
All of us at the Program in Teacher Preparation are so fortunate to have worked with Anne Catena for the past twenty years. Astronaut and teacher Christa McAuliffe described the impact of great teaching so elegantly when she said, “I touch the future. I teach.” Anne has been touching the future for countless Teacher Prep students through her work with students and area teachers. One of the greatest rewards for any teacher is hearing from past students, and many former students sent notes of gratitude for the passion, generosity, love, and wisdom that Anne brought to her work in the program. Whether teaching the TPP 401 seminar, supervising student teachers, or administering the QUEST program for area STEM teachers, Anne brought a passion for working with students and a love of learning to everything she did. Teacher Prep is a much better place because of Anne’s work over these past two decades.
Todd Kent, Director, Program in Teacher Preparation
"Congratulations on your retirement Anne! I'm incredibly thankful that you've kept me engaged in such varied and meaningful professional development opportunities over the years. My continued connection to Teacher Prep would not have been possible without you, and I'm grateful for everything that you have done to create a network that has supported and nourished me so profoundly. I still hold on to everything I learned from you during my student teaching, and I'm honored to have been your first. I can't thank you enough for everything that you've done for Teacher Prep and a generation of Princetonians, especially me. I hope that you enjoy your retirement!"
John Yi '03
"Dr. Catena, thank you for being every student teacher's #1 fan these past years at Teacher Prep! Your support and encouragement during my student teaching semester was instrumental in keeping me motivated and excited about teaching. I vividly remember having a great conversation with you at my 5 year reunion, and how proud you were that I was still teaching. Thank you for allowing me to participate in several great QUEST sessions, including a terrapin study in Barnegat Bay, astronomical data analysis with Steve Carson, and water quality work with Prof. Higgins. I signed up for all of those wonderful experiences directly as a result of your encouragement, and all of those opportunities were made possible due to your efforts. Thank you, and enjoy your retirement!"
Thomas Maltbaek ‘11
"Dear Dr. Catena, I am so lucky to have learned from you through Teacher Prep! I will never forget the first TPP301 seminar when you projected a quote from one of my peers’ past Teacher Prep papers as guiding words for the ensuing lesson. I was in awe of how you had taken the time to get to know us before class started through our past papers, and I was inspired by how you used our thoughts as starting points for the lesson. I also really appreciated how you made sure to celebrate each of our birthdays; you made it feel more like a small community than simply a weekly seminar. And I really admired how you gracefully and optimistically modelled how to shift to remote learning while we were completing our part-time student-teaching. Thank you so much for your dedication to inspiring teachers-in-training! I hope to uplift my students’ reflections and cultivate a personal, authentic community in my future classrooms as you have done!"
Pam McGowen ‘20
Dear Anne, Congratulations on your retirement! When I heard from Dr. Kent that you were retiring, I was reminded of many happy experiences with you at Teacher Prep. I believe that we can trace pieces of our journey back to specific people—people who inspire us, teach us, and help us reach farther and dig deeper than we did before we met them. You have been one of these people in my life. You taught me so much about how to teach math and science, but more importantly, by your example you taught me how to be a thoughtful, empathetic, and generous teacher. In the stressful Princeton environment, your office at Teacher Prep was one of my safe havens. There were many times when I sat across from your desk at a crossroads, and you always shared your wisdom without just telling me what to do. You approached our interactions from a place of caring, and it is that generosity of spirit that I aim to share with my own students. And let's not forget how giving you were with your time, graciously volunteering to be my thesis advisor and to guide me through a defining experience. I know that moving on can bring feelings of sadness, but I am very happy for you as you turn a new page, and I wish you all the best.
Matt DiDonato '12
"Anne, I am so extremely grateful for the opportunity that I have had to learn from you & work with you since my time at Princeton University. The Teacher Prep Program is so special, and you have been such an integral part of the program for the entire time that I have been involved with it. TPP plays an important role at Princeton, creating space for undergrad, graduate, and post graduate students to make a commitment to public education. I am deeply grateful for the time that I spent as a student in TPP, and for the continued support and involvement that TPP has offered to me in the 10 years since I graduated. It has been such a pleasure to Skype into classes to connect with students & you about the field of Special Education, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity. The field of education is so lucky to have had you in it, and I am so grateful for your service to developing new teachers. I love teachers and am so grateful for you! Thank you, and congratulations on your retirement! I hope you will stay in touch!"
Andrea Francis '11