Vincent Kiernan is an associate dean in Georgetown University's School of Continuing Studies (http://scs.georgetown.edu). He is in charge of the Bachelor's of Liberal Studies program, in which working adults take courses at night and on weekends toward an interdisciplinary college degree. Kiernan has been a journalist for more than 20 years. Most recently, he worked for nine years as an information-technology senior editor and senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education (http://chronicle.com), a weekly trade newspaper in Washington, D.C. Previously, he served as U.S. correspondent for the New Scientist. He also is a scholar of journalism. In 2002, Kiernan earned a doctorate in mass communication from the University of Maryland at College Park. His research examines the relationships between the media and the scientific establishment. A book based on the dissertation, "Embargoed Science," was published in 2006 by the University of Illinois Press. (See http://insidehighered.com/views/2006/08/21/kiernan)