“Welcome to our celebration of 125 years on 125th Street. Tonight we turn the page to the next chapter in TC’s illustrious history, as we set the stage for our sensational future.”

Speaking on November 12 to some 600 alumni, faculty, students and friends of TC at the legendary Apollo Theater on 125th Street in Harlem, President Susan Fuhrman capped a yearlong celebration of the College’s founding and announced a $300 million fundraising campaign that will bolster the College’s capacity to transform education and learning throughout the 21st century.

Where the Future Comes First: The Campaign for Teachers College, the largest-ever campaign for a graduate school of education, was already halfway toward its goal, including $1.4 million raised at the Gala to benefit student scholarships and fellowships. Fuhrman also announced the Emanuel and Barbra Streisand Scholarship Fund created through a bequest intention by the famed singer. (See page 48 for more about the Campaign for TC.)

The evening’s highlight was, in Fuhrman’s words, “a knockout Broadway-style” musical review that celebrated the College’s history of creating new fields and paid tribute to the Gala’s five honorees: TC Trustee and pioneering school reformer James Comer; philanthropist and TC Board Vice Chair Laurie M. Tisch; Jeffrey Immelt, Chair and CEO of GE; and the wife-husband team of educator and TC alumna Susan Benedetto and singer Tony Bennett, who co-founded Exploring the Arts, a nonprofit that strengthens the role of the arts in public high schools.

Lori Custodero, Associate Professor of Music Education, provided creative direction for the show, which featured an original script by veteran Sesame Workshop writer Scott Cameron (M.A. ’96). Food Network host Ellie Krieger (M.S. ’94) served as the evening’s master of ceremonies, and distinguished guests toasted the honorees. Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo praised both Bennett and Benedetto for creating a “new reality that supports the arts in public high-school education by giving students the chance to develop all their talent.”

TC Trustee E. John Rosenwald toasted the GE leader by quoting Vince Lombardi’s maxim that “the only place where success comes before [hard] work is in the dictionary,” adding that he believes Lombardi was thinking of Immelt — “one of the world’s hardest working CEOs.” Psychology Professor Emeritus Edmund Gordon offered a toast to “my younger brother, Jimmy Comer, for rallying the whole village.” And TC Board Co- Chair Jack Hyland called Tisch, who serves on the board of the New York Giants football team, “TC’s giant,” whose passion is “New York City, the great city we live in.”

In perhaps the evening’s most magical moment, Bennett sang an a capella rendition of “Imagination.” When Fuhrman called for TC to become “an even more dynamic community,” the audience obliged by flooding the stage for a dance party that lasted into the late hours

Watch excerpts from the TC gala at tc.edu/news/9260


A Gala Salute to Visionaries

“Tonight, we celebrate an extraordinary group of visionary philanthropists whose generosity and leadership have transformed the College and set the stage for an even stronger TC.”

Speaking at the Apollo Theater in November, Board Co-Chair Bill Rueckert introduced TC’s 21st- Century Visionaries: Trustee Emeriti Dinny Morse, John Klingenstein (and wife Pat), and Abby O’Neill (represented by O’Neill Fellow Kimberly Iwanski); Trustees E. John Rosenwald, Joyce Cowin (M.A. ’52), Ruth Gottesman (M.A. ’52, Ed.D. ’68), Elliot Jaffe (represented by Jaffe Peace Corps Fellow Tiffany Williams), Camilla Smith (M.A. ’72), Sue Ann Weinberg (M.E., M.A. ’82, Ed.D. ’97), Jack Hyland (Co-Chair) and Laurie M. Tisch (Vice Chair); Professor Emerita Ann Boehm; the Riady Family (represented by Riady Scholar Muhamad Iman Usman); the late TC Board Vice Chair Arthur Zankel (represented by TC Zankel Fellow Christina Salgado); and all members of TC’s three leadership giving societies, represented by Beverly Johnson (Ed.D. ’97), Elisa Gabelli Wilson (M.A., M.E. ’97) and Vijayshree “Shonu” Pande (M.S. ’03). And of course — though he would never have said it himself — Bill Rueckert and the Cleveland H. Dodge Foundation.

Published Tuesday, Jun. 3, 2014