Alumni

Jennifer Ammenti received her M.A. student in the History and Education program in 2015. Jennifer earned her B.A. in Liberal Studies with an emphasis in Outdoor Education from California State University, Chico in 2001. She then went on to earn a California K-8 Multiple Subject Teaching Credential with an English Supplement in 2002. Jennifer has seven years of classroom teaching experience in grades third through fifth and another three years experience as a K-8 Head Librarian and Middle School Advisor. She has taught in public, public charter and private schools almost exclusively in Oakland, California. In 2009, she was a Klingenstein Summer Institute Fellow and in 2011 she earned a Certificate in Educational Technology Leadership from California State University, East Bay. Her research interests include teacher preparation, school reform, urban education, and violence in schools. She is passionate about outdoor education, supporting struggling learners and helping students to understand their strengths, as well as their areas for growth. She embraces difficult conversations and believes they are path to not only personal growth, but systemic change.

Bryan Bishop completed his M.A. in the History and Education Program in October 2016. He graduated Cum Laude with Honors in History and Political Science from the University of Houston Honors College. Beyond majoring in History and Political Science, he minored in Phronesis: A Program in Politics and Ethics. While at the University of Houston, he worked in the Special Collections department at the M.D. Anderson Library as a research assistant, both for the library's archives researchers and university professors. Relatively new in the field of education, he taught Social Studies for one year at Houston Independent School District before matriculating at Teachers College to develop further his ardor for History and Political Science. Most recently, before relocating to New York City, he served as a guest teacher, delivering lessons in history and government, in Itara and Namutamba, Uganda. As an undergraduate, his primary interests were the political and social history of modern France and modern European philosophers, chiefly--though not completely-- German (Herder, Fichte, Schiller, et al.). His Honors Thesis, Albert Camus, Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie, and the Charter of the National Council of the Resistance, treats the intellectual, socialist wing of the French Resistance movement and how they influenced post-Occupation France. As a graduate student, he focused on how to fuse history and politics with respect to American education systems. Specifically, concerns surrounding adult literacy and how to increase parental involvement in our young scholars' intellectual maturation is principal vis-a-vis his Masters research.  

Jennifer Boyle was a Ph.D. student in the History and Education program. She graduated with honors from Fordham University in 2009, earning her B.A. with a concentration in American Studies. She completed her M.A. in the History and Education program at Teachers College in 2011. Her Master's thesis focused on the black Episcopal church in Harlem and its role in securing education for the community during the Civil Rights Era. As a doctoral candidate, her interests include the history of urban education, community activism and the relationship between race and education. Prior to Teachers College, Jennifer interned at the American Irish Historical Society and taught an after-school program at Quest to Learn in New York City.

Cody J. Cunningham received his M.A. in the History and Education program. Prior to attending Teachers College, he taught art and coached golf at a local middle school in Dunbar, West Virginia. He attended West Virginia State University graduating summa cum laude with a B.S. in Education and a B.A. in History. Further, he holds an A.A. in Biblical Studies from Johnson University located in Knoxville, Tennessee. When not pursuing academic interests, he enjoys travelling, book collecting, fishing, and participating in activities that improve the community.

Jacqueline Cunningham was a Master of Arts student in History and Education . Her interest in the program began when she wondered how her understanding of the public education system in the United States could be used as points of transference for her middle and high school students. Prior to attending Teachers College, Jacqueline completed her undergraduate degree in Secondary History Education, American Studies, and Leadership Development at Rider University through the Baccalaureate Honors Program. Her research focus sought to understand the development of standardized assessment in New Jersey. As an advocate for social emotional development, Jacqueline's work outside of TC includes facilitating the growth of students, particularly of regions across Pennsylvania, through creative problem solving initiatives and structured discussions on respect, relationships, and responsibility. When not studying, Jacqueline can be found trying to create new adventures through traveling and time well spent with her family. 

Esther Cyna is an Associate Professor of U.S. history and society at the University of Versailles, France. Her research focuses on the history of racial discrimination through school finance in the South from Reconstruction to the present day. Her book project, entitled Plunder: A History of Racism and School Finance in the US South, is under contract with UNC Press. Esther was a PhD student at Teachers College from 2015 to 2021, where she worked for the Harlem Education History Project and the Center for Educational Equity. Her dissertation, under the supervision of Dr. Ansley Erickson, examined desegregation and school finance in North Carolina public schools from the 1960s to the 1990s. It received the C. Vann Woodward Dissertation Award from the Southern Historical Association in 2022. In 2021, her article entitled "Schooling the Kleptocracy : Racism and School Finance in Rural North Carolina, 1900-2018" won the Louis Pelzer Memorial Award from the Organization of American Historians. It was published in the Journal of American History in 2022.

Amanda was a M.A. student in the History and Education program. She received her Bachelor's in Psychology with a minor in Global Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2013. In Los Angeles, Amanda also worked at The Center for Autism and Related Disorders as a researcher and as a behavioral therapist. She worked within a team that validated a skills assessment used with children with Autism (published in Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders). Amanda became curious in the way schools could support students individual needs within a diverse classroom. She earned her credential in early childhood Montessori education, and taught in the classroom for two years before beginning her studies at the Teachers College. She is currently investigating the development of the learning disabilities construct during the 1960's and 70's. 

Damaris Dunn completed her MA in the History and Education program in May 2016. She teaches social studies at the Historic Boys and Girls High School located in Brooklyn, NY. She previously interned at the Urban Justice Center for the Street Vendor Project. The mission of the Street Vendor Project is to advance economic and social justice among the approximately ten thousand people who sell food and merchandise on the streets and sidewalks of New York City. Damaris earned her BA in History at the State University of New York at Oswego in 2012, where she minored in African American and Women's Studies. Her interests include urban education and race and education.

Zev Eleff completed his Master of Arts in the History and Education program. Currently a doctoral candidate at Brandeis University in the field of American Jewish history, Eleff’s work at Teachers College served as a major step toward further his scholarly work. He chose the History and Education program for his M.A. because of the great course offerings that allowed him to study his interests in higher education and American history. In addition to his historical interests, Zev appreciated the uniqueness of TC, where he was able to also devote time to courses on pedagogy in an effort to improve himself as an educator. Zev explains that his experience in the program was a “wonderful opportunity” and appreciated how the program was “sensitive to different forms of education in American history.”

Eleff worked with Professor Cally Waite, who helped him transform a course final paper into an article published in Modern Judaism in 2011. He also produced another scholarly article during that time, this one appearing in Tradition. The faculty’s trust in him to “produce high quality term papers raised my level of scholarship in Jewish scholarship and the history of education” to be of publishable quality. In addition, during his time at TC, Eleff was able to enroll as a rabbinical student at Yeshiva University, noting how the “scholarly and pedagogical sensitivity that was inculcated at TC improved me as a rabbinical intern and teacher.” He completed both programs in 2011.   

Deidre B. Flowers graduated from the History and Education program with a Ph.D in 2017.  She has several years of experience in government, non-profit and higher education, and is currently the Associate Director for Business Services in Columbia University’s Office of Alumni and Development.  Deidre’s scholarly interests include Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Higher Education Leadership and Women’s education.  She has presented her research at Teachers College’s 50th anniversary conference on The Impact of the Brown Decision on American Education and Society.  Her resulting article, “The Launching of the Sit-In Movement: The Role of the Black Women at Bennett College,” was published in the 2005 Winter/Spring issue of the Journal of African American History.  In addition to serving on the History of Education Society’s Graduate Student Committee, she has presented her Bennett College research at the Society’s annual conferences. Deidre earned her BA from Hampton University, an MPA from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs; as well as an Ed.M. from Teachers College in Higher and Postsecondary Education Administration. 

Barry Goldenberg is a Lecturer in the School of Education in the Education Sciences and MAT + Credential Programs at the University of California, Irvine. His forthcoming book, Strength Through Diversity: Harlem Prep and the Rise of Multiculturalism, explores the history of a groundbreaking community school in Harlem in the late 1960s and 1970s, and will be published by Rutgers University Press in early 2025. His research on African Americans schools, history pedagogy, and youth collaborative research has also been published in journals such as Urban Education, Multicultural Perspectives, Rethinking History, The Social Studies, Voices From the Middle, and The Journal of African American History. Barry was both a M.A. and Ph.D. student in the History and Education program at Teachers College, where he was Graduate Research Fellow at the Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME), now the Gordon Institute for Advanced Study. During his time at Teachers College under the advisement of Ansley Erickson, Barry founded and directed the Youth Historians in Harlem Program (YHH), an after-school program which ought to explore inspire young people to engage in historical research of their own community. Prior to Teachers College, Barry earned a B.A. in History from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). For more information, please visit his personal website at barrygoldenberg.com. 

Matt Kautz was a Ph.D. student in the History and Education program. Matt graduated with a Bachelor’s in English Language & Literature and a minor in History from the University of Michigan in 2011. Upon completion of his undergraduate studies, Matt earned his Master’s degree from Michigan the following school year in educational studies. He then taught for two years on the west side of Detroit and two more years on the west side of Chicago. During his time as a high school teacher, Matt became interested in the way his students were labeled and how reform efforts were often codified in a deficit framework that had moralistic connotations. He has since become interested in how the discourse of morality has been used to create and perpetuate inequality in schools.  

Rachel Klepper received her PhD in History and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University in February, 2024. Her dissertation explored the history of afterschool programs in New York City in the mid-twentieth century, and how ideas about childhood, philanthropy, social welfare, and education shaped the varied opportunities available to children. She is currently working as a Research Analyst at United Neighborhood Houses, as part of the ACLS Leading Edge Fellowship.

George Levesque, currently Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs and a lecturer in the History Department at Yale University, was drawn to the History and Education program at Teachers College because the program allowed him to combine his professional interests in university teaching and administration. Unlike most graduate programs in history, which usually focus primarily on preparing students for traditional faculty positions, Levesque observed that the program at Teachers College attracted students from a wide range of backgrounds and career paths. He was also attracted by the unique relationship between Teachers College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia, which provided an opportunity for him to unite the research training of a graduate program in the arts and sciences with the applicability of a professional school.

In reflecting back on his specific experiences in the program, Levesque appreciated the ability to take courses in the history and philosophy of education at TC, as well as courses “across the street” in the history and religion departments at Columbia and Barnard. In addition to several survey courses and many seminars on a range of topics, Levesque also valued the doctoral seminars on historical method, which gave students an opportunity to refine their research questions and discuss drafts of dissertation chapters.

Levesque wrote his dissertation on Noah Porter, longtime Professor of Moral Philosophy at Yale, General Editor of Webster’s Dictionary, and president of Yale from 1871 to 1886.  He says he used the study of Porter to investigate and illustrate the transformation of higher education in the nineteenth century from the antebellum college to the research university. In his current work as an academic administrator, Levesque comments that he often sees how the work he did for his dissertation connects directly to contemporary issues: “Many of the questions that come up all the time in my work—tensions between teaching and research, the comparative needs of undergraduate and graduate students, the evolving role of faculty, the changing expectations and backgrounds of students, the competition for scarce resources, the appropriate use of new technology—are strikingly similar to the ones that Noah Porter faced in the 1870s.” Levesque adds, “My studies at TC also prepared me to teach undergraduate courses on the history of education, which is very rewarding.”

Levesque summarizes, “The History and Education program at TC, and the larger network of resources at Columbia, provided an ideal setting for me to develop as a researcher and to prepare for a career in teaching and academic administration. I am grateful for what I learned and for the faculty who taught and guided me along the way."

Soeurette Morley graduated with an MA from the History and Education program in 2017. She is a lower school teacher at Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan. For her special project, she focused on the educational history of the all-girls catholic school and its founding. She graduated from St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY with a BA in History in 2015. As an undergrad, her main focuses included women's history, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Civil War. She spent a semester abroad in Thailand where she focused on East Asian History and worked as an English teaching assistant in an elementary school. Soeurette is interested in Manhattan's private and public education history, and how migration and culture have played a role. Outside of school, Soeurette loves to spend time and explore new museums with her daughter, Harper, run marathons, and ski. 

Jean Park was a Ph.D. student in the History and Education program, and will serve as a Graduate Research Fellow for the Center on History and Education at Teachers College for 2013-2014. Prior to her graduate studies, she served as the Development Director at St. Joseph School in lower Manhattan for two years. Jean earned her A.B. degree from Princeton University in 2008, where she majored in History and received a Certificate in East Asian Studies. Her research interests include: urban education, immigration, and social history.  

Sarah Rebell pursued a Masters of Arts in the History and Education program, focusing on the history of arts education. Sarah previously taught English at the Via Ugo Bassi middle school in Civitanova Marche, Italy, where she developed a curriculum that drew upon elements of theatre, music, and dance as a means of complementing and reinforcing class material. As a theatrical journalist, she has written for The Interval and Howlround. Sarah received her MFA in Graduate Musical Theatre Writing from NYU Tisch of the Arts, and her BA from Vassar College, where she studied History and Drama. 

Read Sarah's recent article on teaching artistry, published by The Interval on 09/27/2017.

Alexa Rodriguez was a Ph.D. student and research assistant in the History and Education program. Before beginning her doctoral studies at Teachers College, she received her Masters of Science in Education at The Johns Hopkins School of Education and her Bachelor of Arts degree at Fordham University in History and American Studies. While in Maryland, Alexa taught for three years in an Elementary/Middle School located in Baltimore City. Her research interests concern the intersection of 20th century Latin American history and United States history, specifically examining the way educational initiatives traveled between these two areas as well as their implications in the region. Currently, Alexa is researching the United States controlled education system during the occupation of the Dominican Republic between 1916-1924.

Antonia was a Ph.D. student in the History and Education program and Graduate Fellow at the Center for History and Education at TC. Her research interests include prison education and reform, industrial education, and the history of children and families. Antonia is currently serving on the History of Education Society’s Graduate Student Committee. She is also the Senior Director of the Arts and After School Program and Summer Arts Camp at Greenwich House in Greenwich Village. Antonia earned her B.A. from the University of Chicago in 2003 where she concentrated in Art History and Early Modern European History. When not at work, you can find Antonia scuba diving somewhere warm and tropical.

Fevronia "Nia" Soumakis received her Ph.D. in 2015 from Teachers College, Columbia University where she is currently teaching as an adjunct assistant professor in the History and Education program. Her research interests include the history of education, immigration and ethnicity, and religion and education. She is currently revising her dissertation on the history of Greek Orthodox educational institutions in New York City for publication. Fevronia has presented her work at numerous academic forums and has published several articles on Eastern Orthodoxy and Greek ethnicity. She is working on a co-edited volume titled Greek American Education in Historical Perspective and is serving on the Transnational Committee of the Modern Greek Studies Association.

Erik Stone was a M.A. student in the History and Education program. He earned his B.A. in International Studies with a concentration in Western Europe and two minors in European Studies and Hellenic Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle. Throughout his undergraduate education he pursued activism and worked as a writing tutor and research assistant, where he developed a keen interest in exploring the intersection between history and research. His own lived experiences as a transgender person combined with his passion for history has led him to be deeply interested in the histories of LGBTQ+ spaces, institutional histories, and the historical development of Queer-positive curricula. 

Megan Summers received her M.A. in the History and Education program.  She taught social studies at Gill St. Bernard’s School in Gladstone, New Jersey and previously worked at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan.  Megan earned her B.A. in History at Princeton University in 2006, where she also received certificates in African American Studies and Teacher Preparation. Her historical interests include school choice, race and education, and music education’s relationship with jazz and popular genres.  She has taught popular music history courses at Montclair State University, and recently published a music history text, These Distorted Times, in 2011.