José Gabriel Maldonado-Rivera
Photo by Alex Lyda |
In a joint commitment to educate future mathematicians, scientists and engineers, Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger and New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein have announced that José Gabriel Maldonado-Rivera will serve as the project director for the Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science and Engineering, a new secondary school being developed in the Manhattanville area of West Harlem, where the University has proposed building an expanded urban academic community.
The school, which will be operated by the New York City Department of Education (DOE) in close collaboration with Columbia, is set to open in September 2007, initially in a transitional space and accepting sixth graders. Eventually, it will have its own building and a total enrollment of approximately 650 students from grades six through 12.
“For a great urban university whose mission is teaching, research and public service, nothing could be more important than making sure that the young people in our own neighborhoods have the opportunity for an education that provides a pathway to the highest levels of achievement in the classroom and beyond,” said President Bollinger, referring to the fact that the school will give priority to high-performing local students from northern Manhattan above 106th Street. At least half of the school’s total enrollment will comprise students from northern Manhattan.
Chancellor Klein commented on the qualifications that Maldonado-Rivera, who holds a degree from Teachers College and for many years directed the Environmental Education project of Puerto Rico, a non-governmental organization devoted to training teachers and offering field learning experiences to K–12 students, brings to the new post.
“José is precisely the kind of educator we need to lead this innovative partnership between our public schools and Columbia,” said Klein. “He has deep expertise in New York City education issues and significant experience as both a teacher and an administrator.”
In addition to his NGO work, Maldonado-Rivera has served, most recently, as assistant principal of the TASIS K–12 school in Dorado, Puerto Rico and as chair of the Department of Education at Hartwick College. After graduating from Teachers College in 1998, he spent two years as an associate researcher at Columbia University’s Institute of Urban and Minority Education.
“I’m pleased that such a widely respected institution of higher education as Columbia is engaged in this type of partnership with our community and our city’s public schools,” said the district’s City Councilman Robert Jackson, a longtime public education advocate who now chairs the Council Education Committee.
Maldonado-Rivera was chosen through a rigorous selection process by the Department of Education in consultation with the Columbia Secondary School’s advisory council, which includes Columbia professors Horst Stormer, Virginia Cornish, Art Palmer, Jack McGourty, Robert Friedman and Keith Sheppard of Teachers College.
“As a bilingual, bicultural, innovative educator with strong academic, administrative and curricular experience in both science and science education, José was a natural choice to appoint as project director for the new school,” Sheppard commented.
For more information, go to new school partnership announcement.
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