There is a stereotypical image of the college professor—stuffy, strict, dressed in tweed and cloistered in their office like a medieval monk engaged in solitary study. That image has slowly faded as professors bring their scholarship public and their presence online. UW-Green Bay professors have podcasts, TikToks, and public-facing roles where they lend their expertise to their communities. One such professor is Prof. Jennie Young, whose Burned Haystack Dating Method has spurred a social movement and impacted tens of thousands of women.

Young is an expert in rhetoric, a UW-Green Bay English professor, and the Associate Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (CAHSS). Her work runs the gamut from satire to school security to feminism and dating. Far from the stereotype, Young exudes a warmth and excitement about her work. “Super nice and spunky,” one anonymous student wrote of Young on the website “Rate My Professors.” “A beam of light,” wrote another. In perhaps her most significant departure from what one would expect of a professor, Young’s work on the rhetoric of online dating has made her a veritable social media influencer.

The Burned Haystack Method began with Young’s own experience with dating. She struggled to find matches on apps like Match.com and Hinge until she reframed her approach. Instead of searching for the needle in the haystack on dating apps, she raised her expectations and applied her expertise in rhetoric to immediately disqualify and block men whose profiles or messages suggested they wouldn’t be a good fit. In short, she burned the haystack until only needles remained.

What began as a small experiment in applied rhetoric quickly bloomed into a vibrant social movement. “I built the principles on freely accessible education […] I think that’s a little bit unusual,” Young explained. “My group developed an appreciation for the fact that I really was legitimately making it freely accessible, that it wasn’t some kind of a game.” A small community of people testing Young’s idea ended up attracting 120,000 members to a dedicated Facebook group and nearly 60,000 followers on Instagram. Young’s work has also been featured in The New York Times, HuffPost, and Newsweek.

Young’s method isn’t just about finding love online; it’s about empowerment. Members of her community often share stories of newfound confidence and personal growth. “The surprising thing is that I get a lot of feedback that says something like, ‘I joined this group because I wanted to date more effectively, but now I don’t even really care about that because I just feel so much better about everything,’” said Young, “it’s about boundary articulation, and learning to stand within yourself in a way that’s protective.” The method’s success shows one can apply academic insights to everyday challenges. Young said she has even heard of therapists and psychologists using the method to support people like domestic violence survivors.

Looking back on her journey at UW-Green Bay, Young emphasized the supportive environment that has been instrumental to her success. When she proposed teaching a course on the rhetoric of dating and intimacy, she received support and professional autonomy that not every institution would have granted her. Young’s class was a hit, with students engaging in critical discourse analysis on a topic that was familiar to them as young people immersed in the world of online dating.

As UW-Green Bay supported Young’s scholarship, her work in turn supported UW-Green Bay. During the University’s 2024 Giving Day, nearly 250 individuals from around the country logged on to donate to CAHSS in appreciation of Prof. Young. In total, Burned Haystack community members gave over $13,000 to the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences.

Looking ahead, Young envisions continued growth for the Burnt Haystack Method. “I plan to continue writing about this and see what other opportunities it might provide,” she said. Young recently signed a book deal with Harper Collins, the next big step in helping the dating method reach new audiences. While Young said there are pathways to making Burned Haystack her full time job, she loves teaching and plans to stay in academia.

The image of the solitary, stuffy professor is a stereotype, but it accompanies a larger reputation of higher education as elite and inaccessible. UW-Green Bay has fought back against that stereotype by following its access mission and working to create an education accessible to all who want to learn. Its professors, like Young, are also part of the push to change the landscape of public scholarship. While she recognized that social media can be “a vapid, soulless place,” Young also emphasized its potential as a way of reaching those individuals who want to learn. “We are always talking about transcending the walls of the academy or democratizing information—this is how you do that now,” said Young.