2022 Alfred & Julia Hill Lecture – Michael Specter
Michael Specter, Science Writer for The New Yorker and winner of 8 international awards for his work, will speak on “Believing Science in an Age of Denial” when he delivers the 29th annual Alfred & Julia Hill Lecture at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, February 22 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Strong Hall Auditorium (Room 101) on White Avenue.
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The Alfred & Julia Hill Lecture Series on Science, Society, and the Mass Media was established in 1989 by Tom Hill, former publisher of The Oak Ridger, and Mary Frances Hill Holton in honor and memory of their parents.
Alfred and Julia Hill founded The Oak Ridger in 1949, seven years after the government established Oak Ridge to house workers on the atomic bomb project. The Oak Ridger was the first successful privately owned newspaper in the city and marked an important stage in the transition of Oak Ridge from federal operation to private ownership and self-government.
Tom Hill and Mary Frances Hill Holton were also the principal benefactors of an endowment for the School of Journalism and Electronic Media in 1987 to match State of Tennessee contributions to establish the Julia G. and Alfred G. Hill Chair of Excellence Professorship in Science, Technology, and Medical Writing and the Science Communication Program at the University of Tennessee.
Hill Lecture History
| March 23, 2021 | Anu Garg, Founder of Wordsmith.org | Language Myths & Hoaxes: A Humorous Look at Language Misconceptions |
| March 31, 2020 | Robin Lloyd, Scientific American Writer and Editor | The End of Investigative Science Writing? (Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic) |
| April 2, 2019 | Sarah Holt , Scientific, and Historical film work | Turning Complex Science Stories into Compelling Television |
| April 10, 2018 | Mark Schleifstein, The New Orleans Advocate, Environmental writer | Covering the environment as the media transforms around you |
| April 4, 2017 | Joel Achenbach, Washington Post science writer | Navigating the Era of Fake News, Pseudoscience, and Bunk |
| March 29, 2016 | Virginia Hughes, BuzzFeed News science editor | In Defense of Clickbait |
| March 24, 2015 | Joe Palca, Science Correspondent for National Public Radio | Explaining the Universe in Two Minutes or Less |
| March 11, 2014 | Ron Winslow, Medical Writer for The Wall Street Journal | Covering Science: Worst of Times, Best of Times |
| April 2, 2013 | Jeffrey Kluger, Science Writer for Time magazine | Science as Civilizer |
| March 13, 2012 | Stephen S. Hall, New York Times Magazine writer | Alternate Universes: Different Ways of Thinking about Science – and Science Journalism |
| April 12, 2011 | Michael Waldrop, Nature editor | Lessons My Stories Taught Me |
| March 16, 2010 | Richard Harris, National Public Radio | Covering Climate Change in a Changing Media Climate |
| March 31, 2009 | Tom Siegfried, Science News magazine | Odds Are, It’s Wrong: The Misuse of Math in Science, Medicine, and the Media |
| March 25, 2008 | Alan Boyle, Science Editor for MSNBC.com | Britney Spears vs. Chimps with Spears: Taling about Science in a Tabloid Culture |
| 2007 | Robert Krulwich | What a Reporter Learns from Dylan, Coltrane, and Chumbawamba: Journalism as Music |
| 2006 | Michael D. Lemonick | Crank or Genius – How Does a Science Writer Tell the Difference? |
| 2005 | Jonathan Weiner | On the Writing of His Brother’s Keeper: A Story from the Edge of Medicine |
| 2004 | Paula Apsell | What’s Hot, What’s Not in Science Programming |
| 2003 | John Rennie | Naysaying the Nincompoops: On Being a Maven in a Misinformed Era |
| 2002 | David Quammen | Midnight in the Garden of Fact and Factoid |
| 2001 | Sharon Begley | Why Science Journalism Isn’t Science |
| 2000 | John Noble Wilford | Science Journalism Across Two Centuries |
| 1999 | Robert Kanigel | The Perils of Popularizing Science |
| 1997 | Jon Franklin | The End of Science Writing |
| 1996 | Jim Detjen | Environmental News: Where Is It Going? |
| 1994 | Victor Cohn | Reporting – Good and Bad – on Health in America |
| 1993 | Gina Kolata | Medical Reporting: Where the Story Lies |
| 1991 | Dorothy Nelkin | Risk Communication and the Mass Media |
| 1989 | John Noble Wilford | Science as Exploration |