 McPherson taught English and creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz (assistant professor; 1969–1971), the Harvard University summer school (1972), Morgan State University (assistant professor; 1975–1976) and the University of Virginia (associate professor; 1976–1981) before joining the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1981, with whom he was associated for the remainder of his life.He served as acting director of the program for two years following the death of Frank Conroy in 2005.Following the publication of "Elbow Room" (his final collection of fiction) in 1977, McPherson primarily focused on his teaching career, with the "Chicago Tribune" characterizing him as being "only slightly more gregarious than J.D.