A poet and oral historian who has also published fiction and non-fiction, Painter is also a gifted and creative teacher who has mentored students at all levels and was awarded the Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award in 2020. Since joining the UVM faculty in 2016, Painter launched many popular courses that tap into student interests—some include Climate Change in Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Should We Settle Space: Perspectives from Science and Science Fiction, and Harry Potter—while exercising their writing and information literacy skills.   

In this new role, Painter will oversee 50+ undergraduate writing tutors who provide peer-to-peer support for any student enrolled in any undergraduate course with any academic, career, or personal writing project. Painter will draw from years of experience as a Faculty Associate for Writing in the Disciplines, Faculty Associate for the Arts and Creativity Learning Community, Sustainability Faculty Fellow, Interim Associate Director of Foundational Writing and Information Literacy, and Interim Graduate Writing Center Director in working with faculty who seek to connect their students to writing support and learning more flexible writing strategies from trained peers.