Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring The Effect Of Cultural Sensitivity In Public Relations Campaigns, Amanda N. Christian

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

This study examines the importance of perceived cultural sensitivity on consumer attitudes and intent to support. Participants were randomly assigned to campaign messaging with a perceived high level of cultural sensitivity or a perceived low level of cultural sensitivity. Findings reveal that higher perceived levels of culturally sensitive messages generate more positive attitudes and increase the willingness of consumers to demonstrate supportive communication and intent to purchase. Other hypotheses comparing the response between two groups—self-identifying Hispanic and non-Hispanic respondents— aimed to distinguish the role origin plays in determining how important cultural sensitivity is to the perception of the organization. These …

Making Engineers: An Ethnography Of Undergraduate Engineering Students In A Project-Based Program, Bethany Popelish

Masters Theses, 2020-current

In a project-focused engineering program, undergraduate students are taught engineering skills through the ‘bike project’ in which students work as teams to design and fabricate a human-powered vehicle for a member of the community whose disabilities make riding a traditional bicycle prohibitive. To understand the learning that happens in the course of this project, the researcher conducted a 20-month ethnography of the engineering program, focusing on the sophomore students’ organizational experiences. As a participant observer, the researcher went to classes with the students, participated in trainings, and observed them through each stage of their project. Ethnographic observations were collected as …

Becoming A Good Host: A Beginner’S Guide To Learning Deliberative Civic Engagement, Kevin L.D. Leaven

VA Engage Journal

This article examines how Deliberative Civic Engagement (DCE) is used as a public engagement process to invite disjointed cultural communities into a shared space to engage in democratically inspired dialogue. Dialogue is sought in DCE events because it encourages reflexivity and allows for collaborative ideation processes. Collaboration among differing groups demands that DCE events are open enough to be influenced by the immediate concerns of the participants involved. In addition, openness and vulnerability are required to support deep level thinking and connection between heterogeneous identities represented.

Kevin L.D. Leaven is a recent graduate of the James Madison University’s graduate program …

Protecting The Image Of A Nation: Jim Crow Propaganda, Kevin Leaven

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This project investigates how the United States Information Agency (USIA) functioned as a propaganda machine on behalf of the United States government at the dawn of the Cold War and the Civil Rights Movement. Drawing from literature on propaganda, public relations, and public diplomacy, this thesis connects 20^th century American propaganda to its roots in public relations, communication studies, and psychology.

The Civil Rights movement exposed the cultural inertia of white supremacy in America for the world to see while American foreign policy makers sought to crystallize a cultural hegemony fashioned after American political, cultural, and economic systems. Although …

Memorable Messages And Young Adults’ Sexual Beliefs And Behaviors, Caroline D. Ryan

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

This study aimed to understand the relationship between college-aged young adults’ memorable messages from parents about sex and their sexual beliefs and behaviors. Previously studied memorable message themes from Holman and Koenig Kellas (2018) were adapted to collect quantitative data from respondents (N = 420) through an online, self-report questionnaire. Students’ recalled conversations with their parent(s) were widely consistent with Holman and Koenig Kellas’s (2018) six themes. Ultimately, the memorable message theme was found to have no significant relationship with participants’ attitudes, intentions, self-efficacy, or response efficacy for safer sexual behaviors. However, those who recalled messages consistent with the …

Young, Gifted, And Black: A Narrative Of Persistence Of Black Women In Academia, Zelda Tackey

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the storied experiences of Black women at predominantly white institutions (PWI) of higher education. I adopt a phronetic iterative approach to the qualitative analysis of interviewed Black women to explore how the image of a Strong Black Woman mediates a storied understanding to microaggressions, invisibility and racial battle fatigue. I present that survivor narratives typically employed to explain Black women’s encounters on the PWI are ill-suited for interpreting their experiences of campus life, and that the storying of persistence may be more insightful for generating an understanding of a Black womanhood that …

Engagement Behaviors On Social Media In Higher Education: Content Analysis Study On Facebook Pages Of 12 Universities, Caroline E. Jessup

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

This study provides insight into factors that influence audience engagement behaviors on the official Facebook pages of higher education institutions. Many current and prospective students at universities, as well as recent alumni, are looking at Facebook as a way to gather information and build trust with colleges. Similarly, organizations such as universities see social media as the most effective way to reach their publics and build relationships with them. However, there is little literature that illustrates what factors such as inclusion of pictures, hashtags, hyperlink and even size and region of university affect audience engagement on Facebook. A content analysis …

An Exploration Of Student Athletes Perception On The Athletic Trainer/Coach Relationship, Nikki Owens

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The goal of this study was to explore how the athletic trainer and coach relationship impacts the social support provided to Division I intercollegiate student—athletes. Through a qualitative-case study design, eleven participants were recruited and interviewed for the study. Criterion for inclusion included all NCAA sports at the university. This included males and females in various years of school and sport. After the completion of data analysis, four main themes were developed. These themes included social support, positive impact, negative impact, and unforeseen findings. Seven of the eleven student—athletes reported feeling that there was a direct relationship between the athletic …

Because I, As A Black Woman, Can: Using Autoethnography To Investigate And Evaluate Hegemonic Systems Of Oppression Facing Queer Black Women, Mayah-Peacelynn Bell

Masters Theses, 2020-current

In this thesis, I use autoethnography to uncover systems of oppression that are rooted in the existing structures and dominant culture of a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). My beliefs supported by various Black scholars infer that some alleged practices intentionally silence communities of color and can impose upon them as they attempt to make sense of their experiences in academia, the work place, and in the home (bell hooks, 1993, 1994; Calafell, 2012; Griffin, 2011; Boylorn, 2011; Hill-Collins, 1989, 1990). Black students, like myself, are potentially withheld from reaching our full capacity as critical thinkers while simultaneously mastering the master’s …

Finding My Feet: An Autoethnographic Study Of A Kosovar Student, Erjona Gashi

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Utilizing creative analytic practices of poetic vignettes and personal narratives (Richardson, 1999), throughout this autoethnographic thesis project I illustrate how I talk about my lived experiences, as a refugee, a child of war in Kosovo, and as a Kosovar international student in the U.S. I was forcibly displaced in 1999 when the Serbian government began a campaign of ethnic cleansing and oppression in Kosovo with the goal of erasing our culture, history, and language. Twenty years later, I still sense a reluctance of those in my family and culture, including myself, to give voice to the most difficult times in …

The (In)Visible Woman: A Performative Autoethnographic Exploration Of Queer Femme-Ininity And Queer Isolation, Bri Ozalas

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This thesis is a performative autoethnographic exploration of my experiences existing betwixt-and-between the intersection of queer femme-ininity and isolation. Through a creative, affective rendition of my experiences, I detail and connect the nuances of queerness, femme-ininity, and queer isolation to provide a closer look at understanding queer identity with an absence of connection to the queer community. First, I provide an overview of the main theoretical and methodological approaches, and main concepts I utilize throughout my project. I then provide the intricacies of queer theory, queer intersectionality, and affect theory to provide theoretical explanations of my approach to queer isolation. …

Navigating "Technoference" In The Family System, Kathlynn Sergent

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

This integrative literature review explores the increase of technology use in families, with a focus on how technology is disrupting in-person social interactions within the family system. Many studies have been conducted on how technology impacts a couple’s romantic relationship, and only a few have examined the relationship between the parent and child. This review is one of the first to examine how technology may affect the entire family unit from before children to raising adolescents. Each section of the family unit is examined, beginning with before children, followed by the early bonding and attachment associated with infant/childhood, and then …

A Review Of "The Cnn Effect: Can The News Media Drive Foreign Policy?", Mathias Aboba

School of Communication Studies - SCOM 542: Seminar in Critical Theory and Communication

No abstract provided.

A Review Of "Explaining Homelessness: A Critical Realist Perspective", Melody Barger

School of Communication Studies - SCOM 542: Seminar in Critical Theory and Communication

No abstract provided.

A Review Of "Neo-Colonialism The Last Stage Of Imperialism", Kevin Leaven

School of Communication Studies - SCOM 542: Seminar in Critical Theory and Communication

No abstract provided.

A Review Of "Contesting Neoliberalism Through Critical Pedagogy, Intersectional Reflexivity, And Personal Narrative: Queer Tales Of Academia", Rachel Mangan

School of Communication Studies - SCOM 542: Seminar in Critical Theory and Communication

No abstract provided.

A Review Of "Violence, Peace, And Peace Research", Katie Mitchell

School of Communication Studies - SCOM 542: Seminar in Critical Theory and Communication

No abstract provided.

A Review Of "Justice, Interrupted", Elizabeth Mowe

School of Communication Studies - SCOM 542: Seminar in Critical Theory and Communication

No abstract provided.

A Review Of "'Academic Drag' And The Performance Of The Critical Personae: An Exchange On Sexuality, Politics, And Identity In The Academy", Bri Ozalas

School of Communication Studies - SCOM 542: Seminar in Critical Theory and Communication

No abstract provided.

A Review Of "A Critical Discussion Of Normativity In Discourses On Eating Disorders", Carolyn Perkins

School of Communication Studies - SCOM 542: Seminar in Critical Theory and Communication

No abstract provided.

Review Of "Sinking Strangers: Media Representation Of Climate Refugees On The Bbc And Al Jazeera, Lantz Schifflett

School of Communication Studies - SCOM 542: Seminar in Critical Theory and Communication

No abstract provided.

Review Of "Handing Irb An Unloaded Gun", Jake Trevino

School of Communication Studies - SCOM 542: Seminar in Critical Theory and Communication

No abstract provided.