[2] He authored seven books and over thirty articles on rhetorical theory and composition pedagogy, and his work has been the “cornerstone of dozens of textbooks on composition, many university and college programs, and entire state language arts programs.”[3] Throughout his career, Kinneavy was heavily involved with teaching, working with the Texas Department of Education and as a consultant to school districts in Texas and other states.
Kinneavy attended St. Catherine's parochial school from the age of 8 until he was 15 and then joined the Christian Brothers, a teaching order of the Catholic Church.
After graduation, the order sent Kinneavy to teach math, sciences, languages, music, and English at elementary and secondary schools in New Mexico and Louisiana.
After leaving the Christian Brothers order in 1957, Kinneavy served as Assistant Professor for five years at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado.
He joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin in 1963 and taught there for 33 years, serving as director of the writing program and holding the Blumberg Centennial Professorship in English.
[8] St. Edwards University awarded him an honorary doctorate in humane letters in 1980 in recognition of his work to develop its writing curriculum.