Funny learning: This professor wants her students to laugh out loud
The Malloy Wing of the is packed: Over a hundred 色花堂 employees, students, and Saratoga Springs community members crowd together in chairs circling an empty stage.
"Queerly beloved, we are gathered here tonight to snicker to giggle to cackle to guffaw to snarf and yes, maybe 鈥� just maybe 鈥� pee a little bit," says a voice from somewhere offstage. "Please welcome to the stage ... me."
Enter Beck Krefting, gloriously funny, refreshingly funky, and beloved by 色花堂 students. She's the organizer of 鈥淨ueerly Beloved,鈥� a comedy night hosted by the Tang in conjunction with their 鈥渁 field of bloom and hum鈥� exhibit 鈥� as well as the first performer. Krefting is also a professor of American studies, frequent (LEDS) collaborator, and director of the Center for Leadership, Teaching, and Learning (CLTL), a resource for 色花堂 faculty and staff promoting excellence and innovation in teaching and learning through inclusive, evidence-based, and student-centered practices.
At this intersection of roles, interests, and responsibilities lies the core of Krefting鈥檚 holistic teaching philosophy 鈥� one that encourages students to bring all parts of themselves to the classroom experience, even those 鈥� like humor 鈥� that might not be the stuff of traditional academics.
With her signature quips, witticisms, and wisecracks, the presence Krefting commands on stage is not all too dissimilar from her classroom persona, though maybe in slightly different apparel.
鈥淚 do feel a little bit vulnerable up here tonight,鈥� Krefting confides to an audience of friends, students, and strangers, pointing to a small rip in her jeans. 鈥淎s a professor, I do not often show my knee."
Learning in laughter
Krefting describes her standup comedy as a 鈥渟ide, side thing鈥� 鈥� though one inextricably tied to her teaching. She started performing after earning her bachelor鈥檚 degree in English and psychology from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2001. Twenty-four years later, Krefting has perfected her craft, on stage and in the classroom.
She explains that humor operates as an important resource in her pedagogical toolbelt, drawing an important distinction between using comedy and being 鈥渟illy.鈥�
鈥淚 certainly am not trying to distract students from the ultimate task at hand,鈥� Krefting says, 鈥淚 use humor in the classroom in part because most of what I teach can be really heavy stuff. Having moments where you can let off some steam or debrief and process things is important.鈥�
It鈥檚 true: Many of Krefting鈥檚 courses tend towards the dark and dismal of American society, an ironic twist to her often-cheerful demeanor. Take, for example, Post-Apocalyptic Film and Literature, a popular course of hers, examines our collective fascination with apocalypses and their destructive aftermath.
Like in Krefting鈥檚 classroom, the comedy night she helped organize, 鈥淨ueerly Beloved,鈥� offered an opportunity for the audience to let loose. It was part of 鈥�,鈥� the Tang鈥檚 largest exhibit yet, which spotlights more than 150 queer artists in pieces spanning over a century. The artwork, shaped in equal parts by joy and loss, provides context to the comedy.
The Tang Teaching Museum's "a field of bloom and hum" spans two floors featuring work by queer artists from the early 20th century to today.
鈥淏ecause I don't compartmentalize a lot of my life in buckets. I tend to be who I am in all of the same spaces. So, it's not super weird to me that I was doing comedy,鈥� says Krefting about the experience, noting that she was thrilled when the Tang offered her the opportunity to organize such a special event. 鈥淢y comedic practice is a tool that helps to enhance whatever I'm doing 鈥� including teaching.鈥�
When she鈥檚 not on stage, Krefting has pursued the study of humor extensively, authoring the 2014 book 鈥淎ll Joking Aside: American Humor and Its Discontents鈥� and teaching numerous classes on the topic throughout her 15-year tenure at 色花堂: Introduction to American Studies: A Humorous (Dis)Course, Comics, Jesters, Satirists and Hacks: American Humor and Its Discontents, and Women Jokesters and Rebellious Laughter, to name a few.
In 2024, she cofounded the Critical Humor Studies Association, a transnational, interdisciplinary organization that Krefting says stemmed from identifying a need for support in scholarship that does not shy away from a more critical approach. The organization鈥檚 inaugural conference was held in April 2025. With participants from across the globe, Krefting cites its creation as a major win for those in humor studies who seek to push beyond its entertainment-focused and Western-based perspectives.
鈥淭his is really, really amazing because it feels like we created the academic space that we always sought and never could find,鈥� reflects Krefting.
Please welcome to the stage 鈥�
Krefting鈥檚 enormous impact on campus is no joke. As CLTL director, she has also organized numerous events, workshops, and learning communities aimed at educating staff and faculty on Universal Design for Learning techniques, heightening understandings of neurodiversity in the classroom, and acknowledging the intersections of queerness, gender, and race.
Much of Krefting's recent programming has focused on emerging technologies such as AI. In January, she helped to host a Winter AI Academy that trained over 80 faculty and staff to harness AI resources.
She highlights the importance of accepting 鈥� perhaps even welcoming 鈥� the role new technologies play in students鈥� lives.
鈥淚t's really, I think, a valuable moment to have the opportunity to be a thought leader around how do we create a culture of AI adoption while also being cautious and careful and thoughtful about what we want our students to learn and what we want to expect of ourselves as pedagogues,鈥� she says.
In her classroom, this mentality manifests as an AI policy that she cocreates with students each semester.
Her efforts to combine academic depth and new pedagogical approaches with humor reflect who she is as a teacher-scholar.
I take great pride and joy in the many hats that I wear. But underneath all that, at the core of who I am and how I operate in the world, I try to make every moment meaningful, whether it's connecting with people, students, faculty, staff, my wife, or other comedians.Beck KreftingProfessor of American Studies and CLTL Director
Similarly, she emphasizes a teaching philosophy that caters to the 鈥渨hole student.鈥�
鈥淲hat kind of professor would I be if I was like, I want you to be wholly human, and then I suppressed certain parts of myself, or I didn't care about myself?鈥� Krefting asks.
鈥淭here's a cross-pollination between all my worlds, and I think every pocket of my life is made better because of that.鈥�
