Jennifer Kilpatrick

After completing a bachelors degree in Special Education at Liberty University, Dr. Jennifer Renée Kilpatrick began her education career teaching students with a wide range of low and high incidence disabilities at the elementary and high school levels in the rural Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.  While teaching in Virginia, she earned a graduate certificate in Visual Impairments.  She then pursued and obtained a masters in Deaf Education from the University of Tennessee while employed as a residential education supervisor at the Tennessee School for the Deaf.  She ultimately found her niche as a middle school Intensive Reading and Language Arts teacher at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind (FSDB).  While teaching at FSDB, she completed an additional masters degree in Literacy at University of North Florida.  

She left the classroom to accept a position as a research associate on a federally funded grant examining the efficacy of Strategic and Interactive Writing Instruction with deaf and hard of hearing students in Grades 3-5 and to obtain a PhD in Literacy Studies from The University of Tennessee. Throughout her career, she has had the privilege of coaching teachers of the deaf in Listening and Spoken Language, Total Communication, and Bilingual settings throughout more than 15 states.  She has also been providing professional development for teachers at schools for the deaf throughout Haiti since 2013. Since 2015, she has been a deaf education faculty member at University of North Florida, where she has established partnerships with K-12 programs serving DHH students in St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa. Her goal is to use these partnerships to bridge theory and practice for the teacher candidates, while also providing ongoing support for the teachers and programs serving K-12 DHH students across the state of Florida.  

When not attached to a laptop, she can usually be found outside—enjoying sunrises, taking walks with her spoiled golden doodle, running half marathons, climbing mountains, paddling waters, and exploring new places.  Students tend to call her Dr. K or KP, but her colleagues, friends, and family refer to her as Jennifer Renée or Jen.