Zena Tredinnick-Kirby, Ph.D., received her doctorate at Penn State in 2022. Her research focused on designing a feminist teaching artist residency as a living ethics of care curriculum supported by feminist theory and pedagogy. In addition, her research was an inquiry with her children that fostered dialogue and site-specific artmaking in homeschooling that aimed to create interdisciplinary educational encounters.

In 2022, Dr. Tredinnick-Kirby and two colleagues received the Teaching & Learning with Technology Faculty Fellows Award from Penn State, utilizing 3-D virtual spaces to create lifelike virtual museums. Dr. Tredinnick-Kirby also was a recipient of the Center for Pedagogy in Arts and Design Discovery Grant.

Her articles have appeared in Visual Culture & Gender (VCG) and National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI). Currently, Dr. Tredinnick-Kirby is teaching a course she authored ART1: Introduction to Visual Arts at Penn State and continues to unschool/homeschool her children through interdisciplinary art encounters.