Dr. Sonya Hayes is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Tennessee. She earned her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Prior to entering the professoriate, she served as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal at the secondary level for 23 years.

Her scholarship examines the evolving role of school leadership in a rapidly changing educational landscape, with a focus on how principals are prepared, supported, and sustained in their work. She studies leadership development, professional learning, and the organizational conditions that shape leader effectiveness, retention, and well-being. Her current research explores leadership in the context of technological change, including the integration of artificial intelligence in education, as well as the development of innovative secondary-to-postsecondary pathways that expand opportunity for students. She is also advancing a line of research on “caretaker leadership,” examining how principals support their communities and the implications of this work for leader well-being and burnout. In addition, her work engages broader questions of identity, access, and experience within the academy.

Dr. Hayes’s scholarship spans both research and practice, with contributions to highly respected peer-reviewed journals in educational leadership and policy. She is currently co-authoring two books that reflect these complementary strands of her work—one focused on preparing and supporting school leaders, and another examining issues of class and identity in higher education. Together, these projects aim to bridge research and practice while amplifying the lived experiences of educators across contexts. She has also contributed book chapters and practitioner-oriented articles that extend her work to broader educational audiences.

Dr. Hayes is actively engaged in national leadership in the field. She currently serves as Vice President-Elect of Division A (Educational Administration) of the American Educational Research Association and will serve as Division A Vice President from 2027–2030. She also contributes through editorial leadership and peer review, serving on the Editorial Review Boards for Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning and Advancing Women in Leadership, and as an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Education (Leadership). She regularly reviews manuscripts for journals such as Education Administration Quarterly, the Journal of Educational Administration, the Journal of Research on Leadership Education, and the International Journal of Leadership in Education.