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Whose Woods These Are: Human-Environment Relationships Among Stakeholders Of South Mississippi's Longleaf Pine Ecosystem, Helen Greene

Master's Theses

Between 1870 and 1920, the longleaf pine belt of the southeastern United States experienced an extensive and unsustainable period of logging. In the years after the logging boom the landscape of the Southeast was reforested, but fire suppression and a preference among landowners for loblolly pine resulted in a dense and less resilient forest with reduced biodiversity. This research looks at the human geography of remnants of the longleaf pine ecosystem in South Mississippi and the nature of contemporary relationships between South Mississippi residents and this ecosystem.

In an effort to make sense of the complex relationships between people and …

An Exploration Into Health Equity Discourse In Mississippi: Organizational Commitments And Practitioner Perspectives, Thuy-Vy Lillian Pham

Honors Theses

This thesis takes a sociological approach to examine healthcare workers' beliefs and medical organizations’ solidarity statements related to diversity and equity and how these discourses aligned and/or diverged. Through interviews with healthcare providers in Mississippi and content analysis of solidarity statements, the study finds that discussions on health disparities more frequently addressed socioeconomic inequality rather than systemic racism, diverging from organizational statements. This emphasis may partly stem from the demographics of the study participants, who were predominantly White—which also reflected the staff where they worked. Additionally, while healthcare workers recognized structural issues related to health disparities, they often showed hesitancy …

K-12 Principals And Special Education: A Study Of Mississippi Principals’ Knowledge Of Special Education Policies And Procedures, Jodi Cameron-Polk

Dissertations

This study sought to assess the knowledge of Mississippi K-12 public school principals and assistant principals in special education law, policies, and procedures concerning the six principles (i.e., zero reject, non-discriminatory evaluation, least restrictive environment, free appropriate public education, due process, and parent participation) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. This study also sought to establish by which method (i.e., university coursework, administrative trainings, on-the-job experiences, self-taught research, or did not learn this) they acquired their knowledge of special education law, policies, and procedures. The researcher adapted Jesteadt’s survey tool to ascertain participants’ special education teaching …

Trends Of Ovarian Cancer Incidence And Mortality In Mississippi Between 2003 And 2020, Angel Walker

Honors Theses

Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in women, accounting for more deaths than any other gynecologic cancer (Arora et al., 2023). Over the past few decades, there have been several advancements in treating the disease. However, improvements in survival rates for ovarian cancer are not seen equally among women. For White women, the five-year survival rate for ovarian cancer has improved, while for Black women, it has worsened (Karanth et al., 2019). To further understand how ovarian cancer affects women, we aim to describe the trends of ovarian cancer incidence and mortality for White and Black …

Beginnings Of The Nuevo South: Mexican Migration In 1970s And 1980s Mississippi, Isabel Loya

Master's Theses

Mexicans and Mexican Americans have been present in Mississippi since the early twentieth century with a large increase in the 1970s. The majority of the scholarship surrounding Mexican migration focuses on the 1990s leaving a historiographical gap concerning this earlier period of significant population growth. This thesis argues that Mexican migrants during the 1970s and 1980s were uniquely affected by Mississippi’s racial climate due to their ambiguous status in a Black and white society, where they fit in neither category. The examination of tactics by businesses, like B.C. Rogers Poultry plant, show the impact recruitment had on migrants’ living conditions …

Impacts Of The Poultry Industry In Mississippi, Sara Watts

Master's Theses

This thesis examines the impacts of the poultry industry in seven counties in the Piney Woods region of South Mississippi: Wayne, Jones, Forrest, Lamar, Jefferson Davis, Marion, and Pike. Current research indicates that the poultry industry has a significant impact on the cultures and economies of rural towns throughout the United States. There is no current research that examines the effects of the poultry industry on residents of the Piney Woods. This thesis addresses that gap in the research and contributes to current understanding of how the industry molds and impacts the lives of those intimately associated with it.

I …

Self-Efficacy And Burnout Among Mississippi Mild/Moderate Special Education Teachers, Stacey Anne Price Frye

Dissertations

This study sought to determine if there was a relationship between Mississippi mild/moderate (certification endorsement number 221) special education teachers’ levels of self-efficacy and burnout, as well as to determine which factors influenced self-efficacy and burnout. Teachers from across the state of Mississippi responded to an online questionnaire that collected demographic data, the Teachers’ Sense of Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Teacher Burnout Scale.

The results of the correlation research showed that subscales of Student Engagement and Instructional Strategies are positively correlated. Subscales of Student Engagement and Classroom Management are positively correlated. The Teacher Burnout survey subscale of Coping had a …

A Bioarchaeological Investigation Of The Courtney-Anderson Cemetery, Lauren Scott

Master's Theses

Located in Perry County, Mississippi, the Anderson Family Cemetery represents an abandoned turn-of-the-century Piney Woods cemetery. The cemetery is located on land once owned by the Courtney and Anderson families, who farmed the area until it was taken under eminent domain by the United States government in 1942. The purpose of this thesis is to present three osteobiographies created from human remains and material culture recovered from three graves excavated from within the cemetery in 2022 to explore the lifeways of rural Piney Woods families of Mississippi at the turn-of-the-century.

Among the graves explored, one did not contain evidence of …

Digital Equity: Difficulties Of Implementing The 1:1 Computing Initiative In Low-Income Areas, Demetric D. Williams

Dissertations

Successful One-to-One Computing Initiative implementation requires educators to communicate and collaborate effectively with everyone in the learning community. However, other factors such as teacher’s professional development, student’s perception, and parent’s perception often affect the implementation of the One-to-One Computing Initiative. School districts, which serve low-income areas in Mississippi, have difficulties ensuring students and communities have access to the information technology they need to participate outside the school setting. The concept is often called digital equity. However, when officials do not address the capacity, there is a vital threat to the participants’ civic, cultural, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential …

Mississippi School Accountability, Instructional Leadership, And Data Use; A Formula For Success, Teresa Duke

Dissertations

The following quantitative research study was conducted to determine if differences exist between “A-rated” and “F-rated” districts in Mississippi when it comes to how data are used for preparation of student academic achievement, how that data is used to influence instruction, and what beliefs school leaders have concerning the development of a data-based decision-making culture. Mississippi was chosen based on its unique accountability model.

The survey method was used for this study. Over 100 school leaders from across the state participated from 12 different school districts. Their responses provided some indication of the differences that exist between “A” and “F” …

A Mixed Methods Approach To Exploring Relationships Among Professional Preparation, Professional Development, And The Implementation Of Sex Education In Mississippi, Joyee Washington

Dissertations

The state of Mississippi has led the nation in high rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases among adolescents, despite mandating sex education in public schools for over a decade (SIECUS, 2011; SIECUS, 2016; SIECUS, 2017). Although studies conducted among Mississippi sex educators in the K-12 setting have shown that teachers receive very little to no professional development and desire more training, there is little supporting evidence to understand the position of professional development relative to sex education implementation in the state (Kolbo, Werle, Ismail, Arrington, Harbaugh, & Esters, 2015; Arrington, Ismail, Werle, Esters, Frederick, Ellis, & Kolbo, 2018). …

"Yours For Freedom": The Life And Legacy Of Civil Rights Leader Victoria Gray Adams, Meridian Mcdaniel

Master's Theses

Understanding the life and legacy of Victoria Gray Adams (1926-2006) is key to appreciating the role of middle-aged African-American women activists in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement. She was born and raised in Palmers Crossing, a self-sustaining black community just south of Hattiesburg. Her upbringing fostered pride and a sense of independence in herself as a black person, which eventually influenced her efforts to inspire the local community’s involvement in the movement. Her participation and remarkable leadership in various Civil Rights groups helped solidify her role as a local, state, and national leader. The roles she held throughout her …

Mississippi Crime And Corrections: The Effects Of House Bill 585 On Crime And Incarceration Rates, Madisyn Flammia

Honors Theses

The state of Mississippi’s historically high incarceration rate peaked in the year 2013, when it was the second highest nationwide. To combat this problem, House Bill 585 was passed into law in 2014. The law consisted of multiple reforms, which were part of an effort to toughen sentencing for violent offenders and reduce severity of punishment for non-violent criminals, with the aim of reducing incarceration and refocusing prison space for violent crimes. I employed difference in differences and synthetic control methododologies to examine the effects of House Bill 585 on crime and imprisonment rates. My results revealed that House Bill …

Distribution, Abundance, And Population Genetics Of The Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys Temminckii) In Mississippi, Luke Pearson

Dissertations

The southeastern United States is a freshwater turtle biodiversity hotspot, second only to southeastern Asia, and this region is inhabited by one of the largest freshwater turtles in the world: the alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii). This species was heavily harvested from the 1960’s to the 1980’s for the turtle soup industry, apparently contributing to substantial, range-wide population declines. These declines, coupled with anthropogenic impacts on riverine and floodplain habitats, have led to M. temminckii being petitioned for federal listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act; it is currently under review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service …

Paradoxes Of The Heart And Mind: Three Case Studies In White Identity, Southern Reality, And The Silenced Memories Of Mississippi Confederate Dissent, 1860-1979, Billy Loper

Master's Theses

This thesis is meant to advance scholars understanding of the processes by which various groups silenced the memory of Civil War white dissent in Mississippi. It analyzes three case studies: F. A. P. Barnard’s 1860 trial for abolitionism, the transformation of community memory which surrounded Newt Knight in the early twentieth century, and Mississippi’s interaction with the Civil War through popular culture. These examples will reveal the cultural and discursive systems that have existed in the state for more than a century. This work argues that Mississippians silenced the memory of racial dissent throughout the state’s history because it conflicted …

Communication Resources For Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing Children In Mississippi: Parents’ Perspectives, Julia Rossano

Honors Theses

A parent’s ability to communicate with their child through formative years may often be taken for granted, as the options for such communication seem intuitive and apparent. However, hearing parents of children with hearing loss must not only make a choice between several communication methods, but they must also navigate an environment where the methodologies are not clearly delineated. Blaiser and colleague provide succinct descriptions of the most common methods which can be chosen. These methods include listening and spoken language systems, manual-visual systems, and systems combining these two modalities (Blaiser & Bargen, 2018). This choice is often challenging because …

To Suppress Riots And Insurrections: Development And Transformation In Mississippi’S State Militia, 1865-1890, Alec J. Blaylock

Honors Theses

This thesis argues that Mississippi’s state militia after the American Civil War developed into a functional arm of the state to supplant extralegal paramilitary groups. However, that militia transformed between 1865 and 1890 from an organization devoted to protecting African-American political and civil rights into a mechanism for the enforcement of white supremacy. Mississippi’s Constitution of 1868 made the governor Commander-in-Chief of the state militia and designated that one of the militia’s responsibilities was “to suppress riots and insurrections.” While the law provided other reasons for using the militia, this thesis argues that Mississippi’s governors only used the militia to …

A Call To Arms: A Comparative Study Of Mississippi And Kentucky Citizens During The Secession Crisis, 1859-1861, Amy Myers

Master's Theses

Many studies of the American Civil War have considered why Mississippi leaders voted to secede, while Kentucky politicians remained in the Union. Scholars have previously focused on political elites to understand the underlying motivations behind each state’s decision. These same scholars have often confined their studies to a synthesis of why secession occurred nationally or at the state level. The question remains as to what the common citizen saw and believed when faced with secession and if their views matched their delegates.

This study utilizes the governors’ papers of John J. Pettus and Beriah Magoffin, the Jefferson Davis papers, and …

Public Relations Education In Mississippi Today: Perceptions And Realities, Gail Brown

Dissertations

This two-component study assessed public relations educators’ (n=18) and public relations practitioners’ (n=53) perceptions and realities of public relations education in Mississippi today. A Qualtrics-designed survey ascertained the quantitative data for Study I (N=71). The researcher used telephone and email interviews to gather qualitative data from a convenience sample (N=10) of five public relations practitioners and five public relations educators for Study II. The dual study used education recommendations from the Commission on Public Relations Education (CPRE) 2017 Report, Fast Forward: Foundations and Future State. Educators and Practitioners, as assessment variables.

The survey was distributed to the Public Relations Association …

A Look Into The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status And Health, Hunter L. Howell

Honors Theses

Disparities in health have always been present, and major steps have been made to narrow this gap in healthcare. With that said, socioeconomic status still plays a significant role in access to healthcare. This study looks into how socioeconomic factors such as age, race, and income affect access to healthcare while also studying avenues as to why these disparities exist.

The Economic Impacts Of Casino Gaming In Mississippi: Local, Regional, National And International Considerations, Janelle Townes

Dissertations

Casino development and the proliferation of the casino gaming industry has centered on the prevailing issue of economic impact. The purpose of this study was to determine what impact casinos in Mississippi have on the economy of the host communities. In this quantitative descriptive research study, the primary employment, tourism and revenue data were gathered from records provided by the Mississippi Gaming Commission to test the level of change that occurred in the host communities of Mississippi casinos between 2000 and 2015, a period when Mississippi communities experienced severe economic crises due in part to natural diseasters and economic recession. …

A Market Analysis Of Pay Rates For New Graduate Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, Zachary Halliwell

Doctoral Projects

The profession of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) is a thriving occupation. In their national Occupational Outlook Handbook, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (U.S. Department of Labor, 2018), reported the national market for CRNAs is predicted to continue its steady growth through 2026. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides numerous statistics, as previously mentioned, on their website. However, the stats available include CRNAs of varying experience levels. The Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES) has a few statistics, online, regarding the market for CRNAs. The data provided by MDES, while appreciated, is lacking in numerical significance, given the minuscule …

The Tenure Process: A Qualitative Content Analysis Of Tenure Standards And Application Processes At The Eight State Funded Universities In Mississippi, Claudia Parker

Honors Theses

The tenure application process is a very important period in any university faculty’s professional career and can be a very stressful event. The results of a faculty’s tenure application will determine whether they will have continued employment at their current university, if they will be required to take another probationary year, or if they will need to seek employment elsewhere. Due to how important this process is, any information associated with this process and the required documentation must be properly managed, easily accessible, and easy to understand. This qualitative analysis develops a list of best practices through a review of …

When Saliva Is A Crime: Reforming Mississippi’S Hiv Criminalization Law Utilizing The Center For Disease Control And Prevention’S Policy Analytical Framework, Anastasia Walrod

Honors Theses

Mississippi is currently experiencing an HIV/AIDS crisis. The state is ranked in the top 10 for diagnoses of HIV infection, with Jackson, Mississippi ranked sixth in the nation for HIV diagnoses and fourth in the nation for AIDS diagnoses. Despite antiretroviral treatment allowing for persons with HIV to lead healthy lives, Mississippians continue to die from AIDS in large part because of stigma, misinformation, and lack of resources. This is furthered by Mississippi’s HIV criminalization law. HIV criminalization laws are used to penalize HIV exposure, but HIV-specific criminal laws are considered largely ineffective public health policies because these statutes further …

Mississippi Registered Nurse Perceptions When Communicating With Limited-English-Speaking And Non-English-Speaking Patients, Mary Pipper Widdig

Dissertations

Communication serves as the foundation for safe and effective healthcare practice. Effective nurse-patient communication is the cornerstone of the nurse-patient relationship and is vital for the delivery of safe and effective healthcare. Research has shown patients who are communication impaired are at a greater risk of medical error and poorer health outcomes. A review of the literature revealed various nurse perceptions of barriers when providing care for limited-English-speaking patients and non-English-speaking patients. LEP and NEP patients also identified similar perceived barriers when receiving care. Both nurses and patients revealed a distrust for interpreters and interpreter services. The literature review revealed …

They Never Stopped Rockin': A Brief History Of The Chitlin' Circuit, Mississippi, And Their Effects On America's Music, Warren Beebe

Honors Theses

This work focuses on the development of one of America's first musical tour routes: the Chitlin' Circuit. While its name may sound strange, the Chitlin' Circuit was responsible for the development of numerous distinct musical genres throughout the United States, such as blues and rock and roll in the twentieth century. Southern roadhouses, dive bars, and juke joints proudly showcased performers that gained initial fame touring with old medicine shows. As these artists gained recognition for their new musical stylings and elaborate showmanship, the owners of these local nightspots began to exchange contact information to better capitalize on these highly …

Mississippi’S First Statewide Teachers’ Strike, Emily Doyne Smith

Master's Theses

This thesis argues that the Education Reform Act of 1982 (ERA) inadvertently led to Mississippi’s first statewide teachers’ strike in 1985 because of the Southeastern pay average clause recommending that the teachers’ pay should reach the average of the southeastern states, if possible. The teachers’ associations in Mississippi used this clause to lobby and promote teachers’ pay to that average. However, after two years of stagnated pay raises, the teachers’ associations led a state statewide teachers’ strike. The strike successfully raised the teachers’ salaries and moved state legislators to consider the teachers’ pay issue carefully afterwards. However, the pay raise …

A Meat Paradox: Media's Role In Mitigating The Omnivore's Dilemma, Karyn Camille Lewis

Master's Theses

The purpose of this research is to identify and understand media’s role in meat consumption and a disassociation of meat and its animal of origin. This study questions consumer behavior based on media portrayals of meat products as well as how consumers perceive these portrayals, meat consumption patterns based on media and family influence, and the types and levels of satisfaction (ex: self-esteem or masculinity) consumers receive from meat products.

A quantitative research approach was proposed for this study. The primary research method was a survey among students, faculty and staff at The University of Southern Mississippi. A total of …

Get To The “Point”: Improving Location Services In Tippah County Mississippi, Haley Feather

Master's Theses

Point location using geographic information systems (GIS) technology has become integrated into everyday society and daily decision-making by utilizing addresses to provide goods and services. A need exists at a national, state, and local level for an address database. The objectives of this study were to [1] determine the most suitable address data model to be used in Mississippi, [2] determine how positional accuracy changes between urban and rural areas, and [3] determine spatial variations in aerial imagery. Address data model comparisons were conducted using match rates between street, parcel, and point address models. Positional accuracy was determined for urban …

Perceptions Of College Students Towards Healthcare Provisions On Campus, Sarah Houtz

Honors Theses

Healthcare on university campuses is not a new concept. There is little evidence surrounding the effectiveness and adaptability of services provided to students by providers or healthcare facilities located on campus. Literature describes individual concepts of healthcare resources provided on campus including convenience, holistic care, abilities to refer to off campus specialty clinics, and factors related directly to the patient’s beliefs and values. However, there is a considerable gap in tools used to measure opinions directly related to the services, quality, perception, initiatives, and overall satisfaction with the provisions provided by healthcare professionals located on university campuses. Of the 23 …