Meet the 2025 Biology Institute at Exeter Leadership Team
Katherine Hernandez, Institute Director
Phillips Exeter Academy
Kate Hernandez’s passion for Harkness instruction is rooted in the challenges and opportunities afforded by building a collaborative and intentional learning community around the Harkness table. Kate earned her B.A. in Biology from Mount Holyoke College and her M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She brings over a decade of experience as a biology and chemistry teacher in independent schools. Appointed as an Instructor in Science at Phillips Exeter Academy in 2015, Kate’s instructional approach elevates the student voice, encourages metacognitive development, and places science learning within a larger social and cultural context. In Kate’s classrooms, students are encouraged to leverage the diversity of experiences and perspectives in the room while actively attending to classroom agreements (norms), which seek to honor the fullness of self in each student. Outside of the classroom, Kate has supported the growth of her colleagues at PEA and elsewhere on topics such as developing a Mentoring Mindset among teaching teams, centering justice, equity, and inclusion in science curricula, and supporting educators in taking the Harkness approach back to their classrooms. It is with great enthusiasm that she looks forward to welcoming the Summer Biology Institute participants to campus this June!
Summer Morrill, Institute Leader
Phillips Exeter Academy
Summer Morrill earned a B.S. in biology from Tufts University and went on to complete her PhD in biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During this time, she conducted research in genetics at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. Currently, Summer teaches introductory biology and genetics at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH. She focuses on building curriculum that will engage students at all levels with scientific thinking and creativity, which has included introducing yeast as a model organism for student learning and research and starting a new course on the Genetic Basis of Cancer. She enjoys collaborating with others in the Science department to develop and carry out projects that promote creativity and streamline best teaching practices. Previously, she worked as a Teaching Development Fellow and an Instructor of TA training and Curriculum Development at MIT.