Dr. Kiernan is an assistant professor of Communication where she is Director of the Technical and Professional Communication (TPC) program; since joining LTU, Dr. Kiernan has reimagined the required, core curriculum course in TPC to focus on students’ lived experiences using collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches

Dr. Kiernan’s research and teaching are intimately linked. Her prefered research methodology is active research, which focuses on the impacts of listening, reflection, and feedback throughout classroom learning processes. Her research regularly examines the shifting impacts of pedagogical and curricular design as linked to social justice; her current research explores CCEJ across new media studies, game studies, and the environmental humanities.

Her publications have appeared in a number of edited collections, and journals such as Composition Studies, Communication & Language at Work, and L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature. Dr. Kiernan has co-edited four academic collections, two of which examine translingualism and writing studies, one of which focuses on STEAM and writing studies, and one of which critiques transmedia adaptation and mental health.