Meet the 2025 Exeter Humanities Institute – West Leadership Team
Tyler Caldwell, Institute Director
Phillips Exeter Academy
Having grown up on a school campus in Middletown, Delaware, Tyler returned to boarding school life when he joined the Phillips Exeter faculty in 2011 as an English teacher. He teaches all levels of English, but he recently has focused on 9th grade English and senior electives that include Herman Melville, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Fictions of Finance. Outside of teaching English, Tyler serves as the 9th Grade Program Coordinator, he is dorm head of Main Street Hall, and he has coached crew, boys’ soccer, and girls’ lacrosse. He has a bachelor’s in English from Harvard.
Alexa D. Caldwell
Phillips Exeter Academy
Alexa Caldwell grew up on a boarding school campus in Delaware, where her parents taught, and it was there that she discovered her passion for history. At Brown University she earned a dual degree, concentrating in history and political science with a focus on international relations. While at Brown she played lacrosse for four years, captaining the team her senior year. She was named to the All-Ivy team, Academic All-Ivy team and 2011 IWLCA National Academic Honor Roll.
After graduating, Ms. Caldwell taught history at the Asheville School in North Carolina, worked in the admissions office, and coached boys varsity soccer and girls varsity lacrosse. There she received the 2013 Positive Coaching Alliance Double-Goal Coach Award, a national award presented to 20 youth and high school sports coaches from throughout the U.S. who strive to win while pursuing the more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports. At Exeter, Ms. Caldwell teaches U.S. History and coaches girls varsity soccer and girls varsity lacrosse. She is also a dorm faculty member Main Street Dormitory.
Meg Foley
Phillips Exeter Academy
Originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, Meg earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Boston University. She joined the Phillips Exeter Academy History faculty in 1999. She teaches history, senior economics electives and yoga. Prior to Exeter, she taught at the Colorado Springs School. She has previously served as chair of the History Department. Currently, Meg is the Michael E. Ridder Professor of History. She recently held the Bates-Russell Professorship which allowed her to focus on Harkness Outreach. She continues that work as the co-director of The Center for Teaching and Learning and a particular interest of Meg’s is supporting schools of all different profiles as they find ways to begin and evolve with Harkness teaching. In her free time, Meg enjoys being near the water or in the mountains. She lives on campus with her husband, two teenagers, and two golden retrievers.
Matthew Miller
Phillips Exeter Academy
Matt has taught English and coached football at Phillips Exeter Academy since 2007. He earned his BA from Yale University where he played varsity football and his MFA in Creative Writing and Literature from Emerson College. A former Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University, he is the author of Tender the River, The Wounded for the Water, Club Icarus, and Cameo Diner: Poems. He teaches courses in Documentary Poetics, Moby Dick, Toni Morrison, and The Harlem Renaissance. He lives with his family in Exeter and spends his free time surfing the chilly Atlantic.