Julie Kiernan

Julie Kiernan received her master of fine arts degree from the University of California, Irvine. Her thesis focused on the pedagogy of acting training. Before joining Salem State, she was a professional actress in Los Angeles. She has traveled internationally as an actress, a faculty leading students, a presenter, and a consultant.

Kiernan received the University’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2016. She serves as chair of the theatre & speech communication department’s oral communication curriculum committees. She regularly directs for the department and recently directed: Everybody (upcoming Fall 2025), Collective Rage (2025), Angtigone (2023), First year Lab (2022), Orlando (2021), Top Girls (2019). She teaches performance and oral communication courses.

She was a founding faculty of the Veteran Scholars Learning Community at SSU. She is the Artistic Director of the annual National 10-minute Veterans’ Playwriting Contest & Festival (2018-current).

She serves as Faculty Fellow for Global Engagement from 2018 -2022, 2024-2026. She served as Faculty COIL Coordinator for the university. COIL is a collaborative online international learning pedagogy. In this capacity, she facilitated a yearly COIL Faculty Learning Community and has trained 40 faculty in COIL.

Kiernan was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholar Award in Spring 2024 and traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria to teach and direct at New Bulgarian University.

Faculty Fellow for Global Engagement

Artistic Director, SSU Annual Veterans 10-Minute Playwriting Contest & Festival

Watch Professor Julie Kiernan's TEDx Talk "Setting the Stage for Human Connection" delivered at TEDx Salem State University 9/17/18.