Advisory Committee

Ryba Epstein teaches Advanced Placement World History, an interdisciplinary humanities course, and honors freshman Social Studies at Rich East High School in Park Forest, Illinois. She is an AP World History workshop consultant and trainer, as well as a reader, table leader, and question leader for the AP World History Exam. She has also read for the AP European History exam and taught AP English Literature. Epstein has worked actively with the AP History Course and Exam Review Commissionand the World History Curriculum Development and Assessment Committee.For two years, she led the AP Lighthouse Mentor Program at Rich East (state-wide model for bringing AP courses to underserved students). Epstein has presented at the AP National Conference, the Illinois Association for Gifted Children, and an state-wide Illinois Title I conference.

She is a contributor to George Mason University’s web sites “Women in World History” and “Children and Youth in World History,” has reviewed materials for AP Central, created syllabi for the AP World History Teachers Guide, and served on the board for World History Connected, an e-journal for teaching and learning. Most recently, she contributed an article, “Discovering Global Patterns: How Student-Centered Internet Research Can Build a Genuine World History Perspective,” to Teaching World History in the Twenty-first Century.

Her M.A. and Ph.D. are from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign; she received her A.B. from U.C.L.A. Her doctoral dissertation was an interdisciplinary study of African oral epic poetry. She also holds a Masters in Educational Administration and is a Certified Montessori instructor.