Alumni Awards

Dale Atkins is a licensed psychologist with more than forty years of experience as a relationship expert focusing on families, wellness, managing stress, and living a balanced, meaningful life. Author of seven books and many chapters, articles, and journals for popular and professional audiences, Dale is a featured speaker who lectures and leads seminars worldwide. Dale has appeared regularly on NBC’s TODAY and CNN. Dale has a private psychology practice in New York City and has been a member of, and advisor to several nonprofit boards, including Jumpstart for Young Children, from which she recently retired after serving twenty-two years, since its founding. She has two children and six grandchildren and lives in Connecticut. 

David Gómez served as President of Hostos Community College from 2015 to 2020, after having served as Interim President since July 2014. Previously, Dr. Gómez was a longtime senior administrator at Kingsborough Community College and a Professor in Kingsborough’s Department of Behavior and Social Sciences. Dr. Gómez also served as a consultant, locally and nationally, assisting community college leaders to improve the quality of services at their institutions. Dr. Gómez’s publications and research interests have focused on the community college movement. He has examined critical practices that can move institutions “from good to great,” the importance of student support services in advancing student success, and aligning the objectives of the institution’s main divisions to achieve common goals.

Preston Green is the John and Maria Neag Professor of Urban Education at the University of Connecticut, where he is also a professor of educational leadership and law. Dr. Green is a renowned educational law scholar who has written extensively on the topics of educational access and school choice. He has also sought to promote the achievement of equal educational opportunity through collaborations with the Southern Poverty Law Center, UCLA Civil Rights Project, the Century Foundation, and the National Education Policy Center. Moreover, he has created joint degree programs in law and education at two universities.

Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, Benjamin Dickman majored in Mathematics at Amherst College and received his doctorate in Mathematics Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. He studied as a Fulbright Fellow in Mathematics at Nanjing Normal University in Nanjing, China, and worked as a Postdoctoral Scholar in Math Education at Boston University. Benjamin has been a math teacher and teacher coach at The Hewitt School, a girls' school in New York City, since 2016. His interests include mathematical creativity, problem posing, and humanizing mathematics. Outside of his work as a teacher-scholar, Benjamin is an avid word game player and loves Boggle!

Radhika Iyengar is the Director of Education and a Research Scholar at the Center for Sustainable Development of Columbia University’s Earth Institute. She leads the Education for Sustainable Development initiatives and promotes international development for education as a practitioner, researcher, teacher, and manager. Her research interests consist of conducting evaluations of educational programs and international educational development. In addition to directing education initiatives at the Center and conducting fieldwork in over 10 countries, she contributes to the scientific community, focusing on international educational development. Her latest publication is "Education as the path to a sustainable recovery from COVID-19" in PROSPECTS. She received a distinction from Teachers College, Columbia University for her Ph.D. dissertation, "Social Capital as a Determinant of Schooling in Rural India: A Mixed Methods Study." She received her Master’s degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, India.

Jinny Goldstein credits TC for inspiring her to pursue a career in the then-nascent field of education technology. She was instrumental in launching the PBS Adult Learning Service, which became one of the nation’s earliest and largest distance learning efforts. As PBS’s Chief Education Officer, Jinny led the creation of innovative learning services from pre-k to the workplace. A member of the Grace Dodge Society TC’s President’s Advisory Council for over a decade, Jinny has advocated for research in education and technology, an area in which TC is now a leader. A supporter of student scholarships, and excited by the potential of TC’s new Public Leaders program, Jinny established The Endowed Scholarship Fund for Public School Leaders.

Debra Heinrich is a proud alumna of Teachers College and, as a true advocate of continuing education, is currently completing her Ed.D. here! Among her other activities, she is a member of the Board of Trustees at the FDR Library and Museum, serves as a Director of the Nursing Knowledge International Board of Sigma Theta Tau and has volunteered as a reading tutor in the NYC public school system. Her personal interests include art, reading and baking. Debra and her husband, George, reside in Bedford, New York and have two sons--both alumni of Columbia College!