Heinicke came first to Iowa upon appointment to the chairmanship of the Art Department of Simpson College in the early 80’s. While at Simpson she was responsible for the design of a new curriculum in art, the introduction of a gallery program in the new “Farnham Gallery” of the College and the initiation of the “Chrysalis Event”, an event designed to introduce high school students to careers in art, as well as the professional standards needed for exhibiting art in professional venues. Simpson College recognized her work with awards given for Outstanding Research  as well as an award for distinguished faculty service, and the Faculty Award for Campus Leadership. Now an emeritus professor of art Heinicke continues to teach in the education department of the Des Moines Art Center, and at the Pappajohn Senior College. Recently she , in a volunteer capacity, taught rural women the craft of batik in  East Africa, in northern Tanzania and gave  guest lectures at the University of Dar es Salaam .

She has continued her passion for “making art” throughout her academic career. She exhibits her work internationally in venues in Eastern Europe, where she exhibited her work at the State Museum in the capitol city of Cherkassy Ukraine, Iowa’s Sister State, as well as in the museums of Stavropol, Russia. Her work has also been exhibited in Japan, and in Malaysia. As part of these` activities she arranged for an exhibition of work by twenty two Iowa Women Artists to the State Art  Museums of Iowa’s Sister State, Stavropol, Russia. The exhibition subsequently toured Stavropol for a year,

Stateside, Heinicke maintains an active exhibition schedule showing her work in solo shows throughout the country in venues from New York to Arizona. There are more than 90 such solo shows to her credit. Awards , recognizing this work, include a Merit Award at the Iowa State Fair in 1997,  awards from the Richmond Art Museum in 2005 and 1998, an award from the Iowa Water Color Association and an award from the Bismarck Art Association. In 2009 The Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation awarded her the Grand Prize for work which she submitted in a competition titled “Raising the Bar”. This year her water and dye painting “Untended Grape Vines” was accepted in the prestigious national competition, Arizona Aqueous, in Tubac Arizona. This month two paintings by Heinicke were awarded special recognition in an on line international competition sponsored by Upstream Gallery in Omaha