Staff Contacts
Staff
357 GDH, Box 211
Doctoral Fellows
Doctoral Fellow
372 Grace Dodge Hall
Sara is a Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) Global Challenges Scholar from Venezuela. She recently completed with the highest distinction the Masters in "Global Challenges: Law, Policy and Practice" at the School of Law of Swansea University under the HRC scholarship program. Sara's research focuses on the impact of climate change-related displacement and migration on girls' access to education in Guatemala and Honduras. She will continue this research at TC, Columbia University. She has worked with UNICEF UK on this topic as well. In addition, she has been part of the legal team at Child Rights Connect in Geneva, Switzerland. Sara holds a Summa Cum Laude BA degree with a double major in "Social Research and Public Policy", and "Theatre" from New York University (Abu Dhabi campus). She has also worked on education projects in Venezuela, Canada, India, Italy, Lebanon, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates. Sara was elected Youth Mayor of the Chacao Municipality in Venezuela between 2010 and 2014. She studied at the United World College of India and is a Dalai Lama Fellow from the University of Virginia. She enjoys playing sports, the outdoors, and Latin dance.
Doctoral Fellow
372 Grace Dodge Hall
Camille grew up between Cameroon and France and worked in Asia, Africa, America and Europe. She developed her career around business entrepreneurship and strategy consulting, African development, and education. Her passion for education led her to pursue a MA in International Education at Stanford, during which she investigated the relationship between International Governmental Organizations and sub-Saharan education programs, through a three-country case study analysis of Cameroon, Nigeria, and Rwanda. As a scholar in International Educational Development, she intends to better understand and participate in improving access to learning in Africa while focusing her future research work on understanding how youth education has consequences on political and economic participation in Cameroon.
Doctoral Fellow
372 Grace Dodge Hall
Tiffany’s research interests focus on accelerated learning programs as interim solutions for out of school children in conflict contexts. She plans to examine student trajectory and experience in these programs as well as their applicability in other areas such as the Middle East. Prior to Columbia, she has worked as an Instructor at the American University of Iraq Baghdad. Her previous roles include Senior Education Consultant in Abu Dhabi for the KHDA, English Language Fellow at the Military Academy in Budapest, and a Senior Development Trainer for Afghan National Police in Afghanistan. She is also a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Jordan and Moldova. She holds an Ed.M. in International Education from Harvard University and an M.A. in Human Rights from University of Essex.
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.