As an NYU student, mentorship is easy to find. While NYU offers many programs that connect you with alumni and industry professionals, you don’t need to look beyond the classroom to find invaluable faculty mentorship that continues long after a course ends. This was the case for Pei Lin Lu, a junior at NYU Steinhardt majoring in Childhood Education and Special Education. Pei Lin met Professor Catherine Milne, a professor of science education within NYU’s Department of Teaching and Learning, during his first semester. She continues to be a mentor to him today.
Steinhardt Dean’s Global Honors Seminar
Pei Lin took Professor Milne’s Dean’s Global Honors Seminar, Science in Our Lives: Biodiversity and the Earth, during the fall of his first year. These seminars, a feature of the Steinhardt Honors Program, are semester-long courses with an additional travel component to add a global perspective to students’ learning.
“We learned about how the earth was formed,” Pei Lin says. “Then, during January Term, we got to go to the UK and follow the path of Mary Anning, a pioneer of fossil collecting.” He remembers Professor Milne’s snaplog assignments—weekly logs connecting what you learned in class with your daily life—as particularly useful. “If I become a teacher, this is something I want to implement into my lessons,” he says.
Finding Joy in Teaching and Learning
Pei Lin gained so much from Professor Milne’s curriculum and faculty mentorship during his first semester that he enrolled in another one of her courses. That one, Science in Our Lives: The Unexceptional Brain and Other Explorations, examined the functions and plasticity of the brain. Pei Lin recalls a particularly memorable class period spent dissecting a sheep’s brain.
Like Science in Our Lives, The Unexceptional Brain fell during NYU’s first period of the day. “To turn up at 8 a.m. and be a great leader in class shows commitment,” says Professor Milne. “When teaching, it’s important to build a collaborative environment where people feel safe taking risks and putting their ideas forward. Pei Lin does a great job creating this kind of community.”
Professor Milne often emphasizes to her students the importance of finding joy in the ideas they grapple with in class. “Pei Lin was great about finding joy,” she explains. To this, Pei Lin responds sincerely, “I found the joy of learning from you. It didn’t seem like a task to wake up at 8 a.m. and learn science.”
Faculty Mentorship Beyond the Classroom
Although Pei Lin hasn’t taken other courses with Professor Milne, she’s continued to provide him with helpful faculty mentorship. He often stops by her office to catch up. These conversations are filled with wisdom and guidance for Pei Lin as he contemplates his plans after graduation (they also include regular updates on the well-being of the department’s beloved goldfish!).
“When I stop by, it’s never a quick five-minute chat,” Pei Lin says. “It’s always at least 20 minutes, and she shares these great resources and tells me about her professional path. I can stop by her office and ask, ‘I’m planning to go upstate—do you know anywhere I can find fossils?’ I was recently in Cancun, and I found a fossil and emailed her a photo to ask what she thought it was. We’ve built that sort of bond.”
Navigating Postgraduation Plans
In addition to being a resident assistant, an Admissions Ambassador, and a member of several NYU clubs, Pei Lin is in his second semester of student teaching at a New York City elementary school. He also student taught during his semester away at NYU London. According to Pei Lin, NYU’s dual teaching degree provides a huge advantage for future educators. When he graduates next year, he will be certified in both childhood education and special education. “At NYU, you get to experience both, which is super important in this field,” he explains. “It opens up doors to many more opportunities.”
While Pei Lin isn’t sure yet if he will continue on the path toward becoming a classroom educator or pivot to a career in higher education, he has gained so much from the faculty mentorship he’s received from Professor Milne and other professors within NYU’s Department of Teaching and Learning. For her part, Professor Milne loves mentoring students like Pei Lin eager to extend their learning beyond the classroom. Chatting with him about his future, she imparts this meaningful advice: “Follow what brings you joy. If you don’t find joy in what you’re doing, you won’t be able to communicate it to others. Joy is a fundamental idea and it’s important to pursue it.”
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