DISTINGUISHED LEADER IN EDUCATION 2019
Joyce Cowin, M.A.
Founder, Cowin Financial Literacy Program, Teachers College
Joyce Cowin, M.A., Founder, Cowin Financial Literacy Program, Teachers College
An alumna and Trustee of Teachers College, Joyce Cowin has been the leading benefactor for a broad range of educational and cultural institutions, causes, and initiatives, including the TC-affiliated, arts-focused Heritage School in East Harlem (for which she was the founding funder), the American Folk Art Museum, and the Joyce Cowin Conference Center.
More recently, she gave a major gift to launch an innovative professional development program in financial literacy in New York City. Based on the Harvard Business School case study model, developed by former TC faculty member Anand Marri, who is now Dean of the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester, and endorsed by the Department of Education and nonprofit partners, the Cowin Financial Literacy Program already is being used by New York City high school teachers. Joyce’s motivation for creating this program was her distress to see so many Americans lose their life savings and suffer financial ruin in the wake of the 2008 collapse. She sees the Cowin Financial Literacy Program as an effort to teach the next generation to manage its money wisely and not get “snookered” by schemes and con artists. #
