- B.A. – Mars Hill College
- Ph.D. – Walden University Institute for Advanced Studies
- University Department Journalism and Sports Media
- Location Nido R. Qubein School of Communication 353
- Phone Number +1 (336) 888-6310
- Email [email protected]
Dr. Bobby Hayes, Chair of the Department of Journalism and Sports Media and Professor of the Practice, has been a member of the faculty since 1998 and has been honored with three school and university teaching awards. He started the university’s Sports Media program and has taught in it since its inception. He started and continues to advise student chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Sports Media Association. Hayes also served as faculty adviser to the university’s student newspaper, which received a first place with special merit award from the American Scholastic Press Association in 2010. He has presented at numerous national conferences dedicated to the journalism profession.
Teaching in Journalism and Sports Media, Dr. Hayes utilizes his experience in the sports journalism industry to bring real-life lessons from the workplace into the classroom from his days as a sports columnist with the Pensacola News Journal, where he won an award for event coverage from the Florida Sports Writers Association, and as a sports writer with the Asheville Citizen-Times, covering high school, collegiate and professional sports, including the PGA Tour and the NFL. His experiences in journalism and higher education culminated in his dissertation examining the historical relationship between student newspapers and small, private church-related colleges and universities.
Over the course of his teaching tenure, Dr. Hayes has worked with many students who have gone on to careers at national news outlets such as Rolling Stone Magazine, Fox News, ABC News, NBC News, the Sporting News and ESPN, as well as numerous local outlets. He believes in the value of higher education producing new possibilities and personal growth. Most of all, Dr. Hayes professes that journalists continue to play a vital role in a democratic society by giving voice to the voiceless and by analyzing and critiquing those in power.
Dr. Hayes earned his PhD in Education with a concentration in Mass Communication from Walden University (Minn.). He received his BA in English from Mars Hill University (N.C.).