FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 9, 2022
Contact: Patricia Lamiell | patricia.lamiell@tc.columbia.edu | 212-678-3979
New York, NY – Teachers College, Columbia University announced the appointment of Dr. Bettina L. Love as William F. Russell Professor in the Foundations of Education. Dr. Love will join the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, effective September 1, 2022.
As the new William F. Russell Professor of Education, Professor Love continues a legacy of remarkable scholars who have held the position, including George C. Bond, Maxine Greene, and Linda Darling-Hammond. Teachers College’s Board of Trustees established the endowed professorship to recognize influential scholars whose research focuses on new and upcoming pathways to address the significant issues in education and freedom.
“Teachers College is delighted to welcome Bettina Love,” said Thomas Bailey, president of Teachers College, Columbia University. “Her scholarship and passion for educational justice will enrich TC’s teacher preparation programs and ensure students receive a thorough grounding in antiracist educational practices.”
Love was Teachers College’s 2021-22 Laurie M. Tisch Visiting Professor, and shared her expertise with faculty, students and the broader community through the College’s annual Tisch Lecture and workshops. Her expertise in abolitionist pedagogy encourages educators to foster acceptance and joy, challenge racist systems and structures, and inspire revolutionary change within schools and communities. A strong proponent of non-traditional curricula, Professor Love is the creator of the hip hop civics education curriculum GET FREE, drawing from rap-based education, critical media literacy, hip hop feminism and popular culture. She is also the co-founder of the Abolitionist Teaching Network (ATN), which seeks to develop and support teachers and parents in fighting injustice within their schools and communities.
“I know the entire Teachers College community will benefit from Professor Love’s scholarship, teaching and activism,” said Stephanie J. Rowley, Provost, Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Teachers College. “Our students, faculty and staff look forward to partnering with her in building equitable, communal, civically-engaged schools and preparing educators who can bring to life culturally responsive-sustaining practices that empower kids and change communities.”
“To be named the William F. Russell Professor in the Foundations of Education is an honor I don’t take lightly,” Bettina Love said of the appointment. “I am in awe and humbled by the scholars who paved the way for educational justice. I am excited to join the amazing faculty, staff and students of Teachers College.”
Love joins Teachers College from the University of Georgia, where she served as the Georgia Athletic Association Endowed Professor in Education in the Department of Education Theory and Practice. She received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Education degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, in Liberal Studies and Elementary Education, respectively; and her Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from Georgia State University.
She is the author of two books: We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom and Hip Hop’s Li‘l Sistas Speak: Negotiating Hip Hop Identities and Politics in the New South. Her work has appeared in numerous books and journals, including Educational Researcher, Urban Education, The Urban Review and the Journal of LGBT Youth. In addition, she has provided commentary for various news outlets, including NPR, Education Week, The Guardian and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She is a sought-after public speaker on anti-racism, hip hop education, Black girlhood, queer youth, hip hop feminism and art-based education to foster youth civic engagement.
In 2018, Georgia’s House of Representatives presented Love with a resolution recognizing her impact on the field of education. She was named the Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellow at the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University in 2016. In 2014, she was invited to participate in the White House Research Conference on Girls.
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About Teachers College, Columbia University
Founded in 1887, Teachers College, Columbia University, the first and largest graduate school of education in the United States, is perennially ranked among the nation’s best. Teachers College’s mission is to create a smarter, healthier, and more equitable and peaceful world. Teachers College engages in research and prepares professionals in its three main areas of expertise—education, health and psychology—to work with public and private entities in local, national and global communities and inform public policy. Students choose from among 150 separate programs to earn graduate degrees, which are conferred by Columbia University. While it is closely affiliated with Columbia University and collaborates with it on many programs, the College is an independent, autonomous institution with a separate, independent governing board, president, and financial endowment.