Associate Vice President for the Residential Experience

Email: kirstenk@mailbox.sc.edu
Phone: 803-777-4129
Office: Patterson Hall 011

Kirsten Kennedy serves as associate vice president for the residential experience. Kennedy oversees University Housing and its faculty-led and associated living and learning communities, Student Affairs and Academic Support capital projects and information technology and the Office of Sustainability.

Previously, she served as interim vice president for housing and student development. As executive director of university housing, she led all facets of the unit, including residence life, facilities operations, administration, technology, business services, assessment and construction and renovation. 

She holds an appointment in the USC higher education and student affairs program as adjunct assistant professor, teaching classes in student affairs administration and trends and issues in higher education.

Kennedy has a lengthy record of service to the Association of College and University Housing Officers - International (ACUHO-I). Recently, she was appointed to the ACUHO-I Foundation as a trustee and finance and corporate records officer. She previously served as the organization's knowledge enhancement director, overseeing ACUHO-I's Program Committee, Research Committee, Talking Stick committee and Journal Board, and acting as the liaison to the ACHA Healthy Campus Initiatives group. She has served in multiple other positions for ACUHO-I, including executive board member, NHTI faculty, Senior Housing Officer Institute faculty and co-chair and Professional Standards Institute faculty.  Kennedy edited and co-authored the ACUHO-I-published book "Making a Difference: Improving Residence Life Assessment Practices" in 2016.  She was named one of ACPA’s Emerging Scholars in 2011. 

Additionally, she has served as faculty for the SEAHO region’s RELI three times and co-chair once.  She also has served as faculty on the subject of peer leaders for the National Research Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. Kennedy has consulted as a program reviewer on six campuses, most recently UNC Charlotte and East Carolina University, and she has presented internationally for Unipol Student Homes based out of London.  She has presented at numerous regional and national conferences and has an extensive publishing record.

Kennedy earned her bachelor's degree in business administration and her MBA at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and her Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy analysis with an emphasis in higher and continuing education from the University of Missouri. She is also a graduate of Harvard University's Crisis Management in Higher Education program.