BIO

Wendy Pfrenger (she/her) currently serves as the Director of Pre-College Programs at the University of Mississippi. In this role, she directs programs across the K-13 spectrum, including summer residential and commuter programs, the University of Mississippi High School, the Good Life Program, conferences, and competitions. 

Pfrenger began her higher education career as a writing center coordinator and composition instructor, but her work at a mix of urban and rural regional campus settings fostered an interest in place-based pedagogy, multiplex literacies, and college access. Most recently, Pfrenger completed a Ph.D. in Higher Education at the University of Mississippi. Her dissertation, entitled “Spiraling Upward: Postsecondary Choice in a Rural Upward Bound Program” examines how rural students make decisions about their postsecondary plans by drawing selectively upon both locally and externally sourced community capitals. Her publications include articles in Rural Sociology, The Journal of Basic Writing,Praxis, and several scholarly anthologies including Race and Rurality: Considerations for Advancing Higher Education Equity from Routledge Press. When she’s not in the office, she can be found learning alongside the students.