Rate My Professor Heidi Esbensen

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.