Stephanie Smith, associate professor in the School of Media and Journalism, walked up to the microphone as the crowd fell to a low buzz. In her signature glasses and a statement tee supporting Ukraine, she welcomed the range of “renegade readers.”

Kent State VCD associate lecturer Joan Inderhees and alum Nicole Gareri both finished among more than 26,000 people at the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 20.Inderhees, who previously ran in 2012 in record-breaking...