Staff Contacts
Staff
357 GDH, Box 211
Doctoral Fellows
Doctoral Fellow
372 Grace Dodge Hall
Tsewang was born in Ladakh, a northern Himalayan region in India. From an early age, she observed a disconnect between her school textbook and her rich cultural community. This gap ignited her passion for developing contextually relevant curricula that considers students' cultural and linguistic background. Her research interest centers on critical literacy and its role in social change by integrating cultural elements, indigenous languages, and local stories into the classroom. She aims to address the underrepresentation of indigenous languages in school curricula by investigating language policy and translanguaging. She co-founded a women’s health initiative that has educated over 1,600 girls and women on reproductive health, providing local resources and culturally relevant workshops in Ladakh. Through her work with NGOs such as Girls Inc., FHI 360, Geneva Global, and Health Inc., she has contributed to numerous educational projects, ranging from research and curriculum development to reproductive health education. Her long-term goal is to advocate for multilingual and multicultural education in Himalayan region and promote critical literacy. She holds a BA in Education (International Strand) from Smith College, and an MA in International Educational Development from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education.
Doctoral Fellow
372 Grace Dodge Hall
Neil’s research focuses on the intersection of learning media and climate change education, with a particular emphasis on South Asian contexts. He holds an MS in Computational Design Practices from Columbia University GSAPP, where he published his work on measuring the efficacy of climate-architecture centered learning technologies. Prior to joining Teachers College, he held positions as a Program Instructor at Columbia World Projects and as a Design Fellow at Columbia Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Design leading social impact workshops for the Obama Foundation Scholars and Columbia’s Business School. As a scholar in International and Comparative Education, he hopes to shed light on diverse global practices of climate action and citizenship and bring them to the classroom.
Doctoral Fellow
372 Grace Dodge Hall
Nina’s passion is supporting teachers and school leaders to build inclusive and caring learning environments for all students. Her research interests lie at the intersection of educational policy, socioemotional and civic education, and teacher and principal education and practices. Prior to joining TC, Nina worked as a high school teacher in Chile through the Teach for All's local partner. She also worked as a teacher coach in several organizations and at the Chilean Department of Education, where she led a national initiative on project based learning. Additionally, she conducted research in several organizations such as UNDP, Aptus, and EMElab. In 2023, following her relocation to the U.S., Nina joined the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) as a full-time research and policy intern, where she contributed to case studies on teacher preparation. Nina holds an M.A. in International Education Policy Analysis from Stanford University, a B.A. in Sociology from Universidad de Chile, and a teacher certification from Universidad Andrés Bello. Her master’s work, focused on implementation of practice-based teacher education in higher education institutions, was recently published by the Teaching and Teacher Education Journal.
Doctoral Fellow
372 Grace Dodge Hall
Haoyue’s research explores the intersection of education policy, digital governance, and school reform. She is particularly interested in how artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools are used in educational planning and management (EPM) to enhance transparency, equity, and data-informed decision-making. Her current work examines national strategies for digital transformation in education, as well as the evolving role of ministries of education in regulating and implementing these tools. Before joining the doctoral program, Haoyue worked as a consultant at UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) in Paris. At IIEP, she contributed to global projects on the application of AI and digital innovation in education governance, including a multi-country study analyzing how ministries of education are integrating digital tools into planning processes. Haoyue holds a master’s degree in International Educational Development from Teachers College, where she specialized in policy analysis and planning. She also earned dual bachelor’s degrees in Economics and French from Beijing Normal University. Her academic training is grounded in comparative education and critical policy studies, with an emphasis on mixed-methods research.
Doctoral Fellow
372 Grace Dodge Hall
Ashleigh’s research examines how teachers in refugee and conflict-sensitive contexts foster social-emotional development through play-based learning. Centering teacher well-being and critical, sociocultural frameworks, Ashleigh uses mixed-methods approaches to understand classroom and community dynamics in crisis settings. Her scholarship is deeply informed by seven years as a classroom teacher in Washington D.C., Prague, the West Bank, and Brooklyn. Professionally, she has collaborated with international organizations on play-based interventions in emergencies and coaching for foundational literacy and numeracy. At Teachers College, Ashleigh has served as a research assistant on arts-based psychosocial curriculum development in Uganda, taught human rights education as a Zankel Fellow, and served on the editorial board for Current Issues in Comparative Education. Bridging research and action, she remains active in community-based work with newcomer youth in the NYC-metro area.