 She then went on to teach at the English department at the City College of San Francisco, teaching ESL and working with CCSF faculty to incorporate gay/lesbian studies into curriculum.Her successful efforts inspired CCSF to open their Castro/Valencia Campus, and in 1982 Cruikshank was the first woman to teach the college's lesbian and gay literature class, which she taught until 1996.During the 1980s she also served as an affiliate scholar at the Center for Research on Women at Stanford University.