Heather’s teaching philosophy.

From small liberal arts colleges to public high schools, large universities, boardrooms and C-suites, prisons, refugee camps, and everywhere in between — I have met and taught people on every kind of educational journey imaginable. No matter the resources, the setting, or the student, I show up with the same conviction: that learning, done right, changes not just what we know but how we live.

At the center of that conviction is a simple belief — that the primary task of any learning space is to help us think carefully about the things that matter most, and then to do something about them. Not just to acquire knowledge, but to find our voice. Not just to find our voice, but to feel empowered to use it — in our communities, our organizations, and our everyday lives.

That means examining the assumptions we've inherited, questioning the habits we've never thought to question, and building environments where curiosity is more powerful than conformity. Whether I'm working with first-year college students, senior executives, or community members navigating significant change, the work is the same: opening up new ways of seeing, thinking, and engaging with the world we share.

And along the way, we create beauty, laughter, and joy — and stronger communities — together.

The task of any learning or work space is simple: know the important things. Think critically about them. Then do something about them.

A few of the people who made me:

From my mother, I learned that no act of kindness is ever wasted. And the power of unconditional love.

From my father, I learned the value of waking up early — and the immense beauty in working hard at something you love, in your soul.

From my many students, I learn joy, struggle, creativity, patience, and so much more. For them, I do most things. From them, I have learned most things.

Mrs. Ballard and Mrs. Smith taught me how to read. Mrs. Rhodes, my 5th grade teacher, taught me something harder: the power of someone who believes in you before you believe in yourself.

Justin, my optometrist, taught me grace and tenacity — in 2019, when everything changed.

My own brain taught me that time is a resource we cannot regenerate once it's gone. It is also not promised.

Lauryn Hill taught me that everything is everything. Coco Chanel taught me you cannot go wrong in black. But also, pink.

Ella Baker taught me the power of people. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Lucy Stone taught me the power of the spoken word. Joan Didion, James Baldwin, Ross Gay, and John Keats taught me the power of the written word.

A lot of other people have taught me a lot of other things. I learn something new, quite literally, every day.

This is perhaps my greatest joy.

Recently Taught Courses

  • Interpersonal Communication & Media

    In what ways do we come to understand both our own persona (personal and professional) as well as our relationships as mediated? How is our “self” increasingly portrayed in digital spaces from email to the Internet and social media? This course focuses on interpersonal development in the current electronically mediated world, with emphasis on technological and interpersonal communication theories as well as exploration of new digital developments (e.g., Chat GPT, artificial intelligence) and their impact on public and professional communication.

  • Introduction to Rhetoric & Media Studies

    What is rhetoric? And how should be understand the current mediaspace in which we find ourselves living, especially in the age of AI? This course introduces students to the idea of rhetoric as symbolic action. By which we mean, how humans use symbols (from language to nonverbal to digital) to create meaning. Course focuses include language, narrative, argumentation, organization and interpersonal communication, presentational skills, media economies, social media development, and public sphere theory.

  • Public Address

    This course focuses on introducing students to the foundations of communicating in public settings, from large public stages to everyday workplaces to civic and neighborhood settings. Recent iterations of Dr. Hayes’ syllabus have included hands on work around public communication in digital settings (e.g., Zoom and social media) as well as preparation for participation in global communicative workplaces and civic spaces.