In "Mini Moments with Big Thinkers," leading figures in Teachers College's history discuss groundbreaking ideas, research and initiatives born at the College during the past half-century. The Mini Moments are drawn from the College’s Oral History Project, a collection of more than 90 videotaped interviews conducted by Melanie Shorin and Jessica Wiederhorn, the principals of The Narrative Trust, a private firm that conducts and captures the oral histories of institutions, communities and individuals. Produced in conjunction with TC’s Department of Development and External Affairs, the Mini-Moments are airing throughout 2013.
Raphael Montañez Ortiz | Mini Moments With Big Thinkers
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Mini Moments With Big Thinkers
Raphael Montañez Ortiz
Raphael Montañez Ortiz (Ed.D., ’82) is Distinguished Professor in Visual Arts at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. He founded and was the first director of the El Museo Del Barrio in New York City in 1969. His sculptures are included in many museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, where he has twice been featured in the Whitney Biennial. He has created mixed-media ritual performances and installations for museums and galleries in Europe and Canada and throughout the United States. His computer-laser-video works are in numerous collections, including the Ludwai Museum in Cologne, Germany, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. His video Dance Number 22 won the Gran Prix at the 1993 Locarno International Video Festival of Switzerland.
To learn more about Raphael Montañez Ortiz, read:
- Musing on the Barrio (TC Today magazine)
- Against the Archive: Raphael Montanez Ortiz's Destructivist Cinema (Afterall: Art, Context and Enquiry)
- El Museo's History (El Museo Del Barrio website)
Learn more about TC's programs in Art and Art Education, and Arts Administration.
Premiered on 7/8/2013
More Big Thinkers

Nahas Angula
Ed.M., 1979; M.A., 1978
Jody Gottfried Arnhold
Dance Educator
Col. Bernard Banks
Ph.D. '11
Leonard Blackman
Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Education
George Bonanno
Professor of Psychology and Education and Professor of Clinical Psychology
Warner Burke
Professor of Psychology & Education
George Bond
Professor of Anthropology and Education
Margaret Crocco
former TC Professor of Social Studies and Education
Morton Deutsch
E.L. Thorndike Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Education
Christopher Emdin
Assistant Professor of Science Education
Alumnus William Epps
Pastor, Second Baptist Church, Los Angeles
Claire Fagin
M.A. '51
Celia Genishi
Professor of Education
Antoinette Gentile
Professor Emeritus, Movement Sciences
A. Lin Goodwin
Vice Dean and Professor of Education
Edmund Gordon
Richard March Hoe Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Education
Maxine Greene
William F. Russell Professor Emeritus in Foundations of Education
R. Douglas Greer
Professor of Psychology and Education
Jeffrey Henig
Professor of Political Science & Education, Department Chair, EPSA
Ellie Krieger
M.S. '94
David Johns
M.A. '06
Sharon Lynn Kagan
Marx Professor of Early Childhood and Family Policy
John B. King, Jr.
Ed.D. '08, New York State Commissioner of Education
Henry Levin
Professor of Economics & Education
Richard Mills
EdD '77
Eric Nadelstern
Professor of Practice in Educational Leadership
Sandra Okita
Assistant Professor of Technology and Education
Raphael Montañez Ortiz
Ed.D. '82
Matthew Pittinsky
Ph.D. '08
Michael Rebell
Professor of Law and Education
William Dodge Rueckert
Co-Chair, Teachers College Board of Trustees
Donna Shalala
President of the University of Miami, former TC faculty member
Gita Steiner-Khamsi
Professor of Education
Derald Wing Sue
Professor of Psychology and Education
Viola Vaughn
EdD '84
Ruth Vinz
Program Coordinator, English Education
Cally L. Waite
Associate Professor of History and Education
Barbara Wallace
Professor of Health Education
Vivian Ota Wang
M. Phil. '94, Ph.D. '95
Howell Wechsler
Ed.D. '95 and 2012-2013 Tisch Lecturer