Education
Biography
Dr. Kathryn Kennedy serves as affiliate faculty and coach for the Self as Leader course in Loyola University Maryland’s M.Ed. in Educational Leadership program. In this role, she supports current and aspiring leaders in cultivating reflective and embodied leadership practices, helping them integrate personal growth with professional impact. Her work at Loyola reflects her broader commitment to equity-informed, community-based approaches that center the whole person in education, leadership, and life in general.
In addition to her work at Loyola, Kathryn is the founder and principal consultant of her consulting firm -- Consult4Ed Group (C4E) -- where she partners with organizations to conduct participatory research and evaluation that fosters systemic change and highlights programmatic impact. With more than 20 years of experience, she has designed and led studies that inform practice, developed measurement tools and resources to intentionally and thoughtfully measure innovative initiatives, and collaborated with organizations to translate findings into meaningful action. Her expertise in qualitative methods, including grounded theory, phenomenology, case study, ethnography, and narrative, guides her work, alongside close partnerships with quantitative methodologists.
Her areas of focus include K–12 online, blended, and digital learning, mental health and wellness and social and emotional learning (SEL) for educators and students, and the role of somatics in healing trauma and building resilience. As part of C4E, Kathryn also founded Wellness for Educators and Embodied Change Coaching, initiatives that support individuals in cultivating well-being, resilience, and growth while positioning well-being as a catalyst for systemic transformation across educational and community-based spaces. She is the author of The Mind-Body Connection for Educators.
As an embodied change coach, she supports educators, school and district leaders, edupreneurs, nonprofit leaders, and others by drawing on her extensive training in somatics, attachment theory, internal family systems, polyvagal theory, and compassion-based approaches. She holds numerous certifications in somatic coaching, trauma therapy, embodied conflict, somatic parts work, and yoga, and continues to expand her training through advanced programs in trauma-aware approaches. Kathryn’s professional and personal journey are deeply and intentionally grounded in and informed by these somatic and holistic practices. In 2025, she completed Levels 1 and 2 of Loyola's Coaching Certificate Program and is currently working towards her ICF certification.
Before founding C4E in 2018, Kathryn served as Director of the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute, Director of Research for the International Association for K–12 Online Learning (iNACOL, Aurora Institute, now FullScale Learning), adjunct professor and advisor in the Johns Hopkins University School of Education Ed.D. program, and assistant professor of instructional technology at Georgia Southern University. She has contributed to the National Standards for Quality Online Learning and is a founding editor-in-chief of both the Journal of Online Learning Research and the Handbook of Research on K–12 Online and Blended Learning.