Teachers College honored more than 1,900 graduates from the Class of 2026 during four ceremonies at the United Palace Theater in Washington Heights on May 18 and 19. Joining a global alumni community more than 100,000 strong, Teachers College graduates celebrated alongside their families while emerging as the next generation of leading scholars in education, health and psychology.

President Thomas Bailey’s address to graduates affirmed that it is critical to lead with compassion and empathy, which TC cultivates in its students. “We are all educators,” he said. “Your job now is to share your wisdom. Bring others along. That is how we make our impact. And you are uniquely prepared to succeed.” 

As graduates prepare to pursue careers as researchers, educators and entrepreneurs rooted in service, President Bailey made a request: “I ask that you keep your heart on the front burner, even as you engage in new advances, new tools, and new ways of doing things,” he said, reflecting on the seismic impact of artificial intelligence on the world. “Technology can automate the routine. But it can never automate the moral courage required to make the right decision, stand up for those in need, follow your conscience, and your ethics. That requires people. It requires you.”

“The world is messy, [and] the challenges are real. But you are ready,” Bailey continued. “You will make the hard calls with integrity and compassion, assuming the risk of criticism and even failure. You will make an enormous difference because you have the ability and you also have the heart.”

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(Photo: Paulo Basseto) 

(Photo: Paulo Basseto)

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(Photo: Paulo Basseto)

(Photo: Paulo Basseto)

TC Board of Trustees Chair Leslie Morse Nelson emphasized the College’s foundational commitment to help societies flourish through supporting lifelong wellbeing and promoting impactful change. “Together you embody what Teachers College has recognized since our founding over 130 years ago,” she said. “I am so proud and grateful to be here to celebrate this new class of graduates who I know will continue to build on and contribute to this great legacy.”

Here are more key takeaways from TC’s 2026 Convocation ceremonies.

Inspiring Remarks from TC’s Medal for Distinguished Service Recipients

TC alumna Prudence L. Carter (M.A. ’95), Sarah and Joseph Jr. Dowling Professor of Sociology at Brown University, addressed graduates from the Counseling & Clinical Psychology and Human Development.

Carter emphasized the importance of fostering human connection and empathy to create better lives for all people. “We are still, in the most honest sense, a society in progress with the architecture of inclusion partially built, but the interior work of genuine human connection is still very much underway,” said Carter, who drew on her expertise leading the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University as its Peltz Ruttenberg Family Director. “But I believe that we can shift the tides of inequality with ample opportunities, culturally flexible minds and empathic hearts....And in this moment, what the world needs most is precisely the kind of work you do and have been trained to do. You will be the architects of empathic connection in a world that is desperately short of it right now. You are the ones we are waiting for to lead us next.”

“I urge you to be wholly yourself as you serve and lead in your respective fields, because your authentic example will invite others to be themselves,” said TC alumna Wanda Marie Holland Greene (Ed.M. ’21, M.A. ’92), Head of the Hamlin School in San Francisco, in her address to Mathematics, Science & Technology and Organization & Leadership graduates. “Your unique story is the home where your superpowers live. Being my authentic self has been one of the keys to my success as a leader in education,” said Holland Greene, herself a graduate of TC’s private school leadership program.

As she recounted her time in New York City schools, Holland Greene underscored the value of showing up authentically and emphasized the importance of centering humanity when pursuing progress. “I believe that the most consequential decisions that the alumni of this great institution will ever weigh are not between your success and failure in life—but between your mobility and your morality,” said Holland Greene. “The questions of where and how fast we should go are often as important as the question of whether we should go at all. So be vigilant. Be discerning. And, most importantly, be you.”

Addressing graduates in the Biobehavioral Sciences, Health Studies & Applied Educational Psychology, International & Transcultural Studies and Education, Policy & Social Analysis departments, TC alumna Kate MacKenzie (M.S. ’02), Executive Director of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Food Policy, reflected on her time at TC, her career and the powerful influence of her mentor and nutrition trailblazer, the late Joan Dye Gussow (Ed.D. ’75, M.Ed. ’74). 

“You are leaving Teachers College with credentials, yes. But you are also leaving with a way of seeing, a way of seeing that someone in your life, like Joan was in mine, has helped you sharpen,” said MacKenzie, who has led the development and implementation of Food Forward NYC, the city’s 10-year food policy plan.

She also reminded graduates that improving flawed systems doesn’t happen overnight and requires quiet persistence. “The world you are entering is loud, but the people who shape what comes next will not be the loudest, they will be the ones who saw something true early and stayed with it,” said MacKenzie. “You are those people. You have been trained for this. The seat you are sitting in has launched generations of them, and now it launches you.”

“When I entered the world of ballet, I was entering a space that wasn’t built with me in mind and for a long time, I thought the goal was to adapt,” said Misty Copeland — a world renowned ballet dancer, best-selling author, educator and philanthropist — in her address to graduates in the Arts & Humanities, Curriculum & Teaching and Education Policy & Social Analysis programs. “But over time, I realized something deeper. Real progress doesn’t come from fitting into a system; it comes from expanding it.”

In sharing her journey from “a young girl in survival mode” to the first Black woman to serve as the principal dancer for the American Ballet Theater, Copeland reminded graduates of the power educators have to open doors for their students, especially those from marginalized communities. “The work you’re doing is about expanding what’s possible. It’s about reminding people, especially young people, that their voice matters…and they have a place in shaping the future,” said Copeland, who established the Misty Copeland Foundation in 2022. “As you move forward from this moment, I hope you carry that with you and remember that your presence, your consistency, your care, your belief, can be the thing that changes someone’s life. Just like someone once did for me.”

Memorable Moments of Celebration

Graduating members of the Vocal Collective perform “Take Me Home.” (Photo: Paulo Basseto)

Jane Elizabeth Brown (M.A. ’10), President of the Teachers College Alumni Council, welcomes 2026 graduates to the TC alumni community. (Photo: Paulo Basseto) 

Marty Scott (M.A. ’25) (pictured) performs “Lean on Me” with Jonathan Peled (M.A. ’24) and Mars Zheng (M.Ed. ’27) (Photo: Paulo Basseto)

KerryAnn O'Meara, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Provost, and Dean of the College. (Photo: Paulo Basseto)

(Photo: Paulo Basseto)

Each ceremony concluded with a drum line performance. (Photo: Paulo Basseto)

(Photo: Paulo Basseto)

Jiatian Yang (M.A. ’25) performs "The Harvest Drum" on the guzheng. (Photo: Paulo Basseto)

(Photo: Paulo Basseto)

Reflections From Student Convocation Speakers

In her address to graduates and their families, Jihan Basyah (M.A ’26, Psychology in Education), recounted the life lessons she learned at TC and the importance of community. “We may be leaving with one of the most prestigious degrees, but the most fruitful of it all is the character we got to build throughout our time here,” said Basyah. “Among all that joy, and all that hardship, we flourished. TC did not just educate us, it transformed us. We let go of what we thought we knew, made room for what we never expected, and found our way back to why we started in the first place. We got to do all of that together.”

During his address to graduates and their families, Abu Abdelbagi (Ed.D. ’26, Technology, Media & Learning) reflected on the value of resilience during strife. He shared an anecdote of his mother steadfastly watering her plants as conflict broke out in their hometown, Omdurman, Sudan. “I keep pondering the defiance in it; the resilience, the devotion, the quiet, stubborn hope that it takes to keep going,” said Abdelbagi, who was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team reporting on the Sudanese civil war for the New York Times. “So keep watering your plants in whatever forms they take. You never know how wild things will bloom, how resilient stems will stand.”

Student RJ Wicks (M.A. ’26, Education Policy and Social Analysis), shared how his feelings about enacting change evolved while at TC. “Change is not always something we announce. Oftentimes, it is something we embody. Just showing up as who we are can plant a seed in someone else,” said Wicks, a recipient of Columbia’s Campbell Award and a Teachers College Zankel Fellow.

“So today, as we celebrate this milestone, I want us to remember the people who helped us take root. We have a responsibility, not just to chase the highest office or the biggest platform, but to honor the ground beneath us. To be the roots. To plant the seeds. To show up in the classrooms, clinics, neighborhoods, organizations, and communities where change is already waiting to begin,” he said.

In the final Convocation ceremony, student Sam Bolourtchi (M.A ’26, Philosophy and Education) reflected on the ways that her TC community shaped her as a person. “Our community didn’t just challenge me academically — it met me with care, with presence, and with a kind of attentiveness that changed how I saw myself,” said Bolourtchi. “As a result of being lifted here at TC, I found my vocation to do just that for others as a new educator at City As School, one of New York City’s public high schools.”

Speaking at the Columbia University Commencement ceremony on May 20, President Bailey delivered a statement authored by Nathanael Pribady  (M.A.  ’26).

“TC was founded on the radical idea that education is liberation. That a classroom is not a production line. That a child is not only a data point. A teacher is a transformer of lives. . . .” Bailey shared on behalf of Pribady. “So stand proud. Heal people. Teach boldly. Speak honestly. In a time of rampant misinformation, George Orwell reminded us, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. You have spent years training to do exactly that, in classrooms, clinics, and communities that need it desperately.”

Breaking New Ground

Convocation festivities continued with the College’s cherished celebration of the numerous graduates who are the first in  their families to earn a post-secondary degree or celebrating other milestones at the Breaking New Ground celebration.

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Kelsie Spears (M.A. ‘26) performs “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” (Photo: Paulo Basseto)

(Photo: Paulo Basseto)

(Photo: Paulo Basseto)

(Photo: Paulo Basseto)

(Photo: Paulo Basseto)

The ceremony featured remarks from graduating students and letters of gratitude written from graduates to their families on this momentous occasion followed by the annual “roll call,” where families stand alongside their graduates in recognition of this milestone.

“If you are like me, you have always felt the weight of making sure that others knew about your family and communities’ difficulties. You are accustomed to making visible these complexities — the push and pull of immigrant life, the tensions with finding ‘home’ after displacement, the sacrifice in search for opportunity, the feelings of otherness,” said Haeny Yoon, Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, to graduates and families. “And while it’s true that for many of us, our stories are laced with trauma, hardship, exclusion, obstacles and setbacks, they are also stories of joy, triumph and celebration.”

For the second year, the College’s Office for International Students & Scholars (OISS) hosted a gathering for international students and their families to recognize their valuable contributions to the TC community. And this year, for the first time, the Staff Advocacy and Support Council (SASC) hosted a reception recognizing the achievements of our staff graduates.

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The second annual Graduate International Student Reception, hosted by the Office of International Students & Scholars (OISS), honored the accomplishments of TC’s global students with remarks from students, alumni and President Thomas Bailey. (Photo: OISS)

(Photo: OISS)

(Photo: OISS)

TC staffers Lila Oest (M.A. ’26), Craig Sculli (M.A. ’26) and Jocelyn Bowman (M.A. ’26) at the Staff Advocacy and Support Council (SASC) reception.

Lottie Hathaway (Ed.D. ’26) and Sonya Douglass, Professor of Education Leadership. 

Lisa Seales (left), Vice President for Administration, with representatives from the Staff Advocacy and Support Council. 

Watch the Full Ceremonies

— Sherri Gardner