Rebecca Krefting, who goes by Beck, is Professor of American Studies and Director of the Center for Leadership, Teaching, and Learning. Her research specializations are feminist comedy studies; histories and historiographies of stand-up comedy; preppers and post-apocalyptic cultural texts; and pedagogical studies. Her monograph titled: All Joking Aside: American Humor and Its Discontents (Johns Hopkins UP) charts the history and economy of charged humor or humor aimed at social justice. Check out her work here. She has published dozens of articles about stand-up comedy in edited collections, academic journals, and public forums and has presented nationally and internationally at universities and comedy symposiums, most recently at Dresden University of Technology and University of Szeged in Hungary.