By Dustin Stout

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — For years, Heather Higgins measured progress in parts and processes.

After earning an associate degree in industrial engineering technology in 1995, she began pursuing her bachelor’s. But as her career took off, college took a backseat. She worked her way up through Middle Tennessee manufacturing plants, leading teams and solving production challenges long before she ever earned the title of manager.

“I had great mentors early on,” Higgins said. “They taught me discipline and structure and how to handle situations, things I didn’t have before.”

Life took her in every direction except back to college until the desire to finish what she started became impossible to ignore. And nearly three decades after beginning her bachelor’s degree at Middle Tennessee State University, Higgins returned to complete it.

With the same determination she’d built her career on, she partnered with MTSU University College advisors to fast-track her remaining credits. She spent 13 months balancing life with full-time work and coursework to reach the finish line. And on Saturday, Dec. 13, she’ll walk across the stage at Murphy Center as a college graduate at 56 — proof that progress doesn’t stop just because life gets busy.

Higgins’ path has a few of the hallmarks that many adult learners come to recognize: early momentum halted by life’s responsibilities, a long professional run that rewarded hands-on experience over credentials, and, eventually, a personal turning point that made finishing the degree a priority. But it isn’t just about a degree for this lifelong learner, it’s about what finishing can do for confidence, career momentum, and life’s next chapter.

For Higgins, the shift began during a difficult season of personal change. After her divorce and with her daughter preparing to graduate from high school, she found herself rethinking what the next phase of her life should look like.

“I needed direction. I needed focus,” she said. “I was trying to figure out what Heather’s life looked like knowing my daughter was about to start hers.”

At the time, Higgins had been working at Nissan for nearly a decade. One day, an ad flashed across Nissan’s internal network — an opportunity to take a leadership course taught by MTSU’s Hilary Miller, Daniels Veterans Center director, and retired Lt. Gen. Keith Huber, senior adviser for veterans and leadership initiatives.

“I thought, ‘Well, I could use a leadership class,’” she said with a laugh. “I hadn’t done anything like that in a while.”

That one decision changed the trajectory of everything that followed. The two-weekend intensive introduced Higgins to MTSU resources and sparked a deeper conversation: What would it take to finish her bachelor’s degree?

Finishing degree ‘non-negotiable’

With encouragement from Miller, Huber, University College advisor Rodney Robbins, and the Adult Degree Completion team, Higgins learned she could graduate far sooner than she imagined.

Once she re-enrolled, she chose to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Integrated Studies with a concentration in Applied Leadership, an option that aligned naturally with the work she’d been doing in manufacturing.

“It made the most sense with everything I’ve done in my career,” she said. “It tied together what I already knew and what I still wanted to learn.”

Midway through her return to school, she made a significant career move, leaving Nissan after 10 years to become the operations excellence manager for a manufacturing company in her hometown of Centerville. The role came with a 90-minute commute each way, but also the leadership opportunity she had been working toward.

“It’s absolutely perfect for me,” she said. “It’s everything I would have ever wanted at this point in my career.”

Despite the demands, Higgins kept her eyes set on earning her diploma.

“Full-time mom, full-time student, full-time commuter, but finishing this degree was non-negotiable for me,” she said.

When Higgins walks across the stage at graduation, her daughter will be there watching, just months before her own journey at MTSU begins next fall. It’s a full-circle moment Higgins doesn’t take lightly.

“It’s never too late to finish something you started,” she said. “Know the things that are good in your life, know the things you want to improve, and go make it better.”

Finishing her degree didn’t just affirm her professional abilities. It restored confidence that had been chipped away over the years.

“So many things in my personal life challenged my confidence,” she said. “This showed me I still have what it takes to do the things I need to do — personally, professionally, in any part of my life.”

These days, she still measures progress. But it’s no longer in parts and processes. It’s in the confidence, clarity, and sense of purpose that come with finally finishing what she started.

For more information on MTSU’s Adult Degree Completion program or the Applied Leadership pathway, visit mtsu.edu/finishnow. 

—   Dustin Stout (dustin.stout@mtsu.edu)