Dr. Thomas Parham, president of California State University – Dominguez Hills, will receive the Medal of Distinguished Service from the Teachers College at Columbia University on Tuesday, May 14.
The honor recognizes Parham for being a pioneer of multicultural psychology and dedicated to the betterment of society throughout his 35+-years career as a scholar and practitioner. Parham also served as president of the National Association of Black Psychologists and led the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development.
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In a letter to Parham about the honor, Thomas Bailey, president of Teachers College, wrote, “Thanks to your substantial academic contributions and active involvement in scholarly journals and service on editorial boards, you have consistently influenced the discourse in psychology and education, leaving a lasting imprint. Your exceptional contributions to racial-cultural studies in psychology have been instrumental in establishing the multicultural competence standards for ethical practice, and now, as the 11th president of California State University, Dominguez Hills, you have made an indelible mark on the academic community, driven by your unwavering dedication to human rights, community engagement, and social justice. All of this aligns so well with the mission and history of Teachers College, and we would be honored to recognize you in this way.”
Among the many honors bestowed by institutions of higher education, the Teachers College Medal for Distinguished Service carries special significance. Each year, the College awards the Medal to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to education and human development. Recipients of the TC Medal for Distinguished Service are honored at the May convocation ceremonies, where they also serve as graduation speakers.
Previous TC Medalists have included:
- the human rights activists Coretta Scott King, Desmond Tutu, Marian Wright Edelman, Morris Dees, and the Brown family of Topeka, Kansas;
- the political leaders John Lewis, Shirley Chisholm and Donna Shalala;
- the journalists Bob Herbert, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, and Jonathan Kozol;
- the psychologists Kenneth Clark, Carl Rogers, James Comer, Edmund Gordon, Bruno Bettelheim and Jerome Bruner;
- the education scholars Paulo Friere, Henry Louis Gates, David Levering Lewis, Margaret Mead, Claude Steele, Luis Moll, Gloria Ladsen Billings, Ted Sizer, Linda Darling Hammond and Maxine Greene;
- and, from the arts, Maya Angelou, Pete Seeger, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Spike Lee and Judy Collins.
To learn more, visit tc.edu.
