Grisly Tales, Campus Changemakers and Mathematical Whimsy: Spring Retro Readings Return

Long before true crime filled podcast queues, readers were devouring grisly accounts of murder and mayhem. College campuses have long been proving grounds for competing ideas about progress. And mathematics can be playful, beautiful and even a work of art. 

This spring, three Honors College Retro Readings courses will take students beyond the familiar versions of these subjects to explore the histories, ideas and unexpected connections beneath them. 

Through close reading, conversation, film, art and other media, honors students from across campus will examine the enduring appeal of true crime, the role college students have played in shaping social change and the creative possibilities of mathematics. Each course brings a contemporary perspective to the classic liberal arts seminar and offers students a chance to see something they thought they knew in an entirely new way. 

"Honors scholars, take a walk on the wild side," said Lynda Coon, dean of the Honors College. "Retro Readings are an invitation to be intellectually adventurous to encounter ideas you might never find in your major, look at familiar subjects from an entirely different angle and let an unexpected question capture your imagination. We invite our students to wander beyond their usual academic territory, follow their curiosity and discover just how much intellectual adventure can happen around a seminar table." 

Honors College Retro Readings

True Crime: Long before you could watch hours and hours of true crime documentaries on streaming platforms, people in 16th century England clamored to get their hands on pamphlets and broadsides full of salacious details about criminal activity. This course will examine classic and contemporary true crime, including nonfiction accounts of real crimes and works of fiction inspired by actual events. Students will explore themes, conventions and enduring appeal of true crime across literature, film, television and other media, considering which crimes, perpetrators and victims receive public attention and which stories remain overlooked and investigate the boundaries between fact and fiction in crime writing, considering how narratives about crime shape public perceptions of guilt, punishment and justice. 

The course will be led by Casey Kayser, associate professor and director of medical humanities. Her research focuses on narrative medicine and the medical humanities, modern and contemporary American and Southern literature and drama, folklore and gender studies. 

"We'll examine how wide audiences are drawn to true crime and what that fascination reveals about our society's values and assumptions," Kayser said. "It will be a fun and grisly semester!" 

College Students Making History: There is a common perception that the college years are merely formative; a place where students learn the skills to take with them off campus and into the world where they will then make contributions to society-at-large. But according to Michael Hevel, associate dean in the College of Education and Health Professions, there is a long history of college students spending their college years making meaningful change, pushing boundaries of institutions of higher education and also creating larger social developments on campus. 

Through classic and contemporary readings, along with selected films and other media, Hevel will lead students in this course to examine campus activism on issues ranging from censorship and desegregation to LGBTQ+ rights. They will also consider the disagreements that existed among students themselves, recognizing that college campuses have long been sites of competing visions of social progress. 

"We're going to explore political history, social history and cultural history," Hevel said. "And we're going to think about how former University of Arkansas students influenced the history of their generations." 

Mathemalchemy: In this course, students will explore the mathematics behind Mathemalchemy, a traveling exhibition created by a team of 24 mathematicians and artists over two years. The exhibit has toured the United States since 2023 and will come to the U of A for its final U.S. stop before touring leading universities and museums across Europe. 

Students will also have the unique opportunity to learn about mathematical communication and public outreach, a niche field that is not often explored in mathematics classrooms. 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. 

The class will be led by Edmund Harriss, assistant professor of mathematical sciences. He is also an artist, educator and maker whose work explores the visualization of mathematics and its unexpected applications, particularly in art. He isn't asking much from students who take his course - only a new way of seeing something they think they already know: "I hope to show students whether initially excited by or ambivalent to mathematics the joy and whimsy that mathematicians feel when they play and explore it." 

About the Honors College: The University of Arkansas Honors College was established in 2002 and brings together high-achieving undergraduate students and the university's top professors to share transformative learning experiences. Each year, the Honors College awards up to 90 freshman fellowships that provide $80,000 over four years, and more than $1 million in undergraduate research and study abroad grants. The Honors College is nationally recognized for the high caliber of students it admits and graduates. Honors students enjoy small, in-depth classes, and programs are offered in all disciplines, tailored to students' academic interests, with interdisciplinary collaborations encouraged. All Honors College graduates have engaged in mentored research.   

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $3 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.