Paul Fey’s lab takes monthly hikes together, “much to the jealousy of the other labs on our floor,” said Cortney Halsey, a graduate research assistant.
“We spend an afternoon every month in the outdoors discussing not only our science but a multitude of other topics. It is an activity that has been vital to keeping spirits up in the lab and something we all look forward to every month,” Halsey said.
You need that, Halsey said. Graduate studies is a roller-coaster.
“I know that I would have fallen off at the first bump,” he said, “without the encouragement and support of Paul Fey.”
It’s this type of spirit-lifting, team-building and quiet encouragement that led to his being named Distinguished Graduate Student Mentor by the Graduate Student Association (GSA). Dr. Fey was honored at this past spring’s UNMC Graduate Studies Convocation.
Officially, he’s Paul Fey, Ph.D., professor and vice chair of the UNMC Department of Pathology and Microbiology. But his lab isn’t so formal.
Chunyi Zhou tells of traveling 7,000 miles from China, to live a totally different life on her own. What did she find? A mentor that “kindly accepted me to be his student, and let me call him Paul.”
“I’m a pretty mellow guy,” he said.
He knows his isn’t everyone’s style, and that’s fine. “There are all kinds of ways you can be a mentor,” said Dr. Fey — uh, Paul. “You’ve got to follow who you are.”
It’s like being in middle school, Paul said, and trying on all these different personalities and personas to see which one fits. And in the end, if you’re lucky, “You realize, I’m really just me.”
In finding himself, he’s helped his mentees find themselves.
He helped Austin Nuxoll, Ph.D., find his voice.
“I quickly was successful in the lab and after my first committee meeting it was clear that I had worked hard but the main takeaway from the meeting was that I was not very effective at communicating my results,” Dr. Nuxoll said. “Paul continued to work with me to more clearly communicate my ideas . . . I went from committee meetings where I was unable to communicate my ideas effectively to winning an award at an international conference.”
Graduate studies, Dr. Fey — uh, Paul — said, is a journey. It is about persistence, but also patience. It is about asking questions. In science, but also of yourself.
It is about becoming who you were meant to be.
Congratulations Paul! This honor is richly deserved. I have enjoyed working with you and your graduate students over the years, and been honored to be part of the process that helps the students bloom.