Education Commons^™

Jay Treaty And Indigenous Student Mobility Across The Canada-U.S. Border: A Focus On The Cascadia Region, Michael O'Shea

Border Policy Research Institute Publications

This Border Brief describes the latest developments in the use of the Jay Treaty for international tuition waivers at U.S. and Canadian higher education institutions. It is based on research conducted through surveys, interviews, and the author’s previous publications to illustrate opportunities for universities and policy makers to support Indigenous student mobility across the Canada-U.S. border by recognizing the sovereignty and self-determination of Indigenous Nations.

Racial Diversity And Retention Rates Of Psychology Faculty In Washington State Public Universities, Chiyo Aoki-Kramer

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Racial diversity is extremely important in higher education; not only for the students but for the faculty, as well. Diversity within education is important because it can show students of color examples of people who look like them succeeding in higher education as well as giving White students a broader education of being taught by people who have different backgrounds than themselves. Along with diversity, it is important to know that Universities are also supporting their faculty so that their Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) faculty retention rates are as high as the White faculty. This paper reviews …

Honors Peer Mentorship: A Guide To Sustaining Community In The Institution, Silvia Leija Rosas

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Honors Peer Mentors are trained to be welcoming and reliable sources of community for incoming students of color in the Honors College; offer constructive opportunities and solutions for perceived problems; and listen to, support, and encourages the mentee. There are also benefits in being a peer mentor. A primary goal of the Honors Peer Mentor Team is to increase support for incoming Honors students from underrepresented backgrounds and facilitate connections with cross-campus partners, including the Ethnic Student Center, Student Advocacy and Identity Resource Center, LGBTQ+, Disability Outreach Center, mental health resources, Academic Advising, Career Services, etc This paper is both …

Honors Pathways And Curriculum Structure, Sebastian Doll

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Exploring the different pathways and curricular requirements of Honors program and colleges, I found several important recommendations tailored at Western Washington University Honors (which could also be used in conversations about Honors at other institutions) aimed at making Honors accessible to transfer students and increasing both the number and success of transfer students. Based on the research conducted, I find that offering mentoring programs to transfers, establishing agreements with community colleges, and increasing flexibility for honors requirements would help increase the number of transfer students in Honors.

Student Leadership In Western Washington University’S Honors Program, Emma Wiechert

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

After serving as the Student Honors Board President for the WWU Honors Program and in various other volunteer roles, I completed my senior capstone on student leadership in not only our honors program but programs across the country. The goal of this project was to highlight what WWU is doing well in terms of student leadership and what could be improved.

Depression Symptoms Of College Students During Covid-10 And The Universities’ Response, Anamika Paulay

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

In early spring 2020, universities worldwide shut down their campuses in response to a global pandemic. The present study examines the potential effect of the shutdown and other pandemic-related stresses on student well-being at Western Washington University. It assesses students’ depression symptoms using the IDAS-II General Depression Scale. The study also considers two campus resources (the Counseling Center, and Prevention and Wellness Services) that students can turn to for help with mental health issues, and gauges students’ awareness and utilization of these resources. The study subjects were Western undergraduates (N = 252), who answered a survey that included the IDAS-II …

Developing Accounting Student Resources: How To Improve Student Engagement In Campus Recruiting And Offer The Resources They Need To Be Successful, Ina Lagrandeur

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

For this project a new Canvas instructional page was created. The intention of this page is to create an informational database that students can use to find out any information that they might need for career or academic services. With this Canvas page the current information gap that students are experiencing will be decreased. Decreasing this information gap helps create a more equal playing field for students that are applying for jobs in the accounting field. Additionally, with easier access to needed recruiting information then students will feel more equipped to apply for jobs and get involved in opportunities outside …

Nimbleknow User Documentation, Camille Estee Ottaway

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

NimbleKnow User Documentation is an Honors Project by Camille Ottaway

NimbleKnow is a simple web application that teachers can use to pose questions which students can then answer using their basic smartphones or tablets. In order to accommodate ESL learners our application includes translation features. Having a user-friendly classroom technology can promote more engagement and collaboration between students and faculty alike in a classroom environment.

Conformal Geometry Of Polygons, Michael Albert

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Conformal maps are functions from subsets of the complex plane to the complex plane that locally preserve angles. Our goal is to understand conformal maps that pass to and from polygonal domains. In order to do so, we derive some of the basic theory of harmonic functions on simply connected domains. In particular, our goal with the first few sections is to prove the Schwarz Reflection principle. Using this, as well as other tools from complex analysis, we give an in-depth explanation of Tao’s proof of the Schwarz-Christoffel formula. This is a differential equation that allows one to compute a …

Taste Of Place And Provenance, Alison Stevens

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Bioregionalism is a framework that could serve to bridge the gap between humans and the land that they inhabit. A bioregional food system exemplifies the reduction of large scale agriculture and economy to one that falls within climatologically and geographically determined regions, superseding anthropogenic and political borders. Not only would a bioregional food system encourage mindfulness of the ecosystem that surrounds a community, but create a secure, community-based economy scaled to match the bioregion. The valuation of products and crops of local farmers and artisans would reflect the reliance on bioregionally specific wares, as well as ground members in their …

Chalk Drawings: A Series, Sophia Marble

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Initially, over a year ago, I was talking to one of the Vital Climbing managers and expressing my curiosity about their artist space. Have there ever been writers who display here? At the time, I was a member of the climbing gym. Every month-or-so I stopped above the steps to view and appreciate the variety of visual artists and photographers who showcase at this location. The artist space is small, a section of brick wall at the entry of their gym. Lights above the posted art highlights the works as climbers walk up and down the stairs. It’s so fun …

Friday Night Lights: A Photo Gallery Normalizing The Psychological Struggles Faced By Student Athletes, Sam J. Reardon

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This photography-based project aimed to capture moments that encapsulated various psychological conditions student-athletes may be facing in universities. These bold photographs would serve to be eye catching and draw viewers if they were to be hung up in a gallery for students to see. Under the images there would be captions on which students could read statistics regarding the amount of student -athletes that experience these conditions and an avenue for them to find help if they were struggling with the condition. Studies show that collegiate athletes underreport their struggles with psychological conditions though they occur with greater frequency in …

Regendering Iraq: State Feminism, Imperial Feminism, And Women’S Rights Under Sanctions, Samia Saliba

Western Libraries Undergraduate Research Award

From 1990-2003, the United Nations, largely at the direction of the United States., enforced a strict set of international sanctions against Iraq with the goal of eliminating chemical weapons in Iraq and weakening Saddam Hussein’s regime. While the impacts of these sanctions were widespread and devastating, this period also saw a specific loss of rights and worsening of social and economic conditions for most Iraqi women. In this paper, I examine these understudied gendered impacts of sanctions, particularly on women’s participation in the workforce, education, and political arena; as well as their impacts on family structures and marriage, gender-based violence …

American Political Culture And Sarah Palin: Motherhood, Femininity, And Masculinity In The 2008 Presidential Election, Maggie Newhouse

Western Libraries Undergraduate Research Award

Sarah Palin’s Vice-Presidential run can be characterized by displays of motherhood, femininity, and masculinity, themes that reflect changes in American political culture as well as stationary expectations. Palin was praised and criticized for her role as a mother, indicating a shift in political culture that allows women to hold both public and private roles but not without being acceptably successful in both areas. Palin’s performance of traditional femininity and masculinity signifies that women’s political success is contingent on the confirmation and operation of traditional gender expectations such as motherhood and deference to husbands. She both reaffirmed and challenged gender stereotypes, …

Chinese Roots, Foreign Branches: Forestry As Self-Strengthening In The Late Qing, Emily Bunker

Western Libraries Undergraduate Research Award

Previous examinations of Self-Strengthening in Late Qing China have focused on the movement's military and educational dimensions. Moreover, there exists a general conception of Late Qing China as being a period of decline. This paper, based on articles and official Chinese government memorials appearing in The Chinese Times, an English language newspaper that ran from 1886-1891, examines forestry efforts in the Late Qing as an example of Self-Strengthening. Looking at the movement from this angle, several newfound dimensions of Self-Strengthening emerge, including a link to Chinese cosmology and the ruler-subject relationship, examples of localized benefits, and a reexamination of the …

Framing Feminism: How U.S. And French Media Frame #Metoo And #Balancetonporc From A Feminist Perspective, Kira Erickson

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The purpose of this website is to provide a cross-cultural analysis of the .. Me Too" movement in the U.S. and France. These feminist movements are absolutely critical to the ongoing fight against sexual harassment and assault. The creation of this research website explores cultural differences in framing of the subjects in news stories from The New York Times and Le Monde. The #MeToo movement is compared and contrasted with France's counterpart, #BalanceTonPorc.

Website Link:

https://ericks663.wixsite.com/framingfeminism

Negotiating The Boundaries Of Solarpunk Literature In Environmental Justice, Kenneth Farver

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Imagine a world where climate change issues are solved. Societies have begun a green reformation, and postponed other endeavors to focus solely on creating a sustainable planet. Different nations make use of green technology and alternative energies, while still allowing citizens to live a relatively similar lifestyle to people today. Global green quotas are met by major nations, and the climate catastrophe is pushed far ahead into the future. Now imagine a world where climate justice issues are also solved. Along with achieving sustainable restructuring of environmental ecosystems, societies have undertaken a serious upheaval in their social ecosystems as well. …

Diamonds And Toads: An Adaptation Of Charles Perrault’S Les Fées, Jessi Pitts

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

An American Southwest full length adaptation of Charles Perrault’s Les Fées for the stage. The lives of Fanny, Rose, and their mother are changed when Rose is given a blessing by a fairy: whenever she speaks, diamonds fall from her lips. But the softness of a throat stands no choice against the sharp edges of a diamond. Diamonds and Toads explores a dysfunctional family, what it means to be a good person, and the obsession a child has to gain the approval of their parents.

Museums In A Shifting Paradigm: Defining A New “Traditional”, Cejay Johnson

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Increased interaction with museums, correlated with tourism, prompts changes in practice and new approaches to community engagement, leading to a redefinition of the term “traditional” within a museum context. In exploration of museum structures, both physical and conceptual, I argue for continued redefinition rather than deconstruction of museum practices through the lens of reflexivity and audience engagement. To exemplify these themes, I also highlight the museum exhibition floor, where patrons encounter the work of curators and exhibition designers. Analysis of exhibit arrangement and content can facilitate awareness about how museums attempt to engage with their audiences. To demonstrate this, I …

Wildfire Education In Washington School Districts, Jessica Martin

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Wildfire education is an important and often overlooked unit of a comprehensive public school education. Ecology, earth science, and disaster preparedness for events like earthquakes and house fires are examples of subjects already taught to students in schools throughout Washington; however, given the effects of climate change, wildfire education warrants much greater integration into school district curricula. To assess the general extent of wildfire education in Washington state, Washington state public school districts were contacted and asked if they provided their students with wildfire education. A majority of the school districts contacted reported that they either do not formally include …

Public Meetings: Barriers And Solutions, Pauline Mogilevsky

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Public meetings and hearings are some of the most common avenues of interaction between government officials and the public. In many circumstances, they are a legally required element of the public involvement process. However, elected officials, government staff, and residents often find public meetings to be frustrating, unrepresentative, and ineffective (Hajnal and Trounstine, 2016; McComas et al, 2007; Walters et al, 2000). This has prompted many planners to employ other, more nontraditional methods of public participation in order to gain meaningful feedback and build relationships with residents. Though these newer methods, which include workshops, tours, and charrettes, are often more …

Against The Grain: A Philosophical Case For Requiring Service-Learning, Not Volunteer Hours, Among College Students, Daniel Gallegos

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Policymakers and educators throughout the United States and abroad have long considered whether students should be required to participate in community service. Here, I provide a philosophical analysis of the issue, referring to the literature on the topic as well as the social crises which must be addressed, whether by students or otherwise. I conclude that while students should voluntarily participate in community service, they should not be required to engage merely by way of fulfilling a certain number of service hours. However, schools should require their students to participate in a service-learning curriculum with an accompanying community engagement project, …

Quick Guide To Plant Families Of Western Washington, Maggie Hayward, John D. Tuxill, James M. Helfield

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This guide is an expanded version of a booklet designed to help students identify native plants in western Washington. It has been expanded to include invasive and ruderal taxa commonly found in riparian areas. The purpose of this guide is to provide practical help for identifying plant families, and to facilitate a basic understanding of plant morphology. By observing morphological characteristics such as leaf arrangement and structure, the user can narrow an unidentified species down to the family level. Because this book does not go to the species level, it is meant to be used as a companion to other …

Sustaining Our Communities Through Care And Action: An Exploration Of Indigenous, Feminist Environmental Care Ethics, Kate Rayner Fried

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Dominant Environmental ethics have particular relationships with place that are predicated on ongoing settler colonialism and relationships to land that are exploitative and disconnected from the self. Understanding Indigenous, Feminist, and Indigenous Feminist care ethics between people and the environment as actors with agency and responsibility to each other disrupts this framework and provides an alternative path that gets at the root of systems of exploitation and oppression. Understanding these ethics as multifaceted and pre-colonial, as well as emerging from the current time period differentiates an ethic of care and the centering of indigenous epistemologies from the appropriation of indigenous …

Do Men Matter? In Statistics, Probably, Michael Kelly

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

In statistical genetics, there are several parameters of a dataset which a researcher might, but which are difficult to estimate in practice. In this paper, we will be focusing on allele frequencies, null alleles, inbreeding coefficients and, to a certain extent, beta values. A common technique for obtaining these values, developed by Amy Anderson and her co-workers, is to jointly estimate all of them using an EM-algorithm and the method of maximum likelihood. Despite this technique being effective in general, it is currently unable to deal with males at X-linked markers. The purpose of this project is to modify the …

The Reason: A Young Adult Novel Exploring Efficiency And Artificial Intelligence, Kira Stussy

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The project presented was a novel written over the course of a year. It is a young adult science fiction book that takes place in a future ruled by an AI that separates everything (even people) into efficient and inefficient. The actual novel discussed in this presentation is in the process of being queried to agents for publication. Therefore, the actual content of the novel is not included. Instead, provided is the process and next steps for the book to give a general idea of the thought and work that went into this project and what hopefully awaits it in …

One Nation Under God: Navigating Tensions Between American Culture, Christianity, And Education, Cassie Engvall

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

A multi-genre exploration of factors that shape contemporary Christian religious practice in the United States, particularly in the university setting. Specific topics include the Dittman v. Western Washington University case of 1978-1982, meditations on conflicting values, and personal experiences.

A More Sustainable Future: Energy Efficiency Policies In Buildings, Campbell Miller

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Energy efficiency is often times the most cost effective solution towards reducing energy demand. Energy usage in buildings accounts for upwards of 40% of the total energy consumption in the United States, as well as the vast majority of the growth in energy demand. Despite this buildings are often not built to be energy efficient, causing the residential and commercial sector to paying for hundreds of millions dollars on unnecessary energy use. The reason for this is the many market failures including: risk, lack of information, and access to capital. Looking at policies by the United States and China attempting …

Seeking Asylum: Immigration Law In The Context Of Human Rights, Hannah Blank

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The purpose of this paper is to understand the dynamic between Latin American countries and the United States in relation to asylum, mass migration and the process of legally entering the country. This explores the implications of the United States’ current legislature in place and how this caters to the U.S.’s interests. Furthermore, the theoretical implementation of asylum and its political origins are evaluated in the context of organized crime and social issues that impact migration trends. While the movement of goods is acceptable the movement of people is heavily scrutinized and politically charged. My proposed argument is that the …

Preliminary Impacts Of Constructed Log Jams On Streambed Topography And Bed Temperature On The South Fork Nooksack River, Sam Kaiser

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Salmon are an essential part of the culture, ecology and economy of the Pacific Northwest region of North America, but populations of some ecotypes are declining. One specific population, the Puget Sound chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), is listed as threatened under terms of the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). The decline of this ecotype has implications not only for humans but also for all links of the ecosystem such as the populations of southern resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) which prey predominately on chinook salmon. Major threats to these fish include overharvest and habitat degradation due to …