Heather Urschel

About

I have been at TCC since 1998, when I started as an adjunct English instructor and a part-time Writing Center Director. I took a full-time job as the Writing & Tutoring Center Director in 2005 and have run that program and taught adjunct ever since. I've been teaching English/writing and new College 101 off and on for 28 years. Currently, I am the director over the Writing & Tutoring Center and the Course-Based Learning Assistance Program (Supplemental Instruction and Dedicated Tutoring), and the Cooperative Learning Center (the "Coop"). 

I am from Tacoma (I went to Curtis) and got my BFA (in opera) and BA (in English) at Western Washington University. I received my Master’s in Rhetorical Studies at Colorado State University.

I love my job, both teaching and running an academic support program, as every day offers me a chance to connect with and help people, as well as learn a lot myself. I teach and supervise with an awareness of the power I have in those roles, as well as of my privilege as an educated, middle-class, white woman. What do I do with that awareness? I continue to learn. I think about my actions and how I enact the power I have. I listen to people who can teach me, especially students in my classes and my staff in the center. And, I always try to do better as a human, community member, Tacoman, leader, teacher, ally, advocate, friend, boss, and mom.

In my personal life, I love cooking, basking in nature, traveling, listening to and playing music, singing, reading, writing, making and collecting art, and watching lots of movies. I have two young adult sons, and my cats keep me plenty entertained, too.

Class Schedule