Michelle Heffner Hayes joined the faculty of the Dance Division at KU in the Fall of 2006. The Executive Director of Cultural Affairs at Miami Dade College from 1999-2006, she curated and managed a multidisciplinary performance and commissioning series devoted to contemporary and culturally specific work that is reflective of Miami's multi-ethnic community. In over 15 years of experience as a performing arts administrator, she has been involved in creating new models for national arts education and audience development, as well as infrastructure development for international cultural exchange.

As the Artistic Director of the Colorado Dance Festival from 1997-99, she became an avid aficionado of tango, flamenco, and baile popular. She has commissioned or served as a marketplace advocate for the presentation of new work from companies like Costa Rica's Curubande Dance Theater and New York's Tango Mujer, an all-female tango company, as well as postmodern choreographers like Wally Cardona or hip-hop phenomena Rennie Harris. She has served on national and international funding panels for the Creative Work Fund, Creative Capital, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Arts International, the Joyce Foundation, Miami-Dade County, Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Dance Project, the US/Mexico Fund for Culture, the State of Florida, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Pennsylvania Arts Council. She served for six years as a Board Member of Dance/USA, the national service organization for professional dance.