During his presidency, the NCAA implemented a recommendation from the Knight Commission to create financial incentives for member schools to improve student-athlete academic performance.

[7] Kirwan started at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1964 as an assistant professor of mathematics.

In the 1966–67 school year, Kirwan was a visiting lecturer at Royal Holloway College, University of London.

[7][8] As vice chancellor, Kirwan instituted stronger admissions standards, expanded undergraduate merit scholarships and graduate fellowships, and started a process for academic planning.

[9] Additionally during the Kirwan administration, the university had an increase in research dollars and one of the highest numbers of graduating students who were black.

[14] His legacy of striving for diversity at Ohio State, lead to the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity being named after him.

The Knight Commission had been advocating such a system for the past 15 years; Kirwan called the NCAA's decision a "game-changing step to place a higher value on education in college athletics.

"[26] Reflecting on his presidency of Ohio State, Kirwan added: "The culture of football allegiance and reverence was disturbing.

[27] Kirwan served on educational advisory boards to U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

President Clinton appointed Kirwan to the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century.

[16] In 2002, Kirwan was among 21 appointees by President Bush to the Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

[28][29] Appointed by Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Kirwan served on the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) from 2010 to 2014.

"[31] In 2020, the Maryland General Assembly passed, and Governor Larry Hogan vetoed, a $4 billion proposal (once fully phased in) based on the commission's recommendations.

[33] In April 2007, Kirwan was appointed to the editorial board of the newly announced Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.

[34] Kirwan is a past board chair of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and of the American Council on Education.