Maxine Greene

Sarah Maxine Greene (née Meyer; December 23, 1917 – May 29, 2014) was an American educational philosopher, author, social activist, and teacher. Described as "perhaps the most iconic and influential living figure associated with Teachers College, Columbia University", she was a pioneer for women in the field of philosophy of education. She was the second woman elected as president of the Philosophy of Education Society in 1967 and the third woman to preside over the American Educational Research Association in 1981. Greene's work championed aesthetic education, social imagination, and wide-awakeness, drawing inspiration from existentialist philosophers like Sartre and Camus, as well as contemporaries like Paulo Freire and Hannah Arendt. Her notable books include *Existential Encounters for Teachers* (1967), *Teacher as Stranger* (1973), *The Dialectic of Freedom* (1988), *Landscapes of Learning* (1978), and *Releasing the Imagination* (1995). She also founded The Maxine Greene Center for Aesthetic Education and Social Imagination in 2003. Her influence extended to public works, including her role as Philosopher-in-Residence at the Lincoln Center Institute and inspiring the creation of the High School of Arts, Imagination and Inquiry.