Students in Comparative and International Education who select academic disciplines other than anthropology or economics (e.g., sociology, political science, history, philosophy) also work closely with faculty outside the department.