Digital Commons Network^™

Gender And United States Army Leadership Doctrine: Reserve Officer Training Corps Cadets’ Experiences With Leadership, Sarah M. Griffin

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This study provides a comparative analysis of female and male Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets' experiences with the United States Army leadership doctrine, given the hypermasculine Army culture with deeply engrained gender norms and expectations that have long privileged men and masculinity. Using Risman's (2004) theory of gender as social structure, I explore the historical, hyper-masculine cultural norms and expectations of Soldiers in the Army at the structural, interactional, and individual levels. In particular, I study the Army leadership doctrine (structural) as experienced by ROTC cadets, including their self-perceptions of leadership ability and attitudes about leadership (individual) and their perceptions …

Making Meaning Through Leadership: An Exploration Of College Men, Masculinity, And Motivation To Lead, Katharine Stango

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

In my previous role as the Assistant Director for Campus Programs at the University of Vermont, (UVM) I noticed fewer and fewer college men pursing leadership opportunities during their time in college. Student affairs practitioners and scholars recognize the benefits and enhanced outcomes students gain by participating in meaningful activities in college (Astin, 1984; Dugan, 2006; Komives et al., 2005; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005; Quaye et al., 2019; Tinto, 1987). When college men are responsible for higher numbers of conduct violations, sexual misconduct issues, and high risk drug and alcohol use in college (Harper & Harris, 2010; Young et al., …

The Culture Of College Wilderness Adventure Clubs: Exploring Leadership, Language, And Gender, Blair Shields

UVM Patrick Leahy Honors College Senior Theses

College is a time in many young adults’ lives when they are challenging their previous beliefs, learning new norms, and trying different activities. Once on campus, students are able to choose to participate in various clubs. At the University of Vermont (UVM), outdoor clubs are especially popular, but the culture of these types of groups has not been studied very extensively. In this study, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, I examine the culture -- the goals, norms, and language -- of the clubs and how club membership is experienced by the member leaders. These clubs constitute a contested site …

Drive: My Motivation For Becoming A Holistic And Authentic Leader And Supervisor Of College Students, Alisha Ami Oguri Lewis

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

In sixth grade, I did an art project where I painted a self-portrait. I decided to paint myself looking in a mirror. On the right-hand side of the canvas was the back of my head. On the left-hand side was a reflection of my face looking back at me in the mirror. During one session with my art teacher, she looked at my painting and paused before asking, “what happened?” She paused again before continuing that at one point the painting was on the right track, implying since that point, something had gone terribly wrong. I mean what was looking …

Master's Project: Dashboard 2.0: A Visual Storytelling Mechanism To Inspire Relationship Building, Participation, & Collaboration For Storytelling, Chelsea Harder

Rubenstein School Leadership for Sustainability Project Publications

The Aloha+ Challenge Dashboard 2.0 project explores an inclusive, decolonizing approach to advance sustainability in Hawaiʻi through the value of data and communications to inspire action. Due to its isolated location, rich biodiversity and natural and cultural resources, and strong and committed leadership and communities, Hawaiʻi is uniquely positioned to be a leader in sustainability, and to develop placed-based practices for sustainable living that can inspire others to create unique sustainable practices for their communities. This project seeks to advance sustainability outcomes through developing innovative community data capture mechanisms and compelling data visualizations for the State’s online open-data Dashboard which …

Master's Project: Tending To Joy, Karen Leu

Rubenstein School Leadership for Sustainability Project Publications

If we dare to hope for the thriving of humans and all of life, then joy must hold a solid place in our imagination. The purpose of this project was to breathe joy into my own life and into the world around me. Following a literature review, I carried out three mini-projects – creating crowd-sourced collages out of what brings people joy, sending daily text messages with quotes about joy, and providing cookies to groups working on social change efforts. The projects succeeded in spreading delight, raising spirits, and inspiring reflection. The journey towards cultivating joy in my own life …

Master's Project: Cultivating Sacred Relationship: Learning Through Love And Tension In An Interconnected World, Colin Arisman

Rubenstein School Leadership for Sustainability Project Publications

This capstone project is an experimental inquiry and storytelling process focused on building relationships within a participatory learning ecology centered on love, mystery and reciprocity. Through personal experience, I explore how engaging with tension and equity protocols in our relationships can challenge forces of oppression.

Master's Project: Examining Equity And Emergence: Personal Inquiry And Practice, Mary Rachel Cadwallader-Staub

Rubenstein School Leadership for Sustainability Project Publications

When I awakened to the reality of my White privilege I began a transformative learning journey which implicates my personal life, professional work, and leadership practice. This project deepened and integrated my understanding of Whiteness, power, privilege, and systemic oppression. By learning the ways I perpetuate white supremacy, I create personal agency for changing such patterns, embodying leadership which builds a more equitable and justice-centered future. This personal inquiry utilized emergent strategy, relationship-building, and critical reflection to generate deep and integrated learning.

High School Principal Leadership For The Implementation Of A Personalized Proficiency Education Paradigm In The State Of Vermont, Jennifer Stainton

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

As of 2014, the State of Vermont adopted a policy package directing schools to implement a new way of educating and graduating students. Vermont’s Act 77 and Education Quality Standards require schools to identify specific skills and knowledge students must be proficient in to graduate and ensure each student has a personalized experience. Vermont’s tradition of local control means high school principals are leading change in their schools. How high school principals are understanding, valuing, and acting to lead the implementation of Vermont’s policies for personalized, proficiency-based education therefore varies by location. The purpose of this multiple case study was …

Powerful Peers: Resident Advisors' Experience With Restorative Practices In College Residence Hall Settings, Patience Whitworth

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This study explores the implementation of Restorative Practices (Costello, Wachtel, & Wachtel, 2009) in a residential life program at a small public university. Narrative inquiry is used to explore the perspectives of eleven resident advisors (RAs) who have been trained in Restorative Practices (RP) and are using them in their residential communities. Participants were interviewed three times over the course of one academic year. The study illuminates the RAs' perspectives, growth and experiences with RP over that year. The findings demonstrate that RP may not only provide a structure for RAs to succeed within their challenging position, but may also …

Damned If You Do--Damned If You Don't: A Queer Woman Of Color's Journey Of Trauma, Agency, And Leadership, Windy Paz-Amor

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

ABSTRACT

Navigating systems of leadership in Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) in higher education as a Queer Woman of Color can be a challenging and complex process--one that integrates identity, experience, expertise, knowledge, patience, and most importantly the ability to risk; while remaining authentic and professional. It is a balance, which in my own experience and expertise requires constant reflection, evaluation, and adaptation. A negotiation of owning that one has power and agency, while realizing that the many intersecting identities that one holds influences how dominant culture perceives that power and agency. To reach authentic reflection and evaluation in leadership it …

Iraq: My Stories Of Life, Liberty And Leadership, Kenneth Smith

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

...this war is lost, and the surge is not accomplishing anything...

- Harry Reid, April 19, 2007

Human nature prevails. Our desire is to live. Our unalienable right is to be free; to enjoy the fruits of our labor. How we spend our limited time on this earth pursuing happiness is up to each of us: uniquely, individually, with our own distinctive personality, intellect and motivation. In the following personal exploration and scholarly analysis, I discuss how our inherent gift of life and the desire for liberty form an integrated platform from which leadership personifies itself in the lives of …

Hunger, Leadership And Social Change: A Students Teaching Students Course, Catherine Gannascoli

Environmental Studies Electronic Thesis Collection

Empowering youth to be catalysts for social change and global citizens will create a world where individuals feel inspired and prepared to address the most challenging problems. Hunger is a multifaceted issue with various underlying economic and social causes, yet it is also an opportunity to mobilize and empower individuals to be agents of change. Understanding the potential of individuals to work towards sustainable, effective hunger eradication is an important tool to create widespread social change. This course critically examined the systemic causes of hunger, explored sustainable, hunger eradication methods, and empowered students to be pattern-changing social entrepreneurs. Through partnerships …

Envs 197 Students Teaching Students: Hunger, Leadership, And Social Change, Samantha Ethridge

Environmental Studies Electronic Thesis Collection

Tonight, one in seven people in the world will go to bed hungry (World Food Programme, 2012). Right now there are about 925 million people in the world who do not have enough to eat (Economic and Social Development Department, 2010). The vast majority of the impoverished live in rural areas and suffer from chronic persistent hunger, which is the cause of many societal, political, and economic challenges we face as a global community (Burkey, 1993). There is also a clear distinction that must be made about hunger. About 90% of hunger today is chronic persistent hunger and it doesn't …