Michael J. Kennedy
- Commonwealth Professor of Education
Phone
Office Location
Bavaro Hall 234H
PO Box 400273
417 Emmet Street S
Charlottesville, VA 22903
Profile Type
Biography
Michael J. Kennedy's main area of research is the design, implementation, and experimental testing of multimedia-based interventions to support pre- and in-service teachers' knowledge and implementation of evidence-based practices. He has designed and experimentally tested numerous multimedia products intended to support teacher and student outcomes.
Kennedy is the head of the STORMED Lab (Supporting Teachers through cOaching, obseRvations, and Multimedia to Educate students with Disabilities). Before completing his doctoral studies, Kennedy was a high school special education teacher for six years and an elementary-level teacher for three years. Kennedy has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles; and, received numerous training grants from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) within the U.S. Department of Education. Kennedy and colleagues have won three grants from OSEP's Stepping Up Technology Implementation competition totaling 6.75 million dollars, and one from OSEP's Development of Innovative Technology Tools to Improve Outcomes for Students with Disabilities (2.5 million). Kennedy has received over 18 million dollars in total awards to develop and study processes for supporting teacher and school leader implementation of evidence-based multimedia including a $1.4 million grant from the Institute for Education Sciences' National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) to develop and test a multimedia professional development process to support teacher candidates' readiness to implement evidence-based multimedia.
He was an inaugural winner of the early career research and mentoring grant competition from the Institute for Education Sciences in 2013. He is co-editor of the Journal of Special Education Technology and is in the Presidential line for the Higher Education Consortium for Special Education (HECSE). Kennedy was awarded the 2021 TED/Pearson Excellence in Teacher Education Award, and UVA’s Alumni Board of Trustees Award for excellence in university teaching in 2015. He is a two-time nominee for the Outstanding Faculty Award from SCHEV.
Dr. Kennedy was the 2024-25 Faculty Representative to the U.Va Board of Visitors. He served as Faculty Senate Chair in 2023-24. He was named Grand Marshall for formal academic events at U.Va in summer of 2025.
Education
Ph.D., University of Kansas, 2011
M.Ed., University of Delaware, 2007
M.A., Michigan State University, 2004
B.A., Ithaca College, 1998