A specialist in critical language studies, intercultural communication, and African Diaspora studies, Dr. Byrne is committed to pursuing research projects that positively impact diasporan communities. Dr. Byrne is frequently invited as the guest speaker at community-based youth forums and training seminars. She has served as the keynote speaker at several youth empowerment events, including Ottawa’s inaugural Youth Day Conference in 2002. She has conducted several workshops on topics such as social diversity, community mentoring, hip-hop culture in Canada, and health communication in the Caribbean. In 2001, Dr. Byrne was featured in the Pan-African Publications Millennium Minds: Celebrating 100 Black Canadians.

Dr. Byrne has participated in several community-based health research projects. She was the recipient of the 2002-2003 Rockefeller Residency Fellowship at the Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean (IRADAC) at the City University of New York. Among other things, the generous support of IRADAC allowed her to further her research on mental health beliefs and communication practices in the African Diaspora. Dr. Byrne has presented her research at several major conferences and research symposia in Canada, the Caribbean, and the United States.

Dr. Byrne also has extensive experience in online higher education. An avid researcher of online pedagogy, Dara has participated on thesis committees and taught research writing in the graduate Liberal Arts program at Excelsior College. She has also taught composition and communications courses at several other online institutions. In 2002, Dr. Byrne developed a diversity training program for online instructors and has led several seminars intended to improve the intercultural communication experience in online classrooms. 

Dara is a Professor at The City University of New York where she teaches media studies, speech and intercultural communication courses. Dr. Byrne holds a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Intercultural Communication from Howard University in Washington, D.C. She earned a B.A. Honours degree in English and Sociology as well as an M.A. in English from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.