in 1984 tamblyn moved to san francisco and began teaching at san francisco state university as lecturer and coordinator of their graduate program, a position she held until 1996. over the next few years, she also taught for short periods at the san francisco art institute (1988-1990), university of california, santa cruz (1989), mills college (1990), and the university of california, berkeley (1990-1993), where she was a visiting assistant professor.