Heather McShane

Heather McShane is a full-time Visiting Lecturer in the English Department at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), specializing in the First-Year Writing Program. She teaches courses such as English 159, 160, and 161, emphasizing academic writing and sociopolitical analysis. Her teaching philosophy blends creativity with rhetorical analysis, using methods from Felicia Rose Chavez's The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop.

McShane holds a TESOL Certificate (2020) and has received grant support from UIC's Departmental Development Grant to develop multilingual writing programs. She has organized community-engaged projects, including collaborations with Midwest Books to Prisoners and Chicago Quarter courses focusing on artists' books and zines. Her work prioritizes inclusivity, featuring marginalized voices and empowering students through creative, place-based learning.

Her courses often culminate in student projects archived in UIC libraries, and she has mentored students whose work was recognized in DePaul University's Writing Showcase (2018). McShane is also a member of Writing Group, a Chicago-based collective supporting diverse voices in writing.