The Astor International Travel Fellowship celebrates and invests in New York City’s exceptional public school educators, with the goal of broadening educators' horizons and igniting innovation in NYC public schools. Made possible through a generous gift from Mrs. Brooke Astor, this fully sponsored program awards exceptional full-time classroom teachers with an immersive global experience.
2027 Theme: Museums as Classrooms: Migration, Colonialism & Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy
The 2027 Astor Fellows will use London’s museums and cultural institutions as sites for exploring colonialism, migration, and contemporary social inequalities. Through close engagement with museum exhibitions, curatorial practices, and collective reflection, Fellows will investigate how colonial histories are represented and interpreted, and how museums are responding to colonial legacies and current debates about identity, migration, and equity. These experiences will support Fellows in developing decolonizing and culturally responsive-sustaining approaches to their own teaching.
This work is particularly relevant to New York City classrooms, which reflect extraordinary linguistic, cultural, and migratory diversity. Drawing on their experiential learning in London, Fellows will consider how museums and other cultural resources can enrich classroom instruction and develop interdisciplinary lessons that connect students’ identities and lived experiences to history and contemporary debates.
Following their travels in Summer 2027, Fellows will present about their learning at a Symposium event in late October 2027. This is an opportunity for participants to reflect on their experiences, share the program's impact on their pedagogy and classroom practices, and promote innovation in teaching. The symposium is attended by program alumni, members of the NYU community, and fellow educators.
We seek to recruit a diverse cohort of Fellows teaching at all levels and across academic disciplines within the NYC public school system. Note that Fellows do not receive NYU course credit or continuing education credit.
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Location: London, United Kingdom
Dates: Depart New York City on July 11, 2027, and return on July 22, 2027. In addition to the travel component, Fellows commit to attending 2-3 pre-travel events in Spring 2027 and a post-travel Symposium in late October 2027.
Faculty: Kongji Qin, Associate Professor of Language Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning
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The full itinerary will be shared with the Fellows closer to the group's departure. Participants can expect to participate in activities similar to the following:
- Visits to museums, including the British Museum, the Museum of London Docklands, the Migration Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum
- Guest lectures from local experts and practitioners, including museum educators, curators, and public historians who work on issues of cultural heritage, migration, and representation
- Workshops on subjects like critical language education pedagogies and social action
Note that visits to schools and meetings with local teachers are not typically possible, as schools are on break during the group's time in-country.
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NYU Steinhardt, through the generous support of the estate of Mrs. Brooke Astor, will cover the following participant expenses:
- Round-trip, economy-class airfare
- Single hotel accommodation for the program dates
- Program activities, including tours, lectures, museum visits, and more
- Ground transportation for official program activities
- Breakfast, plus some lunches and dinners
- Supplemental international health insurance
Participants are responsible for the following costs:
- Obtaining or renewing a passport and any visa expenses, if applicable
- Some meals and any personal incidental expenses
- Transportation to and from the airport
- Any independent activities, visits, or transportation outside of the official program activities
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Who can participate:
We seek to recruit a diverse cohort of Fellows teaching at all levels and across academic disciplines within the NYC public school system. To be eligible to apply for this opportunity, applicants must:
- Be a current, full-time classroom teacher in a New York City public or DOE-affiliated charter school
- Have completed at least three full years of full-time teaching experience in NYC public and/or DOE-affiliated charter schools as of the date of application
- Candidates must have completed the 3+ years of full-time teaching as of the time of their application. Individuals who are midway through their third year of teaching are not yet eligible to apply
- Not be a previous recipient of the Astor Fellowship
Note: School staff other than full-time classroom teachers (i.e., substitute teachers, administrators, counselors, principals, librarians, etc.) are not eligible to apply.
Application Process:
When applying, applicants will be asked to:
- Provide information about their current teaching position
- Upload a copy of their resume/CV
- Respond to three short-answer essay questions describing:
- The ways in which they anticipate contributing to the Fellows’ collective learning community
- How they will utilize the experiences from the Astor Fellowship in their classroom upon their return
- A classroom activity they have used in the past that is relevant to this year’s theme
- Provide the name and contact information of a colleague who can provide a professional recommendation. Recommendations should be from a fellow teacher or administrator who currently works (or has previously worked) with the applicant in their capacity as a classroom teacher. Recommenders will be asked to confirm the applicant's years of work in NYC public schools, and their recommendation should speak to the applicant's background, current work, and service inside and outside of the classroom
Competitive applications should:
- Discuss how participating in the program will enhance the applicant's practice as a classroom teacher
- Describe the ways the theme relates to the applicant's work
- Demonstrate a critical reflection of the applicant's own cultural identity and its influence on classroom practice
Application Link and Deadline:
Applications for the 2027 cohort will open by early December 2026. Please contact Astor.Fellows@nyu.edu with any questions.
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For questions about the program or application process, please contact astor.fellows@nyu.edu.