September Newsletter: Education Program
Gottesman Libraries
The Gottesman Libraries Education Program informs students, faculty and staff about the latest thinking in education, in ways that engage members of the community with one another and with a broad range of educational experts. The program also provides understanding of work being done throughout the College. Read more about offerings in September.
Tours
Welcome new and returning students! As Fall Semester begins, we invite you to join us on a friendly, insightful walk around the Gottesman Libraries, from Everett Cafe on the First Floor, to the 5th Floor Stacks. You'll learn about key library resources and services, and see mixed-use reading and group rooms; collaborative and quiet study spaces; Offit Gallery; and much more, while uncovering a secret or two about what makes us one of the most popular spaces on campus.
Tuesday, September 2nd, 4pm
Wednesday, September 3rd, 3pm
Thursday, September 4th, 1pm
Friday, September 5th, 2pm
Monday, September 8th, 11am
Tuesday, September 9th, 12pm
Wednesday, September 10th, 1pm
Thursday, September 11th, 4pm
Friday, September 12th, 10am
All tours meet at the First Floor Library Services Desk and last approximately 45 minutes. They are open to current members and affiliates.
Orientations
We are pleased to participate in orientations for new faculty and students as we usher in the academic year 2025-2026 and present useful information to help you become better acquainted with all that Gottesman has to offer.
New Faculty Orientation: TC Resources, with TC Community Panel 1, Friday, 9/5, 1:00-1:45pm
Organized by the Office of the Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs, New Faculty Orientation is upon invitation to newly appointed faculty, allowing them to become better acquainted with Teachers College resources, including Public Safety, Human Resources, the Gottesman Libraries, Digital innovation and Technology, TC Information Technology, and Enrollment Management. It will include a brief overview of the Gottesman Libraries and our special services to faculty.
Library Panelists: Jennifer Govan, Library Director and Senior Librarian; Roshnara Kissoon, Reserves and Support Services Librarian; and Ava Kaplan, Research and Instruction Librarian
Part Two of New Faculty Orientation, held on September 5th from 1:45-2:30pm, also upon invitation, focuses on TC Student Life, with a panel consisting of representative from Student Affairs, and the offices of Community and Diversity, International Students and Scholars, Global Engagement, and Access and Services for Individuals with Disabilities.
Those not able to attend the presentation by the library are encouraged to reach out to us via Ask a Librarian for further information.
Where: 305 Russell
Doctoral Student Welcome: Library Resources and Services, Tuesday, 9/16, 6-7pm
Organized by the Office of Graduate Student Life and Development, this event includes a brief overview of the Gottesman Libraries. Come learn about essential services, particularly those pertaining to research and instruction: consultations, workshops, library information sessions, in-person and online support and chat, and much more.
Presenter: Ava Kaplan, Research and Instruction Librarian
Where: 179 Grace Dodge.
Library Festival, Thursday, 9/18, 2-7pm
Can you crack the organization of books in Russell Tower ( ...not quite the Morse Code)? Figure out the three Deweys (... hear ye, Decimal fans)? Or better yet, help us solve the missing puzzle piece (... an eternal test of the custodial librarian)? Bring your wits and funner side to the First Floor of the Library, and join us for Library Festival! We will celebrate books, research, and the role of your library in the TC community.
At this inaugural event, we will feature several creative library-themed activities for the new and noviced, as well as the more experienced and seasoned reader: a Chain Link, with reflective educational prompts; Lego and Puzzle stations, to design and construct; Scavenger Hunt, for classified, bibliographic, and historical information; light refreshments, small TC swag, and music to suite the eclectic bibliophile! We will showcase Gottesman resources and services, as we welcome new students and wish all a wonderful start to the new academic year. Come join us!
Where: First Floor
Workshops
Regularly scheduled instructional offerings include workshops, tours, orientations, and course-specific instruction in coordination with staff and faculty of the College.
Your Research Journey is a five-part library workshop series to help guide you in your research throughout the semester, by providing you with manageable tools and resources to use along your journey. Whether this is your first time conducting research, or you are a well-seasoned researcher and looking for a refresher, each workshop introduces fundamental information to lay a foundation of knowledge on which you can build your scholarly work. While the workshops in this series are designed to build upon each other, you are welcome to attend any workshop individually. All are held on Wednesdays, 3-4pm.
Elevate Your Research builds upon the foundational series, Your Research Journey, by presenting valuable new topics, resources, and methodologies to make you an even stronger and highly proficient researcher. Held on Thursdays, 11am-12pm, this series also invites deeper, collaborative work to strengthen academic research initiatives.
Charting Your Path, Wednesday, 9/17, 3-4pm
Graduate school research may feel daunting, but this foundational workshop will address the key concepts, strategies, and tools to help develop your research skills. Charting Your Path will start with a broad overview of what library research can look like, including the terms you may come across in your journey. We will also cover how to use Gottesman Libraries and the Columbia University Libraries to access physical and digital resources; discuss reference management tools; show how to create strong keyword searches; and end with a review of strategies for better search results. Attendees will leave this workshop with the information needed to be successful in Library research across all research disciplines.
Presenter: Ava Kaplan, Research and Instruction Librarian
Where: 101 Russell / Online
Searching Strategies, Wednesday, 9/24, 3-4pm
How do you know you are retrieving all the relevant information needed for your research topic? Do you find your catalog and database searches are not giving you the best results? This workshop will cover the strategies and concepts needed to give you confidence that you are finding the best results in your searches and take you beyond conducting simple searches by using tools to search in a variety of contexts. The workshop host will review how to use Educat+, the catalog of the Gottesman Libraries; CLIO, the Columbia University Libraries catalog; and database providers, like EBSCO and Proquest. We will then show how you can optimize your queries by using Boolean logic and punctuation to refine your search style and retrieve exactly the resources you seek.
Presenter: Ava Kaplan, Research and Instruction Librarian
Where: 101 Russell / Online
Course Resource Lists for Instructors, Thursday, 9/25, 11am-12pm
Course Resource Lists is the Gottesman Libraries’ course reserves platform and collaborative tool for instructors and librarians to create and fulfill reading lists for degree-seeking students in courses taught each semester at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Course Resource Lists are available to instructors of all active, credit-bearing courses and can be found on the left navigation menu of their courses in Canvas.
Please join us for this workshop in which we will cover all you need to know to place a library course reserve request or create a list yourself.
Instructor: Roshnara Kissoon, Reserves and Support Services Librarian
Where: Online
Highlighted Databases
Every month we draw attention to select databases that strengthen learning, teaching, and research in academic areas and their relevance to current offerings and programs.
In September we highlight key research resources for all students at Teachers College, Columbia University. From EDUCAt+, the catalog of holdings of the Gottesman Libraries to all titles contained within, read more on the Library's news feed to jump start your research journey!
Talks
We host a variety of talks, from book to guest to art, to encourage thinking , conversation, and action on a broad range of interesting and relevant topics and needs.
Book Talk: Time in Education Policy Transfer, Gita Steiner Khamsi, Monday, 9/15, 10-11:30am
Please join Gita Steiner-Khamsi for a discussion of her latest book, Time in Education Policy Transfer: The Seven Temporalities of Global School Reform (Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan, an imprint of Springer Nature Switzerland, 2025). This open access publication draws on well-known theories from comparative education, public policy studies, political science, and sociology to help us understand "when the current school reform, known as the school-autonomy-with-accountability reform, developed into a global script, why it conquered the globe, and how it was selectively adopted and translated into each local context," with perspective on the role of the OECD and World Bank (publisher's description).
Gita Steiner-Khamsi is the William H. Kilpatrick Professor ofComparative Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York. She also holds an honorary appointment as UNESCO Chair of Comparative Education Policy at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. She is a past president of the Comparative and International Education Society, former editor of the World Yearbook of Education, served five years as the academic director of NORRAG, and currently serves as a lead co-editor for the section Qualitative Comparative Policy Studies of the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. Before her academic career, she worked for nearly ten years at the Ministry of Education of the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, where she established and directed the first department in charge of multicultural education policies. She published fourteen books and numerous journal articles on policy borrowing, comparative policy studies, and global governance in education. Her work has been published in several languages, including Mongolian.
Presenters via Zoom:
- Chanwoong Baek, Academic Director, NORRAG, UNESCO Co-Chair of Comparative Education Policy at the Geneva Graduate Institute
- Tomás Esper, PhD in International and Comparative Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
- Iveta Silova, Professor and Associate Dean, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University
- Arushi Terway, Senior Lead Research Associate, NORR
This global hybrid event (with translation into Russian and Arabic for remote attendees), is co-sponsored by NORRAG, the Global Education Centre of the Geneva Graduate Institute; KIX EMAP, the Department of International and Transcultural Studies, and the Gottesman Libraries.
Preview a long or short interview with Gita Steiner Khamsi produced by the Digital Futures Institute of Teachers College, Columbia University. Facilitating discussion is Mia Chin, Ph.D. candidate in Comparative and International Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Teachers College, Columbia University.
Where: 285 Grace Dodge / Online
Book Talk: 24-Hour Interview, with Charles Moore, Monday, 9/22, 4-5:30pm
Please join Teachers College alumnus Charles Moore who will discuss his latest book, 24-Hour Interview (Mousse Magazine and Publishing, 2025).
"In an extraordinary feat of endurance and intellectual curiosity, curator and art historian Charles Moore conducted twenty-four back-to-back interviews over twenty-four hours, weaving a tapestry of voices that define contemporary art today. From the incisive activism of Nadya Tolokonnikova to the material explorations of Miler Lagos and the cross-cultural storytelling of Azu Nwagbogu, this collection brings together leading artists, curators, musicians, and cultural thought leaders from around the world.
Set against the backdrop of the Betsy Writers Room residency in Miami, 24-Hour Interview delves into the intersections of art, identity, activism, and social change, revealing how creativity navigates and challenges our complex world.
Interviews were conducted with Azu Nwagbogu, Piyarat Piyapongwiwat, Guan Xiao, Pia Lindman, En Iwamura, Zeinab Alhashemi, Rusudan Khizanishvili, Nadya Tolokonnikova, Amanda Abi Khalil, Lucia Aspesi, Miler Lagos, Turiya Magdalela, Emiliano Valdés, Nari Ward, Tiago Sant’Ana, Tomeka Reid, Remy Jungerman, Trong Gia Nguyen, Çağla Ilk, Victor Alimpiev, Edith Karlson, Serge Tiroche, Francis Upritchard, and Ana Prvački." -- Publisher's description.
Bio
Charles Moore is the author of the books The Black Market: A Guide to Art Collecting and The Brilliance of the Color Black Through the Eyes of Art Collectors. The Black Market has been translated into ten languages. As a curator, his work focuses on abstract expressionism, color theory, and issues related to social justice. Moore is the recipient of the Titus & Venus Award from Harvard University, the Artis curatorial residency, and numerous writing residencies. He is a contributing writer to notable publications, including Juxtapoz, CULTURED, Artsy, Brooklyn Rail, The Art Newspaper, Artnet, and Fine Art Connoisseur. His Ed.D is entitled, Behind White Walls: the Journey of Abstract Expressionist Ed Clark (Teachers College, Columbia University, 2025).
An accomplished marathoner, Charles completed 24 marathons since 2016, including all six of the Abbott World Majors and an ultramarathon. He last discussed his memoir, Apropos of Running, at the Gottesman Libraries in February 2024.
Where: 306 Russell
Artivism: Color Me Beautiful, with Shanice Figeroux, Monday, 9/22, 4:30-5:30pm
Artivist Shanice Figeroux will discuss how her art aims to empower minority communities using the transformative power or mural art.
"As an artist, I create abstract murals that are vibrant explosions of color, movement, joy, and love. My work is a direct reflection of my belief in the positive momentum of community, designed to propel New York City forward into a brighter future. I aim to empower minority communities to envision their world in a new light, using the transformative power of mural art and community engagement as a catalyst for change. My murals are a voice for the people, embodying the spirit of culture and advocating for progress.
My artistic process often begins with the playful and accessible concept of coloring book pages, which serves as a unique foundation for large-scale public art. This approach not only connects to my published work but also invites direct community participation, fostering a sense of shared ownership and creativity. A core theme in my work is mental wellness, explored through concepts like strength, creativity, ambition, beauty, and love, as exemplified in my “The Energy of Queens” series. My distinctive style, characterized by swirling shapes, bold colors, and intricate details, is intentionally crafted to be eye-catching and dynamic, ensuring my murals enliven any space they inhabit.
With 15 murals completed since 2016, and collaborations with organizations like ArtBridge, I have a proven track record in public art. My commitment extends beyond aesthetics; I prioritize community collaboration, actively seeking partnerships with local businesses, non-profits, schools, and volunteers. This participatory approach is crucial to enhancing the mural’s impact and fostering a collective sense of purpose. I am dedicated to exploring low- and no-cost healing innovations, recognizing the immense power of public art as an accessible and effective tool for promoting well-being within communities."
-- Artist Statement
Bio
Shanice Figeroux is a Queens-born visual and performing artist, muralist, and healing arts facilitator dedicated to creating transformative public art experiences that foster connection, resilience, and joy. With over a decade of experience activating community spaces through large-scale murals, therapeutic art workshops, and grassroots collaborations, Shanice blends bold abstract designs with social impact, using her work as a tool for healing and empowerment—particularly within communities of color, youth, and underserved neighborhoods.
Her public art installations and spray-painted murals often inspired by themes of strength, unity, and emotional wellness have been featured across New York City, from public schools and healthcare centers to cultural festivals and parks. She has painted more than 15 commissioned murals and led over 80 public workshops and community art therapy events since 2016.
Register HERE.
Where: Online
Artivism: The Power of Art for Social Transformation is jointly sponsored by Adelphi University, Sing for Hope, and the Gottesman Libraries. A movement with committed social artivists, Artivism: The Power of Art Social Transformation, grew out of Illuminations of Social Imagination: Learning From Maxine Greene, (Dio Press, 2019), edited by Teachers College alumni Courtney Weida and Carolina Cambronero-Varela, and Dolapo Adeniji-Neill, of Adelphi University.
Memoir Book Club, North of Normal, by Cea Sunrise Person, Tuesday, 10/30, 12-1pm
Join a group of enthusiastic readers to discuss great memoirs of relevance to education! Our first book is North of Normal: A Memoir of My Wilderness Childhood, My Unusual Family, and How I Survived Both (New York, NY: Harper, 2014) by former model Cea Sunrise Person who experienced a highly rustic and unconventional upbringing and embarked on a journey of self discovery and acceptance to find her own family.
"Sex, drugs, and . . . bug stew? In the vein of The Glass Castle and Wild, Cea Sunrise Person’s compelling memoir of a childhood spent with her dysfunctional counter-culture family in the Canadian wilderness—a searing story of physical, emotional, and psychological survival.
In the late 1960s, riding the crest of the counterculture movement, Cea’s family left a comfortable existence in California to live off the land in the Canadian wilderness. But unlike most commune dwellers of the time, the Persons weren’t trying to build a new society—they wanted to escape civilization altogether. Led by Cea’s grandfather Dick, they lived a pot-smoking, free-loving, clothing-optional life under a canvas tipi without running water, electricity, or heat for the bitter winters."
-- Publisher's description.
Fall Memoir Book Club is co-sponsored by GSLD Student Success and meets once a month. The first 10 persons to rsvp will receive a free copy.
Where: 242 Horace Mann
Live Music
The Everett Cafe Music Program sponsors performances by TC student and affiliated musicians. Please contact us if you are interested in playing! We welcome solos, duets, and trios and we are scheduling performances for the Fall.
Claremont Strings and Ensemble, Wednesday, 9/10, 4-5:30pm
Claremont Strings, our longest-running ensemble, features music for classical strings, from the symphonies of Mozart and Haydn, to well known arias from the operas of Puccini and Bizet. You may hear a selection of continental Viennese waltzes and French cabaret. Musicians of The Claremont Strings Ensemble have performed collectively at Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and throughout the Northeast, playing a diverse range of symphonic and chamber music, eclectic jazz, and gypsy swing. Wadsworth Strings, emanating from the Washington Heights area, is a division of Claremont Strings, founded by Vivian Penham, a graduate of the Juilliard School and Columbia University.
Nicholas DiMaria Trio, Thursday, 9/18, 6-7pm
Featuring catchy book and library-themed songs, this performance by the Nicholas DiMaria Trip rounds off the Library Festival. Be sure to stop by and soak in the vibes!
Nicholas DiMaria is a trumpeter, teacher, and composer based in New York City. He draws inspiration from multiple genres and art forms in his compositions and is continuously inspired by expressing visual art in a musical medium. His music is described by audiences as introspective, passionate, and eclectic; influenced by jazz, hip-hop, and classical music.
Nicholas has lead groups at Carnegie Hall, The Northeast Wine and Jazz Festival, The Syracuse Jazz Festival, The Central New York Pride Festival, and restaurants and clubs across New York State. He has also performed at The Great New York State Fair, The CNY January Jazz Festival, the Disneyland All-American College Band, and opened for Grammy-Winner Lalah Hathaway. Nicholas is well-adapted to playing with jazz ensembles, wedding bands, and funk groups. He currently holds a weekly performance residency at Oliva Tapas, NYC (Thursdays and Fridays from 6-8pm). Nicholas is also a faculty member at Larchmont Music Academy, where he teaches trumpet and a jazz ensemble. In 2020, he received his Bachelor's in Jazz Arts from Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Scott Wendholt, Ingrid Jensen, Jim McNeely, and Jon Faddis.
Book Displays
Book displays are curated and designed by library staff to share the joy of books and reading, while encouraging greater awareness of available resources and their significance to the Library and College.
Everett Cafe: Teacher Stories, Memoirs, and Reflections
Offering a glimpse into the daily lives of educators, Teacher Stories, Memoirs, and Reflections showcases the joys and struggles of the profession – one which brings out the passion, dedication, and profound impact that teachers have on the lives of their students. Their narratives may spark conversation about critical topics in schooling, while building community and support for the many challenges they face or the accomplishments they share. Often the first year of teaching is the hardest, shown by the prolific number of memoirs in urban settings, especially for the country’s largest public school systems - New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
As we welcome new students to their first year at Teachers College, we hope you will be inspired by these educational narratives, some classic, others new, that complement scholarship by lending personal voices with meaningful experiences to the student teacher’s journey that traditionally begins in the classroom.
Where: Everett Cafe
September Staff Picks: Potluck!
As we gather together for the start of the new academic year, we bring potluck to share with the Teachers College community. Feast your eyes upon an eclectic selection of September Staff Picks – books to whet your appetite for reading some of our favorite, recommended books. You’ll discover the sweet and savory amongst the Gottesman Libraries’ holdings and learn a little about our reasons for choosing them. Featured are classic works of children's literature, topical literary anthology, established autobiography, compelling drama, and even an expert guide to library research.
Where: Second Floor
Rocket Display: Back to School
We hope you and your students will enjoy this collection of back to school stories. Read-aloud-ready texts from the contemporary collections tackle important topics like first-day jitters, classroom community, kindness, and learning each other's' names -- all to help you resettle well into the classroom.
Back to School is curated by Abby McGuire, Library Specialist for Circulation and User Experience, with assistance from Rushali Aggarwal and Chyanika Bajaj, Library Associates for Reference and Reader Services
Where: Second Floor
Curiosity Cabinets: Timeless Beauty: Selections from the Ellen Walters Avery Collection
Born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 1st, 1861, Ellen Walters Avery was the youngest daughter of Samuel P. and Mary Ogden Avery, and sister to the architect Henry Odgen Avery. Described as modest, retiring, and intellectually gifted, Ellen Walters Avery was a bibliophile with a curious and passionate love of nature and the humanities, especially literature, poetry, music, the classics, and Church history. Her carefully curated collection, comprising 609 titles – many of them multi-volume, exquisitely illustrated and bound – was gifted by her devoted mother to the Library of Teachers College, Columbia University, four years after her untimely death from acute pneumonia on March 25, 1893.
A Catalogue of the Ellen Walters Avery Collection of Books is a delightful glimpse into her taste for literary, historic, and artistic treasures – a window onto a beloved young woman’s aesthetic sensibilities and rich intellect. Many of these works combine disciplines – children’s books with education; natural science with religion, botany with linguistics; etiquette with ancient cultures – while individualism, imagination, and nature are central, suggestive of a Romantic spirit. Miss Avery was also drawn to the science of collecting, private libraries, bookplates, and women’s creative contributions.
Where: Third Floor
Offit Gallery: How Serendipitous: Exploring Art and Architecture, Culture, Human Connections compliments A Glimpse: Serendipity Across Cultures. Select bookst draw upon the history and significance of Chinese and American architecture, from traditional gates and hutong alleyways, to the row and townhouses of New York. While architectural details help set context and provide a partial view, literary genres, such as legendary tales, children’s books, and memoirs, lend creative insight into culture and lived experiences. The final section provides a further look at cultural heritage, cross cultural aspirations, and the integration of American and Chinese values and goals in artistic, social, and political landscapes.
Where: Third Floor
News Displays
Need to keep current, look to the past, teach a topic? The Everett Cafe features daily postings of news from around the world, and also promotes awareness of historical events from an educational context. Be sure to check the Cafe News postings on the library blog.
The Wreck of The Titanic Is Found, Monday, 9/1
First Computer Bug, Tuesday, 9/9
Agatha Christie Is Born, Monday, 9/15
Neptune Is Discovered, Tuesday, 9/23
Michaelmas Day, Monday, 9/29
Exhibits
Educational exhibitions are mounted in partnership with the Teachers College community and others with an interest in displaying unique and innovative educational materials, while also regularly showcasing Teachers College's Historical Art Collections.
The library has several spaces in Russell Hall to exhibit diverse materials, and also features digital and web-based exhibitions when possible.
Select Works from Carol Cade Children's Art: The Artistic Development of Children, Part One
The Carol Cade Children’s Art Collection comprises 532 mostly drawings and paintings, with some mixed media, created by young artists whose work was collected over decades by Carol Beth Cade, an avid teacher and painter from the South. Children of varying ages made them in family or neighborhood groups. College students asked them to draw pictures of themselves, something they enjoyed, or something they would like to do when they are older.
Cade’s collection presents a charming, comprehensive view of the artistic development of children, one that illustrates key stages of their artistic growth, from Scribbling and Pre-Schematic, to Schematic and Early Realism, through to Pseudo Naturalistic and Decision. In coordination with the Program in Art and Art Education, it was gifted to the Milbank Memorial Library (now Gottesman Libraries) of Teachers College, Columbia University in the early 1990s, building upon children’s art collections as a unique resource in the study and teaching of art.
Portions of the Carol Cade Children’s Art Collection were first shown at Pace University in 1991. Summaries of the artistic stages are drawn from Cade’s own narrative descriptions which include recommended classroom art materials for each stage of development. Cade’s curation lends interesting historical insight into her doctoral research at Teachers College and how the program in Art and Art Education would evolve innovatively in the following decades, with an examination of the role of the senses, emotions, and intellect in artistic development, and of the layered integrations they form over time, and with critical starting points for research.
This exhibit will be shown in three parts throughout the Fall of 2025.
Where: First Floor
When: September 2 - October 13
A Glimpse: Serendipity Across Cultures, by Yutong Chloe Wu
A Glimpse: Serendipity Across Cultures is a project that seeks to honor cultural heritage, while fostering connections across diverse communities. By creating a physical and metaphorical threshold, the installation invites viewers to reflect on the beauty of serendipity, the power of shared memory, and the universal human experience of crossing boundaries.
A Glimpse: Serendipity Across Cultures builds upon Yutong Chloe Wu's previous artwork, A Glimpse which explores the serendipitous connections formed through fleeting glimpses of life behind half-open doors in rural China’s hutong alleys. The work captures the tension between concealment and revelation, memory and destiny, and the profound beauty of shared humanity.
Where: Offit Gallery, Third Floor
When: September 5 - October 17
