Kathryn McMurray joined the English Department faculty at Long Beach City College in 2014. She teaches developmental and college-level composition and creative writing courses. Before coming to Long Beach City College, she taught creative writing at CSU Long Beach, composition courses at Orange Coast College, Cerritos College, and Cypress College and also taught for the SummerTIME summer bridge program at USC. As a community college instructor, she has been recognized as an Honoree for the UCI Educator Recognition Event in 2008 for her work with students at OCC and by EOPS programs as Honoree for Outstanding Faculty Member of Cypress College in 2009 and Honoree for Distinguished Professor of LBCC in 2012.

Kathryn McMurray is also the first in her family to graduate from college and the first to earn a graduate degree. She started out her education as a community college student at Goldenwest College, where she earned an A.A. degree, but she soon transferred to CSULB, where she earned her B.A. degree in English in 2001. She earned her M.F.A. degree from CSU Long Beach in 2004. While in graduate school, she was poetry editor for the campus literary journal, Rip-Rap, the recipient of the Beatrice and John Janosco Memorial Scholarship for poetry, and an instructor of creative writing. Her poetry and fiction have been published in Re)verb, The Bastille, Nerve Cowboy, Red Rock Review, Spork, Lummox Journal, and Pearl. She has also published poetry reviews in Rattle and Lummox Journal.

She is currently a member of the English department Assessment Committee and a member of the Creative Writing Committee. As a part-time instructor, she served as an Associate Senator in the LBCC Academic Senate. She welcomes students each semester to the challenge and pleasure of finding the right word for the right moment.  She enjoys cooking, surfing, and knitting.  She is married to a musician and teacher and has two children