Hockenhull joined the faculty of Washington State University in Pullman, Eastern Washington, in 1972. She started the printmaking program in the Fine Arts Department that year, and later headed the Women's Studies program (1986-1996). She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Knox College in Illinois in 1963 and her Master of Arts degree from the University of Iowa in 1966.

She has exhibited her artworks nationally and internationally,  including shows in Scotland, Italy, Chile, Brazil, Russia, China and  Canada.  Her prints and paintings are in the permanent collections of  INTEL, AMOCO, the Seattle Art Museum and the Gilkey Center for Graphic Arts at the Portland Art Museum.