Student Affiliates
Alexandra Harakas is an MA student at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she focuses her research on several areas within education. Her primary interests include the education of students experiencing liminal legality, the promotion of critical thinking skills, refugee and forced migration studies, and the teaching of languages within these contexts.
Currently, Alexandra is engaged in developing a language arts curriculum tailored for Dominican-born stateless students of Haitian heritage in the Dominican Republic. Alongside this, she is conducting an empirical study examining the attitudes of these students' parents towards acquiring literacy.
Recently, Alexandra received a FLAS Fellowship to enhance her Kreyòl skills, which supports her ongoing research and educational initiatives.
Alicia Banks, a PhD candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University, specializes in decolonial studies, anti-racist pedagogy, and Afro-Brazilian education.
Her research focuses on the instruction of Afro-Brazilian history and culture, as well as the exploration of educational practices in urban and rural quilombo communities in Brazil. Alicia has conducted fieldwork at a quilombo school in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, and is actively engaged in ethnomathematics and other decolonial pedagogies.
Darren Rabinowitz is a PhD candidate and doctoral fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University.
His research spans climate change, peacebuilding, and social movements, aiming to uncover the diffusion and embeddedness of global regimes and educational discourses within the state. For his dissertation, he plans to explore the impact of environmental rights in national constitutions on environmental learning outcomes.
In 2019, he received the CAE travel grant, which supported his research in Rwanda. His work, "Peacebuilding Inc.: Neoliberal Influences on Rwanda’s Vulnerable Youth," will be published in COMPARE: A Journal of Comparative and International Education in May 2024.
Hilena Tibebe is an MA student in the International Educational Development program at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Her focus spans program implementation, social-emotional learning, culturally-responsive pedagogy, and literacy initiatives, particularly in refugee education. In 2023, she received a grant and research fellowship from CAE for a MEL project in Somaliland, exploring social-emotional learning's impact on academic performance and well-being.
Hilena teaches English as a New Language to high school and adult learners from Africa and the diaspora, while consulting with organizations like the International Rescue Committee and its Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crises (ERICC) initiative.
She actively contributes to CAE, engaging in African Studies Working Group to foster a vibrant community passionate about African studies and the diaspora.
Paola Abril is an MA student in the International Educational Development program at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Her academic focus encompasses education in conflict and emergencies, peace education, and youth development. For her integrative project, she intends to explore educational strategies for peace in marginalized communities within Kenya and Colombia.
Recently, Paola was awarded the CAE Travel Grant to support her work as an intern at the Life & Peace Institute’s Global Policy Unit in Nairobi, Kenya.
Theresa Cann is a PhD candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University, focusing on decolonial perspectives, gender disparities, and social justice in education policy and practice.
Her research centers on women's roles in decolonization movements in African higher education, addressing historical erasure and activism. Theresa's dissertation examines the intersection of decolonization and women's activism for gender equality in Ghana's higher education.
As a former Graduate Research Assistant at CAE, she spearheaded initiatives promoting academic collaboration, peer advising, and library research orientation. Theresa organized conferences on "Decolonizing the University" and "Erasure and Invisibility in Research," both earning CAE the Provost's Student Excellence Awards. She collaborated with Dr. Mary Mendenhall on a study with UNHCR, leading the Djibouti segment.
Theresa is a Boren Fellow, Fulbright Scholar, and recipient of the Baden-Württemberg Seminar Award.
Theo Ntwari is an MA student in the International Educational Development program at Teachers College, Columbia University,specializing in education in emergencies and refugee resettlement.
His research focuses on enhancing education systems to foster academic and personal growth, particularly in areas with high youth unemployment. Theo is passionate about advocating for youth mental health and environmental well-being, collaborating with UN missions in New York.
He leads initiatives like promoting Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in Zambia and Kenya through Life’s 2 Short 4 Just 1 Sport (2-4-1) Play programming. Additionally, he also been involved in the Ubumwe Project, an initiative that explores arts for education and psychosocial support for refugee children and youth, the UNHCR Typology of Teachers of Persons of Concerns Project, and the Djibouti Student Career Orientation and Well-being Initiative.
Whitney Hough is a PhD student at Teachers College, Columbia University, focusing on teacher agency in conflict-affected contexts, particularly in Cameroon.
She holds a master’s degree in conflict, security, and development from the University of Bradford and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and cross-cultural studies from Carleton College. Whitney has worked in international educational development, including Fulbright programs, and contributed to UNHCR research in Chad and Uganda.
Recently, she organized a teacher development conference in Ghana and co-developed a peacebuilding curriculum for Liberian youth.