‘It’s like I’m hitting reset’

Meteorologist and Knoxville native Heather Haley has moved from television to radio ‒ and teaching ‒ as she returns to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville for a “full circle moment” at her alma mater.

Haley served as an anchor for WVLT-TV and as chief meteorologist, the first woman in the Knoxville market to do so. She has won an Emmy Award for her work and is taking her experience back to UT this August for the start of the new semester.

Her last day at WVLT was July 25.

Haley will work as an assistant professor of practice in UT’s School of Journalism and Media while serving as a meteorologist and climate reporter for WUOT 91.9 FM, a public radio station licensed to the university.

After graduating from UT in 2005, she served as a member of the school’s alumni advisory council and helped to create the Broadcast Meteorology minor. She was a WVLT intern as a student and has been part of the station for more than 17 years.

Where is Heather Haley going?

Heather Haley is headed to WUOT, she’ll continue to provide information on East Tennessee weather and climate, a particularly vital role in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

“It’s like I’m hitting reset, I’m really excited. I keep hearing from the staff and faculty how much they love having students here every day, it’s electric,” Haley said in a news release from UT’s College of Communication and Information.

“I’m looking forward to that positivity and environment, just being in the lives of students and helping them grow from semester to semester and having it come to fruition with graduation.”

Haley’s teaching role will be all-encompassing. The school only has the Broadcast Meteorology minor and no major, but she’s excited to teach students about the importance of being prepared to cover weather events through UT’s climatology and meteorology courses.

“Weather is the one news story that impacts everybody. Honestly, journalists do need to be better prepared to handle the safety aspect and to respond to natural disasters,” Haley told Knox News. “I think there’s a lot of lessons there that the students can then attain and be better prepared when they do get their first job.”

In a way, she’s “passing the baton” to future students, echoing her own journey as a student who interned at WVLT-TV.

She’s particularly excited to hone her storytelling skills while reporting on the weather and the East Tennessee environment at WUOT, blending her reporting and meteorology careers.

“The number one industry in the state of Tennessee is agriculture and the number two industry is tourism,” she said. “Everybody’s affected by the weather, so being able to help students also see how this all goes hand-in-hand and really focus on impact journalism: How can we help people, what do they need to know, what can we learn from these situations?”

Why is Heather Haley leaving WVLT?

The move from WVLT to UT comes with an added benefit: she gets to spend more time with her family. Working the morning shift for WVLT-TV just wasn’t fulfilling her personal needs, especially after hitting major career milestones.

“I needed more ‘normal hours’ for work because right now I was only getting really a few minutes after my son got home from middle school every day, and then I was headed to bed,” she told Knox News. “So, that was a big eye-opener for me.”

Every day is different with TV news, she said, and that should happen at WUOT, too, as weather patterns change and develop.

Haley is bringing a wide range of weather expertise to WUOT, having covered everything from record heat waves to the biggest tornado outbreak in Tennessee to the unprecedented flooding caused by Hurricane Helene.

Through all this, the biggest lesson she wants to instill in students is the importance of community. As she continues to work in her hometown, she’ll be putting what she teaches into practice.

“I would say that caring about your community is vital to working in any form of media. Radio, television, paper, print, digital − it doesn’t matter,” Haley said. “If you are not invested in the community, the community will not invest in you.”

Keenan Thomas reports for the Knox News business growth and development team. You can reach him by email at keenan.thomas@knoxnews.com.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Heather Haley leaves WVLT for the University of Tennessee and WUOT