Packer's first published work appeared in
Harper's in 1953, and other work appeared in
Dude. and studied writing with
Wallace Stegner, before joining the faculty in 1961 as a professor of English and creative writing. and 1981. From 1989-1993 she directed the Stanford University program in creative writing. Among her students were
Michael Cunningham She served as fiction jury chair for the 2002
Pulitzer Prize, and continued to teach creative writing through Stanford Continuing Studies. ==Personal life and death==