SUMMARY PROSPECTUS

FEBRUARY 1, 2010

TIAA-CREF SMALL-CAP EQUITY FUND

of the TIAA-CREF Funds

Class Ticker:      Retail TCSEX      Retirement TRSEX      Premier TSRPX      Institutional TISEX

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s prospectus and other information about the Fund online at www.tiaa-cref.org/tcfsmce. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 800 223-1200 or by sending an e-mail request to disclosure@tiaa-cref.org. The Fund’s prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), each dated February 1, 2010, and the audited financial statements on pages 114-190 of the Fund’s shareholder report dated September 30, 2009 are incorporated into this Summary Prospectus by reference and may be obtained free of charge at the website, phone number or e-mail address noted above.

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

          The Fund seeks a favorable long-term total return, mainly through capital appreciation, primarily from equity securities of smaller domestic companies.

FEES AND EXPENSES

          This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the Fund:

SHAREHOLDER FEES (deducted directly from gross amount of transaction)

	Retail		Retirement		Premier		Institutional
	Class		Class		Class		Class
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Purchases
(percentage of offering price)		0%		0%		0%		0%
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge		0%		0%		0%		0%
Maximum Sales Charge Imposed on Reinvested
Dividends and Other Distributions		0%		0%		0%		0%
Redemption or Exchange Fee (on shares held less
than 60 days)		2.00%		2.00%		2.00%		2.00%
Account Maintenance Fee
(annual fee on accounts under $2,000)		$15.00		0%		0%		0%

TIAA-CREF Small Cap Equity Fund § Summary Prospectus 1

ANNUAL FUND OPERATING EXPENSES (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

			Retirement		Premier		Institutional
	Retail Class		Class		Class		Class
Management Fees		0.48%		0.48%		0.48%		0.48%
Distribution (Rule 12b-1) Fees1		0.25%		—		0.15%		—
Other Expenses2		0.40%		0.34%		0.09%		0.09%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		1.13%		0.82%		0.72%		0.57%
Waivers and Expense Reimbursements3		0.19%		0.02%		0.02%		0.02%
Net Annual Fund Operating Expenses		0.94%		0.80%		0.70%		0.55%

1	The Retail and Premier Classes of the Fund have each adopted a Distribution (12b-1) Plan that reimburses and compensates, respectively, the Fund’s distributor, Teachers Personal Investors Services, Inc. (“TPIS”), for providing distribution, promotional and shareholder services to the Retail and Premier Class shares at the annual rate of 0.25% and 0.15% of average daily net assets attributable to Retail and Premier Class shares, respectively. Although historically reimbursements under this Plan for Retail Class shares have been waived by TPIS, effective August 1, 2009, this waiver terminated. Therefore, because the termination has been in effect for only a partial year for Retail Class shares, the amounts shown in the “Net Annual Fund Operating Expenses” column above are estimated to be the expense ratios that Retail Class shareholders will actually pay.
2	For the Premier Class, Other Expenses are estimates for the current fiscal year due to the recent commencement of operations of the share class.
3	Under the Fund’s expense reimbursement arrangements, the Fund’s investment adviser, Teachers Advisors, Inc. (“Advisors”) has contractually agreed to reimburse the Fund for any Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses and extraordinary expenses) that exceed: (i) 0.94% of average daily net assets for Retail Class shares; (ii) 0.80% of average daily net assets for Retirement Class shares; (iii) 0.70% of average daily net assets for Premier Class shares; and (iv) 0.55% of average daily net assets for Institutional Class shares of the Fund. These expense reimbursement arrangements will continue through at least January 31, 2011, unless changed with approval of the Board of Trustees.

         Example

          This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses, before expense reimbursements, remain the same. The example assumes that the Fund’s expense reimbursement agreement will remain in place until January 31, 2011 but that there will be no waiver or expense reimbursement agreement in effect thereafter. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

	Retail		Retirement		Premier		Institutional
	Class		Class		Class		Class
1 Year	$	96	$	82	$	72	$	56
3 Years	$	340	$	260	$	228	$	181
5 Years	$	604	$	453	$	399	$	316
10 Years	$	1,358	$	1,012	$	893	$	712

2 Summary Prospectus § TIAA-CREF Small Cap Equity Fund

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

          The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 91% of the average value of its portfolio.

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

          Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets (net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in small-cap equity securities. A small-cap equity security is a security within the capitalization range of the companies included in the Russell 2000^® Index at the time of purchase. The Fund will invest primarily in equity securities of smaller domestic companies across a wide range of sectors, growth rates and valuations, that appear to have favorable prospects for significant long-term capital appreciation.

          The Fund seeks to add incremental return over its stated benchmark index, the Russell 2000^® Index, while also managing the relative risk of the Fund versus its benchmark index. The Fund uses proprietary quantitative models based on financial and investment theories to evaluate and score a broad universe of stocks in which the Fund invests. These models typically weigh many different variables, including the valuation of the individual stock versus the market or its peers; future earnings and sustainable growth prospects; and the price and volume trends of the stock. The score is used to form the portfolio, along with the following additional inputs: weightings of the stock, and its corresponding sector, in the benchmark; correlations between the performance of the stocks in the universe; and trading costs.

          The overall goal is to build a portfolio of stocks that outperform the Fund’s stated benchmark index, while also managing the relative risk of the Fund versus its benchmark index. The Fund’s strategy is based upon Advisors’ understanding of the interplay of market factors and does not assure successful investment. The markets or the prices of individual securities may be affected by factors not taken into account in Advisors’ analysis.

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT RISKS

          You could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund, or the Fund’s portfolio securities, typically is subject to the following principal investment risks:

TIAA-CREF Small Cap Equity Fund § Summary Prospectus 3

• Market Risk—The risk that market prices of securities held by the Fund may fall rapidly or unpredictably due to a variety of factors, including changing economic, political or market conditions.

• Company Risk (often called Financial Risk)—The risk that the issuer’s earnings prospects and overall financial position will deteriorate, causing a decline in the value of the security over short or extended periods of time.

• Small-Cap Risk—The risk that the stocks of small-capitalization companies often experience greater price volatility than large- or mid-sized companies because small-cap companies are often newer or less established than larger companies and are likely to have more limited resources, products and markets. Securities of small-cap companies are often less liquid than securities of larger companies as a result of there being a smaller market for their securities.

• Active Management Risk—The risk that poor securities selection by the Fund’s investment adviser could cause the Fund to underperform its benchmark index or mutual funds with similar investment objectives.

• Quantitative Analysis Risk—The risk that stocks selected by the Fund’s investment adviser using quantitative modeling and analysis could perform differently from the market as a whole.

          There can be no assurances that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. You should not consider the Fund to be a complete investment program. Please see page 10 of the prospectus for detailed information about the risks described above.

PAST PERFORMANCE

          The following chart and table help illustrate some of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year. The bar chart shows the annual total returns of the Institutional Class of the Fund, before taxes, in each full calendar year since inception of the class. Because the expenses vary across share classes, the performance of the Institutional Class will vary from the other share classes. Below the bar chart are the best and worst returns for a calendar quarter since inception of the Institutional Class. The performance table following the bar chart shows the Fund’s average annual total returns for the Institutional Class, Retirement Class and Retail Class over the one-year, five-year and since-inception periods (where applicable) ended December 31, 2009, and how those returns compare to those of the Fund’s benchmark index. The Premier Class does not have a full calendar year of performance and is not included in the table. After-tax performance is shown only for Institutional Class shares, and after-tax returns for the other Classes of shares will vary from the after-tax returns presented for Institutional Class shares.

          The returns shown below reflect previous agreements by the Fund’s investment adviser to waive or reimburse the Fund for certain fees and expenses. Without these waivers and reimbursements, the returns of the Fund would have been lower. Past performance of the Fund (before and after taxes) is

4 Summary Prospectus § TIAA-CREF Small Cap Equity Fund

not necessarily an indication of how it will perform in the future. The benchmark index listed below is unmanaged, and you cannot invest directly in the index. The returns for the index reflect no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes. For current performance information of each share class, including performance to the most recent month-end, please visit www.tiaa-cref.org.

ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS FOR THE INSTITUTIONAL CLASS SHARES (%)

Best quarter: 23.52%, for the quarter ended June 30, 2003. Worst quarter: -24.81%, for the quarter ended December 31, 2008.

AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS

For the Periods Ended December 31, 2009

	One Year			Five Years			Since Inception
Institutional Class (Inception: October 1, 2002)
Return Before Taxes		26.97	%		–0.44	%		8.65	%
Return After Taxes on Distributions		26.84	%		–1.69	%		7.21	%
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of
Fund Shares		17.69	%		–0.71	%		7.08	%
Russell 2000® Index		27.17	%		0.51	%		9.00	%
Retail Class (Inception: October 1, 2002)
Return Before Taxes		26.76	%		–0.60	%		8.48	%
Retirement Class (Inception: October 1, 2002)
Return Before Taxes		26.58	%		–0.70	%		8.34	%

Current performance of the Fund’s shares may be higher or lower than that shown above.

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax-rates in effect during the periods shown and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(a), 401(k) or 403(b) plans or Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).

TIAA-CREF Small Cap Equity Fund § Summary Prospectus 5

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

          Investment Adviser. The Fund’s investment adviser is Teachers Advisors, Inc.

          Portfolio Managers. The following persons jointly manage the Fund on a day-to-day basis:

Name:	Michael S. Shing, CFA	Adam Cao, CFA
Title:	Managing Director	Director
Experience on Fund:	since 2004	since 2007

PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES

          Retail Class shares are available for purchase through financial intermediaries or by contacting the Fund directly at 800 223-1200 or www.tiaa-cref.org. Retirement Class and Premier Class shares are generally available for purchase through employee benefit plans or other types of savings plans or accounts. Institutional Class shares are available for purchase directly from the Fund by certain eligible investors or through financial intermediaries.

• The minimum initial investment for Retail Class shares is $2,000 for Traditional IRA, Roth IRA and Coverdell accounts and $2,500 for all other account types. Subsequent investments for all account types must be at least $100.

• There is no minimum initial or subsequent investment for Retirement Class shares. Retirement Class shares are primarily offered through employer-sponsored employee benefit plans.

• There is a $100 million aggregate plan size and $1 million initial minimum plan-level investment requirement for Premier Class shares. Premier Class shares are offered through certain financial intermediaries and employer-sponsored employee benefit plans.

• The minimum initial investment is $2 million and the minimum subsequent investment is $1,000 for Institutional Class shares, unless an investor purchases shares by or through financial intermediaries that have entered into an appropriate agreement with the Fund or its affiliates.

          Redeeming Shares. You can redeem (sell) your shares of the Fund at any time. If your shares are held through a third party, please contact that person for applicable redemption requirements. If your shares are held directly with the Fund, contact the Fund directly in writing or by telephone. Redemptions involving shares of the Fund less than 60 calendar days may be subject to the Redemption Fee, addressed in “Fees and Expenses” above.

          Exchanging Shares. You can exchange shares of the Fund for the same class of shares of any other funds offered by the TIAA-CREF Funds at any time, subject to the limitations described in the Market Timing/Excessive Trading Policy at page 61 of the prospectus or any limitations imposed by a third party when shares are held through a third party. Exchanges involving shares of the

6 Summary Prospectus § TIAA-CREF Small Cap Equity Fund

Fund held less than 60 calendar days may be subject to the Redemption Fee addressed in “Fees and Expenses” above.

TAX INFORMATION

          The Fund intends to make distributions to shareholders that may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions made to tax-exempt shareholders or shareholders who hold Fund shares in a tax-deferred account are generally not subject to income tax in the current year.

PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER
FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARY COMPENSATION

          If you purchase the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and/or its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

TIAA-CREF Small Cap Equity Fund § Summary Prospectus 7

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