Iva Dee Hiatt was born in Indiana to John H. and Ester Miessner Lindley on Sept. 19, 1919, raised by a doctor before being adopted by Fred W. and Iva Lindley Hiatt, her aunt and uncle who lived in Berkeley in 1923. At the age of 16, Hiatt entered the University of California at Berkeley where she was an honor graduate, receiving a Masters in Music in 1941. She was a pupil of Ernest Bloch, Roger Sessions, Randall Thompson, Edward Lawton, Arthur Bliss, and Manfred Bukofzer, and was chosen first chorister of the University of California Chorus. By the time Hiatt was twenty one she had her pilot's license. Before coming to Smith in 1948, Hiatt taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the University of California Extension Division Music School, where she founded the Berkeley Chamber Singers in 1946-48 which premiered works by Aaron Copland and Stravinsky. Hiatt was the first woman to conduct the Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional of Mexico, the first woman and choral conductor to conduct a work for chorus and orchestra at Tanglewood, first woman to be an associate professor of music at Harvard Summer School, and the first woman to be the director of Choral Music at Smith College.

During Hiatt's 31 years as a teacher at Smith, she designed the choral system, created the Christmas Vespers program, and founded the Smith College Chamber Singers which earned numerous awards during its more than 20 concert tours abroad. She also took the Smith Glee club to Boston's Symphony Hall for Pops concerts, to Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, and Philharmonic Hall in New York City, and to Washington D.C to sing with the National Symphony Orchestra. Hiatt also established the tradition of student choral conducting that continues to provide early training for Smith conductors.

Hiatt was a teacher who "provided a distinguished model of purpose and achievement," according to one student. Her door was always open to students, sharing music and a belief in their capabilities. For all her accomplishments and efforts, Hiatt was awarded the Smith College Medal in May of 1979.

Among her other achievements, Hiatt was music director of the Cambridge Society for Early Music from 1965 to 1977, and founder and music director of the Choral Institute in Johnson, VT. She received an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Music, from New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and an Award for Outstanding Service for her assistance to the International Communication Agency of the State Department in advancing understanding and good will between people of the U.S and people of other countries.

Hiatt died at Cooley Dickinson Hospital on January 5, 1980 after a two year battle with A.L.S. (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).

The Iva Dee Hiatt Papers contains biographical information about early and family life, diaries, correspondence, pilot logs, photographs, programs, newspaper articles and press releases, lectures, class notes, slides, school memorabilia, and trophies.