Dr. Keyes served as the founding chair of UBC Okanagan’s Cultural Studies program from 2007-2010 and again from 2015-2018. Additionally, he served as the interim Director of Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies program (2009-2011). From 2020 to 2022, he served as the secretary for the Film and Media Studies Association of Canada. In 2023 he began and continues to serve as the coordinator for the Digital Humanities course code.
His doctoral research focused on how testimonial performance inflected itself in 1990s daytime talkshows on American and Canadian television. His current research focus on 1. place studies with a focus on the Okanagan as occupied settler space, 2. archival media studies relating to digital ephemerality in English speaking Canada.
Much of Dr. Keyes teaching focuses on the analysis of visual culture. In most of his courses, he offers students choices in assignments that blend creative and critical approaches that aims to have students grasp and appreciate complexity.