In November 2013, when Teachers College publicly launched Where the Future Comes First, the largest Campaign ever under­taken by a graduate school of education, we certainly expected to succeed. What we could not have expected, in our wildest dreams, was that only a year and a half later, we would stand just shy of the $200 million mark, nearly two-thirds of the way home.

Everyone has contributed to this remark­able success, not only through gifts of all sizes, but through networking, hosting, attending and more. Above all, our Campaign has been built on the vision of donors who, time and again, have proven themselves to be every bit as creative and innovative as the work they sup­port. Their gifts have translated the brilliance of TC’s world-class faculty and students into impact that benefits students, families, schools and communities in New York City, across the country and throughout the world.

As we reach this pivotal moment, I want to celebrate a group of donors who have extended TC’s legacy as a place where new fields are born, and whose generosity and vision will shape our work for years to come. Their gifts touch on vir­tually every major area of the College, and each reflects one or more of our Campaign goals.(See the color-coded chart on the opposite page.)

David and Maureen O’Connor are long-time supporters of U.S. servicemen and women, who, in their words “write all of us a blank check by risking their lives to defend and serve their country.” So when TC approached them with a unique effort to help returning veterans transition back to civilian life and heal emotion-ally as well as physically from combat, the O’Connors wrote a check in return. Their $1 million gift creates the new Teachers College Resilience Center for Veterans & Families, which brings together several strands of work at the College. One is the research of psychologist George Bonanno, who has overturned conventional thinking about human resilience to loss and trauma. With his doctoral student, Joseph Geraci, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army (Infantry), a veteran of three tours of duty in Afghanistan, Professor Bonanno is studying an innova­tive peer counseling program called Battle Buds, adding to his ongoing research on the emotional well-being of veterans. Another strand is the College’s Dean Hope Center for Educational & Psychological Services, where Joseph Geraci recruits and trains TC students to work with veterans and families coping with post-traumatic stress disorder and other issues. The new Center could also become a hub for a range of other efforts at TC that focus on veterans.

“Serving in combat and losing friends or soldiers can have a devastating impact,” Joseph Geraci says. “I sought help from the Veterans Administration when I returned home and discovered the power of counseling. We think we have a program that can do even more to promote positive life outcomes and prevent negative ones.”*

Joyce Cowin (M.A. ’52) is one of TC’s staunchest supporters. She served on our

Alumni Council and has been a Trustee since 1980. Joyce’s generosity helped create the Heritage School, a high school in East Harlem founded by TC faculty member Judith Burton that gives the arts parity with other core subjects, and she also funded creation of TC’s Cowin Conference Center.

After the 2008 fiscal crisis, Joyce began thinking about how to protect hardworking families from ever again losing savings to investments that are “too good to be true.” The result was “Loot Inc.: The Cowin Financial Literacy Project,” a unique professional de­velopment effort that equips teachers to make personal finance not only comprehensible but also exciting and engaging for high school students. As Joyce puts it, Loot Inc. “gives teachers the tools to teach financial literacy, doing it in a way that allows them to wrap this knowledge around the material they already teach.” The program, developed by Anand Marri, Associate Professor of Social Studies & Education, employs real-world case studies that are relevant to students’ lives and challenge them to develop their own evi­dence-based solutions.

These are precisely the elements lacking from other financial literacy programs in schools across the nation, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. Now, thanks to generous continued funding from Joyce Cowin, TC is rolling out Loot Inc. nationally, with free downloads of the program available to schools and teachers in every state. (For more information and to watch a video about the project, visit lootinc.org.)

Lydia Morrongiello (Ed.D. ’75, M.A. ’64), a long-time music and humanities teacher and choral director, took piano lessons with Robert Pace when he was a high school music teacher. Dr. Pace, who became Direc­tor of TC’s program in Music & Music Education, went on to revolutionize music study throughout the world, serving as Executive Director of the International  Piano Teaching Foundation. After getting her B.A., Lydia followed Dr. Pace to TC for her master’s in Music Education. When she decided to pursue a doctorate here, she received a full scholarship and fellowship, courtesy of an anonymous donor. Now Lydia is helping others to benefit from Dr. Pace’s legacy. The Lydia Morrongiello Endowed Scholarship Fund for Music Education will ensure that future TC music students can pursue their doctoral studies without concern about tuition payments.

“This gift will allow our students to progress much more quickly and take courses across the College while intensely pursuing their dissertations,” says Hal Abeles, Profes­sor of Music & Music Education.

Chong Yang Kim (Ed.D. ’83) is President Emeritus of Hangyang University in South Korea, Chairman of the Hangyang University Foundation and Professor in the University’s Department of Educational Technology. He has received numerous awards, including in 2013, the Distinguished Alumni Award of Teachers College.

Following a visit by TC President Susan Fuhrman to Seoul in December 2014, Dr. Kim led a unique “crowd donation” by the Korean Alumni Association that resulted in $120,000 in pledges to the Korea 125th Anniversary Scholarship Fund. The gift is all the more remarkable because, as Dr. Kim himself says, Korea has only recently begun to establish a “culture of giving.”

“The Korean people really value the reputation of an institution, and TC is known as the mecca for educational study and also as the most comprehensive education univer­sity, with an unmatched variety of education­al fields and emphasis on interdisciplinary study,” says Dr. Kim, adding that his TC degree in Instructional Technology & Media enabled him to integrate technology into the curriculum of Hangyang University.

“Our alumni willingly joining our fund-raising project shows how much we love and cherish our time at TC,” Dr. Kim says. “We wanted to give the Korean students at TC the same unforgettable experiences that we had by providing them with a scholarship fund. The shared educa­tional values and passion we learned is what holds our alumni association together. This campaign for TC brought us even closer together as a group, which was one of the most valuable experienc­es for us.”

The Korea 125th Anniversary Scholarship Fund has inspired similar funding efforts by TC alumni in other coun­tries and from various programs. If you are interested in creating a “crowd gift” in your nation, please contact Rosella Garcia, Senior Director of Alumni Relations, at 212 678-3004, or rlg2144@tc.columbia.edu.

As everyone at TC knows, Bill Rueckert, Co-Chair of our Board of Trustees   and Vice Chair of our Campaign, is the great nephew of Grace Hoadley Dodge, our found­er. Bill cares deeply about passing on Grace’s legacy to each successive generation — and he believes you can never start too young. That’s why the Cleveland H. Dodge Foundation, which Bill serves as President, has given a generous gift to renovate and expand TC’s Rita Gold Early Childhood Education Center, which is housed in Thorndike Hall and enrolls children from infancy to age five whose parents are members of the TC and Columbia University community.

The gift is all the more timely because the past year’s launch of universal pre-K in New York City represents a watershed moment in American public education. The nation is increasingly aware of the critical importance of ensuring that all children have what they need to embark on the road to academic, social and developmental success. Teachers College is uniquely positioned to lead this effort because we combine expertise in research, policy and practice — including not only the Rita Gold Center but also one of the nation’s finest and most respected pre-service teaching programs in Early Childhood Education.

The Cleveland H. Dodge Foundation gift will add significant capacity at the Rita Gold Center and create state-of-the-art new space for teaching and research in this  critically important field. The gift will also be lever­aged through a Trustee Challenge for Capital Projects that was announced in October 2013 by TC Trustee Emerita Laurie M. Tisch.

These gifts stand as an amazing testimonial to the commitment, generosity and brilliance of our TC donors. But what’s even more amazing is that they are only the latest and most visible contributions from a donor community that continues to roll up its sleeves and work with us as full-fledged strategic partners. Each contribution builds on prior ones, creating something that, day by day, becomes ever larger than the sum of its parts. And that’s exactly why, as we come down the home stretch of our Campaign, this is the time to redouble our efforts. With each gift, our future comes into sharper and more exciting view. So stay with us — because the best is yet to come.

All For One

Groups of TC alumni are  increasingly honoring their favorite faculty members, including TC luminaries such  as Morton Deutsch, Jack  and Edee Mezirow, Joan Gussow and Harold Noah.(To see a full list, visit tc.edu/Endowed Scholarships) If you want to give in honor of a beloved TC professor  while also supporting current TC students, contact Linda  Colquhoun, Director of  Stewardship & Donor Relations, at 212 678-3679, or at  Colquhoun@tc.columbia.edu.

OUR DONORS’ GIFTS “touch on virtually every major area of the College and, in each instance, reflect one or more of our Campaign goals.”

THESE GIFTS STAND as an amazing testimonial to a donor community that continues to work with us as full-fledged strategic partners.

Covering All Our Bases

Each of TC’s Campaign priorities are taking the College to a new level of excellence. Together, they are far greater than the sum of their parts.

Here’s a quick color-coded look at how the donors behind the gifts described here are embracing the range of these goals and the synergies among them:

The Teachers College Resilience Center for Veterans & Families (David & Maureen O’Connor)

Loot Inc.: The Cowin Financial Literacy Project  (Joyce B. Cowin)

The Lydia Morrongiello Endowed Scholarship Fund for Music Education (Lydia Morrongiello)

Korea 125th Anniversary Scholarship Fund  (Dr. Chong Yang Kim &  the Korean Alumni Association)

Rita Gold Early Childhood Education Center (Cleveland H. Dodge Foundation)

Campaign Totals

As of April 22, 2015 TC has raised $197 million toward its Campaign goal of $300 million

SCHOLARSHIPS & FELLOWSHIPS

Support students to achieve their dreams

GOAL: $124 MILLION

RAISED: $52.5 MILLION

CAMPUS & TECHNOLOGY

Build a 21st-century campus

GOAL: $33 MILLION

RAISED: $16.6 MILLION

FACULTY & PROGRAMS

Attract and retain world-class scholars and galvanize

innovative programs

GOAL: $113 MILLION

RAISED: $109.5 MILLION

FINANCIAL FLEXIBILITY

Advance priority initiatives

GOAL: $30 MILLION

RAISED: $18.4 MILLION

Published Friday, Jun. 5, 2015