Latest Stories
The McGee Applied Research Center for Narrative Studies is launching a new speaker series this fall designed to help students and others take a critical look at media influences and foster a healthy relationship with technology. “Reimagining Expertise” will examine what it means to be an “expert” in the year 2025.
Democratic societies have long prospered from cultivating the professional experts who shape our institutions. These experts have been the gatekeepers of knowledge and power, helping to set public priorities, fuel discovery and create culture.
But technological advancement, particularly the rise of social media influencers, has marked a dramatic shift in society’s relationship with experts. “The voices that attract the most attention today are not necessarily the most knowledgeable or best suited to be heard, a fact that is greatly impacting our ability to develop consensus and a shared reality,” McGee Center Executive Director Kristy Roschke said.
The series, which includes three events this fall and will continue into the spring 2026 semester, will explore the following questions: What does it mean to be an expert in 2025? What are the criteria? Who gets to be an expert, and who decides? How did we get here, and where will it take us?
Thursday, Oct. 2, at 5 p.m.
Student panel: Finding Community in Online Spaces
Vanderbilt students representing a variety of backgrounds and interests will discuss their experiences building community in on- and offline spaces. At a time when our lives are increasingly shaped by technology-mediated interactions, including social media and AI chatbots, the panel will explore, “How can we cultivate human-centered interactions that foster feelings of belonging?”
Thursday, Oct. 30, at 4:30 p.m.
Andrew Leeper, Nashville Severe Weather
A minister by training and longtime weather hobbyist, Leeper is a core member of the Nashville Severe Weather team, which provides severe weather news and updates year-round for Davidson and Williamson counties in Tennessee to the group’s nearly half-million social media followers.
Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 5 p.m.
Andrew Heyward, former president of CBS News
A nationally known journalist, award-winning broadcast news producer and expert on the changing media landscape, Heyward served as president of CBS News from January 1996 to November 2005. He now works with local TV newsrooms on storytelling and innovation. Heyward is also an adviser to MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication, the Knight Center for the Future of News at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University, and the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont.
All events will take place in the Central Library Community Room. Snacks will be provided.
The interdisciplinary McGee Center, located on the second floor of Vanderbilt’s Central Library, promotes media literacy by providing essential resources to evaluate the objectivity of news coverage, digital media and other narratives. The center’s mission is to support faculty who teach innovative courses, conduct research and mentor students exploring narrative studies in the form of class work or immersion experiences.
To learn more, visit mcgee.library.vanderbilt.edu.