Advanced Placement® Summer Institutes Instructor Bios

Carlos Barrera is a National Board-Certified Teacher at Sprayberry High School in Marietta, GA. He is a College Board consultant and Question Leader at the 2020 and 2021 AP® Language scoring/reading. He serves on the CollegeBoard's AP® English Language and Composition Development Committee. Carlos is a Co-Lead Consultant responsible for training new consultants this year. He is an experienced presenter at CollegeBoard conferences. He has presented on AP® English Language for the Georgia Department of Education since 2008. Additionally, several of his AP® English Language and Literature courses are delivered in Spanish as part of a dual language academy.

Patricia Fox taught high school English for 40 years, mentoring interns and designing a Language of Film Studies course. She was hired as a mentor for AP® instructors and has presented at numerous workshops and conferences. Patricia holds an M.A. in interdisciplinary studies and achieved National Board Certification in Secondary Education Language Arts in 2010. She has also presented at the annual AP Conference, NCTE, and its local affiliate, the Maine Council of English Language Arts, where she is an executive board member. Since 2009, she has served as a Reader or Table Leader for the CollegeBoard AP® exam.

Kristy Seidel is an experienced teacher with 20 years of teaching experience at Suncoast High School in Riviera Beach, FL. She currently serves as a CollegeBoard consultant and has held various leadership positions at the AP Summer Reading. Recently, she has led the AP® English Language and Composition Exam as its Exam Leader. She also teaches in the International Baccalaureate program and works as an examiner for the IB® English Literature exam. Kristy holds an M.A. in Literature and also works as an adjunct professor at Palm Beach State College. In her free time, Kristy enjoys coaching competitive cheerleading, watching college football (Go Dawgs!), and traveling with her husband and their four children.

Joyce Herr is an experienced teacher with over 40 years of teaching experience in AP® English Literature and Composition. She has taught in several states and served as a lead AP® English Literature teacher for over 20 years. Since 2003, she has been a reader, table leader, and sample selector for the AP® English Literature and Composition Exam. Joyce currently teaches Freshman English and Composition I and II as an adjunct instructor through distance learning at Amarillo College. She has presented at both in-person and online weeklong AP® Summer Institutes, one and two-day workshops, pre and post-main sessions, and has led several professional development breakout sessions at the AP® Annual Conference.

Susan Barber is a teacher who teaches AP® English Literature at Midtown High School in Atlanta, GA. She also serves as the CollegeBoard Advisor for AP Literature and is a member of the NCTE Secondary Steering Committee. Susan has provided training at NCTE, GCTE, the Poetry Foundation, and the Folger Shakespeare Library and often leads ELA workshops around the country. Her work has been featured in notable publications such as the New York Times, The Washington Post, and Edutopia. Additionally, she is a co-author of The Norton Guide to AP® Literature. Despite all of her accomplishments, Susan is most proud of the work she does daily in the classroom, and never tires of the beauty and chaos that ensues.

Suzanne Bailey has been teaching AP® Government since 1989 at Virgil Grissom High School in Huntsville, AL. She is known for her effective teaching strategies and open enrollment policy. Additionally, she has served on the Test Development Committee for AP® Comparative Government and Politics and is a CollegeBoard Consultant who has led multiple workshops and APSIs. Suzanne has participated in the AP® Government Reading since 2000 as a Reader and Question Leader. She is recognized as a Huntsville City Schools Secondary Teacher of the Year and is the author of McGraw Hill’s 5 Steps to a 5 AP® Comparative Government and Politics.

Matt Romano is an experienced AP® Macroeconomics and AP® Microeconomics teacher at Marist School in Atlanta, GA, since 2004. He is an AP® reader and a question leader. Matt is an endorsed CollegeBoard consultant and serves as the high school co-chair on the AP® Macroeconomics Test Development Committee. He has created instructional videos for AP® Daily and AP® Live. Matt has contributed to the development of teacher resource materials, written questions for ETS assessments, and co-authored the Fast Track to a 5-test prep manual. He teaches AP® Macroeconomics to students online via One Schoolhouse.

John Trites is an experienced geography teacher who has been closely involved with the AP® Human Geography course since its inception. He has served on the original Test Development Committee for seven years and has been involved with every examination Reading. John has conducted numerous workshops throughout the United States and Canada, and he enjoys working with both new and experienced APHG teachers. Aside from teaching the APHG course in a regular classroom setting, John also led the course online and presently works with pre-service teachers at Acadia University.

Nancy Fenton is an experienced teacher at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, IL. She teaches AP® Psychology for the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University. Nancy has been teaching AP® Psychology since 2006 and is a reader and table leader for the AP® Psychology exam. She holds a B.A. in History and Secondary Education from Northeastern Illinois University, an M.A. in Psychology, and a second M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction with a technology focus from National Louis University. In 2013, Nancy won the APA TOPSS Excellence in Teaching Award for her dynamic teaching and commitment to psychology.

Pamela Lamb has been involved in education since 1994. She is a reader, table leader, and question leader at the U.S. Government and Politics AP® reading since 2000. Pamela also works as a workshop consultant for the Southwest Regional Office of the CollegeBoard. She has received multiple teaching awards, including the Special Recognition Award for Excellence in Teaching. Pamela has also authored "5 Steps to a 5: AP® U.S. Government and Politics."

Lou Gallo is an experienced AP® European history teacher at West High School in Knoxville, TN. He has been teaching since 1996 and has served as a reader, table leader, and question leader at the AP® Reading since 2000. He has also worked with the College Board in various capacities, authored the AP® European History Course Planning and Pacing Guide, and written test questions for various outlets. Lou has received several awards, including the Milken National Educator Award and West High School Teacher of the Year in 2003, Knox County Teacher of the Year in 2008, and was one of five teachers selected to run the Olympic torch for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Steve Cox is a highly experienced teacher with 34 years of experience teaching AP® World and European History. He has been nationally board-certified for over 18 years and received several awards for outstanding teaching. Steve has been involved with AP® reading since its inception and has served as a reader and table leader. He was instrumental in bringing AP® World History to South Carolina, and his students accounted for 91% of the SC exams in the first year it was offered nationally. Steve has been a College-Board endorsed AP® Consultant since 2007 and has conducted seminars across the United States and internationally. Steve has served as the Department Chair at Dutch Fork High School in Irmo, SC, since 2005.

Joseph Paddenburg graduated from Clemson University in 1993 and started teaching at the Opportunity School in Danville, VI. After a few years, he transferred over to George Washington High School where he taught mostly World History, Geography, and Government. In 2001, Joseph moved to Greenville, SC, and began teaching at Southside High School. Joseph has been teaching AP® World mainly to freshmen since 2006 and has been a reader for AP® World exams every year since 2010. In 2015, he was invited to become a consultant for AP® Insight and was later asked to be part of the consultant team for all of AP® World History. He has led sessions in Hawaii, Houston, Raleigh, Atlanta, Winthrop University, TCU, NSU, and UTC.

Ingrid Pariseau is a highly experienced math teacher with a B.S. in Mathematics from the SUNY at Albany and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from Chapman University. She has taught all levels of secondary mathematics for over 20 years and has lived and taught in several states around the country. Ingrid has been teaching AP® Calculus since 2006 and is actively involved in professional development. She is a consultant for NMSI, an AP® Calculus reader, and a consultant for the College Board. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, reading, and outdoor activities.

Martha Cantrell, Ph.D., is a highly experienced educator who taught high school mathematics for 39 years. She specializes in teaching AP® Calculus, has conducted regional workshops for the Georgia Department of Education, and served as an AP® Reader. Martha is currently a consultant for the National Math and Science Institute (NMSI) and leads Saturday study sessions for AP® Calculus students in three states. Since 2008, she has been the District Gifted Program Coordinator for Habersham County Schools, where she has expanded AP® offerings, added the AP® Capstone Program, and increased advanced course offerings.

Julie Harrison is an experienced Math Teacher with over 20 years of teaching experience. She has taught various high school courses such as General Math, Precalculus, AB and BC Calculus. Julie is an active member of the AP® Precalculus Development Committee and passionate about providing students with greater access to AP® Mathematics courses. She is excited about the fantastic course content and the benefits of making it more accessible to all students.

David Wilcox is a Mathematics Faculty member at The Lawrenceville School, NJ. He has taught AP® Statistics and Honors Calculus-Based Probability and Statistics. David has also created and taught courses for SAT® and ACT® preparation, served as a rubric team member, table leader and reader for AP® Statistics Reading, and led AP® workshops. In 2006, he was a national nominee for the Siemens Award for Advanced Placement. David holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Christian Brothers University and an International MBA and M.S. in Applied Statistics from the University of South Carolina.

Patricia is an experienced consultant who has been working with the CollegeBoard since 1991. She scores free-response questions for the AP® Biology Exam and develops questions for the exam. Patricia has received numerous awards as a high school teacher, developed test banks for textbooks and serves as an editor for articles. She taught Molecular Biology at the Georgia Institute of Technology for 17 years and now teaches at Georgia State University-Perimeter College.

Jessica Ames is an experienced AP® Chemistry teacher. She has been teaching for 16 years and has been teaching AP® Chemistry to around 100 students per year for the past 6 years at Chattahoochee High School in Fulton County, GA. She was named Teacher of the Year at her school last year. Jessica is a Chem Ed presenter and has been recognized as the Georgia DOE AP® Chemistry “Expert” for several years. She has served on the Instructional Design Team for AP® Chemistry and has been an AP® Chemistry exam reader for four years. She enjoys developing curriculum, activities, and labs that help students truly understand a challenging subject.

Patrick Polley, Ph.D., has been involved with the Advanced Placement Physics program since 1987. He graded exams and developed grading rubrics, and served as Chief Reader from 2000 to 2005. Patrick authored the original AP® Physics laboratory manual in 2003 and contributed to the next AP® Physics 1 and Physics 2 laboratory manuals. He emphasizes the integration of laboratory work in every AP® Physics course, including Physics 1, Physics 2, C Mechanics, and C Electricity and Magnetism in his Summer Institutes. He earned his Ph.D. in experimental atomic and molecular physics from the University of Florida in 1985 and has been teaching physics at Beloit College since 1990.

Carlos A. Gómez is a Colombian Spanish teacher with over two decades of experience. He focuses on teaching AP® Spanish Language and has taught at Trinity Preparatory School and The Canterbury School of Florida where he is currently the World Languages Department Chair. Carlos has been grading the AP® Spanish Language Exam for nineteen years, acted as a Table Leader for seventeen years, and has been an Endorsed Spanish Consultant to the CollegeBoard for eleven years. He co-authored "Fast Track to a 5: Preparing for the AP® Spanish Language and Culture Examination".