More than 100 staff members work in the Division of the Humanities. We'll introduce you to our staff in this continuing series.

Paul Quaintance
Language Pedagogy Specialist, ESL/EAL; 
English Language Institute

What do you like most about your job?
I like learning a little about the broad range of topics that scholars are working on, from parasite evolution to philosophical skepticism. I’m impressed with people’s work and grateful for sometimes getting to help them express it in English.

What was the last good book you read?
To psych myself up for a recent trip through Knoxville, Tennessee, I re-read a bit of Suttree by Cormac McCarthy. I wanted to see the vivid descriptions of the city in 1951 and to trace Suttree’s path through the mountains. I hadn’t expected Knoxville to have embraced the work so officially, but we found a quote from the book inscribed in granite on Market Square.

You might work with me if ...
… you need support for yourself or someone you advise in using English as an additional language. In Summer, the English Language Institute runs our largest single program, the Academic English Pre-Matriculation Program (AEPP). In Winter and Spring, I usually teach a sentence-level grammar and style class for writers, and in Autumn, I conduct workshops on English grammar and communication topics. I also provide individualized instruction for very specific needs that fall outside the scope of the ELI’s academic year courses and workshops.

What is the most fun role you’ve played on stage or on camera?
Playing Gilley in I’m Not Rappaport at the Spokane Interplayers was a lot of fun. In his single, seven-minute scene at the end of the first act, Gilley’s daily routine of extorting beer money from a couple of old guys in the park escalates into panicked violence. Performing a short, exhilarating scene and then relaxing backstage until curtain call was awesome!