Current Students

Cameron Arnzen is a Politics & Education Ph.D. student at Teachers College, Columbia University. Before pursuing his doctorate, Cameron served in a variety of roles at The College of Idaho, including as an instructor and an academic advisor. He has also worked with IdahoEdNews.org, a public awareness service that spotlights public education in Idaho.  

Growing up in Idaho, rural education shaped Cameron’s research interests, which focus on education governance, public opinion, and the politics of education.

Cameron holds a B.A. in Political Economy from The College of Idaho and a M.A. in Political Science from Duke University.

Lezlie Braxton Campbell is an M.A. student in the Politics and Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. He received his B.S. in Business Management from Westfield State University in 2016 and worked in a different field before becoming an educator. 

Lezlie has been a middle school teacher for the past three school years and has also been politically and civically active in Massachusetts. He has served as President of the Young Democrats of MA, Co-Chair of Youth Services of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, and as Deputy Campaign Manager to elect the first Puerto Rican to the MA State Senate. During his time as an undergrad, Lezlie worked with youth focusing on conflict resolution and non-violence training and later on reform efforts around the school to prison pipeline, which inspired his work once he got into education. 

Although he did not have a conventional track, Lezlie became an educator because he wanted to work in education policy, specifically focusing on school discipline and restorative justice efforts. Since becoming an educator, he has worked on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts around curriculum, teaching practices, and student behavior. He is interested in the intersectionality of juvenile justice, school discipline, and poverty.

Rani Corak is a Politics and Education M.A. student at Teachers College, Columbia University. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from Colorado College.

Before pursuing her graduate degree, Rani was a public-school teacher and case manager in New Orleans, LA. Her experiences in the classroom shaped Rani’s passion to use policy as a tool to provide equitable education to historically underserved populations.

Rani continues to ground her studies in the needs of the community as an Arthur Zankel CPET Fellow. Listening to the needs of educators, she works as an academic coach for teachers at a local school in Brooklyn, working to uplift student voices in the classroom.

Rani’s professional goals include utilizing evidence-based research to inform educational policy that promotes equitable access for all students. 

Julia Finegan is an MA student in the Politics and Education Program. She holds a MAT from Relay Graduate School of Education (‘16) and BA in Political Science from the Honors College at Georgia Southern University (‘09).

Prior to attending TC, Julia started her career in education with Teach For America in 2010, teaching kindergarten and first grade in Atlanta, Georgia. She continued to teach after moving to New York in 2014 at Achievement First East New York Elementary school, where she was recognized as a distinguished teacher in the spring of 2021.

Julia and her husband Kyle have been married since 2012 and have two daughters.

After completing her studies at Teachers College, Julia looks forward to using her education working experience and policy studies to ensure all children receive access to equitable and exceptional early childhood programming.

Iris Hinh completed her B.A. in Political Science with minors in Education Studies and Asian American Studies from the University of California-Los Angeles in 2020. She has actively worked with pre-K to postsecondary students, specifically with low-income, first-generation college students. She finds enjoyment in making connections with young learners and community members outside of her academic studies. 

Prior to starting the M.A. Politics and Education program, she has interned with the the Learning Policy Institute, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools, and Accreditation Group in the Office of Postsecondary Education with the U.S. Department of Education. Iris completed a service term with Jumpstart as an AmeriCorps Member and is currently a State Fiscal Policy Research intern with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 

Iris has demonstrated interest in issues related to school choice, restorative justice, how states measure school accountability and student outcomes, and comparative international education systems. Upon the completion of the Politics and Education program, Iris plans to relocate to Washington, D.C. to work for a non-profit or think tank in K-12 policy. In the future, she plans to obtain her teaching credential to teach at a traditional public school.

Chloe is a Politics and Education MA student and Arthur Zankel REACH Fellow at Teachers College Columbia University with a passion for educational equity research, policy, and teaching. 

Chloe received her Bachelor’s Degree in History from the University of Idaho in 2018, then accepted a position as the Education Fellow at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta Georgia. There, Chloe pursued research concerning the contemporary history of public policy impacting equitable education. While publishing content on notable historical figures and persistent inequity rooted in historic systems, Chloe engages with the community as an Arthur Zankel REACH fellow teaching History and Social Justice at a local school in Harlem and has created public exhibitions to bring this research to life. 

Chloe’s professional aspiration is to connect public education with evidence based research that defines systemic inequity in order to pursue and progress educational equity and equal opportunity for all.

Carly Rettie is an MA student in the Politics and Education Program. She graduated from Virginia Tech in May 2021 with a B.S. in Human Development and minors in Political Science and Diversity and Community Engagement. At Virginia Tech she was involved in service organizations and represented the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences as an ambassador. 

Prior to attending TC Carly worked as intern at several different organizations including the National Children’s Museum, Literacy Volunteers of the New River Valley, Job’s for America’s Graduates, and the Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. Her work has focused on program development, volunteer coordination, event planning, grant writing, research, and teaching. 

After graduation Carly hopes to pursue a career in policy where she can focus on ensuring that public schools are equipped to provide equitable access to education and opportunity for all. 

Correne Reyes is an M.A. student in the Politics and Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She graduated from Loyola University Maryland in 2017 with a degree in Elementary Education. While teaching in Baltimore City public schools, Correne began to notice the structural inequalities and lack of culturally responsive teaching within classrooms. In addition, she became curious about the effectiveness of charter schools after teaching for 3 years as a first grade at a charter school in New Jersey. These experiences led her to further explore education and enroll in the Politics and Education program.

Correne currently works as a preschool teacher and ESL teacher online for ages 5-12 to develop English speaking, reading, and writing.

Politics and Education Program

Teachers College, Columbia University

Zak Ringelstein was Maine’s 2018 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. He taught for 5 years and was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for founding, scaling, and selling an education company called UClass. He designed the 60K Minimum Teacher Salary policy, which Bernie Sanders adopted in his 2020 presidential campaign. He is on the executive committee of Sierra Club Maine and contributes for the New York Times and Forbes. He has a B.A. from Columbia University, an M.Ed. from Arizona State University, and is working on his Ph.D. in politics and education at Teachers College of Columbia University.

He met Leah, his wife, when they were public school teachers and now they have two kids of their own, Zion and Jack.

Payal Sharma is an MA student in the Politics and Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She also holds a B.A and M.A degree in History from Delhi University.

Prior to starting her graduate degree at Teachers College, she worked in different capacities in the education development sector across India. As an educator, her journey started as a Fellow with Teach for India (TFI) wherein she taught English, Math and Science in a public school in Delhi. After completing her fellowship, she worked with development organizations as a Program Manager and led policy implementation programs that aid systemic school improvement through capacity building of key stakeholders. She has also worked as an Instructional Coach to support teachers placed in low income private schools by designing and facilitating personalized professional development sessions. Currently, she is working for an education technology company as a Curriculum Facilitator.  

Her areas of interest and expertise include holistic school and teacher evaluation, education in contexts of systemic school reform and inclusive education.