Teachers College will honor five recipients of the 2026 Alumni Awards during TC Alumni Day on Saturday, October 3, recognizing their exceptional service, impact, and dedication to the College’s mission of creating a smarter, healthier and more equitable world. A tradition in the TC community, the celebration brings together generations of alumni to connect over shared efforts to advance human flourishing.
“Service is at the heart of our TC community,” says Jane Elizabeth Brown (M.A. ’10), President of the Alumni Council. “This year’s Alumni Award honorees exemplify that commitment, and celebrating them at Alumni Day remains one of our most cherished traditions at Teachers College.”
Discover more about this year’s honorees below, and save the date on Saturday, October 3, to join us and celebrate with the TC community.
Distinguished Alumni Award
Anitha Iyer (Ph.D.’12, M.S.’09, M.A.’04) serves as Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Behavioral Health Population Management at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her work is guided by the firm belief that timely and equitable access to mental health treatment is essential for the wellbeing of individuals and society.
Iyer is a recognized leader in the delivery of mental health services, frequent speaker at industry national conferences and has served as a subject matter expert for media engagement on mental health and suicide prevention. She is a member of American Psychological Association’s Board for the Advancement of Psychology in the Public Interest, and member of the APA Division 18 Executive Board. In addition to her doctorate, she has a master’s in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Michael A. Perelman (Ph.D.’77, M.Phil. ’75, M.S.’73) is an international leader in sexual medicine and sex therapy. A Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine, he founded the MAP Education & Research Foundation to advance integrated biomedical, psychosocial and cultural education for clinicians with educational resources accessed in more than 135 countries.
Perelman’s scholarship includes his creation of the Sexual Tipping Point® model, which “unifies biomedical-psychosocial and cultural perspectives to comprehend, diagnose and treat sexual disorders.” He previously served as Weill Cornell’s Clinical Professor of Reproductive Medicine and Urology and as a fellow for the National Institute of Mental Health. His honors include lifetime achievement and excellence awards from SMSNA, ISSWSH, AASECT, the University of Minnesota Medical School and the American Psychological Association.
Dena Simmons (Ed.D. ’14, M.A.’14) is an activist and educator from the Bronx. She is the founder and executive director of LiberatED, an organization that centers radical love, healing, and justice in education and social and emotional learning (SEL) to support the mental health of students and educators with the vision of creating a world, where “all children can live, learn and thrive in the comfort of their own skin.”
A leading voice on teacher education, Simmons has written and spoken across the country about SEL, social justice pedagogy, emotional intelligence and bullying in K-12 schools. Her research interests include teacher preparedness to address bullying in the K-12 school setting, culturally responsive pedagogy and the intersection of equity, racial justice and SEL to foster belonging and ensure safe spaces for all.
Early Career Award
Nicole Johnson (Ed.D.’21) is a visual artist, art educator and researcher whose work explores artistic practice, identity and pedagogy. Most recently, she has served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Program in Art and Art Education at Teachers College, where she earned her Ed.D. Previously, she served as the head of the Art Education program at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Kingston, Jamaica.
Johnson’s visual art practice draws on concepts of identity, tension, iteration, and representation, particularly through the lens of Black womanhood. Her teaching and scholarship center on studio practice, arts-based inquiry, professional and pedagogical identity development in higher education, and decolonial and culturally responsive art education.
Alumni Award for Outstanding Service
Delmy M. Lendof (Ed.D.’13) is a nationally recognized student affairs professional with more than 25 years of experience serving students in higher education. Lendof’s service to Teachers College has been extensive and ongoing. She has taught in the HESA program, contributed her insights as a speaker on various panels, participated in alumni council leadership and committees, and mentored many TC students. She currently serves as Vice President for Student Affairs at Pratt Institute. Previously, she served in key student affairs positions at New York University, Rutgers University, Teachers College and SUNY Old Westbury.
Lendof has spent her career focusing on student success in higher education and was recognized by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators with their highest award, Pillar of the Profession. She is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice and author of numerous articles and book chapters.