With a history of support for Teachers College and an interest in funding academic-related initiatives, the Booth Ferris Foundation granted $250,000 to equip two classrooms on the fourth floor of Horace Mann Hall in support of The Campaign for Teachers College. The funds provide for a podium with a computer connected to the campus network and the Internet, and high tech audio-visual equipment, including a multi-format VCR and a document camera, each of which can be used with a ceiling-mounted projector and sound system. A touch-screen control panel makes the room easy for the instructor to use.

The Foundation, established in 1957 under the wills of Willis H. Booth and his wife, Chancie Ferris Booth, is administered by two trustees"Robert J. Murtagh and the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York.

Support by the Booth Ferris Foundation

Speaking for the trustees, Ed Jones and Hildy Simmons, officials with J. P. Morgan's Community Relations and Philanthropic Services, said the purpose of the $250,000 grant to Teachers College "is to bestow the benefits of technology to the education of educators. It's a matter of providing capital funds to support the aspirations of human capital.

"We found compelling the case Teachers College made in seeking to modernize, in its own words, ‘the spaces where our students and professors engage in the most important discourse at the College.' It was this opportunity to elevate classroom interaction that constituted a good fit with our funding interests."

Educational Models That Work

Commenting on the role of Teachers College in a time of trauma in public education, Booth Ferris representatives said they are impressed with the college's ability to focus on substantive policy issues that transcend the shallowness of political rhetoric and frame the debate in professional terms.

"In our opinion, Teachers College has exercised national leadership in isolating the issues impeding reform and developing the education models that serve as forerunners to meaningful change," Ms. Simmons and Mr. Jones observed, adding: "The process practiced by Teachers College is to identify the problems in research, develop models that work in practice and promote their application in the larger community, where it counts."

Previous Booth Ferris grants to Teachers College have been directed to both model building and technological innovation. In 1981, the Foundation gave $50,000 to Milbank Library in connection with a National Endowment for the Humanities challenge grant to improve the technological capacity of the library.

In support of the internationally acclaimed Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, established as a model under the direction of Professor Lucy McCormick Calkins and now emulated nationwide, Booth Ferris provided $75,000 in 1987 and an additional $250,000 in 1995. The project helps teachers in hundreds of schools establish writing and reading workshops in which children pursue projects they care about and in which teachers act as mentors and coaches.

Booth Ferris officials acknowledge that "by demonstrating what reforms can work, and by educating professionals with the creativity and commitment to make them work, Teachers College builds respect for the people and programs in the field of education."

Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001