People
Tovah P. Klein, Ph.D. - Director
Tovah P. Klein, Ph.D (tklein@barnard.edu) has a doctorate in developmental and clinical psychology from Duke University and holds a bachelor's degree from University of Michigan in Psychology. She is on faculty in Psychology at Barnard College and conducts research on children's social development and parents' experiences parenting young children, including the challenges of combining work and family. Other research areas focus on trauma and young children, as well as children's use of play to communicate and process emotions and stressful experiences. She is on the Advisory Boards of Room to Grow, Per Dev, Rwanda Educational Assistance Program, Ubuntu Education Fund, LearnNow.org, and has been an advisor to Sesame Street. Dr. Klein is an advisor to children's TV and film, and is frequently quoted in parenting magazines and the media as an expert on toddler development and parenting issues. Dr. Klein's book How Toddlers Thrive: What parents can do today to plant the seeds of lifelong success was published in 2014. Follow her on Twitter: @tovahklein. She is the mother of three boys, all Toddler Center graduates.
Alison Davis - Associate Director
Alison Davis (aldavis@barnard.edu) received her bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Michigan and her Masters in Social Work from Hunter College. She spent many years working with children and families as a social worker before returning to Hunter for a Masters in Early Childhood Education. Prior to joining the Toddler Center in 2018, she spent nine years as a teacher at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church Day School. Alison is the mother of two children- one a college senior and the other a Barnard College freshman!
Andrea Carmosino - Center Administrator
Andrea (toddlercenter@barnard.edu) is the Center Administrator with a longstanding connection to the Toddler Center. She is the mother of three Toddler Center graduates - one whom is also a Barnard College '19 graduate. Andrea is a CU alum and formerly worked at the Columbia University School of Social Work.
Jenna Bloom - Head Teacher
Jenna (jbloom@barnard.edu) graduated from the University of Sydney in 2012 with a Bachelor's degree in Speech and Language Pathology and holds a graduate degree in Early Childhood Education from Bank Street. She was a head teacher in NYC for two years before joining the Toddler Center in 2018 as head teacher.
Serena Baroudi - Head Teacher
Serena (sbaroudi@barnard.edu) received her bachelor's degree in Psychology from Susquehanna in 2014 and earned graduate degrees in both Early Childhood and Social Work in May 2020. This will be Serena's third year teaching at the Toddler Center.
Kristen O'Reilly - Teacher
Kristen (koreilly@barnard.edu) received a B.A. in Liberal Studies from Purchase College in 2018. This year is Kristen's third year at the Toddler Center and she is also pursuing a master's degree at Bank Street College for Education.
Cindy Choi - Assistant Teacher
Cindy (cchoii@barnard.edu) graduated from Barnard College in 2019 with a degree in Psychology. She was a Toddler Center seminar student as a junior, a part-time assistant teacher as a senior, and is now an assistant teacher in all but one class.