Cheryl Periton has bachelors degrees in both Mathematics and Mathematics Pedagogy, an advanced diploma in Mathematics Education, an advanced diploma in Curriculum Development, a masters degree in Education (her dissertation focused in gender differences in the mathematics classroom), a masters degree in Medieval and Early Modern History (taken for fun!) and a PhD, the thesis for which was entitled "The Development of Numeracy, Education and the Dissemination of Hindu-Arabic Numerals in Early-Modern Kent".
Cheryl qualified as a high school math teacher in the late 70's after a brief period as a trainee chartered accountant, and remained in school for over 20 years, rising to be the head of math in a high school of 1300 pupils, running a department with 12 full time math teachers.
She was the Hon Sec (vice chair) of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (ATM) in the UK, which is similar to the NCTM, and as part of this role represented the organization in talks about math education with members of parliament and governmental bodies.
Fifteen years ago Cheryl became an associate professor in mathematics pedagogy at Canterbury Christ Church University where her role involved not only delivering sessions to trainee teachers and supervising them whilst on school experience, but also delivering professional development to experienced teachers. Since relocating to the USA in 2013, Cheryl has continued to grade masters level assignments for this university electronically and to undertake school observation visits whenever in the UK.
For three years, Cheryl was seconded from her position to help set up the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM), being responsible for the whole of the SE part of the UK. For many years she was also an associate tutor for the Open University, teaching first year undergraduate mathematics courses.
In South Bend, Cheryl has worked as both a visiting and adjunct professor at St. Mary's College, teaching freshman and sophomore mathematics courses and also mathematics education courses. She has also worked for the University of Notre Dame teaching a STEM course for teachers, for Purdue University on summer courses for practicing STEM teachers from South Bend, and as the mathematics lead in a two year grant working with middle school math and science teachers in Gary.
