She is the academic coordinator for men's basketball and oversees Enhancing U, a student-athlete affairs program that launched in the fall of 2011.

Heinicka spent the previous three years with Northwestern State University, where she was the head academic coordinator and Senior Woman Administrator for NSU Athletics. She launched the Enhanced Academic Program to assist student-athletes with time management and help them to become academically independent and wrote a grant to receive funding to employ a staff of tutors for the 2010-11 academic year. Records for total number of student-athletes on the honor roll were broken three times and NSU led the Southland Conference in APR by recording zero penalties during Heinicka's tenure.

At NSU, Heinicka oversaw all athletic academic services, but specifically worked with the sports of men's basketball, baseball, football, softball and tennis. She also coordinated the CHAMPS/Life Skills program, advised the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and served as a primary administrator for women's sports. Additionally, she served as the sport administrator for softball.

She managed academic support activities for 377 Northwestern State student-athletes, including her introduction of the first-ever Etiquette Dinner; a four-course meal at which student-athletes were taught dining etiquette and given the opportunity to interact with fellow student-athletes and local business professionals in a formal setting. Heinicka ramped up the CHAMPS/Life Skills program by providing a strong focus on personal and career development by offering career assessments, résumé-writing consultations, and mock interviews as well as monthly workshops covering areas such as personal finances, leadership, nutrition, and professional development.

In spring 2009, Heinicka was honored as the NSU "Advisor of the Year" for her overall success with these programs, and she didn't stop there. Under her tutelage, NSU also recorded 5,009 hours of community service during the next (2009-10) academic year. 

Heinicka earned her bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies from the University of Missouri, and a master's degree in higher and continuing education. While pursuing her master's degree, she worked in Mizzou's athletic department in academics and CHAMPS/Life Skills.

Heinicka was also a student-athlete at MU, where she was named the 2006 Big 12 Female Sportsperson of the Year, which was the first time a Missouri student-athlete had earned the honor. Heinicka was also a three-time Academic All-Big 12 first team selection and was named a National Association of Gymnastics Coaches/Women Scholar Athlete in 2006. She was named the 2007 Women's Intersport Network Collegiate Sportswoman of the Year and was the recipient of the 2006 Prentice Gautt Big 12 Postgraduate Scholarship Award. Heinicka also served as Mizzou's SAAC vice president in her senior year, 2005-06.

In her athletic career at Mizzou, Heinicka posted six of the top 12 uneven bars scores in program history. As a sophomore in 2004, she set the Mizzou bars record when she recorded a 9.950 at the Cat Classic to win the individual event title. In the best season of her career, Heinicka ended her senior campaign ranked fourth nationally on bars and stood as the South Central Region's top bars performer 11-of-12 weeks. Over the course of the year, she won 12 event titles.