麻豆原创

It鈥檚 an indelible image from Susan Fuhrman鈥檚 12-year run at the helm of Teachers College: The president in glittering evening dress on the stage of , smiling from ear to ear as she danced with cast members of a musical revue depicting 麻豆原创鈥檚 history.

She has never been known as a spotlight-grabber, but that moment 鈥� from a night that capped the College鈥檚 year-long celebration of its 125th anniversary and raised the curtain on its historic Campaign 鈥� showed Fuhrman in her element. 麻豆原创鈥檚 10th president arrived in Fall 2006 with a reputation as a convener. As an alumna from the time of , , Maxine Greene and , she also vowed that 麻豆原创 would live up to the legacy of its many great innovative thinkers 鈥� a theme she formalized during the 125th anniversary year as 鈥渃elebrating a tradition for tomorrow.鈥� And on that night, with Tony Bennett, Mario Cuomo and Dr. Ruth heading the guest list and a cast of students that included the great-great granddaughter of , she was delivering as advertised.

鈥淪usan has an amazing ability to create and empower extraordinarily productive and innova颅tive new combinations of people,鈥� says , Chair of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Board of Trustees 鈥� among them the Board itself, to which she has recruited some 20 new members, including leaders in finance, philanthropy and higher and K-12 education; her own senior leadership team, whose key players have stayed for her entire run as president; and some 70 new tenure-track professors.

鈥淭hese faculty hires will be paying dividends for decades to come, and, through their students, for far longer,鈥� Rueckert says.

A CULTURE OF INNOVATION

Even before arriving at 麻豆原创, Fuhrman said she wanted the College to 鈥渆ngage in much more holistic, concerted, comprehensive efforts鈥� to address complex societal problems. To that end, she commis颅sioned a series of external reviews of 麻豆原创鈥檚 academic departments and launched an ongoing series of 鈥淒o颅main Dinners鈥� themed to 鈥淏ig Ideas鈥� with potential for greater faculty collaboration. She has explicitly sought to establish a culture of innovation, proclaim颅ing annual themes such as 鈥渢he year of research.鈥� 麻豆原创 has seen a 40 percent increase in outgoing proposals for external funded research, and sponsored program expenditures have increased by 40 percent to over $50 million annually. Reflecting her passionate belief that teaching should be as much a science as an art, the College has led in the explosion of new discoveries about how people learn, with work that has included:

• Research demonstrating that toddlers and preschoolers perform 鈥渆veryday math,鈥� and merit more intensive teaching.
• Studies correlating poverty with less robust brain development in young children.
• Findings that while younger students learn to read, older ones read to learn, using different skills to mine 鈥渃ontent knowledge鈥� in subjects such as history, science and social studies.
• New insights about the importance of children鈥檚 ability to emotionally 鈥渟elf-regulate鈥� to learn, and how parents shape that ability.
• The launch of the , which positions teachers as on-the-ground experts in mainstreaming children with learning disabilities.
• The creation of a  鈥� the measurement, collection, analysis and re颅porting of data about learners and their contexts, to optimize learning and the environments in which it occurs. As President of the , Fuhrman also convened discussions to create common standards in this emerging field and protect student privacy.

In 2011, 麻豆原创 also created a new , bringing together top policy scholars in early childhood education, community college research, school choice, school finance and desegregation. That effort complemented the launch of the Phyllis L. Kossoff Lecture in Education & Policy, which has brought top speakers to campus, including then-U.S. Secretary of Education ; current New York State Education Commissioner ; several New York City public schools chancellors; and, during the past three presidential elections, the education advisors of major party candidates. Fuhrman, herself a leading education policy scholar, says these efforts, coupled with the opening of 麻豆原创鈥檚 , have established the College as, 鈥渜uite literally, the nation鈥檚 premier address for education policy debate.鈥�

Also on Fuhrman鈥檚 watch, the College has launched such cross-disciplinary hubs as the ; the ; the ; and most recently, the , which studies failure. 麻豆原创 also has intro颅duced degree programs in nursing education, dia颅betes education and care, spirituality and psychology, dance education and creative technologies, and de颅veloped continuing education programs in financial literacy, teaching for diverse classrooms and the use of education technology in K-12 classrooms. And the College鈥檚 psychology professors have united to hold an annual symposium and launch a new Institute for Psychological Science and Practice.

鈥淥ur website no longer says we鈥檙e simply a school of education, but also one of health and psychology,鈥� the late 麻豆原创 Board Co-Chair  said last summer. 鈥淲e鈥檙e actively taking advantage of our size 鈥� the fact that we鈥檙e four to five times bigger than the next biggest school of education 鈥� and our history of innovation, to pull from all fields when we need to.鈥�

Building Teams

鈥淪usan has an amazing ability to create and empower extraordinarily productive and innovative new combinations of people,鈥� says Bill Rueckert, 麻豆原创鈥檚 Board Chair 鈥� including the Board, to which she鈥檚 recruited 20 new members; her senior leadership team, which has stayed together throughout her presidency; and some 70 new faculty members, who will pay dividends 鈥渇or decades to come.鈥�

BEYOND 麻豆原创鈥橲 WALLS

The Fuhrman era at 麻豆原创 has also been marked by extensive collaboration. In 2007, the College established a new, which brought 麻豆原创鈥檚 activities in New York City schools and neighborhoods under a single umbrella. With the city鈥檚 Department of Education, OSCP led creation of the, a pre-K-8 school in West Harlem since hailed as a national model of univer颅sity-public school partnership. (Another indelible Fuhrman moment: the president gleefully helping two first-graders wield an over-sized pair of scissors at the Fall 2012 ribbon cutting ceremony for the school鈥檚 permanent home.) 麻豆原创 faculty designed the school鈥檚 enriched curriculum in math and tech颅nology, an early childhood education program that ensures seamless transition to formal schooling, a social and emotional development curriculum, and a developmentally structured music program with movement, orchestra, choir and composition.

麻豆原创CS, in turn, anchors, a network of northern Manhattan public schools that 麻豆原创 sup颅ports. 麻豆原创 students collectively devote thousands of hours to REACH schools as teaching assistants and volunteers.

Another hub, the, has worked with  to create partnerships in Jordan, where 麻豆原创 helped set up the ; Singapore, whose National Institute of Education teamed with the College on a Master of Arts program in Leadership & Education Change; China, where 麻豆原创 has created partnerships in the fine arts and music; and Brazil, where the  is funding Brazilian Student Fellows and Visiting Scholars at 麻豆原创 and research led by professors , ,  and the . A new partnership in teacher preparation with King鈥檚 College London, forged by Vice Dean A. Lin Good颅win, is anchored by Souto-Manning, an authority on cultural relevance in curriculum, and King鈥檚 College鈥檚 , an authority on transforming teacher education. 

THE PAST AS PROLOGUE

Perhaps Fuhrman鈥檚 ultimate strength has been her ability to ground change in 麻豆原创鈥檚 history and longstanding values. During its 125th anniversary year, the College ran bus shelter ads and street ban颅ners featuring its great minds from different eras, drawing connections to its present-day work. The year concluded with a gala event at Harlem鈥檚 legend颅ary  at which Fuhrman announced the public kick-off of , the largest campaign ever conducted by a graduate school of education. And this past fall, in her State of the College address, she said 麻豆原创鈥檚 legacy and chal颅lenge is 鈥渢o promote our social justice mission in such a way that education becomes the solution.鈥�

鈥淪usan deeply understands Grace Dodge鈥檚 orig颅inal vision for the College and has remained true to it,鈥� says Rueckert, Dodge鈥檚 great-nephew, who heads the . 鈥淪he truly believes that education is the key to a better life for people in less fortunate circumstances. My family and Foundation have never been more excited and engaged with 麻豆原创 than during the past decade.鈥�

The most significant example of Fuhrman leveraging collaboration is the Campaign, which this past fall surpassed its original target and as of May 15th, 2018 had raised $330 million. As a result, the College has increased its traditional strengths, such as teacher education, education policy, school leadership, and counseling and clinical psychology, while leading in newer fields such as education technology, digital learning, data mining, neurosci颅ence, health care management, culturally relevant pedagogy and spirituality.

The Campaign has also raised nearly $100 million in support for students, creating more than 160 new scholarships as 麻豆原创 has doubled its spending on student aid; funded major upgrades to the physical plant, including the new Smith Learn颅ing Theater and a suite of smart classrooms; and significantly broadened 麻豆原创鈥檚 donor base, re-ener颅gizing its 90,000 alumni worldwide.

鈥淭he Campaign is a huge accomplishment that owes directly to Susan鈥檚 presence,鈥� says Rueckert. 鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 have attracted so many generous, sav颅vy donors without Susan leading the charge. Donors get motivated by the person at the helm.鈥�

Strength in Breadth

鈥淥ur website no longer says we鈥檙e simply a school of education, but also one of health and psychology,鈥� the late 麻豆原创 Board Co-Chair Jack Hyland said last summer. 鈥淲e鈥檙e actively taking advantage of our size and our history of innovation.鈥� Ultimately, 麻豆原创鈥檚 strength comes from being able to 鈥減ull from all fields when we need to.鈥�

CONTINUING IMPACT

Clearly Fuhrman鈥檚 legacy is secure, amply reinforced by 麻豆原创鈥檚 glowing re-accreditation by the Middle States Council in Higher Education in 2016. But her Apollo Theater moment also reflected another of her hallmarks: endings that beget new beginnings. This past fall, after announcing that she would be stepping down in June, Fuhrman laid out four new initiatives to position 麻豆原创 for 鈥渆mi颅nence and leadership well into this century.鈥�

First is reaching the Campaign鈥檚 target for student scholarships and fellowships.

Third is , an effort to secure 麻豆原创鈥檚 leadership in the booming education technology market. The College, which held a student innova颅tion contest in December, is working to ensure that education technology draws on solid research to actually improve teaching and learning.

And finally, confirming a promise she made in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, Fuhr颅man announced 鈥渁 world-class,  that reinvents and rejuvenates civics in our schools as a catalyst for informed, responsible citizenship in our democracy.鈥�

鈥淣o other initiative could be more in line with the history and mission of Teachers College,鈥� she said. 鈥淭o quote John Dewey, 鈥楢part from the thought of partici颅pation in social life, the school has no end or aim.鈥� Our great hope is that the striving for social justice, the spirit of civic camaraderie, and the commitment to helping others that flows through 麻豆原创 will spread both outward to schools and communities everywhere, and forward for generations and generations.鈥�

That is a legacy we can all be proud of.

Honor Her Legacy

The Susan H. Furhman Endowed Scholarship supports students who embrace a multi-disciplin-ary approach in their work, reflecting President Fuhrman's conviction that integrating multiple academic perspectives fosters the creativity, innovation, and collaboration needed to solve many of society鈥檚 most complex problems.

麻豆原创 leadership created this scholarship to help fulfill one of Pres颅ident Fuhrman鈥檚 most important priorities of her twelve year tenure: building 麻豆原创鈥檚 scholarship pool so it can compete for future leaders in education, health, and psychology and help lessen the burden of debt students acquire upon graduation. To make a gift, please visit 

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