Kelly Leahy

Kelly Leahy is a unique professional bridging research, development and production in educational media and educational technology. Her expertise is applying educational research to the most highly engaging forms of media. Leahy has developed and produced broadcast and digital media for a variety of highly-lauded organizations, including PBS, iCivics, Nickelodeon and Discovery. Many projects included in her professional portfolio have massive distribution (3M+) and balance educational design and curricular goals with high engagement, cultural implications and media literacy.

Leahy's research applies a cultural and developmental lens to media, with special interests in educational technology, digital games and toys, mobile technologies, television and web content. She researched participatory media and cultural shifts related to emerging technologies at Harvard University and MIT, and has spoken on digital and game-based learning at conferences such as SXSW and the National Book Festival, as well as at universities ranging from American University to the London School of Economics.

She has served on advisory boards and panels for the White House, the Library of Congress and the American Association of Pediatrics, among others. Her service work includes volunteering for national and local organizations, such as four years on the board of directors for the National Association for Media Literacy Education and two years on the Skaneateles Education Foundation, where she is board president.

Leahy earned a master's and doctor of education degrees from Harvard University, and was awarded the Fred Rogers Memorial Scholarship by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for her dissertation research. She is proud to be an alumna of both the Northwestern University School of Communication and the American School of Paris.