He received a bachelor's degree from Bates College and then studied at the Cobb Divinity School.
He then became a pastor in Augusta, Maine until 1896 (his views clashed with the congregation) when he became a Dean at Keuka College.
He studied under Albion Small and alongside George Herbert Mead, John Dewey and James Tufts.
Hayes attended the first meeting of the American Sociological Association in 1905 and became one of its most influential founding members.
He served on the Society’s Committee of Ten, selected to create a universal model for schools’ undergraduate introductory sociology courses.