MICHELLE HEATON

Michelle Heaton (PhD) is Idea51’s Director of Innovation and Strategy. Dr. Heaton is the former Head of School and Chief Education Officer at Teton Science Schools and brings extensive experience in educational leadership, strategic planning, and the design and implementation of place-based learning programs. An innovative educator, Michelle is committed to teaching and learning that promotes agency, social justice, and connection to place. After several years working as a NOLS instructor and TSS educator, Michelle moved to the Boston area to get her Master’s in Education, teach science, and develop educational programming that connects learning to communities. After 18 years as a teacher and administrator in New England prep schools and as Executive Director of a farm-based education program, Michelle returned to TSS as Head of School in 2017. A lifelong learner, Michelle’s award-winning action research project on boys as global citizens was published in 2016 and in 2020, she earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Studies. Her dissertation, A Pedagogy of Hope: Levers of Change in Transformative Place-based Learning Systems, explores the connections between individual learning and positive social-ecological change. Outside of school, Michelle loves playing with friends and family in the mountains and completing really hard puzzles.