Gillian Neukom Toledo

Published in Annual Report - 2012
3/6/2013

As an elementary and middle-school teacher – first in Washington State, then in Arizona and Michigan, and later back in Washington, where she now lives with her family – Gillian Neukom Toledo  (M.A. ’97, Ed.M. ’05) had logged plenty of professional experience prior to coming to Teachers College. But in earning two degrees from TC, in Elementary Education and Education Leadership, and as a two-time Fellow at TC’s Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership, Gillian came to value preparation that links deep research to the everyday realities of the classroom.

“It’s so easy to get overwhelmed by the demands of schedule and of managing students,” she says. “I learned so much at TC that helped me take a broader perspective.”

Yet it was only after becoming a Teachers College Trustee in 2001 that Gillian began to appreciate the true breadth of the College’s impact. The Neukom Family Foundation has supported some of TC’s most important projects and initiatives, including the National Center for Children and Families, the TC Fund, the Harlem Schools Partnership, the Student Press Initiative and the Peace Corps Fellows. It also supports the Neukom Family Scholarship, which seeks to ensure that minority students who are preparing to become teachers (especially those enrolled in the preservice program in Curriculum & Teaching) have the opportunity to benefit from a TC education.

“TC’s long-standing mission is to provide a quality education to all members of society, regardless of their socioeconomic status,” Gillian says. “With this scholarship fund, as well as other gifts, we are helping make sure that mission continues to be fulfilled.”


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