Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Dancers, Mackenzie Weakland

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

COVID-19 impacted every person who experienced it. Dancers in particular, were a group of people that were not able to participate in their art form in the way that they were always able to. This project explores how COVID-19 impacted dancers and their ability to learn and grow.

Small Historically Black Colleges And Universities Bridging Social Capital: The Use Of Language, Tone And Content To Share Information On Instagram, Pamela Peters

Journal of Research Initiatives

The COVID-19 pandemic has strained higher education institutions, especially small Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). As campuses closed and reopened, Black communities' digital divide grew, adding to the need to stay connected. This study uses social capital to examine how institutions use language, tone, content, and information to bridge social capital. An analysis of 35 small liberal arts HBCUs’ Instagram posts was undertaken to compare post frequency, types of information, engagement, tone, language, and content in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the pandemic, 2020 and 2021. This study indicates that post-oversaturation in 2020 and 2021 and information …

Museums, Covid-19 And The Pivot To Social Media, Jamie Larkin, Andrea Ballatore, Ekaterina Mityrova

CCI Articles and Research

This paper examines social media activity by UK museums during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a general perception that as museums closed their doors for extended periods, their digital presence increased to maintain connections with their audiences. However, much of the research conducted in this area is based on small-scale studies and examples of best practice from large, well-resourced museums. By contrast, this study utilizes a comprehensive database of over 3300 active UK museums to understand the use of Facebook and Twitter across the sector. Specifically, the paper examines the frequency with which museums posted to these digital platforms as …

Older Women’S Stories Of Covid-19 Loss: Communicated Narrative Sense-Making Through Photography, Anne Walker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The diverse array of challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic make it difficult to assess the full impact of this global health crisis. More than 300,000 older Americans died, leaving a nation of grieving survivors in their absence. This profound loss of life will undoubtedly inform the field’s understanding of grief and grieving for many years to come. Pre-pandemic, older women in the United States understood grief to be part of their life stage; COVID-19 amplified the grief experience through both cumulative losses and the isolation particular to the novel coronavirus response. However, few qualitative studies explore older women’s grief, …

Catholicism Online: How The Church Is Communicating In The Visual Field, Alexandra Barfield

Honors Theses

ABSTRACT

Given the rise and importance of social media in the last two decades, religious institutions, especially the Roman Catholic Church, have an important place online to fulfill their mission and belief of spreading the Gospel message. Communicating this message on social media and with contemporary marketing practices is an opportunity and a challenge for churches, Catholics, and apostolates alike. In this study, I analyze a variety of Catholic-related Instagram accounts and interview individuals involved in Church management and content creation. This primary research is prefaced with secondary research exploring the status of the Catholic Church in the United States, …

Digitalizing Religion In The Age Of Covid-19: A Uses And Gratifications Perspective, Abdulaziz Altawil

Dissertations - ALL

The current COVID-19 pandemic has impacted people’s religious behavior around the world. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, most in-person religious services have shifted to virtual platforms. The online religious transition amidst the outbreak has alleviated many issues for worshippers as it provided them with a sanctuary space to connect with their faith and community. According to a 2020 Pew Research analysis, the pandemic has made many Americans change their religious habits by watching religious content online instead of physically engaging with their local religious institution. This dissertation provides a preliminary examination of this phenomenon by exploring the role of digital …

The Great Resignation Among Restaurant Workers: A Content Analysis Of News Sources’ Portrayals Of The Covid-19 Labor Shortage, Mackenzie M. Williams

The Cardinal Edge

When workers left the labor market in large numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic, proclamations of a labor shortage emerged extensively throughout the news. In this study, I analyze the coverage of the worker shortage among three news sources with different political orientations. Several themes emerged from analyzing a total of 75 articles. The findings showed that the perspective shown in the article, the cause of the labor shortage, restaurant worker portrayal, support of solutions, and opinion of the labor shortage all differed based on the political identity of the news source. This research supports previous findings that show there is …

Amjambo Africa! (September 2022), Kathreen Harrison

Amjambo Africa!

In this Issue

Moonglade............................. 4-5

Education............................. 6-10

In 7 languages

General Assistance ...........11-13

In 7 languages

Market Basket ...................14-15

All about the Workforce ........18

Community Happenings ......20

Amjambo Arts ........................21

Ugandan athletes ....................22

Rwandan hero .........................23

Health & Wellness.............24-31

In 7 languages

International & Maine updates .................... 33

New Voices feature........... 34-35

Financial literacy ....................35

Nonprofit updates ............36-37

Tips & Info.............................. 38

Relocating Community To The Virtual: Sound Knowledge, Affective Listening, And The (Dis)Embodying Of Sound And Space, Zachery D. Coffey

Masters Theses

Music within Protestant church communities frequently reduces the distinction between performers and audience, emphasizing the collective, participatory role of all congregation members, in manners of music making similar to those discussed by Thomas Turino. This dynamic helps establish individual and communal identities. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, church communities saw changes in their services, music, and ways of life. Meeting in a physical building proved impossible due to the dangers of COVID-19 and many churches mitigated these dangers by streaming, recording, and posting services online. Between 2020 and 2022, I observed and participated in changes to technological production …

Exploring The Impacts Of Covid-19 On Lgbtq+ Intimate Communication, Jakob L. Coykendall

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado

The question guiding this exploratory qualitative research study is, “How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted LGBTQ+ intimate communication and relationships?” Recently, scholars have demanded that communication scholarship be conducted through an intersectional lens that analyzes multiple dimensions of social identities, including LGBTQ+ identities. Queer Theory poses questions around gender, sexual, and romantic identities that can help expand our understanding of different forms of intimate communication. “Queering” interpersonal communication research involves challenging traditional understandings of communication within identities such as sexuality and gender at the individual and structural levels (Chevrette, 2013). Queering communication research supports a more in depth analysis of …

Graduation Simulator: A Virtual Reality Conversation Experience For Second-Year College Students Living Through A Pandemic, Dylan Cohen

College of Communication Master of Arts Theses

Many second-year college students have struggled to socially transition back to in-person schooling. After a significant period of enforced isolation, there is a need to aggregate loose connections activated or maintained online. Through conducting UX/ethnographic research on current second-year students who have lost out on major life milestones between the years 2019-2021, synthesizing research from fields of media studies, interpersonal communication, and art/design that incites self-disclosure, and collaborating with a group of student designers, I responded to this issue by creating Graduation Simulator (2022) over a period of 8 months. Graduation Simulator facilitates emotionally vulnerable discussion through a VR scavenger …

The Great Resignation: A Content Analysis Of News Sources' Portrayals Of The Covid-19 Labor Shortage., Mackenzie Williams

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

When workers left the labor market in large numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic, proclamations of a labor shortage emerged extensively throughout the news. In this study, I analyze the coverage of the worker shortage among three news sources with different political orientations. Several themes emerged from analyzing a total of 75 articles. The findings showed that the perspective shown in the article, the cause of the labor shortage, restaurant worker portrayal, support of solutions, and opinion of the labor shortage all differed based on the political identity of the news source. This research supports previous findings that show there is …

The Value Of Education: School Policy Decisions During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Elika W. Somani

Individually Designed Interdepartmental Major Honors Project

During the COVID-19 pandemic, lacking national U.S. policies, wide variation and conflict over chosen public school policy decisions emerged. What factors and guidelines informed the decision-making process in K-12 public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic and who were the key stakeholders? This study examines three school district types – a large city, medium city, and small-town – across Minnesota as case studies to unpack how policy decisions were made during the pandemic. Stakeholder interviews uncovered that the school decision-making process was a) connected to a district's political opinions, b) made by the superintendent and school board, c) primarily influenced by …

Composition, Computers, And Covid-19: The Roles Of Multimodal Composition And Digital Technology In The Covid-19 Pandemic., Michael P. Lynn

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

The shift toward remote and online learning brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on teaching multimodal composition at all levels. Part of this shift towards rethinking multimodal composition came from the challenges of moving what would be in person classes online. Drawing on the New London Group’s definition of multimodality (1996), this thesis examines the relationship between remote learning throughout the pandemic and the modalities and technologies used by composition instructors and students in first-year writing. Using interviews with six first-year writing instructors from a private university, this project explores how instructors encouraged students to …

Shifting Identities: Professorial Identification During Covid-19, Anthony Survance

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Building on existing studies of identification, this paper melds crisis research with studies of identity to understand how crises influence workplace identities. To accomplish this, the study addresses two research questions: (a) How are professors’ identities enacted during the COVID-19 crisis? And, how, if at all, does university rhetoric shape the enactment of identity during the COVID-19 crisis? This paper uses qualitative methods to get rich descriptions of professorial identities allowing research to get at the heart of how changes during the pandemic affected professors’ organizational, personal, professional, and workgroup identities. Overall, this study shows the pandemic encouraged professors to …

Ua45/6 Commencement Program, Wku Registrar

WKU Archives Records

Combined fall 2021 and spring 2022 commencement programs.

Public Speaking In A Pandemic: A Situational, Compensatory, And Resilient Undertaking, Joshua F. Hoops

Basic Communication Course Annual

The introductory public speaking class includes topics such as audience analysis, credibility, organization, visual aids, and delivery. While the pedagogy I employ in this class tends to be very interactive and require a lot of group work, 2020 will forever be known as the year of the COVID-19 global pandemic, which produced social distancing, stay-at-home-orders, and mask wearing. This study examines the impacts of pandemic precautions on public speaking practice, specifically situational communication apprehension. In addition to recording my own observations throughout my face-to-face public speaking class, I also periodically interviewed students about their experience taking the course during a …

Art As Politics? How Fox News Manufactures Its Hosts’ Performances To Acquire Cable Prestige, Matthew Mcguirk

The Graduate Review

Fox News is the most popular cable news network in the United States, drawing millions of conservative viewers who trust it more than any other outlet. Although many of the network’s claims are subject to controversy or rooted in falsities, these viewers continue watching, offering a never-before-seen devotion to the network. Using Fox’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as insight from Karl Marx and Walter Benjamin, this paper demonstrates how Fox manufactures its hosts’ performances to advance its fetishizing of the commodity of cable prestige.

Covid-19 Masks In Terms Of Functional, Expressive, And Aesthetic Consumer Needs, Lily Highley

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to assess consumers' perspectives of COVID-19 masks under the functional, expressive, and aesthetic areas. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, masks have become an “accessory” to everyday life, and it was essential to research masks under these unique areas and explore consumer perceptions.

This study took place after background research on the topic and the FEA model. The study included a survey sent to Bumpers College students upon approval from the IRB. The data was analyzed and interpreted specifically in the FEA areas and can be useful to better understand the students at the University …

Exploring Online Participatory Theatre During Covid-19: Reflections On Adapting, Delivering, And Evaluating Student-Led Theatre For Health Workshops, Jeffrey Pufahl, Emmanuelle Crider, Kelviyana Walker

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the higher education community to quickly shift and adapt courses to the online environment. While traditional theatre programs struggled, the flexible nature of applied theatre created the space for students and instructors to explore and adapt existing forms, such as Forum Theatre and Sociodrama, and create engaging online workshops for the public. Over the course of 2020-21, students in the University of Florida’s Applied Theatre for Health program developed, delivered, and evaluated online health and wellness workshops for the public. This report focuses on two such projects: 1) a workshop on female reproductive health, and 2) …

Ua19/16/2 Basketball Press Releases, Wku Athletic Media Relations

WKU Archives Records

Press releases, photos and game statistics for WKU basketball team from August to December 2021.

Ua12/2/1 Fresh Start, Vol. 97, No. 1, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

College Heights Herald magazine regarding returning to WKU in person after COVID-19 lockdown.

• Stone, Damon. Fresh Faces, Familiar Traditions Come to Campus with Incoming Class – Class of 2025
• Jones, Jake. WKU Commons Sees Delays, Expected to be Completed In the Fall – University Libraries
• Murray, Debra. Living Learning Communities Bring a New Sense of Home to WKU
• Murray, Debra. What You Missed on the Hill This Summer – Garrett Conference Center, First Year Village, Munday Hall, COVID-19, Retirement
• Fisher, Brittany. Reclaiming the Hill – MASTER Plan
• Burris, Lily. Dear Readers
• Stryker, Shane. The Usual Take on My Unusual College …

Elysium As A Social Allegory: At The Nexus Of Dystopia, Cyberpunk, And Plutocracy, Emre Ulusoy

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

Michael Kwet, People’S Tech For People’S Power: A Guide To Digital Self Defense And Empowerment (2020), Gokcen Y. Karanfil

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 96, No. 26, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Latimer, Jacob. Where Kentucky’s Marijuana Laws Stand
• Burris, Lily & Jacob Latimer. Voluntary Separation Incentive Program Accelerates Administrative Turnover
• Gaskin, Loren. Gun Violence in US: What Can We Do?
• Leachman, Anna. Music at Mammaw’s – Supper & Sounds, Robin Buckner
• Lamb, Cassady. Volleyball’s Historic Run Ends in Sweet Sixteen
• Fleischman, Ian. WKU Soccer Falls in Semifinal, Roster to Return in Fall
• Sparkman, Wyatt. WKU Plays Spring Game, A Glimpse of New Hilltoppers

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 96, No. 25, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Mitchell, McKenna. Miles (and a Virus) Apart: How Long Distance Couples Are Navigating COVID-19
• Non-Stop Semesters Have Increased Student Burnout
• Dobbs, Jack. Just Jammin’ – Horse Cave
• Latimer, Jacob. New Provost to Promote Student Success – Robert Fischer aka Bud
• Tolbert, Ellie. Facebook Page for Women Creates Community – WKU Sorority Swap
• Moore, Jake. WKU Set to Play Middle Tennessee State University in 1^st Conference Matchup – Softball
• Sparkman, Wyatt. Hilltoppers Claim First C-USA Sweep Over Marshall – Baseball
• Kieser, Nick. Holding the Rope: …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 96, No. 24, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Latimer, Jacob. Original Title IX Reporter Anticipates Records Release – Nicole Ares
• Bunton, Gabrielle. Bowling Green’s Redevelopment Effect on Black Community – Shake Rag, Jonesville
• Gaskin, Loren. How Twitch Will Be the Future of Media
• Meyer-Thornton, Zane. Nestled in Nature – Lost River Cave
• Gaylord, Kaden. Appreciating Success in Women’s Sports – Softball, Soccer, Volleyball, Basketball
• Sparkman, Wyatt. Hilltoppers Drop Series at Florida International University, Host Marshall – Baseball
• Lamb, Cassady. WKU Volleyball Set to Play in NCAA Tournament

Ua19/16/2 Women's Basketball Press Releases, Wku Athletic Media Relations

WKU Archives Records

Press releases, photos and game statistics for WKU women's basketball team in 2021.

Ua19/16/2 Basketball Press Releases, Wku Athletic Media Relations

WKU Archives Records

Press releases, photos and game statistics for WKU basketball team from January to July 2021.

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 96, No. 22, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Murray, Debra. President Timothy Caboni Signs Employment Agreement to Continue Serving as University President
• Fleischaker, Jon & Michael Abate. Frankfort’s Assault on the Constitution & Transparency
• Fisher, Brittany. Helping Hooves – New Beginnings Therapeutic Riding
• Walters, Sarah. Fighting the Quarantine Blues with New Friends
• Moore, Jake. Softball Looks Strong Ahead of Conference Play
• Fleischman, Ian. WKU to Host Cardinals, Led by Ambere Barnett – Soccer
• Gaylord, Kaden. Hilltoppers Play Louisiana Tech in NIT Quarterfinals – Basketball