Kathleen Kennedy
McClelland Park Room 425B
650 N Park Ave
Tucson, Arizona 85721-0078
Dr. Kennedy's career in marketing, strategy, and consumer research spans both the academic and business worlds successfully. She is a Professor of Practice in the Retailing and Consumer Science program and a CUES Distinguished Scholar and a Community Engaged Learning Fellow. At UArizona, she has spearheaded pedagogical innovation in AI adaptive learning, experiential learning, and community-engaged instruction and played a critical role in updating the Retailing and Consumer Science academic program to incorporate modern retailing practice. Previously, Dr. Kennedy was a Marketing faculty member at The University of Akron (2011-2017). She concurrently served as Executive Director of the Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing (2011-2012) and Research Director of the Suarez Applied Marketing Research Laboratories (2011-2015).
Dr. Kennedy has over 25 years of industry experience as a C-level marketing and e-commerce executive in retailing, financial services, consulting, and non-profit organizations. She also co-founded four successful marketing services businesses, including Mindnav LLC, a marketing research company that pioneered consumer neuroscience research, healthcare and patient relationship management, and customer experience applications.
Her current research focus is on the effect of artificial intelligence (AI) in the retail, service, and higher education sectors, as well as understanding the role and impact of intelligent, self-learning systems in human-service organization relationships. Her education and SoTL research employ similar perspectives to explore the impact of AI on both instructors and students, with a focus on AI-adaptive learning systems and human-technology policy formation.
Dr. Kennedy holds a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) in Management Sciences and Marketing Division, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester (UK), and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Miami (FL). She is currently completing a PhD in Higher Education Policy (ABD) at the University of Arizona with minors in Instruction and Assessment and Teaching and Learning Sociology.
Kathleen lives and works in Tucson, Arizona, USA.
Kathleen's research focus is on the integration of AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning) retail services in shopping and consumer decision-making, and how retail innovation can increase the efficiency of the marketplace advancing sustainable consumption. Her current research is about customer facing AI applications of AI in the retailing sector. Specifically, she is focused on understanding the role and effect of intelligent, self-learning systems in shopper-retailer relationships, the underlying consumer buying process, and how consumers are incorportating their consumption needs, desires, and values into the use fo these shopping tools.
Retailing and Marketing Strategy, Omnichannel Retailing, Digital Retailing, Retail Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Services Retailing, Fundamentals of Marketing, Retail Promotion and Visual Merchandizing, Retail Business Analysis & Decision Making, MS Excel and Retail Business Analysis, and Consumers, the Environment, and Sustainable Consumption.
Retailing and marketing strategy, digital commerce, retail technology (R-Tech), innovation and entrepreneurship, new product development and circular economy design approaches/sustainable consumption systems, marketing research methods, and consumer neuroscience.
Kennedy, K. J. (2026). "The Promise and Challenge of AI Personalisation in Education: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis," in Shaping Tomorrow: The Human Journey with AI.
Kennedy, K. J. & Castek, J. M. (2025). “Empowering ELA Teachers: Recommendations for Teacher Education,” in AI Era, Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education (CITE Journal).
Kennedy, K. J. & Gupta, A. (2025) “AI Education Roadmap: A framework for scaffolding AI and data literacy teaching and learning,” in Thresholds in Education.
Kennedy, K. J. (2024). “Chapter 8: Portfolios.” In Interdisciplinary Approaches to Culminating Student Experiences, Michael G. Strawser & Robin Yaure (Eds.), Vernon Press.
Kennedy, K. (2020) “Retail Digitalization: Two Emerging Retail Models,” International Journal of Retail Distribution and Management.
Daugherty, T., Hoffman, E., Kennedy, K., & Nolan, M. (2018). “Measuring consumer neural activation to differentiate cognitive processing of advertising: Revisiting Krugman.” European Journal of Marketing, 52(1/2), 182-198.
Daugherty, T., Hoffman, E., & Kennedy, K. (2016). “Research in reverse: Ad testing using an inductive consumer neuroscience approach.” Journal of Business Research, 69(8), 3168-3176.
Kennedy, K. (2016). “Evaluating Emotional Response to Positive and Negative Political Advertising” Special research project supporting “Informed Citizen Akron,” a collaboration between the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at The University of Akron, the Jefferson Center, and a consortium of 27 Ohio media organizations led by the Akron Beacon Journal.
Daugherty, T., Hoffman, E., Kennedy, K., Nolan, M., & de Gregorio, F. (2015). Utilizing Consumer Neuroscience to Diagnose Advertising Effectiveness. In American Academy of Advertising. Conference. Proceedings (Online) (p. 64). American Academy of Advertising.
Daugherty, T., Hoffman, E., Kennedy, K., & Nolan, M. (2014). Consumer Neuroscience: Testing Effectual Advertising Using Dense-Array Electroencephalography. ACR North American Advances.
Selected Invited Presentations at Regional, National, and International Scientific Conferences
Kennedy, K.J. (2025). "The AI Savvy Educator: Transforming Course Design and Prep." ITLC Conference on Teaching for Active & Engaged Learning, San Diego, CA. January 10.
Kennedy, K. J. (2024). “Increasing equity and access with personalized AI learning support. Inside UAZ-Funded Scholarship.” CUES Research Presentation, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. September 12.
Kennedy, K. J. (2024). “Increasing Higher Education Access and Equity with PALS AI-Personalized Learning.” ITLC Lilly Conference, Asheville, NC, August 5.
Kennedy, K. J. (2024). “Increasing equity and access with personalized AI learning support.” University of Arizona Disability Studies Conference, Tucson, AZ, April 26.
Kennedy, K. J. (2022). “Intelligent Shopping Agents (ISAs): Opportunities and implications of Alexa, Google Assistant, and other non-human shoppers,” Doctoral Fortnight Conference, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, July 20.
Kennedy, K. J. (2022). “Using the UDL Framework to Create Engaging Assignments,” Innovative Teaching and Learning Conference, Teaching and Learning Innovation at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, March 23.
Kennedy, K. J. (2021). “Inclusive Classrooms: Using the UDL Framework to Create Engaging Assignments,” 7th Annual CAST UDL Symposium, virtual conference, July 28.
Kennedy, K. J. (2021). “AI servicescapes: Services innovation through customer-facing intelligent systems,” Doctoral Fortnight Conference, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, July 18.
Kennedy, K. J. (2021). 2021 Service Frontier Conference: Service in the World of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies, Philadelphia, PA/virtual, July 9.