Retro Readings

The course considers which crimes, perpetrators and victims receive public attention — and which stories remain overlooked. Students will examine why audiences are drawn to true crime and what that fascination reveals about society's values, assumptions and systems of justice.

Students will also investigate the boundaries between fact and fiction in crime writing, considering how narratives about crime shape public perceptions of guilt, punishment and justice.

Casey Kayser's research focuses on narrative medicine and the medical humanities; modern and contemporary American and Southern literature and drama; folklore; and gender studies. She is the author of Marginalized: Southern Women Playwrights Confront Race, Region, and Gender (University Press of Mississippi, 2021), which received the 2021 Eudora Welty Prize.

Kayser has co-edited several scholarly collections, including Understanding the Short Fiction of Carson McCullers (Mercer University Press, 2020), Carson McCullers in the Twenty-First Century (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) and Get It While It's Hot: Gas Station, Roadside, and Convenience Cuisine in the U.S. South (LSU Press, 2026). Her scholarship has appeared in journals including Midwestern Folklore, Mississippi Quarterly and Pedagogy.

Her current book project examines how illness and health have shaped cultural understandings of the American South and analyzes their depiction in the works of Southern writers. She has taught courses on Southern crime fiction and has presented widely on representations of crime in nonfiction, fiction, media and popular culture.

By examining both local and national case studies, students will gain a deeper understanding of how colleges and universities have served as incubators of social change while also reinforcing the status quo.

Michael Hevel serves as an associate dean in the College of Education and Health Professions and a professor of higher education. He studies the history of college students, campus life, and student affairs. He has published research in leading journals such as the History of Education Quarterly, Journal of College Student Development, and the Review of Higher Education. He has received multiple awards for his research from the American Educational Research Association, the leading scholarly organization devoted to educational research. His research has been supported by grants from the Spencer Foundation, National Academy of Education, Massachusetts Historical Society, and Princeton University. He was named the David and Jane Gearhart Faculty Fellow in Higher Education Leadership in 2024.

In this course, students will explore the mathematics behind the exhibition while learning about mathematical communication and public outreach. They will receive training to serve as exhibition guides, helping visitors engage with the displays and discover the creativity, beauty and joy of mathematics for themselves.

Edmund Harriss is a mathematician, artist, educator and maker whose work explores the visualization of mathematics and its unexpected applications, particularly in art. His research is driven by a passion for communicating the beauty, creativity and practical value of mathematical thinking through interdisciplinary collaboration.

Harriss' research has been published in leading journals, including Nature and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and featured in national and international media outlets such as New Scientist, NPR and The Guardian. His artwork has appeared in The New York Times and is permanently installed at universities ranging from Imperial College London to the University of Arkansas.

He is the author of two adult coloring books inspired by mathematics and a children's counting book that introduces readers to the beauty of deep mathematical ideas through art and play.