Dr. Hayes opens next chapter in teaching career

Dr. Cassandra Hayes, assistant of professor of broadcast journalism has been teaching at SFA for two years.  Dr. Hayes, didn’t always have college on her radar. “I was working at Taco Casa, making money, paying the little bills I did have. I was fine doing that and doing writing on the side, but my mom said it wasn’t a good long-term goal. So, she talked me into going to college”. 

Dr. Hayes started her undergraduate English, which went by too quickly in her opinion. “It went really fast, and I felt like I didn’t have time to make choices or explore majors,” she said. “I choose English instead of Journalism solely on the reason of not having to take a public speaking class in the English program. It was out of the question to take that class.” 

With her undergrad degree she fell in love with writing, “I’ve always loved writing, always wanted to be a writer. I didn’t care if it was journalistic writing or creative writing. Creative writing was just what I was around and that’s what led me to my MFA.” 

 When she was getting her MFA, she started working for publications, both literary and mainstream publications. “When I was working for twopublications, I started dealing with journalists, dealing with long form feature and non-fiction writers.   Dealing with the organizations that support and publish these writers left me really fascinated in all the changes that were happening, both technology and logically with digital age.” 

 Having a curious mind about journalistic writing led her to learn more about the Commutations and Media field, and that’s what led Dr. Hayes to get her PhD in Mass Communications. “From there journalism was the natural bridge fit, to bring all my interest into one field”.  

Dr. Hayes didn’t always want to teach. "My PHD advisor always tried to tell me you’d be a good teacher, but during my undergraduate degree I was shy and didn’t want to take public speaking. I couldn’t imagine myself in front of a classroom doing public speaking every single day and figuring out what I’m going to say.”  

Dr. Hayes added, “Both of my parents are educators. My mom used to teach Art and English my dad is a coach. So, I grew up with watching them helping and molding students into professionals” 

 At Texas Tech, Dr. Hayes started teaching and realized it wasn’t as bad as she had thought.She said that it became fun with time.  

“SFA is a teaching school, so I’ve grown while teaching here. You have a lot of classes to teach and a lot of students, and you get to know them really well. I think that’s where I fell in love with it.’ 

 When finding a university to teach at, Dr Hayes was “picky with the location”. “I didn’t want to leave Texas and I have a heart for rural Texas. SFA felt like a good fit when I came here to Nac, it reminded me of Waxahachie. I fell in love with the place”.  

 Spring 2024 will be Dr. Hayes last teaching semester with SFA. She is going to start teaching at Texas Christian University. The decisions didn’t come easy to Dr. Hayes. Her main reason for not leaving was her relationships with her students at SFA. 

“SFA has been great to me, I have loved working here. For my main reason of leaving isa location thing. I'd be 30 minutes from my parents and 5 minutes from my sister.” 

Dr. Hayes' new role at TCU will be very similar to the one she currently has at SFA, she will be Assistant Professor of Journalism. 

Dr. Hayes had some parting advice for her mass comm students and other Lumberjacks. “The first part is taking your time. Take your time in your undergrade to explore, just don’t get lost. Do cool things, don’t just sit on your butt watching Netflix. Find  your passion or a niche 

”She added, “In journalism these days, people discount it as not being hard or challenging. Don’t let people persuade you to not do communications if it’s something you are passionate about.People say jouranlism is dying, its just changing. The truth is now more important than ever in the world today.”