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.
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Jon Agee
Award-winning children’s book writer and illustrator
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Alash Ensemble
Trio of master throat singers from Tuva
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Alan Alda
Oscar nominated actor and visiting professor at Stony Brook University
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Yazmany Arboleda
Artist and co-founder of limeSHIFT, a creative agency that brings artists into public and private communities
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Isobel Armstrong
Fellow of the British Academy and professor at Princeton University
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Billy Aronson
Emmy Award-winning co-creator of Peg + Cat
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Charles Bailyn
Professor of astronomy and physics, Yale University
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Dan Barber
Chef and co-owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns
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Seth Barrish
Actor, director, and artistic director
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Emily C. Bartels
Professor of English at Rutgers University, New Brunswick and dean of the Middlebury Bread Loaf School of English
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James G. Basker
President of the Gilder Lehrman Institute and professor of literature, Barnard College
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Robert Battle
Artistic Director, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
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Linda Bell
Provost and Claire Tow Professor of Economics, Barnard College.
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Manjul Bhargava
Fields Medalist and professor of mathematics, Princeton University
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Mike Birbiglia
Comedian, writer, director
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Mark Bittman
Food expert, author, and former columnist for The New York Times
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Rubén Blades
Actor, activist, composer, and singer with 13 Grammy Awards
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Casey Nelson Blake
Professor of history and Director of the Center for American Studies, Columbia University
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Ron Blake
Member of NBC’s Saturday Night Live Band and faculty member at the Juilliard School
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David Blight
Professor of American history at Yale University and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery
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Richard H. Brodhead
President emeritus, Duke University
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Christopher Brown
Professor of history at Columbia University
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Brenda Jo Brueggemann
Professor of English and disability studies, University of Connecticut
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Frank Bruni
New York Times columnist and author
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Rika Burnham
Head of Education at the Frick Collection, winner of the James D. Burke Prize for Achievement in the Arts
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Michael Caplan
C.N.H. Long Professor and Chair of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University School of Medicine
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Sylvain Cappell
Professor of mathematics, Courant Institute, New York University
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Martin Chalfie
Nobel laureate and professor of biology, Columbia University
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Kartik Chandran
Environmental engineer at Columbia University and MacArthur “genius”
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Roz Chast
New Yorker cartoonist and author and illustrator of award-winning books
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Susan Choi
Novelist and recipient of the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and the PEN/W.G. Sebald award
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Christopher Clark
Professor of history, the University of Connecticut
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Ta-Nehisi Coates
Journalist, National Book Award-winner, and a MacArthur “genius”
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Kenneth Cole
Fashion designer and activist
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Billy Collins
Former poet laureate of the United States
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Gail Collins
New York Times columnist and author
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Cecilia A. Conrad
Economist and Vice President of the MacArthur Fellows program
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James L. Cott
United States magistrate judge for the Southern District of New York
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Alice Crary
Chair of the Department of Philosophy, The New School
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Mary Cregan
Essayist, author, and lecturer at Barnard College
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Christian Crouch
Associate professor of historical studies and director of American studies, Bard College
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David M. Darst
Managing Director and Chief Investment Strategist at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
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Edmund de Waal
Artist and award-winning author
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Andrew Delbanco
Professor of American Studies at Columbia University and recipient of National Humanities Medal
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Nick Demeris
Singer, conductor, and composer
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Vinny DePonto
Mentalist, illusionist, and theater maker
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Dickson Despommier
Professor emeritus of microbiology and public health, Columbia University
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Eli Dueker
Assistant Professor of biology and Director of the Environmental and Urban Studies program, Bard College
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Denton Ebel
Geologist, chair, curator, and professor, American Museum of Natural History
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Paul Engelmayer
United States district judge for the Southern District of New York
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Álvaro Enrigue
award-winning author and professor, Hofstra University
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Ernesto Estrella
Spanish poet and former assistant professor of contemporary poetry at Yale University
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Oskar Eustis
Artistic Director, The Public Theater
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Linda Ferber
Senior art historian and museum director emerita, New-York Historical Society
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David Ferriero
The Archivist of the United States
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Stuart Firestein
Chair of Columbia University’s Department of Biological Sciences
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Ed Folsom
Roy J. Carver Professor of English, The University of Iowa
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Eric Foner
American historian and DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University
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Richard A. Friedman
Professor of clinical psychiatry and Director of the Psychopharmacology Clinic, Weill Cornell
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Phil Galdston
Songwriter, producer, and Master Teacher in songwriting at NYU
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Maria Garlock
Professor of civil and environmental engineering, Princeton University
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Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Author and Alfonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University
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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
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Roberto G. Gonzales
Professor of sociology, Harvard University
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Andy Goodman
Co-founder and director of The Goodman Center
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Stephen Greenblatt
Harvard professor of English, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award
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Brian Greene
Professor of physics, Columbia University
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Maxine Greene
Educational philosopher, author, and teacher
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Rinne Groff
Playwright and founding member of Elevator Repair Service
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Richard Haass
President of the Council on Foreign Relations
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Mary Ellen Hannibal
Author and citizen scientist
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Elizabeth Harman
Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy and Human Values, Princeton University
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George Hart
Research professor at Stony Brook University and interdisciplinary sculptor, mathematician, computer scientist, and educator
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Hazmat Modine
NYC American-roots band formed in late 1990s
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Samuel D. Hodge, Jr.
Temple University professor in both law and medical schools
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Roald Hoffmann
Nobel laureate and professor of chemistry, Cornell University
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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
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Bob Holman
Poet and founder of the Bowery Poetry Club
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Sara Hook
Choreographer and professor of dance at the University of Illinois
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Alexandra Horowitz
Author and professor of psychology, Barnard College
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Amy Hungerford
Professor of English and Divisional Director of Humanities at Yale University
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Bob Hurley, Sr.
Hall of Fame basketball coach
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Tom Igoe
Cofounder of Arduino, head of physical computing at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program
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Kenneth T. Jackson
Author and professor of American history, Columbia University
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Dale Jamison
Professor of environmental studies and philosophy, NYU
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Shelly Kagan
Clark Professor of Philosophy, Yale University
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Maira Kalman
Illustrator and writer
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Joshua Katz
Professor of classics, Princeton University
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Brian Kernighan
Professor of computer science, Princeton University
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Shamus Khan
professor and chair of sociology, Columbia University
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Philip Kitcher
John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University
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Dorothy Ko
Professor of history, Barnard College
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Rebecca Kobrin
Professor of American Jewish history, Columbia University
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The Kronos Quartet
American string quartet that specializes in contemporary and new music
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Stephen Krupin
Senior speechwriter for President Obama and lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School of Government -
David Lang
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer
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Max Liboiron
Associate professor of geography at Memorial University of Newfoundland, director of the Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research
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Charles Liu
Professor of astrophysics, CUNY Staten Island
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Po-Shen Loh
Associate professor of mathematics at Carnegie Mellon and coach of the USA International Math Olympiad team
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Alan MacVey
Professor of directing and acting & director of performing arts, University of Iowa
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David Madigan
Executive Vice President and Dean of Faculty of Arts and Sciences and professor of statistics, Columbia University
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Taylor Mali
Four-time National Poetry Slam champion
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Scott Manning Stevens
Director of the Native American Indigenous Studies Program, Syracuse University
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Sharon Marcus
Professor of English, Columbia University
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Alex Martin
Global writing chief at The Wall Street Journal
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David McCullough
Winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, two National Book Awards, and Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
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Bill McKibben
Writer, environmentalist, and climate change prophet
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Daniel Menaker
Author and former editor-in-chief, Random House
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Meredith Monk
Composer, singer, director, MacArthur “genius”
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Bill Morrison
Filmmaker, Guggenheim Fellow
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Bill Moyers
Emmy Award winning broadcast journalist
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Khalil Muhammad
Professor of history, race, and public policy at Harvard Kennedy School
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Paul Muldoon
Princeton University professor in the humanities and Pulitzer Prize-winner