Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Validation Of The Spanish Version Of The Ivi_C Vrqol In Children From 8 To 18 Years Old, Carlos Fresno Cañada, Joan Gispets Parcerisas, Nazaret Fresno, Héctor Salvador Hernandez, Ana Llorca Cardeñosa, Alejandro Martinez Roda, Joan Prat Bartomeu

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose

To validate the Spanish version of the Impact of Vision Impairment for Children (IVI_C), a vision-related quality of life (VRQoL) questionnaire, using Rasch Analysis.

Methods

A translation and adaptation of the English IVI_C test was performed according to the standards published in PedsQL. The IVI_C Spanish version of the test was administered by email to 101 Sant Joan de Déu Hospital patients who were invited to respond twice, with a minimum interval of two months. The age of the patients ranged from 8 to 18 years. Statistical software SPSS 19.0 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.) was used to perform the …

Developing Community-Based Sociolinguistic Corpora To Promote Social Justice, Ryan M. Bessett, Katherine Christoffersen, Ana M. Carvalho, Isabella Calafate, Mayte Vega Mudy

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This chapter explores the many components that are involved in creating a student-based sociolinguistic corpus. Sociolinguistic corpora can be used as tools for social justice in that they promote local (or often stigmatized) varieties of language and students who speak said varieties often experience heightened language pride or greater esteem for their own language. Using the Corpus del Español en el Sur de Arizona (Carvalho 2012-) and the Corpus Bilingüe del Valle (Christoffersen and Bessett 2019-) as models, this chapter first details how to build the corpus, including the documents needed, the interview protocol, the transcription protocol, and the creation …

Applications Of Information Literacy To Teaching Independent Music Analysis, Katrina Roush

School of Music Faculty Publications and Presentations

Undergraduate and graduate music students learn many tools beneficial for music analysis, and they practice applying these tools to music in their music theory classes. However, they often struggle to perform useful analysis on their own without the guidance of an instructor. They can have trouble understanding that analysis should communicate their personal interpretation of a work, and they may not realize that independent analysis usually requires some preparatory work (analytical research),such as discovering if others have analyzed the work and learning new analytical methods. This article shows that there is a strong connection between various steps in the music-analytical …

Notetaking As Validity Evidence: A Mixed-Methods Investigation Of Question Preview In Eap Listening Assessment, Rebecca Yeager, Gomee Park, Ray J. T. Liao

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recent scholarship has questioned the cognitive validity of listening tests with preview, in which test-takers can see test questions before listening. This study mined student notes for evidence of cognitive processes in listening tests with and without preview, using a mixed-methods design that explored the effect of test format on notetaking behaviors. Qualitative analysis indicated that students who previewed items were more likely to systematically omit information, highlight previewed keywords, and engage in shallower structural representation. Conversely, Kruskal-Wallis tests revealed that students who listened without preview took more notes, especially of main ideas and details, and had better coverage of …

Safety And Academic Outcomes Of College Campus-Based Advocacy Services, Rachel J. Voth Schrag, Elizabeth Baumler, Dixie Hairston, Cynthia Jones, Leila Wood

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Intimate partner violence (IPV), sexual assault, and stalking are consequential public health and safety issues with wide reaching impacts on emerging adults, including those on college campuses in the United States. In response to high rates of violence among college student populations, universities are developing campus-based advocacy (CBA) programs, which aim to support survivors of interpersonal violence through supportive connections, resource acquisition, and safety planning. However, little data exists related to their impact on key student-survivor outcomes. Thus, this study aims to understand (a) the approach CBA programs use to address safety and academic concerns of student-survivors, and (b) the …

Review: Indigenous Borderlands: Native Agency, Resilience, And Power In The Americas, Edited By Joaquín Rivaya-Martínez, Thomas A. Britten

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Latina Voice In Dialogue With Literacy, Xiaodi Zhou

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study follows the literacy experiences of four Latina middle schoolers as they read Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and compose home language narratives in their heritage voices. Both their vibrant ethnic cultures and other intersecting rays of identities are analyzed in the vein of their literate identities. Through analysis of their writing and speech, the girls present hybridized identities on the border between cultures and languages. Their position and identities in the social world of middle school are discussed and how transactions with literacy can dialogically influence those identities to enact critically conscious pedagogy.

Expanding Understandings Of Race In Postsecondary Language Classrooms: A Call For Multiraciality In Teacher Identity Research, Marcela Hebbard

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

While issues of race in relation to teacher identity have been addressed in language education research, they have often been confined to special issues. Factors contributing to the “absent-present” nature of race include an imbalanced focus on intersectionality which tends to prioritize the teacher's linguistic identity over other social categories, such as race and the persistent dichotomy between the idealized native speaker and non-native speaker. To broaden the understandings of race in teacher identity research within postsecondary language classrooms, this chapter advocates for considering the notion of multiraciality. To support these arguments, results from a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of …

Review Of King Fisher: The Short Life And Elusive Legend Of A Texas Desperado, By Chuck Parsons And Thomas C. Bicknell, William C. Yancey

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Student Perceptions Of Community-Engaged Scholarship Courses: Developing A Sociolinguistic Corpus On The U.S.–Mexico Border, Katherine Christoffersen, Aubrey Villanueva, Ryan M. Bessett

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The well-documented benefits of community engagement experiences have resulted in its incorporation across a wide variety of disciplines, from health care (Alexander et al., 2020) to aviation science (Belt & Sweetman, 2021) to statistics (Schanz & Giles, 2021). The field of sociolinguistics is no exception with plentiful examples of community-engaged scholarship (CES) or “research of mutual benefit to community and academic interests” (Delugan et al., 2014, p. 155). One way that linguistics and language courses have integrated CES is through the development of community-based sociolinguistic corpora or collections of informal interviews with community members. In these courses, students are trained …

The Accuracy Of Automatic And Human Live Captions In English, Pablo Romero-Fresco, Nazaret Fresno

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Closed captions play a vital role in making live broadcasts accessible to many viewers. Traditionally, stenographers and respeakers have been in charge of their production, but this scenario is changing due to the steady improvements that automatic speech recognition has undergone in recent years. This technology is being used to create intralingual live captions without human assistance and broadcasters have begun to explore its use. As a result, human and automatic captions co-exist now on television and, while some research has focused on the accuracy of human live captions, comprehensive assessments of the accuracy and quality of automatic captions are …

Electromagnetic Field Analysis, Materials Characterization, And Advanced Modeling Of Modern Guitar Pickups, Luis Alonso Villarreal

Theses and Dissertations

This Thesis establishes the foundations of modern guitar pickup theory, enhancing current pickup design by an increase in voltage output, reduction of DC resistance, and a reduction of production costs. This research investigates factors that have received insufficient attention, such as the performance of different magnetic materials, magnet geometry, bobbin geometry, metal effects, etc. An equation to calculate the output of guitar pickups is developed. Additionally, this work constructs a modern pickup using the techniques developed in this thesis incorporating theory and advanced modeling techniques to simulate changes in performance and interactions with different magnetic materials and geometries. The new …

Mano De Obra: Exploring Processes And Materiality In Artwork, Karla Gabriela De La Fuente

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis paper examines the theoretical derivatives and artistic influences that drive the artist’s ongoing series of works exploring the human experience of the working class in the border region of South Texas and beyond. Through the use of found objects, organic regional materials, adopted and adapted processes; the artist creates artwork that teeters on a tightrope between sweet, subtle naivety, and sudden, robust spoonfuls of truth. The artwork has an emphasis on the materiality, and the parallel between the “Mano de Obra” of the artist at work and that of the working class of our communities.

The Quiet And Other Fantastical Tales, Emily Nicole Cerda

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis briefly discusses the genres and subgenres of speculative fiction—focusing on fantasy, horror, and science fiction—and is primarily a short story collection that also includes a few novel chapters. The critical introduction delves into the present and overly complex subgenre categorization methods, how and why new subgenres are created, and provides simple definitions for the main genres of speculative fiction and fantasy subgenres.

The subgenres that will be discussed through either a short story, novel chapter(s), or definition include, but are not limited to: fairytales, portal fantasy, paranormal romance, dark fantasy, historical fantasy, magical realism, epic fantasy, mythic fiction, …

The Wackiness Of Wacky World, Michael Dan Mccormick

Theses and Dissertations

This critical introduction takes a closer look at the situations presented in my manuscript “Wacky World” and offer insight on the actions seen from the main character. This insight is meant to clear confusion as to whether or not the character can be viewed as a heroic figure and explore his personality to draw conclusions. “Wacky World”, a full-length play, tells the story of a man with an obsession with a defunct theme park and the deranged actions that he takes in order to prevent its demolition.

I explore the topic on whether or not sympathy …

Amigos Imaginarios. A Noir Novel, Andrés Antonio Torres-Scott

Theses and Dissertations

Amigos imaginarios is a blend of a Latin American Noir and a Nordic Noir novel, where horror moves away from the supernatural to give way to sublime and inevitable psychological and social terrors. Inspired by a real event in a Catholic boarding school in Chalco, México, in 2007, where 512 girls and an undefined number of nuns suffered from total paralysis of their legs. Amigos imaginarios’ protagonist is psychologist Leonella D’Alvarada, while she treats the case of Emily’s imaginary friend, Calib, the Catholic church requests her help to halt a psychogenic epidemic at a boarding house for low-income girls. The …

Rhythmic Ritual: Hand Papermaking As A Transformative Process, Keatan Mckeever

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration of the transformative processes of hand papermaking, both personally and materially, through various artworks situated between two- and three-dimensional forms. The conceptual motivations supporting my practice are informed by intuition, locally sourced materials, human connection, material structure, and low-tech approaches to the papermaking process. In the first portion of this thesis, I discuss how I chose paper as my artistic medium, and the transformational process of hand papermaking through a historical lens. The second half follows the experimentation and limitations that informed my practice, the content of my work regarding material and structural qualities, and …

Exploring The Impact Of A Student-Faculty Partnership Program At A Hispanic Serving Institution, Alyssa G. Cavazos, Lesley Chapa, Javier Cavazos Vela

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Guided by a strength-based framework and counter-storying lens, we use a qualitative case study approach (Cook-Sather, 2020; Cook-Sather & Motz-Storey, 2016) to explore students’ experiences with a teaching partnership program. A Students as Learners and Teachers (SaLT) model to student-instructor partnership positions students as consultants in a faculty member’s course in which they are not currently enrolled (Cook-Sather, 2020). Following a case study analysis with student and faculty partners in a SaLT program at a HSI, several themes were identified. Themes emerging from student participants included: empathy, personal growth, solidarity, and feedback awareness. Faculty partners’ themes included: receptivity, resistance, and …

Review: Borders Of Violence And Justice: Mexicans, Mexican Americans, And Law Enforcement In The Southwest, 1835–1935, By Brian D. Behnken., George T. Diaz

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

[Vet] Veterans Day 2023, Special Collections & Archives, Shannon Pensa

Library Display Posters

UTRGV Special Collections & Archives presents an an annual poster exhibit honoring the service and sacrifice of military service veterans of the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

This year's digital poster exhibit features information about the historic changes in the U.S. armed forces as well as profiles for valley veterans, including: Richard E. Cavazos, Dr. Eloisa Tamez, Pedro Cano, Maria Osorio, Ruth M. Abney, Eugene Gutierrez, Angela Burton, Herbert Pike, and Edgar Hernandez.

Learn more about Special Collections & Archives resources on the history of military service in the Valley by visiting our research guide.

A Framework For Transparency In Precision Livestock Farming, Kevin C. Elliott, Ian Werkheiser

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Simple Summary

Abstract

Lógica, Lenguajes Formales Y Modalidad [Logic, Formal Languages And Modality], Otávio Bueno, Melisa Vivanco

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Este artículo examina dos supuestas limitaciones en el uso de lenguajes formales: por un lado, las compensaciones entre el poder expresivo e inferencial y, por el otro, el fenómeno del encarcelamiento del sistema. Después de reconceptualizar el tema, consideramos el papel que desempeña la modalidad en la comprensión de ciertos aspectos de las estructuras matemáticas y defendemos su centralidad.

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This paper examines two alleged limitations in the use of formal languages: on the one hand, the trade-offs between expressive and inferential power, and on the other, the phenomenon of system imprisonment. After reconceptualizing the issue, we consider the role …

The Scramble For Africa And The Conquest Of The Congo, Adam Hochchild

Rondel V. Davidson Endowed Lecture Series

Adam Hochschild writes frequently about issues of human rights and social justice. The latest of his eleven books is American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis, which won the Gold Medal for Nonfiction of the 2023 California Book Awards. King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, as was To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion. 1914-1918. His Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves was a finalist for …

American Midnight: The Great War, A Violent Peace, And Democracy's Forgotten Crisis, Adam Hochschild

Rondel V. Davidson Endowed Lecture Series

Book Talk

In American Midnight, award-winning historian Adam Hochschild reassesses the overlooked but startlingly resonant period between World War I and the Roaring Twenties, when the foundations of American democracy were threatened by war, pandemic, and violence fueled by battles over race, immigration, and the rights of labor. American Midnight brings alive the horrifying yet inspiring four years following the U.S. entry into the First World War, spotlighting forgotten repression while celebrating an unforgettable set of Americans who strove to fix their fractured country showing how their struggles still guide us today.

Ethnicity And Imitatio In Isidore Of Seville, Erica Buchberger

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

Analyses of imitatio imperii commonly focus on the ceremonial and symbolic aspects of the Roman Empire—victory celebrations, creation of a capital, ceremonial dress and language, imagery on coins, and legal pronouncements—not ethnicity. Perhaps one reason is that in modern English, ‘imitation’ carries derogatory connotations of uninspired copying that remove the agency and creativity of the imitator. Imitated items and practices are seen as poor copies of originals, the latter of which are much more worthy of attention.2 Under this definition, one would expect an imitator of Rome to claim to be Roman, resembling Athaulf’s claim that Goths were unable to …

Improving Health Literacy Among Transgender/ Gender Non-Conforming People Using Social Media, Isha Mittal, Michelle Cordoba Kissee

Research Colloquium

Background: Health literacy has been elicited as a barrier to healthcare amongst LGBT individuals. Social media has become a popular force in transmitting health information, but often time lacks evidence-based information.

Aims/purpose: The TikTok channel GenderDefenders was created to address the lack of reliable evidence-based information for transgender and gender-non conforming (TGNC) individuals.

Methods: Data was collected from current TikTok videos that were tagged with TGNC terminology to identify gaps in knowledge and commonly asked questions. Themes were selected and educational video recordings were created using WPATH and UCSF guidelines for transgender healthcare. Some topics included what …

Fugitive Administrative Rhetorics, Norma Denae Dibrell, Andrew Hollinger, Maggie Shelledy

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article is a work in defining fugitivity in writing program administration. We return to the intersecting phenomena of the pandemic, of climate change, of state-sanctioned violence, of gerrymandering, and of stolen rights. We recognize the complicity writing programs have with this status quo, and we hope that Fugitive Administrative Rhetorics is a helpful framework for developing WPA practices that diverge from this complicity. Our writing is intended to acknowledge a deep scholarly debt within rhetoric and composition to the first fugitives of the academic space, the multiply marginalized students and faculty that built the undercommons: Black, Indigenous, Latinx, queer, …

Crossing The Line: Mexican Children Making The Border 1900-1930, Yolanda Chavez Leyva

Rondel V. Davidson Endowed Lecture Series

Dr. Yolanda Chávez Leyva is a Chicana/ fronteriza historian and writer who was born and raised on the border. She is of Rarámuri descent and honors her grandmother Canuta Ruacho. She is the Director of the Institute of Oral History and Associate Professor in the Department of History at UTEP. She is also the lead historian for the first-ever Bracero Museum (funded by the Mellon Foundation) slated to open in Socorro, Texas in 2024. She has spent her life listening to and now documenting the lives of people who live on la frontera. Professor Leyva specializes in border history, public …

Sick From Freedom: The Untold Story Of A Smallpox Epidemic Among Formerly Enslaved People, Jim Downs

Rondel V. Davidson Endowed Lecture Series

Emancipated from slavery, former bondspeople entered into an environment in which more soldiers died from disease than from battle. This talk explores the high rate of illness and mortality that devastated formerly enslaved people during the Civil War and Reconstruction. In particular, it provides the first analysis of the smallpox epidemic that began in Washington, DC in 1862 and then spread to the Lower South in 1863 and Mississippi Valley in 1864-65. By 1865, the epidemic plagued the entire South and began to move west and infected Native Americans on reservations. Due to the unexpected and inordinate mortality, the federal …

Breaking Bridges: A Latina's Role In Familismo And Higher Education, Desiree Trejo

Theses and Dissertations

This research and collective experiences have been recorded to bring together an autoethnography that demonstrates my personal experiences of being the eldest daughter in a Latino family and how these experiences situate within a social context. The primary purpose of this autoethnography is to provide insight on Latino culture expectations placed upon first born daughters. My own experiences connect to my research covering Latino culture and gender expectations to further understand social meanings and understandings of this culture. This autoethnography presents qualitive research that allows me to self-reflect and apply these findings to my personal experiences within my family to …