Celebrating 15 Years of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center
December 13, 2022
Do you remember 2007? It’s a year that sparked a massive transformation in technology. Yes, there have been mobile phones since the 1970s— and many of us remember our Motorola Razrs or Blackberries with fondness. But in 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone, followed quickly by Google’s Android operating system and Amazon’s Kindle. These devices and operating systems unleashed a powerful wave of digital media designed for children. Today’s 15-year-olds have never experienced a life without smartphones, streaming music and video at their fingertips 24/7, or the ability to connect with their friends over FaceTime or Discord!
Michael Levine, Joan Ganz Cooney, Gary Knell, and Lewis Bernstein established the Joan Ganz Cooney Center in 2007
This December also marks the 15th anniversary of the year that the Joan Ganz Cooney Center was established as an independent research and innovation lab within Sesame Workshop. Over the years, we have conducted original research, published dozens of reports, and convened thought leaders from academia, industry, and practice to discuss emerging technologies and their potential to benefit children’s learning and well-being.
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, also known as the Cooney Center, or the JGCC, has always been a small but mighty group with an impact that is larger than the team itself. We are fortunate to have such illustrious alumni on our roster, from Michael Levine, who is now senior vice president of learning and impact at Nick, Lori Takeuchi, a program officer at the National Science Foundation, and Carly Shuler, co-founder and CEO of Hoot Reading, to Kiley Sobel, senior UX researcher at Duolingo ABC, and Lili Toutounas, who is still in the neighborhood as part of Sesame Workshop’s Human Resources team.
We have invited our former colleagues to celebrate our anniversary with us and to share their reflections on how the JGCC has impacted their careers. We’ll be publishing these memories over the next few weeks – and if you have thoughts you would like to share, please let us know! We’d love to hear from you.
- Michael Levine
- Carly Shuler
- Lili Toutounas
- Jessica Millstone
- Sarah Vaala
- Alan Nong
- Jenny Ng
- Jason Yip
- Rocío Almanza Guillén
- Laurie Rabin
- David Lowenstein
- Briana Ellerbe
- Meagan Henry
- Allison Mishkin
- Vikki Katz
- Lori Takeuchi
From left to right: Laurie Rabin, Marj Kleinman, Lili Toutounas, Gabrielle Cayton-Hodges, Catherine Jhee, Erica Rabner, and Allison Mishkin at a Sesame Workshop Alumni event in 2019.
