Kia H. Vernon
Kia Hardy Vernon is a native of Greenville, North Carolina. In 1993, she graduated with honors from North Carolina Central University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish with certification to teach grades K-12. After four years teaching high school Spanish in Wilson and Greenville, North Carolina, she returned to North Carolina Central University in 1997 to pursue her Juris Doctorate degree. She graduated with honors from North Carolina Central University School of Law in 2000.
Upon graduation, Kia gained valuable experience in the private sector as a partner at Blake and Vernon, PLLC, a small law firm in Cary, North Carolina specializing in Family Law and Real Estate Transactions. Subsequently, she opened her own law office, Vernon Law Group, PLLC, and continued to serve the legal needs of clients in the Triangle area.
In 2007, she returned to teaching, serving as an adjunct professor at North Carolina Central University School of Law, teaching Legal Reasoning and Analysis, Legal Research and Persuasion and Spanish for Lawyers. In 2009, she joined the faculty as a tenure-track professor. During her tenure, she has taught Pleadings and Practice, Spanish for Lawyers, Domestic Relations, Contracts I, Contracts II, Advanced Legal Analysis: Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, and Contracts, Advanced Legal Analysis: Real Property, Torts, and Criminal Procedure, Reproductive Rights, Critical Thinking II, and Strategies and Tactics for the MBE.
In addition to teaching, Kia has served in several administrative positions at North Carolina Central University School of Law. In 2016, she was appointed director of academic excellence and oversaw the merger of the Office of Academic Support and Office of Bar Preparation to form the Office of Academic Excellence. In August 2020, she was asked to serve as the assistant dean of academic success (formerly known as academic excellence), and in August 2021 was promoted to associate dean of academic success. During her tenure in the Office of Academic Success, she oversaw the expansion of the unit and the revision of the Academic Success curricula. Most recently, Kia served as the associate dean of academic affairs, where she collaborated with law school faculty and departments to improve academic programming and instruction.
Kia is passionate about preparing and assisting students for success in law school, beginning in the first year and continuing through matriculation and summer bar preparation. She has developed several academic success courses for the law school, including two Advanced Legal Analysis courses and Strategies and Tactics for the MBE. Additionally, she has created and taught in several innovative academic success programs, including Flight School, NCCU School of Law’s first preorientation program designed to give students a head start in law school, PASS Academy, an early bar review program designed to enhance critical analysis skills, and Summer Start Initiative, a first of its kind program in the nation, developed to increase student outcomes in their pivotal first semester of law school.
Kia’s scholarship agenda focuses on student success and includes a book she co-authored with Professor Krishnee Coley, “Investing in Your Success: A Practical Guide to Achieving Your
Best Results in Your First Year of Law School,” which has assisted thousands of students to better prepare for the first year of law school. Her scholarship includes extensive research on best practices in academic success and bar preparation, which she shares with other law school professionals in her articles and presentations and with students through her podcast, “How to Get Away with Law School.”
Kia is very active in the NCCU campus community and in the Triangle. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.