Kansas Wesleyan University is shining the light on the media again - as the second annual Media Reflections Symposium begins Monday on the KWU campus.

Dr. David Silverman with KW's Communications Department stopped into the KSAL Morning News with a preview of the 3-day event titled, "Hate Crimes, Serial Killers, and Mass Communications."

Silverman says they will be looking at many aspects of how the media handles high profile crimes, "In some cases - the killers want to become famous themselves," he said.

"And the media, particularly in the last 30-years has helped drive that."

According to KWU, coming up Monday at 7 p.m. in Sams Chapel, Dr. Jack Levin, The Irving and Betty Brudnick Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Northeastern University, will speak about his award-winning research into hate crimes and serial killers over the past thirty years.

Levin teaches courses in prejudice and violence, specializing in Criminology, Prejudice, and Social Psychology. He is considered to be an authority on serial killers, mass murderers, and hate crimes, and is the co-director of the Brudnick Center on Conflict and Violence at the university. Northeastern is located in Boston, Mass.

On Tuesday, January 29, at 7 p.m. in Sams Chapel, Larry Hatteberg of KAKE-TV in Wichita, will discuss his experiences in helping the Wichita Police Department hunt down and capture the BTK Killer Dennis Rader.

Hatteberg has been with KAKE since 1963 and has received more than 100 local, state, and national awards. He is one of Kansas' most honored journalists and currently co-anchors the KAKE News at Five.

Receptions will follow each speaker in the Hauptli Student Activities Center.

On Wednesday, January 30, at 7 p.m., the KWU Theatre Department will re-stage The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later in Fitzpatrick Auditorium. A panel discussion will follow the show, and refreshments will be served in the lobby of Fitzpatrick.

This event is co-sponsored by the Communications and Criminal Justice Programs of Kansas Wesleyan University. Last year's symposium focused on media-generated images of girls and women, and featured best-selling author Peggy Orenstein.