Dr. Hess is the recipient of the 2009 Presidential Faculty Award for Teaching at Cal U. She is a former certified personal trainer and professional dancer. She has extensive training and teaching experience as a dance educator and researcher in the area of human movement and postural control. She completed her Ph.D. in developmental movement studies, focusing on motor control, and post-doctoral research in the Balance Lab at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Eye and Ear Institute.

She has used dance as a therapeutic tool in acute care and outpatient physical therapy labs and continues this work in injury prevention regionally and nationally in the applications of Pilates, yoga and gyrokinesis.

She also teaches modern dance for the Department of Theatre and Dance, and is currently working as a liaison for the dance minor. She provides balance training for the women's swim team at Cal U.

She is the current vice president of dance for the Pennsylvania State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (PSAHPERD), and is an active member of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) and the National Dance Association (NDA).