Kathy Kiely, the Lee Hills Chair in Free Press Studies at the Missouri School of Journalism, is focused on combating the global pandemic of authoritarianism. She has sheltered journalists from Ukraine, Afghanistan and Kashmir and funded Nicaraguan journalists exiled in Costa Rica. In 2024, she successfully concluded a seven-year effort to win asylum for Mexican journalist Emilio Gutiérrez Soto. With the university’s news outlets, she works to promote news literacy and elevate rural voices. Her work was honored with the 2024 Mel Carnahan Public Service Award. 

Kiely designed a multi-media class for J-School sophomores and teaches courses on digital controls on information and political writing. She bases her teaching on more than four decades working for news outlets, including USA TODAY, the New York Daily News, and Bill Moyers. 

Kiely holds a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University, a master’s degree from American University and was a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University. She is a trustee of Princeton University and a board member of The Signals Network, The Missouri Press Association Foundation, the Missouri Sunshine Coalition and the Stars and Stripes Museum and Library.