Dr. Margaret Lundberg
My ultimate goal was to come back here and teach writing. And here I am!"
Dr. Margaret Lundberg, who recently retired from her position in the University of Washington Tacoma’s Writing Center, currently teaches writing classes as an adjunct professor at TCC. In the fall of 2009 she was an adult learner at TCC, giving college another try at the age of 52. Before the recession started in 2008, she was a mural artist.
“It was like a faucet,” Lundberg recalled. “I was working full time, and then it shut off. For twelve months, I worked one week.”
She’d already started to think about going back to college, and her husband’s VA benefits gave spouses the opportunity to attend classes. Her oldest son encouraged her to give it a try.
“I was just going to take a couple classes and see how I liked it. By the fourth week of the first quarter, I had it all planned out – how I would transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree. I did not plan to go as far as I did.”
The class that convinced Lundberg to finish her degree was English 101, taught by Debbie Kinerk. The class was mostly composed of Running Start students, and Kinerk was the only person in the room who was older than Lundberg. The two became friends.
Lundberg attended TCC with her youngest son, and they took two math classes together. They gave an end-of-term presentation about math and music, but the student audience had just one follow-up question: what was it like to take a class with your mother?
From her Associate’s program at TCC to her Ph.D. program at the University of Washington Seattle, Lundberg often found herself the oldest student in the room. She loved her classes, but she felt isolated until she had a conversation with a faculty member she knew through the community college honors society Phi Theta Kappa, the late TCC English Professor Mary Fox.
“She said, you’re never gonna feel comfortable here until you get involved. You need to go talk to them up in ‘The Challenge.’ Maybe they’ll take you on to write.”
The editor of TCC student newspaper “The Challenge” agreed to let her try writing an article. She produced a story on the smoking shelters at TCC which broke all records for views and comments, and “The Challenge” took her on as a writer. The experience shifted the trajectory of her education. She discovered that she loved doing interviews, so she started interviewing people as part of the TCC PTK’s plan to earn its first 5-star status. She and several other students created a report about “the value of a community college to its community.” They presented it to the TCC Board of Trustees, who in turn shared it with legislators in Olympia.
“I took those interview skills and used them in so many ways – interviews for my dissertation, projects for UWT. That kind of writing, personal writing, it literally changed my entire trajectory. And it really started from that one little article.”
Though she enjoyed working on “The Challenge” and took a journalism class at UWT, Lundberg wasn’t drawn to journalism. When she worked in the UWT Writing Center, her specialty was helping students craft personal statements, helping them to tell their stories in writing. In her TCC writing classes, she has students interview each other about their research projects and turn their interviews into feature articles.
It was during her stint as a Supplemental Instructor (SI) in Liz Fortenbery’s Anthropology class that Lundberg caught the teaching bug. She helped with course planning, working out a quarter’s worth of in-class activities with Fortenbery. It ended up being great preparation for teaching.
Lundberg says she took many of the things she learned at TCC with her to UWT.
“I loved working on ‘Una Voce’ so much that I started a journal at UWT, and it’s still going,” Lundberg said.
The journal Lundberg started at UWT was modeled partly on Una Voce, but it publishes peer-reviewed faculty writing instead of student writing. Lundberg served as Editor-in-Chief for eight years. Then she prepared her Assistant Editor to take over, and the publication is currently getting ready to publish its ninth issue.
By the time Lundberg transferred to UWT, getting an advanced degree so she could return to teach writing at TCC was part of the plan. She made that clear when she introduced former TCC President Dr. Pamela Transue to the audience at a PTK event.
“I told them I was getting ready to graduate and transfer, and wanted to be a writing teacher – and in a couple years I’m going to be back here, asking you for a job. I said if for the laugh, but I meant it, my ultimate goal was to come back here and teach writing. And here I am!”
Lundberg said that her TCC professors all knew that writing was “her thing” and they encouraged her to write, even if writing wasn’t the focus of the class.
“Debbie Kinerk was amazing. Mary (Fox) was unbelievable – even though I never had her for a writing class, everything I know about teaching writing I learned from her. I remember taking an environmental science class, and the professor was so great I almost changed my major.”
While completing an education minor at UWT, Lundberg was able to come back and complete her teaching observation hours in Fox’s classroom. As a writing professor, she tries to pass on the encouragement and support she received, whether she’s teaching in person or online.
“Everything I did, I felt so encouraged in,” Lundberg said of her time at TCC. “I never intended to get a Ph.D. or even a Master’s degree, but I realized if I was gonna teach, I was gonna have to. None of that was ever my plan until I got here, and suddenly I realized I was capable, and there were people who were going to say, you can do this.”
For six decades, Tacoma Community College has advanced equity, cultivated learning, strengthened community partnerships, and enhanced institutional vitality. This story is one of 60, celebrating our 60th Anniversary. Discover more on our TCC 60th Anniversary web page.