Pennybacker, Ruth

Professor Ruth Pennybacker or "Miss Pennybacker", as she preferred, joined the U.H. faculty in 1935. Her application to the university included a letter of recommendation written by the distinguished Texas historian and writer J. Frank Dobie. Pennybacker, a 1934 Vassar graduate, went to work in the newly formed English Department at the University of Houston where she taught freshman composition and creative writing. A driving force in the creation of the U.H. creative writing program, Pennybacker also founded the Harvest, a campus publication for students, poets, and creative writers.