Masters

Successful people understand the importance of passion in a teacher. They know, often from personal experience, that a great teacher can change a life. Our growing list of “masters” who want to help us support our strongest teachers includes Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winners, academic superstars, MacArthur “geniuses,” artists, policy makers, politicians, and business leaders.

  • Jon Agee

    Award-winning children’s book writer and illustrator

  • Alash Ensemble

    Trio of master throat singers from Tuva

  • Alan Alda

    Oscar nominated actor and visiting professor at Stony Brook University

  • Yazmany Arboleda

    Artist and co-founder of limeSHIFT, a creative agency that brings artists into public and private communities

  • Isobel Armstrong

    Fellow of the British Academy and professor at Princeton University

  • Billy Aronson

    Emmy Award-winning co-creator of Peg + Cat

  • Charles Bailyn

    Professor of astronomy and physics, Yale University

  • Dan Barber

    Chef and co-owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns

  • Seth Barrish

    Actor, director, and artistic director

  • Emily C. Bartels

    Professor of English at Rutgers University, New Brunswick and dean of the Middlebury Bread Loaf School of English

  • James G. Basker

    President of the Gilder Lehrman Institute and professor of literature, Barnard College

  • Robert Battle

    Artistic Director, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

  • Linda Bell

    Provost and Claire Tow Professor of Economics, Barnard College.

  • Manjul Bhargava

    Fields Medalist and professor of mathematics, Princeton University

  • Mike Birbiglia

    Comedian, writer, director

  • Mark Bittman

    Food expert, author, and former columnist for The New York Times

  • Rubén Blades

    Actor, activist, composer, and singer with 13 Grammy Awards

  • Casey Nelson Blake

    Professor of ​history​ and ​Director​ of the Center for American Studies,​ Columbia University

  • Ron Blake

    Member of NBC’s Saturday Night Live Band and faculty member at the Juilliard School

  • David Blight

    Professor of American history at Yale University and ​D​irector of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery

  • Richard H. Brodhead

    President emeritus, Duke University

  • Christopher Brown

    Professor of history at Columbia University

  • Brenda Jo Brueggemann

    Professor of English and disability studies, University of Connecticut

  • Frank Bruni

    New York Times columnist and author

  • Rika Burnham

    Head of Education at the Frick Collection, winner of the James D. Burke Prize for Achievement in the Arts

  • Michael Caplan

    C.N.H. Long Professor and Chair of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University School of Medicine

  • Sylvain Cappell

    Professor of mathematics, Courant Institute, New York University

  • Martin Chalfie

    Nobel laureate and professor of biology, Columbia University

  • Kartik Chandran

    Environmental engineer at Columbia University and MacArthur “genius”

  • Roz Chast

    New Yorker cartoonist and author and illustrator of award-winning books

  • Susan Choi

    Novelist and recipient of the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and the PEN/W.G. Sebald award

  • Christopher Clark

    Professor of history, the University of Connecticut

  • Ta-Nehisi Coates

    Journalist, National Book Award-winner, and a MacArthur “genius”

  • Kenneth Cole

    Fashion designer and activist

  • Billy Collins

    Former poet laureate of the United States

  • Gail Collins

    New York Times columnist and author

  • Cecilia A. Conrad

    Economist and Vice President of the MacArthur Fellows program

  • James L. Cott

    United States magistrate judge for the Southern District of New York

  • Alice Crary

    Chair of the Department of Philosophy, The New School

  • Mary Cregan

    Essayist, author, and lecturer at Barnard College

  • Christian Crouch

    Associate professor of historical studies and director of American studies, Bard College

  • David M. Darst

    Managing Director and Chief Investment Strategist at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney

  • Edmund de Waal

    Artist and award-winning author

  • Andrew Delbanco

    Professor of American Studies at Columbia University and recipient of National Humanities Medal

  • Nick Demeris

    Singer, conductor, and composer

  • Vinny DePonto

    Mentalist, illusionist, and theater maker

  • Dickson Despommier

    Professor emeritus of microbiology and public health, Columbia University

  • Eli Dueker

    Assistant Professor of biology and Director of the Environmental and Urban Studies program, Bard College

  • Denton Ebel

    Geologist, chair, curator, and professor, American Museum of Natural History

  • Paul Engelmayer

    United States district judge for the Southern District of New York

  • Álvaro Enrigue

    award-winning author and professor, Hofstra University

  • Ernesto Estrella

    Spanish poet and former assistant professor of contemporary poetry at Yale University

  • Oskar Eustis

    Artistic Director, The Public Theater

  • Linda Ferber

    Senior art historian and museum director emerita, New-York Historical Society

  • David Ferriero

    The Archivist of the United States

  • Stuart Firestein

    Chair of Columbia University’s Department of Biological Sciences

  • Ed Folsom

    Roy J. Carver Professor of English, The University of Iowa

  • Eric Foner

    American historian and DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University

  • Richard A. Friedman

    Professor of clinical psychiatry and Director of the Psychopharmacology Clinic, Weill Cornell

  • Phil Galdston

    Songwriter, producer, and Master Teacher in songwriting at NYU

  • Maria Garlock

    Professor of civil and environmental engineering, Princeton University

  • Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

    Author and Alfonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University

  • Michael A. Gomez

    Professor of history and Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at NYU, founder of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora

  • Roberto G. Gonzales

    Professor of sociology, Harvard University

  • Stephen Greenblatt

    Harvard professor of English, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award

  • Brian Greene

    Professor of physics, Columbia University

  • Maxine Greene

    Educational philosopher, author, and teacher

  • Rinne Groff

    Playwright and founding member of Elevator Repair Service

  • Mary Ellen Hannibal

    Author and citizen scientist

  • Elizabeth Harman

    Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy and Human Values, Princeton University

  • George Hart

    Research professor at Stony Brook University and interdisciplinary sculptor, mathematician, computer scientist, and educator

  • Hazmat Modine

    NYC American-roots band formed in late 1990s

  • Samuel D. Hodge, Jr.

    Temple University professor in both law and medical schools

  • Roald Hoffmann

    Nobel laureate and professor of chemistry, Cornell University

  • Dr. Anthony Hollenberg

    Physician-in-chief at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, the Sanford I. Weill Chair of the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, editor of Endocrinology

  • Bob Holman

    Poet and founder of the Bowery Poetry Club

  • Sara Hook

    Choreographer and professor of dance at the University of Illinois

  • Alexandra Horowitz

    Author and professor of psychology, Barnard College

  • Amy Hungerford

    Professor of English and Divisional Director of Humanities at Yale University

  • Bob Hurley, Sr.

    Hall of Fame basketball coach

  • Tom Igoe

    Cofounder of Arduino, head of physical computing at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program

  • Kenneth T. Jackson

    Author and professor of American history, Columbia University

  • Dale Jamison

    Professor of environmental studies and philosophy, NYU

  • Shelly Kagan

    Clark Professor of Philosophy, Yale University

  • Maira Kalman

    Illustrator and writer

  • Joshua Katz

    Professor of classics, Princeton University

  • Brian Kernighan

    Professor of computer science, Princeton University

  • Shamus Khan

    professor and chair of sociology, Columbia University

  • Philip Kitcher

    John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University

  • Dorothy Ko

    Professor of history, Barnard College

  • Rebecca Kobrin

    Professor of American Jewish history, Columbia University

  • The Kronos Quartet

    American string quartet that specializes in contemporary and new music

  • Stephen Krupin

    Senior speechwriter for President Obama and lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School of Government

  • David Lang

    Pulitzer Prize-winning composer

  • Charles Liu

    Professor of astrophysics, CUNY Staten Island

  • Po-Shen Loh

    Associate professor of mathematics at Carnegie Mellon and coach of the USA International Math Olympiad team

  • David Madigan

    Executive Vice President and Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences and professor of statistics, Columbia University

  • Taylor Mali

    Four-time National Poetry Slam champion

  • Scott Manning Stevens

    Director of the Native American Indigenous Studies Program, Syracuse University

  • Sharon Marcus

    Professor of English, Columbia University

  • Alex Martin

    Global writing chief at The Wall Street Journal

  • David McCullough

    Winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, two National Book Awards, and Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom

  • Bill McKibben

    Writer, environmentalist, and climate change prophet

  • Daniel Menaker

    Author and former editor-in-chief, Random House

  • Meredith Monk

    Composer, singer, director, MacArthur “genius”

  • Bill Morrison

    Filmmaker, Guggenheim Fellow

  • Bill Moyers

    Emmy Award winning broadcast journalist

  • Khalil Muhammad

    Professor of history, race, and public policy at Harvard Kennedy School

  • Paul Muldoon

    Princeton University professor in the humanities and Pulitzer Prize-winner