Amy Kimme Hea

Amy Kimme Hea is a Professor in the Department of English at the University of Arizona, where she also serves as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Student Success in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS). In this role, she leads curriculum review, student enrollment and retention, advising, engagement, and career development. She is a key leader in Pillar 5 (Institutional Excellence) of the UA Strategic Plan and co-chairs the Undergraduate Council in SBS, while also serving on university-wide committees such as HLC, CAAC, and UWGEC.

Her research and expertise lie in writing program administration, higher education leadership, professional and technical communication, and the integration of technology in writing instruction. She has published extensively in the fields of composition, computers and composition, and technical communication, with a focus on new media, hypertext, spatial rhetoric, assessment, and service learning. Her influential 2009 book Going Wireless was nominated for the Computers and Composition best book award, and her 2014 special issue of Technical Communication Quarterly on social media is the most widely read in the journal's history.

Dr. Kimme Hea has demonstrated sustained excellence in teaching and service. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in writing, rhetoric, and technology studies and has received recognition for her teaching at both levels. She has held national leadership roles, including Executive Board Member of the Council of Writing Program Administrators and Chair of the Consortium of Doctoral Programs in Rhetoric and Composition. At the University of Arizona, she was a Faculty Fellow for Program Assessment and a participant in the Academic Leadership Institute.

Her scholarly contributions are recognized through her service on the editorial review boards of Computers and Composition, Technical Communication Quarterly, Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, and Writing Commons. She led a five-year longitudinal study on student writers at the University of Arizona, supported by the National Council of Teachers of English and the Council of Writing Program Administrators, which examines metacognitive and affective dimensions of writing and literacy across the undergraduate experience and into post-graduation life.

She earned her PhD in Rhetoric and Composition from Purdue University in 2001 and has been a core faculty member in the Rhetoric, Composition, and Teaching of English program. She previously served over a decade in administrative roles in the University of Arizona Writing Program, including Associate Director (2004–2012) and Director (2012–2015).