Heather Eden

Dr. Heather Eden, Ph.D. ’94 is an Instructional Assistant Professor in the Texas A&M Department of Hospitality, Hotel Management and Tourism. Dr. Eden teaches undergraduate classes in tourism, Disney operations, and hospitality management and graduate classes in Disney Operations and the HMGT Academy. Her Disney Operations class includes a week of classes at the Disney Imagination Campus at Walt Disney World. Starting in fall of 2025, she will administer and direct the new HMGT Academy for Future Faculty, a program created to prepare graduate students to be better professors. Before teaching, she had 15 years of experience in the hotel, events, and tourism industry and is passionate about teaching the next generation of leaders. She has earned 15 Disney Institute certifications, an Experiential Learning Certificate, and an Online Learning Certificate from Indiana University, the ACUE Inspiring Inquiry & Preparing Lifelong Learners micro-certification, and a certification in Scholarship of Teaching Yields Learning Excellence (STYLE). She researches how creating a sense of belonging in classes helps students learn.