Digital Commons Network^™

Dual Enrollment Matriculation Rates At Tennessee Board Of Regents Community Colleges, Jacob Cutshall Church

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive, quantitative study is to explore the matriculation rates for first-time, full-time freshmen who were previously enrolled in dual enrollment courses while in high school at one of the 13 public community colleges in Tennessee. Percentages, means, standard deviations, ranges, percentages, and proportions were used to describe the data from the 13 public community colleges in Tennessee. The total number of dual enrollment students from 2016 to 2021 across the 13 community colleges over the five-year period was 80,051. Of the 80,051 students, 16,727 students matriculated to their home institution and 63,324 did not. Findings from …

Where Are All The Women?: Using Role Congruity Theory To Explore The Experiences Of Female Interscholastic Athletic Directors., Nicholas Swim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Leadership in sport organizations continues to be male dominated, even as multiple scholars have argued and proven the importance of women holding sport leadership positions (Burton & Leberman, 2017; Darvin & Lubke, 2021; Schull, 2017). The lack of women attaining these positions leads to fewer opportunities for role modeling and mentoring experiences for female athletes. As Burden et al. (2010) argue, interscholastic athletic directors are important as they usually represent the first interactions for young athletes with people in sport leadership positions. Researchers have investigated this phenomenon at the intercollegiate level (Bower & Hums, 2013; Darvin & Lubke, 2021; Taylor …

From Androgyny To Binary And Back: A Qualitative Analysis Of Nonbinary Tiktoks., Savannah Hatton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores how nonbinary individuals represent and express their gender on TikTok. Given the limited amount of research that has been done on nonbinary gender expression in online spaces, this study uses TikTok to observe the ways that nonbinary individuals perform gender. Additionally, given the relative newness of TikTok, this study serves to inform growing research on identity formation through social media. It used a sample of fifty TikToks by nonbinary creators to perform a content analysis. The findings reveal significant variation in how nonbinary individuals "do gender" on the platform, with some individuals identifying closely with binary labels, …

Gender And Disability: An Exploration Of Reflective Practice For Protection And Access Amid Complex Emergencies, Lindsey A. Mandolini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gender and Disability: An Exploration of Reflective Practice for Protection and Access Amid Complex Emergencies is a qualitative research project exploring under what conditions and in what ways disabled persons’ organizations (DPOs) effectively protect and provide access to women and girls with disabilities amid complex emergencies. The study upheld a participatory approach and rights-based framework, emphasizing that authentic inclusion requires centering disabled voices in research. Drawing on extant research, grey literature, and data collected from online practitioner questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, the study conducted a multi-phased reflexive thematic analysis. The research findings culminate in a composite narrative that brings to …

“The Urgent Necessity For More Original Creative Works By Transgender And Gender Expansive Artists" Is Not The Title Of My Thesis., Alicia Fireel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a mix of personal reflection, academic research, and an examination of The Girl Crazy Queer and Other Fairy Tales, a play I wrote and performed in October of 2023, co-produced by The University of Louisville’s Department of Theatre Arts and Pandora Productions, a Louisville-based theatre company dedicated to Queer theatre. This thesis and the play mirror each other; both contemplate Queer experiences, Queer histories, Queer trauma, and Queer stories. In the thesis I accomplish this through examining four subjects: myself, my play, the connection between modes of storytelling and aspects of transgender Queerness, and the perils that …

Peer Perceptions Of Parent-Students Seeking Higher Education, Alexandria M. Wall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With a growing number of parents pursuing academia, it is imperative that researchers understand the social environment in which parent-students function. Stereotypes of parent-students may be held by peers, faculty, and other educational supervisors. Across two previous independent studies, evidence and rationale were provided to suggest that both positive and negative perceptions of parent-students exist, with noted differences between gender. The purpose of the current 2x2x2 between-subjects study was to analyze the social perceptions of students enrolled in higher education as varied by parenthood status, age, and gender. The social perceptions included measures accounting for perceptions of intelligence and academic …

Ceo, Cfo, And Audit Partner Gender, And Accounting Conservatism, Ceara Hintz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I examine the association between CEO, CFO, and audit partner gender and accounting conservatism using a unique sample that encompasses hand-collected data. While accounting conservatism reflects less risky accounting choices, risk aversion theory indicates that females are more risk averse than males. I apply risk aversion theory to accounting conservatism and investigate two research questions: (i) Does the CEO or CFO and audit partner gender influence accounting conservatism? (ii) Does a female audit partner influence the relationship between a male CEO or CFO and accounting conservatism? Using skewness as a proxy of accounting conservatism, I test three hypotheses. The results …

Assembled Authorship: American Women Writers And The Culture Of Commonplacing, Seth Spencer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

“Assembled Authorship: American Women Writers and the Culture of Commonplacing” interrogates monolithic conceptions of authorship in the nineteenth century by exploring the expressive capacity of commonplace bookmaking practices for authors marginalized by race and/or gender. “Assembled Authorship” examines the influence of commonplace book culture on the novels of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Hannah Crafts, and Fanny Fern—authors who intervene in debates on religious reform, abolition, and antebellum periodical culture. Utilizing research grants from Penn State University and the University of New England, “Assembled Authorship” places high-resolution scans of commonplace books recovered from archives in conversation with the intertextual works of Phelps, …

Reimagining The Radical: Gender, Genre, And Anti-Fascism In Women's Writing At Mid-Century, Allison Nick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation looks at the work of four women writers—Martha Gellhorn, Elizabeth Bowen, Pearl S. Buck, and Rebecca West—who are united in their transnational commitment to critiquing the global rise of fascism and the fraught democratic imperatives of their own countries. “Reimagining the Radical” focuses on the temporal gap between modernism and postmodernism and is inspired by work from scholars like Marina MacKay, Lyndsey Stonebridge, and Beryl Pong to claim and define mid-century literature. By rethinking the bounds of modernism, “Reimagining the Radical” also seeks to fill the gaps in feminist history—between the suffragism of the early 20th century and …

Relations Between Parent Coping With The Stress Of Parenting And Symptoms Of Anxiety And Depression, Maxwell Jared Luber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is important to refine understanding of the impact of adolescent behaviors on parents. In particular there is a need to improve understanding of the potential increase in parental distress caused by challenging youth behaviors. Parenting stress may play a critical role in these processes. Various coping strategies have been associated with different psychosocial outcomes, including anxiety and depression. In contrast, less effective coping strategies are linked to a higher likelihood of meeting criteria for mood or anxiety disorders. Gender differences in stress coping between women and men may contribute to women reporting higher levels of psychological distress, depression, and …

"Why Do You Keep Alone?:" Isolated Women In The Plays Of Shakespeare, Alexus Litchfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The works of William Shakespeare have been well explored, but there is a lack of criticism that examines how the depiction of women is shaped by the genre of the play. Linda Bamber is one of the few critics who have explored this connection between gender and genre. However, while she focuses on the plays’ psychological dynamics, I examine the social dynamics between characters in my study of gender and genre. I suggest that, in both tragedy and comedy, isolation is a strong marker of unhappiness for Shakespeare’s female characters. Examining three tragedies, I find that Lady Macbeth, Goneril, Regan, …

“The War Will Be Over Sometime”: Female Authorship, Time, Trauma, And Healing In H.D.’S Wartime Works, Loren Samons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a tripartite collection of poems, at first glance H.D.'s Trilogy appears vastly different from her semi-autobiographical novel, Bid Me to Live, but the two are not as removed from each other as their formats and publication timelines might indicate. In fact, their connectedness is much less discreet than many scholars have suggested. In addition to being thematically similar in terms of their considerations of time and gender, Bid Me to Live and Trilogy could be viewed as works in conversation with each other, reflecting the development of the female authorial voice along a timeline of war-related trauma progression and …

An Examination Of Consumer Perceptions Of Sponsorship Authenticity Between A Major Beer Brand And Professional Women’S And Men’S Hockey Leagues, Matthew Reid

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol sponsorship of women’s professional hockey in North America began in 2019, yet men’s professional hockey has received financial support from alcohol brands for decades. The purpose of this thesis was to examine consumer perceptions of sponsorship authenticity as they relate to beer sponsorship of professional men’s and women’s hockey leagues. Moreover, this study examined the differences of gender on perceptions of authenticity towards the two alcohol and sport sponsorships, as well as two correlations: first, between alcohol consumption and sponsorship authenticity, and second, between attitudes towards alcohol sponsorship and sponsorship authenticity. A quantitative, cross-sectional design was utilized, and its …

Sex And The Superman: Gender And The Superhero Monomyth, Christopher Maverick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1938 introduction of Superman, superheroes have been ever-present in American popular culture. Indeed, with the modern preponderance of comic book movies dominating the American cinematic box-office, superhero fantasy is arguably the most important genre of fiction being produced in the contemporary moment. Peter Coogan, Kurt Busiek and many other scholars have discussed the prominence and relevance of the superhero fantasy as a genre. Still others, including Umberto Eco and Marco Arnaudo, have asserted that the superhero is not so much a genre and as it is the evolution of mythology. In Sex and the Superman, I argue …

Understanding Neuroanatomy In A Virtual 3d Environment: Creation And Use Of A New Survey Tool To Evaluate The Effectiveness Of 3d Software In Neuroanatomy Education For Understanding Superficial And Deep Brain Structures., Akash Khare

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Studying cross-sections is a critical approach to learning and testing knowledge in neuroanatomy and the role of 3D technologies have been gradually increasing in medical education, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. A study was conducted in a quasi-experimental one-group pre-post interventional design in an online setting by creating and evaluating the effectiveness of a virtual lab in neuroanatomy for all neuroscience students enrolled in the Fundamentals of Neuroscience course in our department at the University of Louisville. Study modules were created using the 2D resources used in previous years and 3D web applications of Visible Body and AnatomyLearning.com software. A …

Analysis Of U.S. Labor Market Matching Efficiencies And New Hires Rates By Gender And State, Mary K. Klinko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The first section of this thesis investigates the primary dynamics and trends of the labor market matching efficiency over time. Instead of utilizing the aggregate U.S. matching efficiency in our analysis, we instead use state-level data to create a measure of matching efficiency for each U.S. state in our panel dataset. We also utilize two empirical models: a “base” model, which covers the entire time period of analysis from 2001 to 2021, and a “pandemic” model, which focuses specifically on the time period the COVID-19 pandemic was present in the U.S. The base model attempts to control for supply-side childcare …

“I Don' Want To Upset Anyone - I Just Want To Exist": Nonbinary College Student Experiences At A Public Mid-Southern University., Cat Renee Alexander

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzed the experiences of twenty-four nonbinary students at Sunnydale University, using a grounded theoretical approach with a standpoint perspective. Snowball sampling, e-mail advertising, and poster advertising were utilized. Themes and findings came from two areas, those of contrasting experiences and those of consensus opinions. Participants had contrasting experiences based on gender, pronouns, race/ethnicity, student classification, and major. Consensus opinions include suggested changes for campus inclusiveness that many participants discussed. A pre-interview survey was used to filter participants and collect demographic information and then interviews were collected from August 2021 – December 2021. This study found that although Sunnydale …

Communication Accommodation Of Surgeons With Student-Athletes, Emily Womble

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Health communication is a topic that has been broadly researched for a while. It is an area that holds significance everyday due to the number of people involved and the number of people who rely on healthcare in general. Student-athletes sustain over a million injuries annually, over half of which required surgery (Corlette et al., 2015). However, the specific topic of communication between a surgeon and their studentathlete is one that is not studied much at all. Utilizing Communication Accommodation Theory as the theoretical framework, this study explored how surgeons currently use accommodation in their communication to their student-athletes. It …

Divided We Fall: Gender-Based Occupational Segregation In Kentucky’S Executive Branch 2012-2020., Hillary Mcgoodwin Abbott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fifty-eight years have passed since the Title VII of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 was signed into law, yet discrimination in employment still occurs; the Kentucky Executive Branch is no exception. This paper will use Theodore Lowi’s agency typology and EEOC categorical data from the 2012 and 2020 Kentucky Office of Diversity and Employment Training Semi-Annual Report on Female and Minority Employment (SAR) to identify gendered occupational segregation in three distinct Executive Branch agencies, address potential contributing factors and areas of change (Alkadry & Tower, 2006; Lowi, 1985; Newman, 1994; Escriche, 2007). Addressing any underlying discriminatory practices that may …

At What Price: Insidious Hegemony And Character Archetypes Woven Into Until Dawn, Courtney Harvey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Supermassive Games’s Until Dawn tasks its players with helping eight teenagers survive a night of terror. All eight playable characters may live or die depending on the player’s choices and gameplay proficiency. Despite its intricacies, the game still relies heavily on horror movie tropes, which the characters embody, and they face different treatment based on their gender, race, and sanity. Particularly, the weapons available to them and the scenarios for their deaths and survival contribute to trapping the characters within their given characteristics and forcing them into a role that they cannot ever fully break free from. While the branching …

Relationships Between Dual Enrollment Parameters, College Completion, And Time To Completion At Tennessee Community Colleges, Victoria N. Mellons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this non-experimental quantitative study was to evaluate the relationships between completion of high school dual enrollment courses and subsequent success of first-time, full-time community college students as measured by completion of an associate degree and the time it took to complete the degree. In addition to comparing dual and non-dual enrollment student performance, the effects of the number of dual enrollment courses completed and the subject areas of those courses was evaluated. Student subgroups reviewed included gender, race, socioeconomic status, and prior academic preparation (ACT score). The focus of this study was all first-time, full-time students at …

Accepting Or Opposing The Status Quo: A Look At The Women Characters In Mariama Bâ’S So Long A Letter (1981) And Chimamanda Adichie’S Purple Hibiscus (2003), Omolola Giwa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

What exactly is the status quo of women in Africa? Women’s selfhood has been systematically subordinated or outright denied by law, customary practices, and cultural stereotypes. Scholars like Judith Bennet suggest that religious practices and colonial rule subjugate African women. Patriarchal ideologies guide the society’s discrimination against women and this has influenced the status of women, especially married women and the way they respond in times of affliction.

Authors like Chimamanda Adichie and Mariama Ba in their fictional novels The Purple Hibiscus and So Long a Letter focus on capturing the struggles and conditions of women in the Western African …

Agency, Mentorship, And Self-Efficacy: Achieving Gender Equity Among Texas Superintendents, Carmela Marisa Levy-David

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this qualitative case study was to revisit Bandura’s agency, self-efficacy theory, and Kram’s mentor theory to address the disproportionality between the number of men and women superintendents in Texas. Despite extensive female representation in classrooms, campus leadership, and central office positions, the number of women superintendents remained relatively unchanged for nearly a decade. Access to mentors, leadership pipelines, career pathways, and other factors was examined to identify current and prior barriers to promotion. Semistructured interviews gathered reflections and experiences from the lens of seven current women superintendents and six mentors of women superintendents. Survey responses from women …

“You’Re Not My Leader.” The Impact Of Gender And Ethnic Stereotypes On Leadership Evaluations, Arief B. Kartolo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The effectiveness of a leader is important to the success of an organization across many levels. Because the effectiveness of leadership is subject to the evaluation and perception of followership, it is often influenced through biases and expectations – such as stereotypes. Although ample studies have demonstrated the impact of stereotyping on leadership roles, several gaps still need to be addressed in the literature. First, the literature tends to focus on the impact of gender stereotypes, while fewer studies have considered the impact of ethnic stereotypes on leadership roles. Second, few studies have investigated the impact of stereotypes based on …

The Experience Of Transitioning For The Transgender Person: An Appreciative Inquiry Approach To Advance Gender Affirming Care, Shelley Evans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background. The process of transitioning has a significant impact on improving quality of life among transgender and nonbinary people (Johansson et al., 2010). Transitioning is the act of moving towards a gender identity that feels more aligned with internal identity (Rankin & Beemyn, 2012). However, despite promising research that supports the benefits of medical, social and/or legal transitioning, the understanding of the experience has not been fully explored (Evans et al., 2021), and it is a barrier to advancing the delivery of gender affirming care among nurses, other health care providers, and health care organizations. There is a need to …

In The Balance: Perceptions Of Work-Family Balance For Women In Higher Education., Aubrey Radford Woolley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Striking a balance between paid work and family work is hard for many individuals. Previous research has focused on the availability and effectiveness of family friendly policies and demonstrated a need for continued research. I examine work-family balance among women working in higher education. My study asks what are the determinants for work-family balance? I draw on institutional data from the fall 2017 Campus Climate and Diversity Survey which in part focuses on work-family balance. My regression analysis shows that faculty have a lower perception of work-family balance than non-faculty. For both non-faculty and faculty, support from supervisor/chairperson and to …

Body Image Disturbance And Social Networking Site Behaviours, Alicia Marie Berze-Butts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social Networking Sites (SNSs) are becoming increasingly popular in modern society, with emerging research indicating that appearance focused SNS use in particular is associated with body image concerns. The present study investigated body image disturbance and appearance related SNS behaviours, including engaging in appearance comparisons and self-photo (“selfie”) activities. A sample of 358 Canadian university students (259 females and 93 males) aged 17 to 57 years (M = 21.93 years, SD = 5.30 years) completed an online questionnaire consisting of self-report measures assessing body image disturbance, appearance comparison, selfie taking, selfie sharing, selfie investment, and selfie editing. Results indicated that …

“It Could Have Happened To Any Of You”: Post-Wounded Women In Three Contemporary Feminist Dystopian Novels, Abby N. Lewis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My goal for this thesis is to investigate the concept of (mis)labeling female protagonists in contemporary British fiction as mentally ill—historically labeled as madness—when subjected to traumatic events. The female protagonists in two novels by Sophie Mackintosh, The Water Cure (2018) and Blue Ticket (2020), and Jenni Fagan’s 2012 novel The Panopticon, are raised in environments steeped in trauma and strict, hegemonic structures that actively work to control and mold their identities. In The Panopticon, this system is called “the experiment”; in The Water Cure, it is personified by the character King and those who follow him; …

The Ghost Town: An Autoethnographic Study On The Effects Of Loss And Trauma On A Saudi Arabian International Student’S Well-Being, Salman J. Alzowibi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We all have fought on grief’s battleground; some of us started at early ages, while others during their developmental age, teen’s years, or later in their adulthood. All of them are valuable resources and sites of knowledge that need to be explored. Yet, recent studies reduced grief into clinical psychological well-being. However, as I lived these experiences, trauma, loss, and grief impact all well-being dimensions. Grief intersects with large structures (e.g., social, economic, cultural, locations, etc.); all these components impact our way of grief how socially displayed (mourning). This dissertation encapsulates my personal experience elevating it to an academic work …

Removing Hidden Barriers: Using Chat To Examine How Women Shape Their Military Experience, Kyle Bellue

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Using Critical Military Studies (Basham & Bulmer, 2017; Duncanson & Woodward, 2016), this exploratory case study analysis describes how women officers made sense of their gendered experience within the military, and uses agency, as defined by Post-structural feminism (Davies and Gannon, 2005), to highlight how women are shaped by their environment. The purpose was to both observe how women officers perceived military gender beliefs and practices and analyze how those perceptions shaped how they learn to participate in the military, as well as to analyze how those experiences helped them reshape gender beliefs and practices within the military. I also …