Rate My Professor Heidi Esbensen

Heidi Esbensen is an adjunct professor of sociology at Portland Community College, where she teaches courses emphasizing equity and social justice perspectives. She holds a master’s degree in Sociology from Portland State University, with a focus on gender, sexuality, and families/parenting, and a master’s degree in Education from City University of Seattle, specializing in Special Education, behavioral analysis, and reading interventions. Over the past ten years, Esbensen has taught sociology as an adjunct professor at multiple higher education institutions, bringing diverse classroom experiences to her students. In parallel, she serves as a special education teacher in a Portland middle school, applying her expertise in behavioral interventions and inclusive practices to support student success. Her dual roles in higher education and K-12 settings underscore her dedication to transformative education across levels.

Esbensen has made significant contributions to open educational resources (OER) in sociology. She is the lead author of Sociology of Gender: An Equity Lens, an open textbook tailored for Portland Community College and published through Open Oregon Pressbooks, which examines gender through an equity framework. Additionally, she contributed to Chapter 10 on sexuality in Sociology in Everyday Life. Her collaborative efforts include the "Raising Our Voices" OER project, partnering with faculty from Oregon Coast Community College and Lane Community College to create materials for sociology courses on social problems, social change, and gender. At Portland Community College, Esbensen co-presented at the 2018 Anderson Conference on Teaching Excellence, addressing trauma-informed tools for students with histories of abuse and neglect alongside colleagues Miriam Latzer and Alissa Leavitt. She also contributed to the 2025-2028 Strategic Planning student and employee feedback report. Outside academia, Esbensen chairs the board of Bridging Voices, a nonprofit queer youth choir that fosters music, activism, and support for LGBTQ2SIA+ communities. Through her teaching, writing, and service, Esbensen advances inclusive sociology education and social justice advocacy.