Valentine's Day was started to honor a slain saint, but also to replace a pagan tradition celebrating the coming spring. But many marks of the modern holiday have more to do with the seasonal rituals, plus some new elements introduced by marketers. In this episode of A Smarter U, host Hannah Belayachi talks with professors Stephen Dawson (religious studies) and Virginia Cylke (psychology) to delve into the history of Valentine's Day, relationships, and some ideas for making the celebration a little better. Read a transcript here.

Who is rising in "The Rise of Skywalker"? Who is the most pivotal character in the Star Wars saga? And what's going on between Rey and Kylo Ren? Three Lynchburg Star Wars fans from the communication studies department sat down to talk about the new Star Wars movie, the expansion of the Star Wars universe with "The Mandalorian," and more. Subscribe to A Smarter U on Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play Music, or Apple Podcasts. A transcript of this episode is available here.

Halina Peabody was a young girl when World War II and the German occupation of Poland turned her life upside down. Her father was imprisoned. She and her mother had to hide their Jewish identity and rely on inner strength, courage, and the compassion of others to survive. She joined host Hannah Belayachi and history professor Dr. Brian Crim to share the human side of what history students learn about the podcast. Crim, author of "Our Germans: Project Paperclip and the National Security State," also shares his perspective on how the beginning of the Cold War caused world powers, including the U.S., to give citizenship to Nazi scientists even while European Jews struggled to find humanitarian help after the war. Subscribe to A Smarter U on Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play Music, or Apple Podcasts. Read the transcript here.

A president stands accused of wrongdoing. A nation is divided on the president's policies and fitness for office. A polarized media environment plays to each end of the political spectrum with little agreement on reality. Sound familiar? This is actually a description of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States and the first to be impeached. He escaped conviction by only one vote. Dr. Adam Dean, a University of Lynchburg professor and the John M. Turner Distinguished Chair in the Humanities, joins A Smarter U to talk about Johnson's impeachment and compare Johnson with other presidents who have faced impeachment or threats of it — Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump. He leaves us with a few pointers to consider while digesting news about impeachment investigations. Ironically, it sounds a lot like the advice professors gave in our last episode, What to do about 'fake news'. Read the transcript. Subscribe to A Smarter U on Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play Music, or Apple Podcasts.

How do you know if the news is true? If you hear something is "fake news," does that mean it's a made up story, or does it mean the person labeling it "fake" didn't like it? "Fake news" has been in the news and political rhetoric for a while, but it has been a major point of discussion in recent years. This episode of "A Smarter U" brings together a journalism professor, Dr. Ghislaine Lewis, and a philosophy professor, Dr. Devon Brickhouse-Bryson, to talk about the phenomenon and how news makers and news consumers can examine their beliefs and make sure they're getting an accurate picture of what's happening in the world. Read the transcript here. Subscribe to A Smarter U on Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play Music, or Apple Podcasts.

Ever wonder what makes a supervillain? Criminology professor Dr. Ken Wagner and communication studies professor Dr. Mike Robinson join this episode of A Smarter U to talk about the mental workings of the Joker, the notorious "Clown Prince of Crime" who gets his own feature film coming on October 4. From his first appearance in the Batman comics to understanding the math to his madness, the professors unpack the Joker with help of Max Weber, Shakespeare, and the kind of pop culture expertise that can only come from decades of reading comics. Read the transcript here. Subscribe to A Smarter U on Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play Music, or Apple Podcasts.

Francessca Vaszquez ’00 leads an international team at Amazon Web Services to help companies use cloud computing technology to take their apps and businesses global. While she travels the world, she often refers back to lessons she learned while earning her computer science degree at Lynchburg — lessons from inside and outside the classroom that prepared her for leadership. She's our guest in this episode of A Smarter U. Read the transcript here. Subscribe to A Smarter U on Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play Music, or Apple Podcasts.