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Kay will talk with Jonathan Zimmerman, University of Pennsylvania’s education historian and author of “Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools�; Habiba Chichir, Marshall University’s biological anthropologist; and Dr. Adam Franks, associate residency director for the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine.

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is recommended because space is limited. Registration is available at and includes an audience Q&A segment with preference given to students. The live event will be taped for use in a future episode of “Us & Them.” The event is co-sponsored by Marshall University’s John Deaver Drinko Academy, the West Virginia Humanities Council and West Virginia Public Broadcasting, the broadcasting home of “Us & Them.”

Last month, Kay and his team hosted a “Diminished Trust� event at West Virginia University that focused on waning public trust in journalism and the news media.

“Trust is in short supply in America these days,� Kay said. “Across the board and across the political spectrum, people seem to lack trust in our government . . . in many of our agencies and organizations — even in each other. That’s why our ‘Us & Them’ team is staging these conversations to encourage citizens to consider how long our society can sustain this erosion of trust.�

“The current diminishment of trust in science is one expression of anti-intellectualism, a longer trend in our culture, and one which waxes and wanes,� says Monserrat Miller, executive director of Marshall’s John Deaver Drinko Academy. “Diminishing trust in science, though, is something that we need to explore and discuss because it poses a range of dangers from public health to cynicism about the idea of truth itself.�

The taping at Marshall is the second in a series of public “Us & Them� events focused on diminished trust in America. Kay’s team is planning future “trust� related events with Marshall, WVU and other West Virginia institutions.