Profile

Julia Heffernan, Ph.D., taught middle and high school social studies and language arts for eight years and was an education administrator for another eight years before beginning an academic career in education studies. Heffernan is the Graduate Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the teacher licensing program UOTeach.  

Dr. Heffernan has been an education leader in anti-oppressive and culturally responsive curriculum, instruction, and educational leadership since 2009. She serves on the Provost’s Teaching Academy Board, has been a Provost’s Fellow on Inclusive Teaching and appointed faculty to the Difference, Inequality and Agency summer teaching institute.  In 2016 Heffernan developed the UOTeach-In, an annual conference on Educational Equity and Anti-Oppressive Pedagogies. In 2010 Heffernan developed UOTeach-OUT, an annual education studies conference on gender identity and sexual orientation issues in education.

Heffernan's primary research interests are in culturally sustaining pedagogy, teacher identity development, and gender and sexuality studies in education. Her research and policy work address anti-oppressive pedagogy, diversifying the teacher workforce, and sexual orientation and gender identity exclusion in curriculum, classrooms and larger educational settings.