Having a great professor can change a student’s outlook on college.
Joyce Haley, who teaches advertising in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, is that and more.
Students love her spunky attitude and the way she brings an advertising agency feel to life in the classroom. In addition to teaching, she also serves as faculty advisor for the student-run ad agency Morris+Mitchell.
Haley started out as a business major at Pepperdine University and thought she would go into the business world – that is until she graduated college and had a few interviews where “everyone was quiet in their cubicles, and everything was black and white.”
She realized that setting did not match her personality, so she decided to interview at an advertising agency. “As soon as I walked in I knew those were my people,” she recalls. “I loved the energy, the colorful work environment and the lively personalities.”
That interview started her career in the advertising world.

She worked in agencies for 15 years, then decided to take everything she had learned and become a professor.
Haley said she strives to teach her students that “harnessing the power of strategic marketing communications is a valuable skill. I enjoy sending students out into all types of environments and organizations to use their powers for good.”
She is so skilled students want to hear all the stories she has about the agency lifestyle. She tells them for her the late nights and early mornings had to end, but she knew she wanted to take all of those experiences she had and teach others.
The best part of teaching, she says, is “observing students as they grow into professionals and watching as their careers unfold.”
Her ability to relate the content she teaches to real-world experiences has made her one of the most respected professors in her department. It’s no surprise she was voted ACU Teacher of the Year in 2013.
She sets up her classroom as if it is an advertising workspace and allows students to experience a professional environment. Her students call her Joyce, and they feel comfortable experimenting with their creativity in her presence. She expects them to create to the best of their ability and gives authentic feedback to make them better. Her attitude earned her the reputation “just Joyce” – ask any of her students, and they’ll know what that means.
Students are drawn by her teaching and hearing about the agency lifestyle that she lived, knowing one day that could be them.

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Learn more about the Bachelor of Science in Advertising and Public Relations