Barnard College

Teachers College, Columbia University is an institution with a rich and distinguished record in the field of education. Decade after decade, since its founding in 1887, the College has anticipated concerns and acted with initiatives to advance educational reforms and issues. With its tradition of innovation and insights, the College is one of the leading schools of education in the country, if not the world, embracing three fields: education, psychology and health.

From its beginnings in a schoolhouse in lower Manhattan, Columbia University has grown to encompass two principal campuses: the historic, neoclassical campus in the Morningside Heights neighborhood and the modern Medical Center further uptown, in Washington Heights. Today, Columbia is one of the top academic and research institutions in the world, conducting pathbreaking research in medicine, science, the arts, and the humanities. It includes three undergraduate schools, thirteen graduate and professional schools, and a school of continuing education.

The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) was founded in 1886 through the efforts of two distinguished rabbis, Dr. Sabato Morais and Dr. H. Pereira Mendes, along with a group of prominent lay leaders from Sephardic congregations in Philadelphia and New York. Its mission was to preserve the knowledge and practice of historical Judaism. In 1887, JTS held its first class of ten students in the vestry of the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue, New York City's oldest congregation.