Education Program 2020 Mini Celebration

Descriptive Transcript

[On a blue background, the Brandeis seal is shown above white text that reads: Brandeis University. Education Program. Thursday, May 28, 4 P.M. Celebrating the Class of 2020.

A slideshow of pale blue slides begins.

The Program
Three icons of stars can be seen beneath. Below reads:

Leah Gordon: Good afternoon. I am Leah Gordon, Harry S. Levitan Director of Education, and Associate Professor of Education, and I wanted to welcome you to our Education Program senior celebration. Graduations are often a time for imagining how a new generation can work to make the world a better place, for thinking about where we have been, and where we are going in the future. In our current crisis this graduation also feels like a moment of greater uncertainty than is typical. We will hear some thoughts about the past and the future and how to make sense of this moment of uncertainty from our graduation speaker Professor Levenson shortly. There will be so much joy in today's celebration that I actually wanted to start by acknowledging the suffering and injustice we are also still seeing around us, from the number of coronavirus deaths around the world to the ongoing injustices, including the racial injustices we're seeing in the news today, and also regularly confronting. So I think it might be appropriate to take a moment of silence as we begin to acknowledge the hardship so many face, even in our moment of celebration. Thank you.

I wanted to start by taking some insights from a speech President Obama recently gave to the high school class of 2020. I was struck by three simple pieces of advice that he offered. He told the class of 2020, "One, don't be afraid. Two, do what you think is right. And three, build a community."

And on the second point, he said something that really stuck with me. He said, and I'm quoting, "I hope that you decide to ground yourself in values that last, like honesty, hard work, responsibility, fairness, generosity, respect for others. You won't get it right every time; you'll make mistakes like we all do. But if you listen to the truth that's inside yourself, even when it's hard, even when it's inconvenient, people will notice. They'll gravitate towards you and you'll be part "of the solution instead of part of the problem," end quote.

On these three points, I think he's completely right, and I encourage all of you to watch or read this speech of his sometime soon. Graduations are also a moment to say thank you. And this is where I want us to start today. So I'm going to have us begin by giving you, all of the graduates, a chance to say thank you to all of the many people who helped you get to where we are today. If we were all in a room together, I would ask you to do a series of loud cheers. Even though we aren't in a room together, I still think we can do this cheering virtually. So I want to start by asking you, graduates, to turn to your relatives, your parents, grandparents, any other loved one who has supported you in getting to this graduation milestone, and say thank you. And so that this cheering can have a collective component, I would like you to take a moment to use the chat feature to celebrate and thank all the parents and other relatives who helped you get to today's graduation. And I will raise my hands in a celebratory silent clapping, in support of all the parents, grandparents, relatives, who helped these wonderful graduates get to this place. But feel free, yes, I'm seeing people contributing to the chat, feel free to say celebratory and thankful things in the chat.

Next I'm going to introduce some of the Education Program faculty and staff, and you can keep the thank you in the chat going while I'm talking. I'm going to introduce some of the Education Program faculty and staff who are here today to celebrate with you. I'll do this in alphabetical order.

Next, I'm going to ask you students to take a moment, and here we can use the chat feature again, to just again raise our hands in applause to cheer all the professors, coaches, advisors, and other mentors who helped to get you to where you are today. And there's some great names scrolling through the chat.

I also want to say a special thank you to Eileen Kell, the Education Program's Senior Department Coordinator, for doing the significant coordination to make this celebration happen. Yay. And in addition, I wanna thank the incredible IT staff, who are behind the scenes right now making this possible, especially Matthew Burton, Chris Anderson, and John Pizzi.

And finally, I know I never would have had the experience I had in college without my friends. So let's now take a moment to thank and to cheer our peers, our colleagues, and our friends. Yay. [she does the silent cheer with both hands]

All right. The next portion of our ceremony. I have the great honor of introducing our guest speaker, Marya Levenson. Since 2001, Marya R. Levenson has been the Professor of the Practice of Education and the Harry S. Levitan Director of Education at Brandeis University, where she received the Louis Dembitz Brandeis Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2008. She is the author of the book "Pathways to Teacher Leadership: Emerging Models, "Changing Roles." Levenson worked with others to create the Brandeis Education Studies major and Teacher Leadership programs. She also chaired the Social Science division, served on the faculty senate, and strengthened the Brandeis-Waltham Schools partnership. Professor Levenson, who was Brandeis class of 1964, began her educational career in 1971, as a ninth grade history teacher at the William Barton Rogers Junior High in the Boston public schools. She was part of the team that created Madison Park High School, a magnet school, during Boston's desegregation era. Active in the Boston Teacher's Union, she served on the BTU executive committee. In 1979 to 1980, Levenson initiated the first Boston Public School's Middle School Task Force. Professor Levenson earned her EDD in Administration and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she became the Assistant Director of the Principal's Center. She was principal of Newton North High School in Massachusetts from 1982 to 1990, superintendent of the North Colonie School District in New York state from 1990 to 2001, and had many other leadership roles in her long career in public schools. She currently serves on the Harvard Education Press Editorial Advisory Board. She will retire in summer 2020, though I'm hoping won't go too far. We are honored to have you as our speaker, Professor Levenson.

Marya Levenson: Good afternoon, seniors, and welcome to you and your families. This is my last graduation too, as Professor Gordon noted, because I am retiring next month, although I will continue to teach in the Brandeis Teacher Leadership Program. I am truly honored to be able to speak with you today. We will be speaking about each of you individually after my remarks, but I want to speak briefly about your accomplishments as the Class of 2020 Education Studies majors and minors.

You all have learned from your professors and the content you studied in your liberal arts courses. Equally important, you learned so much about yourselves while also studying the development of others, whether they are colleagues, faculty, preschool, or K-12 children. You also made some very good friends. I understand that because I am still in touch with one of my friends who was a roommate of mine when I graduated from Brandeis in 1964.

Many of you chose to come to Brandeis because of your commitment to social justice, and brought your dedication to address the inequities and racism in our country, and educational institutions. I hope that you're leaving here with sharpened analytical skills and bifocal vision, which will enable you to focus both on individual children and the larger context in which they function. It wasn't easy to accomplish all of this, but you persevered, and you did it.

So now what? What does it mean to graduate in the midst of a pandemic and a major recession with thousands of people without jobs? Doesn't sound very promising. Some of you are graduating knowing that you have a job or a graduate program to attend, congratulations. You will undoubtedly have a big learning curve ahead in the next year, but I'm confident that you are up to the challenges you will face. Some of you however, don't have the security of a job or grad school lined up. Please remember that your generation is supposed to eventually have five or six different careers. So the first one doesn't need to be a perfect fit for your dreams and goals. By the way, I didn't know what I was gonna do when I graduated from Brandeis. You may respond that I wasn't graduating into one of the biggest recessions in America's history. And that's true, but it wasn't exactly a peaceful time. The civil rights movement was challenging Americans. The summer of 1964 was when three young people were killed when they went to register voters in Mississippi. College grads and other young people were being drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. And that decade also saw young people questioning gender inequalities and building a new women's movement. I somehow thought about how Brandeis prepared me and others to face the uncertainties that we were facing in the 1960s, and you face now.

How did I end up being a high school principal and superintendent of schools when women were not expected to be school leaders? First, I and other Brandeis students have learned critical thinking, so that we were able to question what was happening. We were resilient and believed in our ability to bounce back from setbacks. We had developed trusting relations with teachers and mentors so we were able to consult with them about our questions and potential directions in which we should go. Those mentors knew it would take some time for us to figure out what was right for us as individuals and as part of movements to challenge inequities. By the way, please know, that my colleagues and I would be very interested in being in touch with you when you have questions after you graduate. We would love to know what's happening to you. Finally, Brandeis prepared and enabled us as graduates to believe that we had the responsibility and agency to work with others to make a more just world for those who were struggling with poverty, racism, and sexism.

So what does that mean for you? I'm not sure, because each of you will be facing your own unique path. But even as you set off, or are facing significant obstacles and challenges now, I believe that each of you has the intellectual skills, resilience, empathy, ability to learn from others, and determination to make a difference.

You figured out how to succeed at Brandeis. I and my colleagues are confident that you will figure the next step out as well, and then figure it out all over again as you learn from your mistakes and successes.

Congratulations, Education Studies seniors. We believe in you, and look forward to hearing from you.

Leah Gordon: Marya, thank you so much for those inspiring words. That's really wonderful to hear about your experiences. And I also offer my many congratulations to our graduates. So we will now move to the portion of the ceremony where we talk about each graduate in turn.

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Hannah Baker-Lerner
Brandeis University
Sharon Feiman-Nemser
Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Professor of Jewish Education]

Sharon Feiman Nemser: I am delighted to speak today about Hannah Baker-Lerner. Like other ambitious Brandeis students, Hannah studied many things. She majored in Linguistics and she minored in Ed Studies and HSSP. She also served as President of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance. I didn't have Hannah in any of my classes at Brandeis so I can't comment on the brilliant papers she wrote or the insightful questions she posed, or any other intellectual strengths that I'm sure she exhibited in her academic work.

What I can comment on are the skills and dispositions that Hannah brings to life and to work, her warm and open manner, her efficiency and native intelligence, her friendly smile and cooperative spirit. How do I know this? Because I interacted with Hannah several times a week over the four years that she spent as a student worker at the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education, where I sit. No task was beyond Hannah's capability, from copying materials to doing online research. And what she did was always timely and accurate.

Hannah also gave me patient, non-judgmental assistance with the many technological questions that I raised. The qualities that Hannah displayed every day are crucially important in a person's life, and they bode well for Hannah's future success.

Hannah, whatever path you decide to pursue I know you will be wholehearted and successful. Congratulations on your graduation and best of luck in your next chapter. You can always count on me for an enthusiastic and positive recommendation.

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Lauren Bernstein
Brandeis University
Rachel Kramer Theodorou
Senior Lecturer in Education and Elementary Faculty Leader]

Rachel Kramer Theodorou: I'm delighted today to speak about Lauren Bernstein. I had the privilege of getting to know Lauren in my course on Citizen Science: Bridging Advocacy, Science, and Education. As a double major in Bio and Chemical Biology, and a minor in Teacher and Education Studies, she had plenty to share about the use of citizen science for research in various fields. But what was particularly interesting to hear about was her vision for STEM education, and the role of citizen science within it.

I recall in one of her reflections from her work using an app called iNaturalist, which helps individuals snap pictures and identify species around their community to provide data for biodiversity research, Lauren's thoughts on productive struggle in science education. In this reflection Lauren was beginning to identify the cross-cutting skills in science education, like applying knowledge to the world around you, challenging preconceived notions, collaboration, and communication skills along with the skills that are needed to understand the science itself. What's exciting for us here at Brandeis, and hopefully for you too, Lauren, is that Lauren will be an MAT student in our Elementary Ed program, and we are so excited to see forward her inspiration and interest in becoming a teacher. Congratulations, Lauren.

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Dana Brown
Brandeis University
Leah Gordon
Harry S. Levitan Director of Education and
Associate Professor of Education]

Leah Gordon: I want to celebrate Dana Blackman-Brown, who was a Near-Eastern and Judaic Studies major, and an Education Studies minor. What most impresses me about Dana is her strong commitment to both understanding and pursuing social justice, and her willingness to revise her thinking when faced with alternative perspectives or contrary evidence. Dana is particularly interested in anti-racist and anti-colonial theory and practice, as well as in Jewish Education.

In my course Purpose and Politics of Education this past semester, Dana was a student I could count on to have completed the reading carefully and thought critically about it, and connect it in sophisticated ways to other materials she read in class, or in work from other classes. She really consistently improved our class discussions. Dana frequently pushed the rest of us to make sure we saw the big picture, and to be sure that we looked at the issue at hand with an eye to the way disempowered groups might see things.

Dana also has done a lot of extracurricular work related to education. This includes a research internship looking at discussions of power and privilege in history and Jewish studies curricula at a Jewish day school, work as a farm educator where she taught seven-year-olds about farming practices and ecology while also teaching about social justice, work at the Brandeis Lemberg Children's Center, and as Diller Teen Fellow where she worked with teens on issues related to Jewish leadership, and work at Brandeis Hillel. I am confident that whatever she decides to do in the next few years, Dana will push those around her to ask the important questions. Congratulations Dana.

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Brandy Caldwell
Brandeis University
Marya Levenson
Professor of the Practice in Education]

Marya Levenson: It's my pleasure to talk about Brandy Caldwell. Before coming to Brandeis, Brandy had had more than her share of challenges, which helped shape her into the passionate and fearless champion of urban children that she is today. In education classes Brandy would share about how the KIPP DC College Prep Charter School helped her succeed at Brandeis, and how she wished other students would have experiences like that. She recently wrote, "I am okay with who I am, I'm a huge book nerd, I love to read. I am obsessed with combating the inequities and disparities that black and brown children face everyday in the education system. I am loud, and a little aggressive. I no longer care about fitting in because I make my own box. I am resilient and sure of who I am. I'm still in the process of becoming the woman I want to be, but the person I have discovered so far is pretty cool, and I'm okay with her." And so are we, Brandy.

Brandy is going to Houston to earn her master's degree at Relay, and to teach in a KIPP middle school. Her students will be very fortunate to have her.

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Yarisa Diaz
Brandeis University
Leah Gordon
Harry S. Levitan Director of Education and
Associate Professor of Education]

Leah Gordon: Yarisa is a Psychology major and a minor in Education Studies. She recently completed a fascinating research project on how struggles with ruminating affects a person's willingness to interact with others after a social rejection event. This project investigated whether a person who was ruminating on a past social mishap will be affected in current social interactions if they once perceived rejection from the interaction. This really sounds so interesting, with implications for education and psychology.

When asked about her favorite class at Brandeis, Yarisa replied, "My favorite class at Brandeis was clinical practicum. It was how I found out that I am very interested in helping others in a face-to-face setting, which is a career path I am looking into upon graduation."

She also wrote that Professor Cunningham was, "a great professor who supported our ideas and critiques, inspired creativity in the classroom, and through text that ranged from fiction to case studies, brought the clinical perspective of psychology into life."

She was also a research assistant in the Child and Adolescent Research and Development lab, and would like to work one day with adolescents in psychology. She's engaged in many extracurricular activities while at Brandeis as well, some that drew on her expertise in psychology and education. She was a Fellowship Advisory Board member for the Martin Luther King fellowship at Brandeis, where she mentored class of 2021 and MLK fellows. She was also a hotline operator for Samaritans Inc., where she provided emotional support to individuals in need, giving over 200 hours of service.

Not all of her extra curricular interests were focused on psychology and education. Yarisa is a singer in an a cappella group. She also loves to cook Hispanic food and to explore Boston. Congratulations.

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Rachel Dovek
Brandeis University
Marya Levenson
Professor of the Practice in Education]

Marya Levenson: Rachel Dovek completed two majors and three minors in addition to spending a semester abroad her junior year in Botswana. She's passionate about education, and was always an excited, thoughtful and animated student in class.

Do you know the saying that if you want to get something done, ask a busy woman? In addition to her very challenging academic programs, Rachel served as an intern at the Greater Boston Jewish Coalition for Literacy, where she helped to distribute 4700 books to Greater Boston schools. She taught Sunday school, was a Gateway scholar to help adults learn English, and was a legislative intern. Moreover, when her supervisor and friend had to take a leave this past fall from the Brandeis Office of Institutional Advancement, Rachel stepped up to make sure that the task would be completed. She also kept her frisbees flying as a member of the Women's Ultimate Frisbee club. Rachel is not only one of the most organized and efficient people I know, she is also an empathetic leader with a generous heart.

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Emily Eidler
Brandeis University
Rachel Kramer Theodorou
Senior Lecturer in Education and Elementary Faculty Leader]

Rachel Kramer Theodorou: I'm delighted today to speak about Emily Eidler. Emily found education early in her days at Brandeis, and credits her childhood teachers for her passion to become a teacher herself. In small and whole group class discussion, Emily sheepishly but earnestly raised really difficult dilemmas of practice about teaching that she was grappling with in hopes that her peers might guide her forward, ranging from how to further a personal study of her own identities, biases, privileges and striving to teach her social justice, to how to control and release control of the joyful banter between children and group discussion, and even about helping future students' parents see her as a young but capable teacher.

We could always count on Emily to raise the most earnest and interesting questions for discussions. Emily's film instructor and mentor have been so impressed with her thorough lesson planning, ease and joy in managing the wiliness of first graders, and her playful, inviting mannerisms that helped all kids feel at home with her teaching. Next year, Emily will be a teaching fellow at a Jewish day school in New York City, and we are so proud and excited for her future. Congratulations, Emily.

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Zoe Hertz
Brandeis University
Marya Levenson
Professor of the Practice in Education]

Marya Levenson: Zoe is a joy to have in class, because she not only reads the assignment, but she reflects about how the readings complement each other. Her academic insights and accomplishments were recognized when she became a member of Phi Beta Kappa, as well as earning Jewish and Israel Learning Fellowships this year.

But these accomplishments only begin to describe Zoe. There is also the young woman who spent four years as a teacher assistant at the Lemberg Children's Center. She served as an orientation leader in 2018 and 19, when she welcomed new Brandeis students with her wonderful smile. Zoe shared her philosophy when she quoted Frederick Buechner on Facebook. She wrote, "One life on this earth is all we get, whether it's enough or not enough. And the obvious conclusion would be that at the very least we are fools if we do not live it as fully and bravely as we can."

Zoe will be the Springboard Fellow Innovation Specialist with the Hillel Jewish University Center in Pittsburgh at Carnegie Mellon.

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Sasha Himeno-Price
Brandeis University
Rachel Kramer Theodorou
Senior Lecturer in Education and Elementary Faculty Leader]

Rachel Kramer Theodorou: I'm delighted today to speak about Sasha Himeno-Price. At one time Sasha was developing her skills to become an elementary teacher, and I for one was very excited about her progress. Yet Sasha's interests led her in a different direction toward youth leadership development in the not-for-profit world of educational organizations. Sasha always knew, however, that a good teaching background and practice in relationship development was at the heart of all work in education.

Through her summers in youth development leadership programs back in Honolulu, and when working with English learners in my Teaching English Learner's course, Sasha developed a warm, direct, genuine, and inviting teaching style. This semester, she volunteered with the Waltham Partnership for Youth, assisting with the social justice and education fellowship. Sasha, along with Brandeis alumni Kaytie Dowcett and Jessica Sanon, assisted in all facets of this program that recruits and educates Waltham high school students about becoming PK-12 educators. We are all quite sure that Sasha is going to make a huge difference with kids, teens and families wherever she lands. Congrats, Sasha.

 

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Annie Jean-Baptiste
Brandeis University
Marya Levenson
Professor of the Practice in Education]

Marya Levenson: Annie Jean-Baptiste. After the earthquake in Haiti, Annie was a 12-year-old who arrived without her parents in Waltham. She did not know a word of English. So Annie being Annie, she not only learned English, but she became a very strong student and determined student leader, who is friends with the Waltham superintendent of schools. It was not always easy for her to stay positive and focused on her academics when she worried about her status in this country and her family in Haiti. On the other hand, she pulled off this past fall semester, when she successfully completed six courses.

Annie, who is entering the secondary MAT at Brandeis wrote, "The greatest thing I learned during my time at Brandeis is the lesson to continue to move forward. I have learned to be a team player. We do not stay stuck; when we fall, we dust up and get back up." Annie concluded, Haiti birthed me, Waltham raised me, and Brandeis made me."

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Minji Jung
Brandeis University
Marya Levenson
Professor of the Practice in Education]

Marya Levenson: Minji Jung. After growing up in New Jersey, Minji found ways to affirm her Korean-American background and to integrate her love of psychology and education at Brandeis. Minji volunteered to be a peer tutor in Korean classes because she notes that "I love to help others learn more about my culture and language." She sang in the culture night sponsored by the Brandeis Korean Student Association. She also began to study Japanese.

Professor Hassenfeld says that "Minji's work in education is fascinating. She approached reading research and her exercises in conducting research with a wonderful openness and willingness for exploration. Her passion and commitment to education are clear."

We are confident that Minji will continue to use her skills, multicultural perspectives, and creative writing to make her own unique contributions.

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Katie Kong
Brandeis University
Leah Gordon
Harry S. Levitan Director of Education and
Associate Professor of Education]

Leah Gordon: I'd like to celebrate Katie Kong on her graduation as a Psychology, Health: Science, Society, and Policy Program major, and an Education Studies minor. Katie has a strong interest in issues related to health policy, educational justice, and international education. She was a real star in my Purpose and Politics of Education course this past semester. She'd always completed the reading carefully and provided thoughtful insights during our discussions. She was particularly interested in questions about how education can and cannot be a tool for solving wider social problems, and she was particularly good at zeroing in on the essence of the reading material and thinking carefully and critically about it. I've also been especially impressed by Katie's considerable research experience, and her experience working in non-profits on issues from hunger to domestic violence, to expanding educational opportunities for Chinese students.

In the past few years Katie served as a research intern for health and psychology-oriented projects at Boston's Children's Hospital and at a hospital and counseling center in China. She's also conducted internships in organizational setting hunger and advocating for victims of domestic violence in the Greater Boston area. In addition, she and three other students founded an organization that brings multicultural and global perspectives to children in underdeveloped regions in China. Whatever Katie decides to do in the future, be it in health or education research or non-profit leadership, I'm very thankful she will be out there thinking critically and carefully about health, education, and society, and out there helping others. Thank you, and congratulations, Katie.

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Devorah Meyers
Brandeis University
Rachel Kramer Theodorou
Senior Lecturer in Education and Elementary Faculty Leader]

Rachel Kramer Theodorou: I'm delighted today to speak about Devorah Meyers. Devorah knew early on that she wanted to teach and to complete her BA-MAT at Brandeis, and at Jewish day school. You'll all be extremely proud to know that she is absolutely rocking it in her online teaching at Maimonides this spring, and all of us, her mentor in particular, are wowed with her ingenious use of technology and consistently calm and supportive approach to teaching. Devorah consistently in every course has integrated all that she has learned into her lessons. They are full of teacher language that reinforces and inspires students, work, groupings and strategies that differentiate for all students various needs and strengths, and, most importantly, they are full of her own budding style as a new teacher.

Devorah studied Education Studies as well, and I want to point that out as a major part of completing the package of her preparation to go on to teach, where she will be next year in a third grade in a Jewish day school near home in Connecticut. We are so proud of you, Devorah, and we get to see more of you this summer in the BA-MAT program. Congrats.

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Lindsay Morris
Brandeis University
Joseph Reimer
Associate Professor of Jewish Education in the Education Program
and the Hornstein Program for Jewish Professional Leadership]

Joseph Reimer: Lindsay Morris was an avid student in my two Ed Studies courses, who contributed actively to class discussions and worked hard to write clear, distinctive essays. Warm-hearted and personable, Lindsay was an empathic peer who cares deeply about helping friends and family, and learning how to love maturely. Good luck, Lindsay, in your future studies.

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Ioana Neagu
Brandeis University
Rachel Kramer Theodorou
Senior Lecturer in Education and Elementary Faculty Leader]

Rachel Kramer Theodorou: Ioana Neagu is passionate about academic excellence, has loved and mastered all of her classes here at Brandeis, including learning Japanese to add to her multilingual, multicultural identities. I remember early on observing her teach reading to bilingual students with patience and firm reinforcing language that helped the children persevere to complete a task.

This year as a student teacher in the fourth grade classroom — Ioana herself is also a BA-MAT — Ioana's academic strengths proved to be an asset as she quickly found ways to differentiate instruction for math in particular. As well, during this time of online teaching, Ioana has been working on providing playful interactive activities that allow her students to socialize and connect online. This aspect of social emotional learning is near and dear to Ioana's heart, and she knows that this is the core of all growth as students, and of connectedness and interest in becoming educated human beings, and it will be the key to Ioana's future as she moves on in her education work. Ioana is continuing to study this summer to complete her program, and I am sure that her future students will rise to their best selves in Ioana's classroom. Congratulations, Ioana

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Victoria Richardson
Brandeis University
Derron Wallace
Assistant Professor of Education and Sociology]

Derron Wallace: It is my honor to recognize and celebrate Victoria Richardson, a gifted artist, a committed poet, and an aspiring educator. Victoria graduates from Brandeis University with a double major in African and African-American Studies, and Woman's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies along with a minor in Education Studies. She is well-known across campus for her thought-provoking poetry and her spirited delivery. Throughout her time at Brandeis, she led the university spoken word collaborative Poetic Justice, inspiring the Brandeis community with the power of words as a part of the work of justice necessary for challenging and changing society.

Victoria loves her hometown of the Bronx, and at the end of her career at Brandeis, she returns to it. She, however, has prepared effectively for first-rate teaching in the Bronx. She has worked with the HipHopEd program in Harlem, particularly their Science Genius Program, and she has worked as a teaching fellow with the Practice Makes Perfect Program in the Bronx. Victoria is unapologetically passionate about the freedom of expression of black girls in schools and society. This long-standing interest drove her to write a compelling honors thesis titled "For Black Girls, Too Fast, Too Furious: "Black Girlhood and School Discipline." Victoria earned high honors for this project from the department of African and African-American Studies.

Victoria leaves Brandeis to teach in New York City, and to study Inclusive Elementary Education at Teacher's College, Columbia University. Victoria, we are so proud of you. Congratulations.

 

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Lauren Rubenstein
Brandeis University
Leah Gordon
Harry S. Levitan Director of Education and
Associate Professor of Education]

Leah Gordon: Next I'd like to celebrate Lauren Rubinstein. Lauren is majoring in Environmental Studies and minoring in Education. She came to Brandeis because she saw it as a place where she could be a student athlete, and she has excelled at balancing these interests while she's been here. Professor Colleen Hitchcock, with whom Lauren took four classes while at Brandeis, wrote how much she enjoyed having Lauren as a student. I'm quoting, "as a member of Brandeis women's basketball team, Lauren excelled at the balance between academics and her leadership on the court, even balancing an internship this winter with Seaside Sustainability in Gloucester," end quote.

Lauren's dream job is to be a marine biologist. Her favorite class at Brandeis was Fundamentals of Environmental Challenges because she appreciated learning all about the trees and leaves on campus, and she liked subsequently being able to walk around and identify each tree. In her senior year Lauren has been co-captain of the varsity basketball team. She's even turned some of her athletic interest towards education. She was a basketball counselor last summer, and in this role she created lesson plans for over 400 campers aged 7 to 16. She emphasized confidence and fun for kids through daily lessons. She was selected from among 120 staff, in fact, for an award that exemplifies leadership, camp spirit, and child engagement. Congratulations, Lauren.

 

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Victoria Sharaga
Brandeis University
Marya Levenson
Professor of the Practice in Education]

Marya Levenson: Victoria is a thoughtful, mature self-starter with a good sense of humor. She's able to integrate many different aspects of knowledge and conflicting points of view. She is an outstanding writer and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior.

When Victoria was growing up, she could hear the preschool her mother was running under her bedroom. As she grew older, she helped out in the preschool and thought about teaching. It was only when she was taking linguistics classes at Brandeis that she realized that she wanted to be a speech pathologist.

Victoria served as the undergraduate department representative in the Brandeis Linguistics Program, was the President of the American Sign Language Club on campus, and taught ESL classes for Waltham residents. Victoria also arranged to shadow speech language pathologists in two different schools this year. She will be entering Boston University's Graduate Speech Pathology Program in the fall.

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Norma Stobbe
Brandeis University
Ziva Hassenfeld
Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel
Assistant Professor of Jewish Education]

Ziva Hassenfeld: I'm delighted today to speak about Norma. I'm so proud of Norma for graduating and for all of the hard work that she did throughout her undergrad. I had the privilege of teaching Norma in Reading (and Talking Back to) Educational Research, in which I delighted in Norma's enthusiasm and positive attitude and just smile that she came with to class every single time. Besides outstanding work, collaboration with her classmates, and thoughtful thoughtful questions, Norma just brought a positivity and delight to the course and to the subject matter that really left me every class on a high. I have no doubt that with her brilliance, generosity, and kindness, Norma is going to succeed at everything she does, and I only hope that you stay in touch with us, at Brandeis and in the Education Program, and continue to learn with us and update us on all that you achieve in the next few years. Congratulations, Norma, I will miss you.

 

[Slide: Blue tinted slide with the Louis D. Brandeis sculpture in the background. Text reads:

Rachel Stutman
Brandeis University
Rachel Kramer Theodorou
Senior Lecturer in Education and Elementary Faculty Leader]

Rachel Kramer Theodorou: I'm delighted today to speak about Rachel Stutman. Rachel has truly honed her teaching skills, knowledge about the field and reflective stance in these four years at Brandeis. Her field instructor and mentor commented that, "as a teacher she has a warm and steady tone, and she keeps expectations high but also keeps kids at ease, and able to take risks in their learning." This is a really difficult balance, but Rachel is a true expert at that. I've seen her teach; I've seen her read books aloud; it's amazing. She has a playful, artistic, and dramatic side to her teaching which we saw in one of her incredible lessons on poetry. She's a master lesson planner, and in a really important role she took on here at Brandeis was the lead coordinator for the teaching assistant's program for Waltham group. She worked with Marcie Abramson, one of our wonderful colleagues who teaches the math pedagogy course for elementary educators, and she and Marcie developed a multitude of resources for volunteers to support kids in Waltham in their math development. Rachel, you've made incredible growth as a human being, but moreover, I'm delighted to call you my teaching colleague. Congratulations.

[Slide: Blue tinted slide with the Louis D. Brandeis sculpture in the background. Text reads:

Kavita Sundaram
Brandeis University
Derron Wallace
Assistant Professor of Education and Sociology]

Derron Wallace: It is my honor to recognize and to celebrate Kavita Sundaram. A thoughtful, rigorous, and ethically-engaged leader of thought and action, Kavita graduates from Brandeis University with a double major in Sociology and Education Studies, and a minor in African and African-American Studies. She leaves Brandeis with a near-perfect GPA. But more importantly, she goes with deeper commitments to racial and gender justice.

The range and depth of Kavita's community-engaged work inspire our admiration. Throughout her time at Brandeis, Kavita worked as a junior advisor at YW Boston's Youth Leader Initiative and as senior counselor at the Phillips Brooks House Association in Roxbury. Before and after studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, with the School for International Training, Kavita served the Brandeis community as coordinator of the Prevention Advocacy and Resource Center, peer advisor on the Brandeis Talk Hotline, and as an organizer of the Asian-American Taskforce. It was no surprise then, given the range and significance of her community-engaged work, that Kavita was made the 2020 recipient of the coveted Davis Projects for Peace fellowship, an award which will allow her to continue her collaborative work with Phillips Brooks House Association in Roxbury. Kavita demonstrates the very best of emancipatory sociology, a deep awareness of the architecture and blueprint of racial injustice, and an enduring commitment to challenging the causes and manifestations of structural inequalities. Kavita, we are so proud of you. Congratulations.

[Slide: Blue tinted slide with the Louis D. Brandeis sculpture in the background. Text reads:

Yijing Wang
Brandeis University
Joseph Reimer
Associate Professor of Jewish Education in the Education Program
and the Hornstein Program for Jewish Professional Leadership]

Joseph Reimer: Yijing Wang took both my Ed Studies courses, and has strong interest in psychology and education. I proudly watched Yijing gain confidence in her oral and written English skills, and learn how to formulate questions that helped others to deep dive into analytic material. Always friendly and open, Yijing was a great contributor to both small group and class discussions. Good luck, Yijing, and best of luck in your future studies.

[Slide: Blue tinted slide with the Louis D. Brandeis sculpture in the background. Text reads:

Charlie Weld
Brandeis University
Marya Levenson
Professor of the Practice in Education]

Marya Levenson: Charlie Weld. Charlie has a terrific sense of humor and theater. He is a caring friend and thoughtful person who does not like pretentiousness and will poke fun at himself as well as others. Professor Krasner describes Charlie as "a free spirit with a good sense of humor."

Charlie loves children's literature and Walt Disney's animated films. He also wrote a reflection in his History of Childhood and Youth in America course where he discussed the tendency of parents to forget their own childhoods, particularly the wonder that comes from exploration of unstructured play, in their efforts to keep their kids safe. Charlie loved working for several years at the Lemberg Children's Center because it's a place that encourages students to play, explore, and work things out with each other. In my course, Education and Social Policy, Charlie's group focused on early childhood education, and the importance of having qualified teachers working with young children.

We know that Charlie will be an outstanding and qualified pro teacher when he works with children next year at an elementary school in Greenwich, Connecticut.

[A dark blue seal bearing the Brandeis seal reads: Brandeis University. Education Program. Thursday, May 28, 4 P.M. Celebrating the Class of 2020.]

Leah Gordon: All right, so I think we need one big round of applause for all of the graduates. You can see my children helped me make my sign. But congratulations, everyone. Yay.

Next portion, and thank you all to the professors for those lovely words. For the students I don't know, I'm now so sorry I haven't met you and I hope you'll come back and visit me as well. The next portion of our ceremony is very special. It is the moment where we award prizes to students. We will first hear from Rachel Kramer-Theodorou, who will announce the first two education prizes, and then Rachel will turn the virtual microphone over to Marya Levenson, and then to Derron Wallace, who will award the third prize, in turn.

Rachel Kramer-Theodorou: Thank you so much, Professor Gordon. I'm delighted today to present the Diane A. Rottenberg Davis Memorial Endowment Prize to Rachel Stutman.

[Rachel Stutman appears on the screen as Prof. Kramer-Theodorou continues speaking]

A bit about Diane A. Rottenberg. Diane was a Brandeis alumna, class of 1955. As an undergraduate, she was involved in a variety of on-campus activities from theater, to campus housing, to sports. Diana was an educator in Swampscott and Marblehead, Massachusetts public schools, as well as being active in her local synagogue. She was the mother of two sons and the daughter of Thomas and Molly Fisher-Rottenberg of Everett, who established this prize in her memory.

And now about Rachel Stutman. Rachel quickly and adeptly integrated all the teaching skills she has learned at Brandeis into her teaching in subjects for her fifth graders at Burr Elementary School in Newton. In a unit on poetry which she taught online this spring, which is no small feat, Rachel worked like a veteran teacher to beautifully and expressively read aloud a picture book portraying an invented style of the genre called riddlecoo. Although the lesson was prerecorded, Rachel's tone and quality of the questions within the read-aloud was precisely what she would do live, if her students were here in front of her in her classroom. [pause] Excuse me. Rachel's mentor, field instructor, and all of us here at Brandeis are so excited about her future in teaching, and we know she'll be an invaluable member of her next school community. Thank you and congratulations, Rachel.

Rachel Stutman: Thank you so much for those really kind words. I'm really honored. Thank you so much.

Rachel Kramer-Theodorou: You're welcome, well-deserved.

The next prize is called the Marcia Bloch Epstein Prize for Demonstrated Commitment to Social Justice Through Teaching. And it's presented to Emily Eidler.

[Emily Eidler appears on the screen as Prof. Kramer-Theodorou continues speaking]

A bit about the prize. Marcia Bloch Epstein, Brandeis class of 1955, graduated in three years and went on to earn a master's degree in Education from Case Western Reserve, and a PhD from Ohio State University. We know from her 2001 eulogy that, quote, "as a parent, Marcia empowered and encouraged, listened and offered opinions and counsel. Most importantly, she didn't simply teach you, but helped you learn," end quote. Marcia was a devoted friend, as we know from her lifelong Cleveland friend, Brandeis roommate and former trustee Rena Olshansky. It was Rena, an ardent Education Program supporter, along with Marcia's husband Jerry, who created this prize in Marcia's memory.

And now, about Emily. Emily is passionate about exploring social justice in teaching, and education as a whole. This year, in her first grade class, she crafted and taught lessons about the real life characters in the book and film, "Hidden Figures." Emily's lesson series endeavored to ensure that her six- and seven-year-olds understood how individual and systemic oppression or unfairness, the term and concept used for this age group, existed then and still exists today, and how perseverance by all of us can help to mitigate its impact. Her students were mesmerized by the topic and eagerly discussed human differences, instances of unfairness in and out of school, and posited their own ways to fight injustice. Emily was inspired by the power of picture books to educate both herself and students alike on the work of teaching towards social justice. Next year Emily is going to further this important work with her first job, teaching at a Jewish day school in New York, and we want to say, congratulations.

Emily Eidler: Thank you Rachel, and thank you to everyone else, 'cause I've had a lot of these professors, and I just know that if we all go on to be great educators it's 'cause we had great educators.

Rachel Kramer-Theodoru That's very sweet, thank you so much, and congratulations to both of you. I'm going to pass our microphone now over to Professor Levenson, who will present the next prize.

Marya Levenson:Thank you, Rachel. The Ted and Nancy Sizer Prize was created to honor the vision and work of these two extraordinary educators. Ted Sizer, who was considered one of the leading voices in educational reform, served as the Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and later as the Dean of the Education Department at Brown University. Ted and Nancy were co-principals of the Francis Parker Charter School, and they participated in the Spencer Seminar at Brandeis. They also were key leaders in the Coalition of the Essential Schools, and believed that schools should be democratic institutions where instruction is based on students' individual needs and teachers' ideas. They believed in assessments, such as portfolios, where students could demonstrate what they had learned, and they opposed single standardized measures of student achievement. Ted and Nancy would be very pleased that the Sizer Prize is being awarded to two outstanding seniors.

I will speak briefly about Victoria Sharaga, whom I introduced to you during student profiles. Victoria has a deep core of integrity. She is open to learning from others, and demonstrated her leadership by listening to other students and then integrating their ideas with her own. She will not be swayed from her deep belief in equity and justice. Victoria is a very organized, mature, and hard-working person, as we found out when she worked in the Education Program office where she will be sorely missed. The Sizers would agree that Victoria is a worthy recipient of this award because she knows that learning should be based on student individual needs. Victoria will have an opportunity to combine her love of linguistics and education, when she studies next year to become a speech pathologist. Congratulations, Victoria.

Victoria SharagaThank you, Professor Levenson, and thank you everyone in the Education Program for this award. It's such an honor.

Marya LevensonYou're welcome. It is now my pleasure to introduce Professor Wallace, who will introduce the other extraordinary recipient of the Sizer Award.

Derron WallaceThank you, Professor Levenson. It is my honor to award the 2020 Theodore R. And Nancy F. Sizer Prize in Education Studies to Kavita Sundaram. Kavita is also the recipient of the Irving Kenneth Zola Prize for Excellence in Sociology. With these two top prizes we confirm what many of us have always known. Kavita is a top-notch student who takes academic excellence and the pursuit of justice seriously. Faculty in the departments of Education, Sociology, and African and African-American Studies hold Kavita in high regard. She has received consistently high praises for her passionate pursuit of critical intellectual inquiry, for her investments in effective relational leadership at Brandeis and beyond, and for her capacity to lead rich, theoretically informed conversations and debates with her peers.

When I first met Kavita four years ago I was struck by her thorough analyses, her intellectual humility, and her searching quizzical mind. As a first year student then, Kavita proved more mature and more committed than most advanced undergraduates I'd encountered in my teaching career in the United States and the United Kingdom. Over the years, I've come to realize that Kavita is not only intellectually curious, but boldly unpretentious and genuinely kind. By my estimation, very few undergraduates match her gifts and grace. When she speaks in class, often in soft tones but with seriousness of purpose, her peers pay close attention and think deeply about the analytical questions she raises. On occasion, I grab my pen and paper and take notes based on the insightful questions she's posed.

[Kavita appears on the screen]

Kavita is easily one of the best students, one of the best most diligent students I have ever had. What inspires me most about Kavita is the purpose with which she pursues, she uses education to pursue racial and gender justice. Commenting on the purpose of education for young leaders in, and I quote, "dangerous and uncertain times," end of quote. The literary giant and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison once said, "When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then it is your job to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab bag candy game."

Kavita, for you, this is not a challenge. The pursuit of justice and the protection of the public good is a natural extension of your ethics, of your feminist praxis, of your deep and enduring love for black and brown young people. And so to you I say, continue your thoughtful compassionate dedicated work, continue to pursue a model of leadership that is not about title or celebrity, but one that is grounded in relationships with people. This is the tradition of Ida B. Wells, of Shirley Chisholm, of Rigoberta Menchú, of Toni Morrison. And you too, Kavita Sundaram. Congratulations, Kavita, I am so darn proud of you.

Kavita SundaramThank you Professor Wallace, I think that this award is a testament to you and educators and peers that have been teaching me my whole life. So truly thank you, and I am honored to be here today.

Leah Gordon:All right. So, another congratulations to all of our prize recipients, and to all of our graduates. It's so wonderful to see all of your accomplishments. So we have two crucial people to honor before we finish. And the final segment of our ceremony is really quite special. I'm honored to say some words about two faculty members who are retiring this year: Sharon Feiman-Nemser and Marya Levenson. These two faculty members have been responsible for building the Brandeis Education Program to what it is today. They're each fierce, insightful, and compassionate advocates for educational justice and equality. They are both teachers of teachers, and leaders who build institutions by building the leadership capacity of the people around them, which is an idea I recently heard from Derron Wallace, that seemed so perfect.

So let me first say a few words about Professor Feiman-Nemser.

[Sharon Feiman Nemser appears on screen as Professor Gordon continues speaking]

Sharon Feiman-Nemser is Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Professor of Jewish Education. She holds joint appointments in the Near-Eastern and Judaic Studies and Education Programs. Since coming to Brandeis in 2001, she founded the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education, which she directed from 2001 to 2015, and the DeLet Day School Leadership Through Teaching Program which evolved into the Masters of Arts and Teaching, or MAT Program. Professor Feiman-Nemser teaches practitioner research in the MAT and Teacher Leader programs, and has also taught the capstone seminar to Education Studies majors. Professor Feiman-Nemser has researched and written extensively on teacher education, learning to teach, and Jewish Education. A former high school English teacher, she is especially interested in the necessary but problematic role of experience in learning to teach. She has published a lot, so I can't list it all here — and I mean a lot. But a recent collection of her writings, "Teachers as Learners," was published in 2012. In 2018, she received a Presidential citation from the American Educational Research Association for her groundbreaking scholarship. Before coming to Brandeis, Professor Feiman-Nemser served on the faculties of the University of Chicago and Michigan State University, where she directed innovative teacher education programs and conducted research on teacher education and teacher learning. Her colleagues and students in the Education Program celebrate Professor Feiman-Nemser's insight, enthusiasm, and boundless energy. Professor Joseph Reimer writes, quote, "No one has taught me more about the life of teachers. Sharon opened my eyes to the intellectual challenges of teaching and the joys of successively getting better at the craft of teaching." Students reinforced the amazing work Professor Feiman-Nemser has done as a scholar, teacher, and cohort builder. Stephanie Englander from the Teacher Leader program writes, quote, "Thank you for teaching me to always find a thought partner. Thank you for creating a space for educators to grow together, and for empowering us to create those spaces in our own communities." Nehama Libman explains, quote, "Sharon Feiman-Nemser's work is grounded in a deep and profound respect for the intellectual work of teachers, and strikes the rare balance of simultaneously honoring the rigor of the research process, and the everyday realities of the classroom." Shelley Moses, another Teacher Leader student tells us, quote, "I am eternally grateful for Sharon and her work. She developed and headed a program through which I was stretched and challenged as a professional, and she personally helped me grow as an educator. But most importantly, I am forever part of a collaboration of educators who continue to support each other with both their expertise and their friendship." Professor Feiman-Nemser, for all of us, I wanted to thank you for your vision, energy, insight, leadership, and community-building work. And I'm not entirely sure how you do a standing ovation on Zoom, but I'm gonna stand up, [Sharon Feiman-Nemser laughs] so the rest of you can do what you want.

Sharon Feiman-Nemser:Thank you so much. Thank you Leah.

Sharon Feiman-Nemser:Thank you. Very beautiful. And I, thank you to my wonderful colleagues and to our terrific students. That's what makes this such a special place. I'm really, very grateful. And it's been a great ride. Marya, we had a great time!

Leah Gordon: And next, I want to celebrate Professor Marya Levenson's career. [Professor Levenson appears on screen while Professor Gordon continues speaking.] Since I already introduced Professor Levenson at the beginning of the ceremony, I'm just going to remind you of the highlights. Since 2001, Professor Levenson has been the Professor of Practice in Education and the Harry S. Levitan Director of Education at Brandeis where she received a prize for excellence in teaching in 2008. Professor Levenson worked with others to create the Brandeis Education Studies major and Teacher Leadership Programs, chaired the Social Science division, served on the faculty senate, and strengthened the Brandeis-Waltham schools partnership. A scholar of educational leadership, she's the author of the book "Pathways to Teacher Leadership: Emerging models, changing roles." Professor Levenson currently serves on the Harvard Education Press Editorial Advisory Board. Professor Levenson is a graduate of Brandeis from the class of '64. She began her career as an educator in 1971 as a history teacher at William Barton Rogers Junior High School. She was actively involved in the Boston Teacher's Union, served as a principal in Newton North High School and was the superintendent of the North Colonie School District in New York state. Professor Levenson earned her EDD in Administration and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she became the Assistant Director of the Principal's Center.

So I want to tell you a bit more about some of the wonderful things that Professor Levenson's colleagues and students have said about her. Professor Derron Wallace writes to Professor Levenson, quote, "You have been an uncompromising force for equity, fairness, and justice for all our students. You have transformed our unit, impacted our university, and changed countless lives in the process. Generations of scholars, activists, teachers, teacher leaders, community organizers, and university officials, are and will continue to be deeply indebted to you for your first-rate leadership, and compassionate engagement." Students are also very thankful for Professor Levenson's commitment to educational justice, sharp insights about educational policy, compassion, and patience. Annie Jean-Baptiste writes of Professor Levenson, quote, "Thank you for your dedicated work and patience to every one of your students. I beyond appreciate you and you will forever be engraved in my heart. My last two years in high school would not have been the same if I hadn't met you. You contributed to me finishing strong, and choosing Brandeis." Kavita Sundaram writes, quote, "It was an honor to be in Professor Levenson's last course. She taught me how to hold my work, and hold myself in and beyond the worlds of education, as I'm sure she has done for countless others. Her guidance is kind, firm, and deeply supportive." Victoria Sharaga tells us, quote, "Thank you so much for bringing your kindness, your passion for teaching, and your wealth of experience as a teacher and leader in education to Brandeis. You've opened my eyes to the challenges and often invisible consequences of educational policy-making in the US, but you also pushed me to think of solutions and realize the positive potential policy solutions can have. You are at the heart of the Brandeis Education Program, and while you will be greatly missed, all that you have done for this program and every student in it, will never be forgotten." [Professor Gordon appears on screen as she continues speaking.] I want to personally say a thank you to both Professor Levenson and Professor Feiman-Nemser, for inspiring me and providing such wonderful models [Professor Feiman-Nemser appears on the screen briefly] of what academic leadership in the support of educational justice looks like. [Professor Levenson appears on screen briefly] So I hope all of you will join me in thanking Professor Levenson and Professor Feiman-Nemser [Professor Levenson raises her hand and tries to interject] for their dedicated leadership. no, okay.

Marya Levenson:Can I just say?

Leah Gordon:Yes.

Marya Levenson:My thanks to my students. You have totally enriched my life. I have loved teaching you. And I've learned so much from you. And to my colleagues, it has been a great pleasure. I again have learned so much from you. And what a way to have years of practice and teaching end up with such wonderful colleagues and students, in a great university. So, I know it's in good hands, Leah. Thank you so much for your kind words.

Leah Gordon:</strong >Thank you, and I'm doing another standing ovation. [She stands up and claps hands and smiles, and then sits down.] So. Okay. [Professor Feiman-Nemser appears, smiling, and then Professor Levenson appears on screen, and then Professor Gordon is on screen holding home made signs]. And I have some signs that were made with love. Let's see, this one says "Thank you Professor Feiman-Nemser" and this one says, "Thank you Professor Levenson." All right. So there will be a lovely slideshow that follows this piece of the ceremony, but we want to conclude by congratulating our graduates, and this is the moment where we decide to turn on our microphones and say, so for those of us who are panelists, can turn on our microphones, and say a loud cheer, not just a silent cheer, but a loud cheer. So congratulations again to all—

Professor Feiman-Nemser:[clapping and smiling] Congratulations, hooray!

Derron Wallace: [clapping] Woo!

[Teacher]: Woo, congratulations!

[Teacher]: We have the best students.

[Teacher]: Yay.

Leah Gordon: Thank you all.

[Slide show with one slide for each student containing a picture and Congratulations with the name of each graduate. The last slide congratulates the Class of 2020.]