Dr. Hesse has 10 years of collegiate level teaching experience. Dr. Hesse joined James Madison University (JMU) as an Assistant Professor in 2014. Dr. Hesse's teaching expertise includes food-based courses, Science of Food Preparation and Experimental Foods, as well as General Nutrition and Public Policy.

Dr. Hesse is a leader at the local, state and national level supporting nutrition security and health equity. For the past 8 years, Dr. Hesse has focused her efforts on supporting the charitable food network’s strategic goals related to souring healthy foods. Her most notable accomplishment was the collaborative development of Nourish with JMU faculty, students and Blue Ridge Area Food Bank (BR). The Nourish software helps food banks rank and track the nutritional quality of foods.

Dr. Hesse took a hiatus from academia to join BR from 2018-2020 as the Director of Agency Relations and Programs where she led a team of 10 to support 200 food pantries and 175 feeding programs across a 25 county service area. Returning to JMU in 2020, Dr. Hesse continues to support nutrition initiatives within BR and the Federation of Virginia Food Banks (the Federation). Dr. Hesse has served on the Federation’s Health Equity Working Group and currently serves on the Healthy Pantry Education Committee. Dr. Hesse served on Feeding America’s Reimagining Foods to Encourage Working Group (2019-2020) and was an expert reviewer for the Healthy Eating Research Guidelines in the Charitable Food Network (2019). Dr. Hesse was also the past-president of the Blue Ridge Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2021-2022 program year) and is currently the President for the Virginia Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2023-2024).