Faculty
John Goulding
Foreign Language and Humanities Chair
Ph.D. Political Theory, University of Massachusetts-Amherst; B.A. Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles. John teaches Government and Economics, U.S. History, and a senior honors course on Politics & Art. As department chair he has created a new Writing across the Curriculum program and clarified the standards of the Honors program. He also chaired the committee that lead to the strengthening and implementation of the current campus-wide program to deter plagiarism and cheating. From 1990 to 2001 he taught courses on politics and college writing at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Mount Holyoke College, and Bay Path College.
Wilton Zuniga
Spanish Language Faculty
B.S. Computer Science/M.S. Education. Wilton is originally from Argentina where he studied Chemical Engineering. Prior to Idyllwild Arts Academy Wilton taught, math, science, and Spanish at the CEDU School, the Dunn School, and substitute taught at local High Schools. Wilton lives on campus with his wife Maria and his son, Wilton Donato.
Maria Paydar
French Language Faculty
Maria came to IAA in 2008. She previously taught at Francis Parker in San Diego in both Lower and Middle School and joined the Upper School in 2006. She was born in Poland and lived and studied in Paris for five years, majoring in French. With her passion for linguistics she formally studied Polish, Russian, French, Romanian, and Latin. English came much later on. Her previous teaching experience includes Phoenix College in Arizona, various language centers, a high school in Poland and a bilingual school in Paris. She received her Master’s Degree in Romance Languages Philology from A. Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland and went on to earn her DEA, the French equivalent of the Level I PhD, in French.
Collette Simon
French Language Faculty
Colette came to the Academy in 2007, joining the Language faculty, teaching Advanced French language. Born in Paris, she has a D.E.S. in Philosophy and in French Literature from the Sorbonne University in Paris, France. With over 20 years of experience in teaching, she has worked in France, Tunisia, Uganda, Canada and Los Angeles. A certified psychologist, she practiced and taught communications skills as a Certified Trainer and lectured in Europe: France, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy. Colette emigrated to the U.S. in 1996. She presently lives in Idyllwild.
Maria Zuniga
Spanish Language Faculty