Before his arrival at SUNY-Oneonta in 2001, Dr. Payne previously taught at several other schools in New York State, including SUNY-Buffalo and Union College. He completed his M.A. and Ph.D. at SUNY-Buffalo, and also holds a J.D. from Albany Law School. His experience as a practicing attorney included service as counsel to the New York State Senate Transportation Committee. His primary research and teaching interest is in the area of nature writing and environmental literature, and he has published numerous articles and reviews in the field, as well as a book entitled Voices in the Wilderness: American Nature Writing and Environmental Politics. Dr. Payne has been very involved in student advisement in the past two years; he is the English Department faculty advisor to the editors of the student creative writing journal Ergo, he advises students involved in SUNY-Oneonta's Pre-Law Club, and he is advisor to the focused interest group of English majors housed together in the student dormitories. He coordinates SUNY-Oneonta's biennial summer conference on Nature and Environmental Writing, an international congregation of eminent scholars. Dr. Payne’s teaching interests include American literature and creative writing, and he is developing new courses on nature writing, creative non-fiction, and screen writing.
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