Urmila Padmanabhan Brings a Fresh Perspective to the Math Department

Students are noticing a new face at Athenian. This school year, Urmila Padmanabhan joins the Athenian community as a geometry and calculus teacher and a ninth-grade advisor.

Urmila earned her Ph.D. in astrophysics at Johns Hopkins University and studied in India before that. Urmila taught at the Drew School in San Francisco before coming to Athenian.

When asked about her reason for changing schools, Urmila said, “One of the major reasons [for coming to Athenian] was how the faculty and students interacted, with a great deal of respect but also a lot of affection and camaraderie. Another was that it made my commute much shorter.”

Urmila enjoys teaching. “It is getting students to the ‘aha’ moment, the moment when students finally understand the problem. The other thing is the freshness of the work. Each year you get a new group of students who have different perspectives and personalities and will absorb and receive the material differently. I care very deeply about [students’] success. When [a student] understands and connects with the material, that’s a win for me,” she said.

Students also appreciate Urmila’s instruction. Ninth-grader Asher Burdeny, a student in Urmila’s geometry class, said, “Urmila is very eager to help people. In the past, I have had teachers that are not always available to talk which made it harder to grasp things I wasn’t understanding. But if anyone ever needs help, she is always available to help.”

Over her 25 years of teaching, Urmila has established strong values. Urmila lives by these values and strongly encourages all of her students to live by them as well. “Honesty and fairness are my lodestars so I believe very strongly in owning up to mistakes and trying to do better. I would love for you to tell me frankly if I make a mistake. I promise I will consider it seriously. At the same time, I expect my students to also be honest and own up to their mistakes, whether it is chatting in class instead of working or blowing off homework to chat with a friend. I am very understanding,” she said.

Math Department Chair Howard Kaplan agrees that these values are crucial to teaching. “When we interviewed her and watched her demo, it was obvious she cares about students and wants them to learn,” Howard said.

Along with her strong values, Urmila has also developed a philosophy that she teaches and learns by.

“When you’re asked to learn something new, something that’s a difficult concept, you may not feel good, but it’s necessary to learn the concept. To learn the most effectively you have to be out of comfort and make mistakes, and that’s where the growth mindset comes in,” Urmila said.

In addition, students in Urmila’s classes are well aware of how important she believes C&C is to students’ learning. When asked about the importance of C&C, Urmila said, “The more practice you do the more likely you are to make mistakes. The more mistakes you make, the better you learn the subject.”

Outside of education, Urmila is the mother of two children and the proud owner of a German shepherd. She also has many hobbies. “I love to read. I have a very wide and eclectic range of genres that I enjoy, so hit me up with book recommendations. I also love traveling, especially to national parks. This summer my family and I were in Australia and we visited several of their amazing national parks. I didn’t want to leave,” Urmila said.