TEACHERS COLLEGE LOSES THREE IMPORTANT FIGURES FROM ITS PAST

TC Columbia University, NY
Feb 14 2007

Paul Vahanian, alumnus and Professor of Psychology, died in October.

The son of a cobbler who had emigrated from Armenia to escape the
genocide there, Vahanian was a much-decorated World War II veteran who
earned an M.A. in Marital and Family Relations from Teachers College
in 1952 and a Doctorate in Education in 1957. He is remembered as
an innovative educator who taught the first TC course in family
therapy and group dynamics. Repeatedly rated as a favorite by TC
students, he was a humanist who promoted spirited discussions among
his students and brought the cognitive therapist Albert Ellis and
other leading-edge thinkers to visit his classroom. As a marital
therapist he was influenced by an eclectic mix of thinkers, from
Freud and Jung to Rogers, Ernest "Lank" Osborne and Fritz Perls.

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