David Hansen

Teachers College, Columbia University

The John L. & Sue Ann Weinberg Professor in the Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Education

David T. Hansen is the John L. and Sue Ann Weinberg Professor in the Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he has served for many years as Director of the Program in Philosophy and Education. Hansen has taught at several levels, and before his present position was director for ten years of the secondary teacher education program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he was named a University Scholar. A former NAEd/ Spencer Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow, Hansen has written widely on the work of teachers, including in books such as The Call to Teach (1995), Exploring the Moral Heart of Teaching (2001), The Teacher and the World (2011), and Reimagining the Call to Teach (2021). He is currently elucidating a philosophy of 'bearing witness' as an ethical orientation in educational research and practice. His book on the topic, The Witness as Educator, will be published by the State University of New York Press in 2025. Hansen is a Past-President of The John Dewey Society and of The Philosophy of Education Society, and is a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association. He recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the John Dewey Society.