Dr. Dean Ferguson is Professor of History at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, where he has been based since 1998. He earned his master's degree in History from Central Michigan University and his Ph.D. in European History from Purdue. Dr. Ferguson is an old hand at the TExES exams. He served as a content reviewer for the test developer, ETS, and developed a program at Texas A&M-Kingsville to prepare teacher candidates for success on the social studies and history certification exams.

He has also worked extensively with the College Board's AP World History program since its inception in 2002. He served on the College Board's AP World History Test Development Committee from 2008 to 2014. In that capacity, he wrote and reviewed test items. He was Chief Reader for the AP World History free-response reading from 2012 to 2014. In 2015 he joined the College Board's AP Insight project, developing digital teaching materials and practice-exam questions while heading up committees creating materials for both the AP U.S. History and AP World History courses. Dr.

Ferguson has taught at both the high school and university level, with courses spanning United States History, World History, and Western Civilization, as well as Early Modern European Social and Cultural History, The Renaissance and Reformation, The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Period, Private Life in Early Modern Europe, and Work and Poverty in World History. A child of missionary parents, he lived in Burundi until age 18. It was a teacher, Nancy Proctor Grimes, who kindled his love for history in the seventh grade.