Penny Hayne received her B.A. degree from the University of Georgia and her M.L.I.S. from the University of South Carolina.  Since receiving her master's degree in library science, Penny has completed thirty hours above the master's at Furman University and USC, primarily in the areas of early childhood and elementary education, as well as curriculum and instruction.  She is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Elementary Education here at USC.
Penny spent more than ten years at the S.C. Commission on Higher Education, working in the Academic Affairs Division.  She has also served as Education Intern to former Governor Carroll Campbell.  Her school experience includes two middle schools (Pineridge and Busbee Middle Schools) and five years as library media specialist at Springdale Elementary School.  Penny is now the library media specialist at Lake Murray Elementary School in the Chapin area which opened in January 1998. 
Active in several library and education organizations, Penny's professional interests include integrating literature across the curriculum, using literature to enhance a school's writing program, establishing collaborative literature units with the arts, inquiry learning, and family literacy programs.  Penny recently received a $6,000 EIA grant for a project called “The Write Connection,” which uses children's literature to teach students specific writing crafts.  She has presented at the S. C. Association of School Librarians, SCIRA, EdTech, S. C. Association of Art Educators, and to various educator groups.  Penny is a Past President of the South Carolina Association of School Librarians.