In 1936 Professor Heard joined the faculty of the university’s College of Home Economics (later Human Ecology and in 2002 merged into the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences). She was named an Alumni Distinguished Service Professor in 1971, the first female to be so designated. She retired in 1977.
Professor Heard was a scholar in design and an artist in ceramics, metal work, and sculpture. Her artistic creations were displayed in many exhibits. She introduced crafts into the curriculum of the College of Home Economics and helped to establish the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg. She designed all the craft studios and served as director of Arrowmont from shortly after its opening in 1947 until her retirement.
She directed a survey for the Rockefeller Foundation that resulted in strengthening craft education in nine southern states through the General Education Board. Under a grant from the Ford Foundation, she provided guidance in establishing a crafts program for Pakistan. In 1976 she was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Service by Teachers College, Columbia University, and in 1983 she was named an honorary Fellow of the American Crafts Council. The library at Arrowmont is named for her, and a collection of student, faculty, and regional crafts was established and named for her in 1977 by the Carolyn P. Brown Memorial University Center.
Her contributions to the intellectual life of the university have been recognized by the placement of a plaque in her honor on a faculty study.