Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Understanding The Irony: Canadian Gay Men Living With Hiv/Aids, Their Catholic Devotion, And Greater Well-Being, Renato M. Liboro, Richard T.G. Walsh

Psychology Faculty Research

Nine Canadian Catholic HIV-positive gay men were interviewed to obtain a better understanding of why and how they were able to persevere in their faith despite their religion’s teachings against homosexuality and contributions to the stigmatization of HIV/AIDS. By examining the lived experiences and personal perspectives of the participants, the study aimed to explore and elucidate the significant role of Catholicism and the Catholic Church both as a continued source of marginalization and oppression, as well as strength and support, for Canadian gay men living with HIV/AIDS today.

Beyond The Dialectics And Polemics: Canadian Catholic Schools Addressing Lgbt Youth Issues, Renato M. Liboro, Robb Travers, Alex St. John

Psychology Faculty Research

In 2012, Canadian media coverage on Bill 13—an Ontario legislative proposal to require all publicly funded schools to support Gay-Straight Alliances as a means of addressing issues concerning bullied lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students—instigated a divisive exchange among representatives of the Ontario Catholic school sector. Beyond these dialectics and polemics, a proactive mix of advocates from schools in the Waterloo Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) of Ontario took steady steps to address the circumstances of their LGBT students. This study included semi-structured interviews with ten stakeholders from the WCDSB to determine if strategies and programs deemed successful for …

Mcnair Research Journal - Summer 2015, Kelly Abuali, Starr Bailey, Krystal Courtney D. Belmonte, Brittaney Benson-Townsend, Jennifer Bolick, Mihaela A. Ciulei, Ashley Crisp, Daniel N. Erosa, Richard V. Foster, Gisele Braga Goertz, Michael A. Langhardt, Kara Osborne, Julienne Jochel Paraiso, Shawn M. Rosen, Bella V. Smith, Jeevake Attapattu, Ernesto H. Bedoy, Michael G. Curtis, Wanda Inthavong, Marielle Leo, Primrose Martin, Tamieka Meadows, Rosa Perez, Jessica Recarey, Shea Silver, Linda Tompkins

McNair Journal

Journal articles based on research conducted by undergraduate students in the McNair Scholars Program

Table of Contents

Biography of Dr. Ronald E. McNair

Statements:

Dr. Neal J. Smatresk, UNLV President

Dr. Juanita P. Fain, Vice President of Student Affairs

Dr. William W. Sullivan, Associate Vice President for Retention and Outreach

Mr. Keith Rogers, Deputy Executive Director of the Center for Academic Enrichment and Outreach

McNair Scholars Institute Staff

Mrs. Agentic: Perceptions Of Women Who Sustain Their Birth Surname After Marriage, Ashley C. Lee, Rachael D. Robnett

McNair Poster Presentations

As more women earn higher education degrees every year, it is clear gender roles are becoming more egalitarian within Western society. More common than ever before, women are earning more degrees than men and are taking on different roles then what was once expected of them. With this new freedom, women have shifted from playing a supportive role within society to branching out and creating their own established identity. Not only are women maintaining a separate identity in the professional world, but they are also maintaining a separate identity in their marriages. Correlating with the increased number of women in …

Faculty Recital, Nathan Tanouye, Albina Asryan

Faculty Recitals

No abstract provided.

Failed States And The Origins Of Violence: A Comparative Analysis Of State Failure As A Root Cause Of Terrorism And Political Violence, Tiffiany O. Howard

Political Science Faculty Research

What makes a terrorist? Is an individual inherently predisposed to be attracted to political violence or does exposure to a certain environment desensitize them in such a way that violence represents a viable mode for addressing political grievances? Identifying state failure as the impetus for political violence this book addresses these questions and focuses on why existing extremist groups find failed states so attractive. Utilizing global barometer data, Tiffiany Howard examines the underpinnings of individual support for political violence and argues that an insidious pattern of deprivation within failed states drives ordinary citizens to engage in and support extreme acts …

The Success Of Gay–Straight Alliances In Waterloo Region, Ontario: A Confluence Of Political And Social Factors, Alex St. John, Robb Travers, Lauren Munro, Renato M. Liboro, Margaret Schneider, Carrie L. Greig

Psychology Faculty Research

This article outlines how gay–straight alliances (GSAs) work to connect youth with community resources, and outlines the political and social context of GSAs in Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. Fifteen individuals (youth, teachers, and a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer [LGBTQ] youth service provider) participated in interviews about the role of GSAs in creating supportive school environments for LGBTQ youth and their allies. Analyses of the interview data found that, apart from providing direct support to LGBTQ students, GSAs in Waterloo Region decrease isolation by connecting youth with other LGBTQ community members, events, and resources. This article discusses how the …

Billy Graham Comes To Las Vegas: Faith At Work On The Strip, Michelle Robinson

Occasional Papers

An exploration of Billy Graham’s 1978 Christian Crusade in Las Vegas, this paper argues that the Billy Graham Evangelical Association (BGEA) developed distinctly Vegas-styled evangelical tactics to address challenges posed by the city’s fragile religious infrastructure and competing attractions on the Las Vegas Strip. To organize a spectacular and successful ecumenical event that would garner local and national attention, BGEA simultaneously leveraged popular notions of Vegas as “Sin City” while recruiting Christian evangelicals from beyond the city proper to temporarily transform the religious ecology of the Strip.

Community-Level Interventions For Reconciling Conflicting Religious And Sexual Domains In Identity Incongruity, Renato M. Liboro

Psychology Faculty Research

Two of the most unstable domains involved in identity formation, the religious and sexual domains, come into conflict when vulnerable populations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community experience oppression from the indoctrination of religious beliefs that persecute their sexual orientation. This conflict, aptly termed identity incongruity in this article’s discourse, results in a schism that adversely affects these vulnerable populations. This paper investigates the roles of religion, spirituality and available institutional solutions to propose customized, culturally adapted, contextually based and collaborative community-level interventions that would facilitate the reconciliation of the conflicting identity domains.

Religion, Partisanship, And Attitudes Toward Science Policy, Ted G. Jelen, Linda A. Lockett

Political Science Faculty Research

We examine issues involving science which have been contested in recent public debate. These “contested science” issues include human evolution, stem-cell research, and climate change. We find that few respondents evince consistently skeptical attitudes toward science issues, and that religious variables are generally strong predictors of attitudes toward individual issues. Furthermore, and contrary to analyses of elite discourse, partisan identification is not generally predictive of attitudes toward contested scientific issues.

Male-Female Wage-Gap: A Comparison Of Different Employment Classes, Richard V. Foster, Jeffrey Waddoups, Heather Lynn Lusty, Thomas Mike Carroll

McNair Poster Presentations

This study is being conducted and presented in two parts. The first part, this report, is a statistical examination of the male-female wage gap. By evaluating the average (mean) differences between men and women within the workplace, pay differential trends can be ascertained and examined to support the need for additional study. The second stage, to be conducted Fall 2014 at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada, will use regression analysis to differentiate between explained and unexplained portions of said pay-gap to better understand how the remaining gap is related to discrimination. The data analyzed will establish baselines for both …

Prevention Of Type 2 Diabetes In Urban American Indian/Alaskan Native Communities: The Life In Balance Pilot Study, Daniel C. Benyshek, Michelle Chino, Carolee Dodge-Francis, Toricellas O. Begay, Hongbin Jin, Celeste Giordano

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Objective: The Life in BALANCE (LIB) study is a pilot translational study modeling the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) intensive lifestyle coaching intervention among an underserved, high-risk population: American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) living in a large urban setting (Las Vegas, Nevada). Research Design and Methods: A total of 22 overweight/obese AI/ANs (age, 39.6 ± 10.4 years; BMI, 34.1 ± 6.3 kg/m2) at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes (HbA1c > 5.4 (36 mmol/mol) < 6.4 percent (46 mmol/mol) participated in the program between April and December, 2011. Study participants completed a 16 week intensive lifestyle coaching intervention. In addition to obtaining qualitative data regarding opportunities and challenges of applying the lifestyle intervention for AI/AN participants in an urban setting, clinical data, including BMI, waist circumference, blood pres- sure, fasting blood glucose, and blood lipids (HDL, LDL and Triglycerides), were collected. Results: Only 12 of the 22 participants remained in the LIB program at the final post-program follow-up. Participants demonstrated significant decreased waist circumference and elevated HDL cholesterol. Triglycerides manifested the highest percentage change without statistical significance. No significant change was ob- served in blood pressure or fasting blood glucose. Conclusions: LIB participants’ improvements in BMI, waist circumference, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides suggests type 2 diabetes prevention programs aimed at urban AI/ANs show significant potential for reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes among this underserved and high risk community. Qualitative data suggest the main challenge for type 2 diabetes prevention specific to this population is a need for improved community outreach strategies.

Unlv Magazine, Tony Allen, Afsha Bawany, Shane Bevell, Holly Ivy Devore, Megan Downs, Brian Sodoma, Katherine Stowell, Ched Whitney

UNLV Magazine

No abstract provided.

Gender, Emotional Labour, & Interactive Body Work: Negotiating Flesh And Fantasy In Sex Workers’ Labor Practices, Barbara G. Brents, Crystal A. Jackson

Sociology Faculty Research

Body/Sex/Work focuses on the intimate, embodied and sexualised labour that occurs within body work and sex work. Bringing together an internationally renowned group of academics, it explores, empirically and theoretically, labour processes, workplace relations, regulation and resistance in some of the many work sites that make up the body work and sex work sectors. The book makes a key contribution to research recognising the embodiment of labour and the body, reframing the key questions in critical studies of work and employment.

Key Benefits:

• The first book that draws together the sub-disciplines of body work and sex work

• Written …

An Examination Of Attitudes Toward Sexualized Advertising In Las Vegas, Ashley Crisp, Alexis Kennedy

McNair Poster Presentations

This study explores the attitudes of college-level criminal justice students as to their perception of sexualized advertising in Las Vegas, and if these attitudes have any correlation with the participant’s length of residency. The study also correlates college-level student’s attitudes toward sexualized advertising and how religious they rate themselves. Female participants who lived in Las Vegas for 5 years or more on average agreed advertisements in Las Vegas are too sexualized. In contrast, female participants who were either born in Las Vegas or lived there less than 5 years neither agreed nor disagreed that advertising was too sexualized. As for …

Unlv Magazine, Tony Allen, Afsha Bawany, Shane Bevell, Holly Ivy Devore, Megan Downs, Brian Sodoma, Ched Whitney

UNLV Magazine

No abstract provided.

Unlv Magazine, Tony Allen, Lisa Arth, Shane Bevell, Afsha Bawany, Holly Ivy Devore, Megan Downs, Jerry A. Schefcik, Brian Sodoma

UNLV Magazine

No abstract provided.

Souls/Soles Of Signs Tell Totems And The Sphinx Wager, Darryl A. Smith M.Div., Ph.D.

Occasional Papers

This paper develops a philosophy of play through an analysis of the foot wager of the Sphinx. Applying a construction of the cosmology of Plato along with a Socratic etymology of her riddle’s answer, it provides a reading of Sphingian contestation consistent with contemporary practices of deception found in modern games like poker. I argue that such deception is constitutive of the excessive illumination of signaling tells in games and that such excess, in turn, is indicative in allied political contexts of a covetous and acquisitive obsession with light. This theory makes use also of Ralph Ellison’s refiguring of Oedipal …

The Effect Of Spiritualism On The Cognitive Functions On Learning And Memory, Carla Antonieta Farcello

McNair Poster Presentations

Last summer I conducted a pilot study which researched whether better working memory would be documented among an experimental group (individuals who report being spiritual) as compared to the control group (individuals who report being non-spiritual).Total scores showed a significantly higher sense of spiritualism among the spiritual participants vs. the non spiritual participants (p < .001) along with a significant improvement in working memory for spiritual participants vs. non spiritual participants (p = .027). The results of this study documented significantly better performance on a task measuring emotional learning and memory among individuals who reported being spiritual as opposed to individuals who reported being non-spiritual. These findings build on prior studies suggesting the effect of positive emotions on broadening cognitive processes (Strauss & Allen, 2003).

My current study is building on what my prior findings have suggested and studies the effect of spiritualism on the cognitive functions of learning and memory. In addition to the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES) used in the pilot study, I am including the Spirituality Index …

An American Mess: How Colorblind Racism Prevents An Enlightened Conversation On Race In Television Media, Nathaniel Phillipps

McNair Poster Presentations

This project aims to demonstrate how the current racial ideology in America is portrayed through television media. It is primarily guided by the work of Eduardo Bonita-Silva and his masterful examination of post-civil rights racism in the United States in his book Racism Without Racists. From a firm understanding of the ideology of this new racism -- its frames, styles, and storylines -- the content of two televisions shows are analyzed to identify the racial ideology and the representations of people of color within.

Scandal (ABC) is progressive in the sense that it has a Black female lead, and two …

Labor Culture: Labor Morality Under Socialism, Vladimir Magun

Russian Culture

Soviet leaders had always taken a keen interest in workers' behavior and labor motives and sought to keep labor morality under strict state control. A complex network of values and regulations was developed for this purpose after the October Revolution of 1917. They were best articulated in the "political economy of socialism" which purported to present a scientific picture of the country's economic life. Textbooks on socialist economy were widely circulated in the Soviet Union and appropriate courses included into a core curriculum for all higher education institutions in the country. Basic tenets of socialist political economy were taught in …

Psychological Culture: Ambivalence And Resistance To Social Change, Alexander Etkind

Russian Culture

"National character," "modal personality," "collective unconscious," "ethnic mentality," "cultural identity" -- these and similar notions are designed to capture psychological traits that distinguish one social group from another. Attempts to isolate such hypothetical qualities are not different in principle from efforts to describe religious, legal, or other social patterns found among people who have lived together for a length of time, except that psychological constructs tend to focus on subjective characteristics and are somewhat harder to identify. For the first time, the link between culture and psychology came under close scrutiny in the nineteen century. German linguists Steinthal and Lazarus …

The Intelligentsia Without Revolution: The Culture Of The Silver Age, Andrei Ariev

Russian Culture

The most effective definition of "the intelligentsia" might read: “Russian intellectuals who are generally opposed to the government.” But even Russia’s traditionally powerful government has collapsed at times, leaving a vacuum of authority. This was precisely the historical situation at the beginning of the twentieth century. It made an indelible impression both upon thinkers, such as Rozanov, and on politicians, such as Lenin.

Russian Spirituality And The Theology Of Negation, Mikhail Epstein

Russian Culture

Toward the end of the twentieth century Russian culture found itself at a crossroads which cannot be ascribed to any political election but which rather presupposed a radical change in its religious and social orientation. Two somewhat opposing theses will be developed in this article. First I will discuss the processes of secularization in Russian culture and the necessity of a third, neutral zone between the "sacred" and the "profane." Next, the dangers of social neutralization in culture and the necessity of retaining elements of the dual model along with the introduction of intermediate elements will be presented. We will …

Smyrna's Ashes: Humanitarianism, Genocide And The Birth Of The Middle East, Michelle Tusan

History Faculty Research

Today the West tends to understand the Middle East primarily in terms of geopolitics: Islam, oil, and nuclear weapons. But in the nineteenth century it was imagined differently. The interplay of geography and politics found definition in a broader set of concerns that understood the region in terms of the moral, humanitarian, and religious commitments of the British empire. Smyrna’s Ashes reevaluates how this story of the “Eastern Question” shaped the cultural politics of geography, war, and genocide in the mapping of a larger Middle East after World War I.

Religion And Spirituality In Nevada, Ariane G. Mitchum, Michael Ian Borer

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Across the world, religion is integral to society insofar it shapes people’s thoughts, behaviors, and interactions. What exactly the term “religion” means, however, is far from clear-cut, as it continues to be a highly charged topic of discussion and debate, a subject that many hold dear and near to their hearts.

Art And Cultural Participation In Nevada, Robert Tracy

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Pablo Picasso once famously observed that “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” As the second edition of the Social Health of Nevada report suggests, it certainly seems like the “dust of daily life” has descended on the souls of this State’s citizens and a thorough washing is necessary. With the economic collapse at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, Nevadans found out very quickly they were neither “protected” nor “immune” from the financial maelstrom that had been unleashed. Having lived in Las Vegas since 1984, I had heard …

Islam And Roman Catholicism As Transnational Political Phenomena: Notes For A Comparative Research Agenda, Ted G. Jelen, Mehran Tamadonfar

Political Science Faculty Research

In this paper, we offer some preliminary insights into a comparison of Islam and Roman Catholicism as transnational or “transcivilizational” political phenomena. We note that both traditions are monotheistic, offer universalist theologies, and have played important political roles both historically and in contemporary national and international politics. The comparison provides some additional insights into the role of „the sacred‟ in politics at various levels, and presents the possibility of an intermediate level of analysis in comparative politics.

National Writing Project: Internet Resource, Priscilla Finley

Library Faculty Publications

The National Writing Project (NWP) is a federally funded program that focuses on the teaching of writing, and coordinates and supports professional development for writing teachers (K-16) at over 200 college and university partner sites.

2011-2012 Unlv Mcnair Journal, Cyndy Anang, Sajar Camara, Pamela Cornejo, Carla Antonieta Farcello, Ilse Anahi Garcia, Natiera Magnuson, William L. Mccurdy, Lorena Munoz, Maxym V. Myroshnychenko, Ricardo Rios, Theodore Waldeck, Barbara Wallen, Ana Zuniga, Brenda M. Aguilar, Tiffany Alexandra Alvarez, Daniel N. Erosa, Paige C. Espinosa, Carla Antonieta Farcello, Julienne Jochel Paraiso, Nathaniel Derek Phillipps, Carmen Vallin, Jacent N. Wamala, Ernesto Zamora-Ramos

McNair Journal

Journal articles based on research conducted by undergraduate students in the McNair Scholars Program

Table of Contents

Biography of Dr. Ronald E. McNair

Statements:

Dr. Neal J. Smatresk, UNLV President

Dr. Juanita P. Fain, Vice President of Student Affairs

Dr. William W. Sullivan, Associate Vice President for Retention and Outreach

Mr. Keith Rogers, Deputy Executive Director of the Center for Academic Enrichment and Outreach

McNair Scholars Institute Staff