Who we are

Our Founder: Dr. Kelly Leahy

Dr. Kelly Leahy serves as a researcher and professor of Television, Radio, and Film at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Communications. She loves teaching the next generation of media creators about storytelling for impact. She teaches production, business, and research classes to graduate and undergraduate students,

Production Expertise

Kelly has shaped children's media and educational technology at the industry's most respected companies:

  • Nickelodeon: series development and production for Nick Jr., including Blue’s Clues

  • Discovery Kids: original animated and documentary series development and production

  • PBS: leading curriculum and content strategy for PBS Education

  • iCivics: leading product and partnerships with award-winning educational games that reach 10 million students annually

Academic Excellence

Syracuse University, professor in the Newhouse School of Public Communications

Harvard University, Doctor of Education (Ed.D.); Master of Education (Ed.M,)

Northwestern University, Bachelor of Science, School of Communications

Research & Innovation Focus

Kelly’s research examines how people learn to navigate a complex and often misleading information environment. Her work spans media literacy, misinformation, educational media, and critical thinking, unified by an empowerment-oriented approach that treats media as a tool for cultivating critical reasoning and mass education, rather than merely a threat to guard against.

Central to her recent scholarship is the Media Acumen Framework, which is the subject of a book being published later this year. The framework extends media literacy beyond the K–12 classroom into lifelong learning, introduces a typology of learner orientations, and reframes media acumen as a disposition of interested skepticism—approaching information with genuine curiosity but a discerning, evidence-minded eye. Rather than positioning audiences as passive recipients to be protected, it casts media makers as collaborators in building public resilience to misinformation.

She is currently investigating digital gaming spaces, exploring in-game media literacy interventions, which is showing to be very impactful. She is also collaborating on studies in the influencer space, youth and technology, and online predation prevention. Across all of her work, Dr. Leahy connects rigorous scholarship with practical questions of pedagogy, digital citizenship, and the public's capacity to evaluate information in a rapidly changing media landscape.

Advisory Leadership

Kelly has served on national boards and advisory committees including:

  • Library of Congress, Teaching with Primary Sources Advisory Board

  • National Association for Media Literacy Education, Governing Board

  • The White House, Office of Domestic Policy Special Committee on Civic Education

  • The White House, Office of Science and Technology Policy Special Committee on Gaming

  • American Academy of Pediatrics, Committee on Media and Technology

  • The Wilson Center, Roundtables on Emerging Technology and Social Impact