Early Career Awards
Bradford Manning (M.A. '10) embodies exactly about what Teachers College is about—giving back to the community and finding well-balanced meaning and success. Manning and his brother Bryan, both who are legally blind due to Stargardt’s disease, founded Two Blind Brothers—a fashion company that sells soft, touchable, Braille enhanced clothes for those who are sight-impaired. Seventy percent of their business’ workforce is blind or visually-impaired. All the profits are directed to the Foundation for Fighting Blindness. Two Blind Brothers has been featured on ELLEN and NBC News.
Thabo Msibi (M.Ed. '08) is an Associate Professor in Curriculum Studies in the School of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he is also the Dean and Head of School. He is the youngest Dean in South Africa and he provides leadership on youth, sexuality and gender issues locally, regionally and internationally. He founded the Community Development Association, a national organization that undertakes youth driven outreach programs with a focus on education. He is the first TC alumnus to receive a Bill Gates Scholarship which he used to earn his Ph.D. in Sexuality Education from Cambridge University. In 2015, he received the Distinguished Teacher’s Award from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
>> More about the Distinguished Alumni and Early Career Awards.
Morton Deutsch Awards for Social Justice
James M. Jones (Ph.D.) is regarded as a champion for social justice and minority education and an expert in the field for his decades of research on racism and prejudice. He is Trustees’ Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Black American Studies and Director of the Center for the Study of Diversity at the University of Delaware. He is also the former Executive Director for Public Interest and Director of the Minority Fellowship Program at the American Psychological Association. Click to view the Dr. Jones’ full biography and CV.
Morton Deutsch Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper
Daniela Romero-Amaya (M.A. '16) is a Doctoral Fellow in the Social Studies Education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She holds a B.A. degree in History and a M.A. degree in International Educational Development. Her research interests are related to History Education, Citizenship Education, and youth’s civic participation in conflict-affected contexts. She is currently researching on young citizens’ meanings and understandings of the armed conflict in Colombia, as well as their engagement in the current peace process.
>> More about the Morton Deutsch Awards for Social Justice.
Shirley Chisholm Award
Kathryn B. Hill (M.Phil. '17) is currently a Post Doctoral Research Associate at the Research Alliance for New York City Schools at New York University. Her research focuses on the intersection of race, class and political and cultural orientations toward schooling. She was awarded the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Dissertation Grant for her dissertation research, which examined the trust that African-American parents place both in their child’s school and the overarching New York City school system, in the context of education reform efforts and the gentrification of many historically Black neighborhoods. She studied Sociology and Education, and earned her Ph.D from Teacher’s College, Columbia University. She also holds an M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a B.A. in History and Literature from Harvard University.
>> More on the Shirley Chisholm Dissertation Award.