Dear Members of the TC Community,

Winding down the year is, for me, an exercise in meditation: a reflection on what we’ve done and how we’ve spent our time, along with a look forward and setting of intentions for the new year ahead. 

I know a number of us are feeling a heaviness as we close the chapter on 2025 with continued hate and violence around the world, from Bondi Beach to Brown University, and increasing threats from our federal government to our funding, scholarship, and to our international students. Many of us are feeling anxiety. 

There is an often-referenced quote from Mr. Rogers, the late children’s television host, during times like these. He said “look for the helpers,” meaning the rescue workers and volunteers. This is something he learned from his own mother: you will always find people who are helping, and that is where to focus in order to maintain hope. 

I was thinking about this and recognizing that the helpers are right here at Teachers College. Our professions are those of intervening, assisting, leading and solving. Our students and faculty make things better by exploring, guiding, and creating. That is what drew us here in the first place. Indeed, a TC alum, child psychologist Dr. Margaret McFarland was a mentor to Mr. Rogers, having earned her Ph.D. in psychology in 1938. Our public safety officers are helpers, visible and actively ensuring that our campus is safe and welcoming; our cafeteria and custodial workers see that we are cared for, and across the College we have helpers supporting our mission and our community. 

Over the last weeks in particular, I saw the helpers leading our youngest community members, children in our Rita Gold Early Childhood Education Center and the Hollingworth Preschool, as they visited my office. The children shared holiday greetings along with their joy of discovery as they walked through our buildings and stopped into offices full of new people and new things to learn.

I saw the helpers developing new partnerships, for example, the launch of the Consortium for Diplomacy and Global Action (CDGA), developed in partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and the International Academy for Arts and Cultural Studies. The CDGA will enable TC’s direct engagement with the UN system — creating opportunities for dialogue, research-to-policy exchange, and collaboration at the intersection of education and global governance. These efforts will help to advance diplomacy, cultural exchange and global action for a more collaborative future. We celebrated the launch with the United Nations General Assembly Gala Concert at Carnegie Hall, which brought together an international coalition of artists, diplomats and educators to commemorate through music the UN’s enduring mission of peace, cooperation and shared humanity. I was delighted to see the Teachers College Choir as part of the performance. They were outstanding.

I listened to our helpers talk about the future of teacher education with our Trustees at our December Board meeting. I was heartened to hear the appreciation for our excellent program, including our residency model and our student-teacher experiences, all of which are proven to be effective for retention in the field over time.

As I consider the new year ahead, I am eager to move forward with the work that brings more helpers into the world: raising the funds to support more students and more research; engaging with our faculty about the interdisciplinary efforts of our Public Good Initiative; visiting China to develop new school partnerships and opportunities; and listening throughout the year to our students and alumni as they share their scholarship and career pursuits. 

So as I look to the helpers, I look to you. And just as Mr. Rogers expected, it gives me hope: for Teachers College and for the world beyond, and I am grateful for your part in it. 

This will be my last community email for the year, and we’ll resume our scheduled communications when we return for the spring semester. In the meantime, my best wishes for a healthy, safe, and restorative break.

Sincerely,

Thomas Bailey
President
Teachers College, Columbia University