TC’s Christopher Emdin Honored by CUNY and The Root | Teachers College Columbia University

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TC’s Christopher Emdin Honored by CUNY and The Root for Infusing STEM Instruction with Hip-Hop Concepts

Christopher Emdin, Associate Professor of Science Education
Christopher Emdin, Associate Professor of Science Education
TC’s Christopher Emdin has been honored by both The Root online magazine and the City University of New York (CUNY) for his innovative work in using hip-hop concepts to teach STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) in urban middle- and high-school classrooms. Emdin is Associate Professor of Science Education, in the Department of Math, Science & Technology.

On November 14th, at a gala celebration at  in New York City, Emdin was officially named to The Root 100 list of Black Influencers of 2016, joining singer Beyonce Knowles (No. 1), basketball star LeBron James (No. 2), “Hamilton” actor Leslie Odom, Jr. (No. 6); the writer and columnist Ta-Nehisi Coates (No. 12), and Diamond “Lavish” Reynolds (No. 14), who livestreamed the killing of her boyfriend, Philando Castile, by a policeman in Minnesota.

Emdin, ranked 44th on The Root’s list, “had already proved himself an innovative educator when he used hip hop to teach middle school science in the Bronx, N.Y., years ago,” the publication’s editors write. “These days his New York Times best-seller, For White Folks Who Teaching in the Hood…and the Rest of Y’all, Too, attempts to revolutionize the way school is taught by upending long-held practices (excessive testing, zero tolerance policies) he says rob black students of ‘joy.’” 

On November 16th, Emdin was also named Most Outstanding Graduate of the Past Decade by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he received his doctorate in urban education in 2007.

Emdin said he is gratified that the CUNY Graduate Center recognized his work with “young folks of color” who are pushing back against the constraints they face in “making their brilliance accessible.” The Root 100 designation, he said, “shows that the community at large sees the value of transforming education.”

In addition to authoring two books about hip-hop and education (he published Urban Science Education for the Hip-Hop Generation in 2010), Emdin is a founder of the popular #HipHopEd web chat and social media movement and a national and international expert in using hip-hop culture to engage young students in STEM subjects. He has also received the 2015 Exemplary Multicultural Educator Award from the National Association for Multicultural Education and the 2016 Early Career Award from the American Educational Research Association. – Patricia Lamiell

Published Wednesday, Nov 30, 2016