Carrie M. Heilman, a beloved professor at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce and an asset to the athletics department, died peacefully Wednesday after a yearlong battle with cancer. .
Heilman served the Commerce School for more than two decades, teaching courses in brand management, marketing and brand consulting, among other topics. In 2013, she assumed leadership of the school’s renowned Promotions program, guiding students each year to the National Student Advertising Competition and earning national titles in 2016, 2020 and 2021.
In 2018, Poets & Quants recognized Heilman as one of the . Two years later, UVA honored her with .
Left photo, Heilman (back row, left) poses with a large group of her students. Right photo, following her passing, Heilman’s office door is filled with tribute notes from her Promotions students, to be given to her family. While at the Commerce School, Heilman spent much of her time with her students out of the classroom, hosting events and traveling to national marketing and promotions contests. (Contributed photos)
Heilman also served as the faculty representative to Virginia Athletics since 2018.
“Carrie Heilman embodied the very best of McIntire: excellence in teaching, unwavering dedication to students, and a deep commitment to our school and the broader UVA community,” McIntire School interim Dean Amanda Cowen said. “Anyone who knew Carrie understood the tremendous pride she took in her students.
“Whether in the classroom or leading the Promotions program to national success, she believed deeply in their potential and challenged them to achieve more than they thought possible, elevating not only their aspirations but our entire school.
“She will be profoundly missed by McIntire faculty, staff, students and the generations of alumni whose lives she shaped.”
In a 2023 UVA Today story, then-fourth-year student Tyler Yen described Heilman as a “special professor” because of her relationship with her students.
“Carrie doesn’t talk to us like she’s the professor and we are the students,” Yen said. “She makes us feel like an equal, like we are part of the team and can make real decisions.”
For eight years, Heilman was the liaison between the University’s academic enterprise – including faculty, staff and administrators – and the athletics department. Her duties included, among other tasks, participating in certifying the eligibility of more than 700 UVA student-athletes and conducting student-athlete exit interviews.
On Thursday, on behalf of Director of Athletics Carla Williams and the numerous coaches, administrators and student-athletes Heilman served, Virginia Athletics posted to social media a tribute to Heilman, calling her “an expectational educator, trusted colleague and a dear friend whose passion for higher education and athletics touched countless lives.”
Two of Heilman’s four children – Thomas, a first-year student, and Matthew, a fourth-year student – are UVA student-athletes, swimming for coach Todd DeSorbo’s program.
DeSorbo told UVA Today Carrie Heilman was “amazing in so many different ways.”
As a faculty athletics representative, Heilman, a former basketball player at the College of the Holy Cross, “was so professional,” DeSorbo said. “Everybody loved working with her. I know I did. She was fair, honest and very supportive.”
Heilman’s presence around the swimming program was always welcome. She wasn’t just a parent to two Cavalier swimmers; she was, DeSorbo said, “a nice, caring, wonderful person.”
Heilman fights off a defender while playing in a basketball game for the College of the Holy Cross. Heilman often applied what she learned as a student-athlete to her teaching approach. (Contributed photo)
DeSorbo and Heilman crossed paths on multiple occasions, including during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. DeSorbo was the U.S. women’s swim coach, and Thomas Heilman – then a rising senior at Western Albemarle High School in Crozet – was also representing the country, .
“After the Olympics were over,” DeSorbo said, “we bumped into Carrie and Thomas just walking through the middle of the city in Paris. We had a great time.
“She’s the kind of person who, if you’re having a conversation with her, you don’t want it to end because it’s always great. She was just so down-to-earth. She was the mother of an Olympic athlete, and you would never know it.”
After graduating with her doctoral degree in management from Purdue University, Heilman accepted a teaching position at Washington University in St. Louis, where she taught marketing. Six years later, in 2003, she accepted an assistant professor position in 鶹ƽ McIntire School of Commerce.
“I came on a visit to the University of Virginia and ended up falling in love with it,” Heilman said in 2023. “Who wouldn’t love Virginia, right?”
Heilman is survived by her husband Brad; sons Jason, Matthew and Thomas; daughter Katherine; and parents Samuel and Cynthia Ramenofsky.
