As an educator, Summer Vertrees has taught students ranging from 7th grade summer school and high school dual enrollment to seniors at four year universities, as well as online college enrollees. One of her areas of passion is in the realm of Visual Rhetoric, and she created a class with this focus specifically for CU, which has quickly turned into a curriculum favorite. Beyond Visual Rhetoric, she has instructed courses like Advanced Composition, Shakespeare, Utopian and Dystopian Literature, Mental Health in Literature, American Literature, and more.

As a writer, Vertrees has published pieces in local magazines and newspapers, as well as in the Novus Literary Journal. Her work has been read on NPR, and she has also supported excellent student writers to help them get their work published, highlighting the exceptional content they have created while in her classroom. As a faculty member, she is proud to have started taking groups of students to travel abroad, which has now expanded into the Phoenix Flyers, a social group which focuses on all things travel. Now co-leading with a colleague, she has helped Cumberland students see the world, most recently returning from Italy, Germany, and Switzerland, with more trips on the horizon.

Personally, Vertrees enjoys spending time with her husband and three children. Most any activity that involves being outdoors makes her happy, and so does coffee.