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A PASSIONATE TEAM OF EDUCATORS & RESEARCHERS AT TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
MEET THE TEAM
Our extraordinary team of researchers, educators, data analysts, and education technology specialists bring together years of teaching and course management experience to support the program’s design, implementation, maintenance, and sustainable growth as we expand our program offerings in the future.
Dr. Amra Sabic-El-Rayess
PROFESSOR, AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR, AND ACTIVIST
Amra Sabic-El-Rayess is a professor, award-winning author and researcher who grew up in Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina. After surviving the Bosnian Genocide, she emigrated to the United States in 1996. By December 1999, she earned a B.A. in Economics from Brown University. Later, she obtained two Master's degrees and a Doctorate from Columbia University. Currently, she is a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College working on understanding how and why societies fall apart and what role education can play in unifying communities. She has published on education-related issues and has delivered 100+ invited lectures around the world to adult and adolescent audiences. Her award-winning memoir, The Cat | Never Named: A True Story of Love, War, and Survival (Bloomsbury, 2020) was published to critical acclaim. Dr. Sabic-El-Rayess was awarded a 2021 Finalist Medal for Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction by the American Library Association and Best Book recognition by School Library Journal, Malala Fund, Capitol Choices, and Children’s Center for Literature for her memoir -- a defining text on resilience to hate and empowerment through education. Her next nonfiction contribution, Three Summers (Macmillan Publishers-FSG, April 9, 2024), is a story of resilience and sisterhood in the three years leading up to the Bosnian Genocide. Sabic-El-Rayess is currently President of the Brown Alumni Association and a member of The Corporation of Brown University.
Dr. Vik Joshi
DIRECTOR, PROGRAM DESIGN AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS
Dr. Vikramaditya (Vik) Joshi works with K-12 schools across the United States of America with respect to the coordination, implementation, and supervision of Project Belonging. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Literature from Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, NY), an M.A. in Biography and Creative Non-Fiction from the University of East Anglia (Norwich, United Kingdom), and a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Education from Columbia University (New York City, NY). He has served first as a Teaching Fellow and subsequently as a member of the faculty of the Bard Prison Initiative – a college-in-prison program at maximum and medium security prisons in Up-state New York. He has served as a Fellow at Columbia University’s Center for Justice. He is currently working on, upon request, the biography of the late Justus Rosenberg, a spy in the French Resistance during the Second World War. . Inspired by Project Belonging's mission to build connected, compassionate, and caring student leaders who will unify their communities, Vik hopes to design a thoughtful learning experience for all our participants and build strong partnerships with organizations that seek to cultivate belonging in classrooms and schools.
