Digital Commons Network^™

Troubled Past, Golden Opportunity: Public Memory And Memorialization At The University Of Southern Mississippi, Hannah E. Arnold

Honors Theses

This thesis argues that The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) consciously chooses to present historical narratives in its history in ways that best enhance the university’s image. Examining the narratives of M.M. Roberts and Oseola McCarty using the theoretical frameworks of public memory and collective memory study reveals that the way they are memorialized within university history include both conscious and subconscious silences that impact how they are remembered by the public. This thesis identifies gaps within these two historical narratives and shows how these gaps were influenced by factors designed to enhance the university’s public image. Overall, the public …

The Effectiveness Of The University Of Southern Mississippi's Marketing And Branding Efforts Among Prospective Students, Amy Clevenger

Honors Theses

With enrollment rates expected to surge over the next decade, the competition

between institutions of higher learning will also increase. Because of this, marketing

material produced by all institutions will need to adjust to become more effective at

establishing brand identity to attract the attention of prospective students. Using Aaker’s

brand identity model as a framework to understand branding methods, this research aims

to identify marketing communication strategies that are more effective in a prospective

student’s decision-making process. The thesis also investigates prospective students’

recall and perception of marketing material produced by USM to determine its overall

effectiveness and differences …

Exploring How Popular Media Affects The Motivations And Hesitations Of Women Who Go Through Sorority Recruitment At The University Of Southern Mississippi, Whitley W. Howell

Honors Theses

Fraternity and sorority life is an important part of many college students’ experiences. Sororities provide college women with many opportunities for leadership, service, academics, and growth. Even though sororities have many benefits, they often have negative connotations in popular and social media. Often, these negative stereotypes affect people’s perception of sororities, and many women have hesitations about joining a sorority because of the way sororities are portrayed.

Sorority women express concern with the media’s negative representation of Greek life. The negative connotations affect how people see the sororities. Recruitment of new women into the chapters is an important part of …

Exploring Issues Of Diversity Experiences In Student Organizations Sponsored By The University Of Southern Mississippi, Cornelia Welch-Dick

Honors Theses

Colleges and universities are becoming increasingly racially/ethnically diverse. Previous studies have noted that an increase in racial/ethnic diversity has positive outcomes for minority and majority groups. Additional research supports that positive diversity experiences in student organizations have benefits for college students (Kuk & Banning, 2010; Cheng & Zhao, 2007; Antonio, 2001). While the benefits of increased diversity are clear, no previous study was found to have looked at diversity experiences at USM or more specifically, USM’s student organizations. The current study examined the degree to which leaders of each organization perceived experiences of diversity as positive compared to the members’ …

Persuasion In Higher Education: Recruitment Of High Ability Students, Ann Marie Chilcutt

Honors Theses

Recruiting high ability students to institutions of higher education varies from university to university and is one of the most important variables for the continuing of successful colleges. This study focused on the variables that were most important to the current cohort of high ability freshmen at the University of Southern Mississippi. The aim of this study was to identify attitudinal and normative communicative components that are most effective for recruiting high ability students to the University of Southern Mississippi. By surveying this cohort of students, and using the Theory of Reasoned Action as a tool in creating questions for …

Mental Visualization Of Three-Dimensional Space: New Tools And Challenges In Building Design Education, Breshawn C. Mcneal

Honors Theses

As a future building design professional, a student’s ability to mentally “picture” second and third dimensional concepts is important. Learning the fundamentals of mental visualization is tantamount to laying the foundation for a building. Sketching, one of the skills required to bring a building concept to life, helps the student rapidly record their first brilliant thought. Though modern CAD software has the capability to auto-develop a three-dimensional structure, the user constructs a two-dimensional floor plan first, so the program output is based on the user’s initial input. Therefore, the quality of the three-dimensional design is linked to the student’s ability …