Since 2006, Dr. Chinh Nguyen has brought his infectious energy and kind spirit to Lick-Wilmerding. He has made an unmatched effort to get to know as many people as he can, shared crazy and spontaneous energy and been an important friend to many faculty, staff and students alike.
Nguyen has been at Lick for 13 years. Colleagues and students characterize him as “brilliant,” having “unmatched curiosity and unmatched energy,” and as “extraordinarily caring.”
“It’s hard to describe Dr. Nguyen; he’s just an unique individual. He’s endlessly entertaining. He never says anything boring or expected. He seems to have done everything. He can do everything, and he’s connected to everyone,” said Carrie Maslow, a current science teacher at Lick. Maslow was the Science Chair and hired Nguyen in 2006.
Nguyen first heard about Lick-Wilmerding in 2002 when he chaired the National People of Color Conference (PoCC). At the time he was working at the Latin School of Chicago. At PoCC, Nguyen met Dr. Albert (Al) Adams, then Head of Lick-Wilmerding, English teacher Christine Yin (now the Ninth and Tenth Grade Dean) and English Department Chair, Cheryl Ting. Ting is the of mother current Lick-Wilmerding senior Dylan Moredock-Ting ’19 and alum Maia Moredock-Ting ’18. Nguyen remembers hearing Adams, Yin, and Ting talk about Lick-Wilmerding. He found “the school’s mission to educate the student’s ‘Head, Heart, and Hands’ totally interesting.” A few years later, when Nguyen decided to move to the West Coast from Chicago, the possibility of working at Lick-Wilmerding was on his mind. At the time, the school was developing its Reshaping High School initiative, which, among other things, allowed students to double in science. Lick planned to add eight new sections of science classes and was in need of two new science teachers. Nguyen applied for the position in Chemistry and was hired. The other new hire was Gillian Ashenfelter. They joined the Lick faculty in August 2008.
Nguyen originally started out with the intention of solely being a teacher. “When I came to Lick, I wanted to be a full time teacher, focusing on teaching and learning, and not having to work in administration,” Nguyen said. As a member of the Science Department, Nguyen not only brought his energy and interesting stories to the office and his classes, but also brought his extraordinary curiosity and intellect. Maslow, who has worked with him as both a co-advisor and in the Science department said, “As a Science Department person, one of the things that’s amazing about him is… that he’s [a wisdom keeper] and a walking encyclopedia, he just knows everything. [If you’re a teacher] starting out in a course, or just have a detailed question, he essentially knows the answer. I know he helps coach all sorts of people.”
In the 13 years since he was hired, Nguyen has taught numerous science classes, including Chemistry, Honors Chemistry, Environmental Science and Physics.
As a teacher, he is especially appreciated for his candid nature, excitement, and willingness to help any student at any time. Saskia Fisher ‘19, one of Nguyen’s environmental science students, describes her experience. “Immediately, when you enter his classroom, he makes everyone feel like they are all part of one family.” She continues to say, “His door is always open; he is so approachable. I would come and sit down and talk to him. He was super helpful academically. We would go through it, and he would tell me what went wrong. He is happy to look over any quizzes. After going over the academic portion with you, he would ask you about your life… It seemed like he was a lot more invested than a teacher has to be, just because he loves his students.”
Beyond teaching, he has been an advisor, was the first ever Junior/Senior Dean, the Dean of Students and then Dean of Academic Studies. Since he became the Dean of Academic Studies in 2015, Nguyen has famous for his excellence in the production of the Academic schedule. Maslow describes Nguyen in this process as being “really respectful of everybody’s needs.”
Beyond looking at scheduling through the lens of equity, Nguyen worked to put students in classes that he thought would help them become better people. “The tech art department in this school, of course, has a particular status because they have a two year requirement, and the visual arts department has a one year requirement, and the performing arts has finally got a one semester requirement. Whenever possible, Dr. Nguyen tried to encourage students to take art. He did it… to benefit the students… and open their minds to new passions. Sometimes there is a way of thinking that is engaged with making, that is really informative for any young person. He had a really good sense for that,” Goranka Poljak-Hoy, Chair of the Visual Arts Department, said.
Whatever administrative position he held, Nguyen always tried to teach at least one science class himself.
Both Poljak-Hoy and Maslow speak of Nguyen’s concern for and care of the people with whom he comes into contact. Poljak-Hoy says, he “literally, and in the most amazing way, has made so many people feel that they are best friends. Maslow also describes this compassion, saying that Nguyen understands the community and “people’s needs from a bird’s eye view in a way that I don’t know if anyone else does. He’s an advocate for the caf people, the facilities people, the science, the performing arts, all of the people that come in new.”
Nguyen remembers speaks of his own relationships formed with faculty members with fondness and gratitude. Specifically, he said, “I adore Robin von Breton for her kindness and friendship and how much she had loved working with her students and advisees and had support them with great care over the years!”
Nguyen and his partner are moving to Scotland, where Nguyen hopes to spend more time with his family, write and work on his art. “Every 28 years of my life, I enter a new phase. I am going to be 57 soon, so this is the end of the second phase. The first phase was to get all the education and learning and to get my PhD by the age of 28. From the age of 28 to 56, it was to use all that knowledge to teach, to administer. I started out teaching, I didn’t see myself as an administrator, but along the way, people would say ‘oh we need someone like you to support our faculty & staff,’ and so I’d say, ‘oh sure!’ and then do it. So, I think my next or third phase is about spending more time with family, working on my artwork and some writing. People have been asking me to write a book on environmental science. I’m not sure that that’s going to be the case but I will write something. And, also, E-Trading. I have started E-Trading and I love it. I want to spend more time with that and make good money to support other people in my family, so that’s what I am doing. So I think this third phase, these next 28 years, is going to be reflection and transfiguration and taking care of myself so I can take care of my family and friends and other folks, especially dementia patients, to help them retain the good memories.”
As members of the student and faculty community know, even as Nguyen urges others to take care of themselves and get enough sleep, he himself is famous for being up at all hours imagining, problem solving, and working. He needs only four hours of sleep a night. If you are up, he probably is too, and will immediately answer any email query about a class or an issue or idea.
Poljak-Hoy says, “He’s a really good person. When you say somebody’s a good guy, or a good person, there are all these qualities that come to mind, and Dr. Nguyen is rich that way.”
