Rate My Professor Oren Pizmony-Levy

Oren Pizmony-Levy is an Associate Professor of International and Comparative Education in the Department of International and Transcultural Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University. He serves as founding Director of the Center for Sustainable Futures and Director of the International and Comparative Education Program. Pizmony-Levy earned his B.A. in Political Science and Educational Policy from Tel Aviv University in 2001, an M.A. in Sociology from Indiana University Bloomington in 2008, an M.A. in Sociology of Education from Tel Aviv University in 2011, and a Ph.D. in Sociology and Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Indiana University Bloomington in 2013. His research examines the emergence, diffusion, and impact of global education movements, with a main focus on environmental sustainability education policy and politics as reflected in activities of international organizations, NGOs, and cities. He studies the influence of large-scale student assessments such as TIMSS and PISA on policymaking through public discourse and opinion. He leads international projects including one on teachers’ engagement with environmental sustainability education as part of OECD’s TALIS and the MECCE Project on organizations active in climate change communication and education.

Pizmony-Levy has received awards from the Comparative and International Education Society and the American Sociological Association, including the Robert Dentler Award for Outstanding Student Achievement and the Judith Torney-Purta Outstanding Paper Award, as well as research grants from the National Science Foundation, Spencer Foundation, Arcus Foundation, and U.S. State Department. He chaired three CIES Special Interest Groups: SOGIE (2018–2020), Large-Scale Cross-National Studies (2013–2016), and Environmental & Sustainability Education (2012–2014), and guest-edited a special issue of Journal of LGBT Youth in 2015. Key publications include “Rigid Culture and Social Change: How African NGOs Educate about LGBTI Rights” (with Naomi Moland), “Networked Education Systems and the Flow of PISA-Induced References” (with Erika Kessler), “Framing Strategies and Public Support for the Legalization of Marriage between Two People of the Same Sex” (with Aaron J. Ponce, 2013), and “Bridging the Global and Local in Understanding Curricula Scripts: The Case of Environmental Education” (2011).