Wren Fontaine

Background

Wren Fontaine is on the faculty of the Department of Rehabilitation & Human Services and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. Before Porter, Wren did case management for a community mental-health center.

Wren's research focuses on counseling skills and the working alliance, with related work in vocational rehabilitation; undergraduates are involved in the lab most terms.

Areas of expertise

• Counseling skills and the working alliance
• Vocational rehabilitation
• Undergraduate research and project mentoring

Teaching

Wren regularly teaches courses in Rehabilitation & Disability Services, Social Work, Human Development & Family Studies. Specific sections and syllabi are listed in the class schedule each term.

Courses lean on current problems from the field: students read recent work, reproduce a result or method, and then extend it. Wren builds in low-stakes practice before graded work and gives written feedback on drafts.

Advising and office hours

Wren advises students in the Rehabilitation & Human Services programs and holds weekly office hours during the fall and spring terms, posted on the office door and in the course pages. Prospective students are welcome to email to arrange a visit or a call.

Advising conversations usually cover course sequencing, whether to add a minor or a concentration, and how classroom work connects to internships, research, or graduate study. Students who are undecided are welcome; part of the job is helping them narrow things down.

Recent and representative work

Wren's recent activity is a mix of peer-reviewed work, conference talks, and student-involved projects in counseling skills and the working alliance and vocational rehabilitation. Representative items:

• A peer-reviewed article on counseling skills and the working alliance in a disciplinary journal.
• A conference paper on vocational rehabilitation, co-authored with an undergraduate researcher.
• An internally funded project applying counseling skills and the working alliance to a regional partner's problem.

Titles and venues here are illustrative. UW–Porter Falls is fictional; Wren has no real publication record.

Get in touch

The fastest way to reach Wren is email (wfontaine@uwporterfalls.edu); messages during the fall and spring terms are usually answered within two business days. Prospective students and families can ask the Rehabilitation & Human Services department office to set up a call, a class visit, or a meeting during an admitted-student day.