Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

911: The First First-Responders And America's Unsung Heroes, Lyla Rose-Barwick

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The 911 Dispatch Center of Onondaga County is a vital link to emergency response personel and the public. These unsung heroes are often unacknowledged as they operate behind the scenes of every emergency situation. The 911 Dispatch Center spends a great deal of money on their recruitment process due to the psychological screening portion of the process. In the past, many of their applicants have gone through the process only to discover that they are not cut out for this kind of work. My production crew and I volunteered to help create a new recruitment film for the 911 Dispatch …

King For A Day, Joshua Feinblatt

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

King for a Day is a feature film script written by Joshua Feinblatt that follows a high school senior named Brian Fuller around as he becomes Principal for a day. Brian does not become Principal for a day because he wins a competition, rather, Brian takes over the office of his nemesis in the William Henry Harrison High School’s administration, Principal Valley. The script aims to be funny, clever, and playful, just like the main character. Brian is manipulative, cunning, and always one step ahead, but Principal Valley runs a tight ship and hasn’t missed a day in 30 years. …

What Does It Mean To Be A Man? The Social Construction Of Manhood, Sam Sinykin

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This Capstone project focuses upon the central theme of masculine expression in American society. It is a rhetorical analysis exploring the question of what it means to be a man in American society. The investigation provides evidence that dismantles the preconceived notions that masculinity can only be exhibited in conventional ways. Through the dissection of stereotypical masculine activities like playing football, joining the military, and pledging fraternities, and a study of the evolution of American film characters, the project suggests that the hegemonic masculine superiority complex is beginning to be challenged and reconfigured in present-day American society. The significance of …

Foster Care Reform Rhetoric: How Communication Relates To Action, Hannah Gleason

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

America’s foster care system faces a myriad of issues that social workers and politicians alike attempt to change and fix. By analyzing the rhetoric social workers and politicians use when discussing foster care issues and reforms, one can come to an understanding of each group’s perspective on the given issue or reform measure. This study takes that analysis a step further by comparing the rhetoric of social workers and politicians to one another and drawing conclusions about the communication relationship between the two groups. The state of the communication relationship is judged by how closely related each group’s perspective on …

Information Wars: A Look At The Role Of Social Media In The 2014 Ukrainian Revolution, Natalie Rudakevych

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Guided by American University Professor Rhonda Zaharna’s previous works on narrative battles, this thesis examines the Facebook pages of four major players in the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution to determine how social media is used to create narratives during times of conflict. The paper argues that modern day wars are partially fought in virtual spaces and social media platforms serve as important battlegrounds for "information wars" between opponents. Over 300 Facebook posts from between November 2013 and May 2014 were collected from the Facebook pages representing the Euromaidan protestors, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the European Union in Ukraine …

Dove’S “Real Beauty” Campaign: A Critical Analysis Of An Integrated Communications Campaign That Sought To Change Fat Stigma, Taylor Georgeson

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

My Capstone project analyzed Dove’s “Real Beauty” integrated communications campaign to determine whether it succeeded in its original goals and to see what it could demonstrate for the future of campaigns and branding. The campaign sought to make women feel comfortable in their own skin, and since 2004 it has launched dramatic billboards and short videos to get the attention of women of all ages and share empowering messages and images with them.

I created a survey that asked questions similar to what Dove originally asked women in 2004 when it began its campaign. My goal was to see what …

Better Magazine: A Digital Mental Health & Wellness Publication For Women, Katherine Czeriwnski

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Better is an online publication that explores young adult women’s mental health and wellness. The publication showcases women’s journeys with mental wellness and provides helpful information and resources for maintaining and improving readers’ mental health. The phrase “mental health” too often carries negative connotations or is simplified to just mental illness. The purpose of the magazine is, in part, to educate people and show that mental health includes more than illness, even though treatment is a large component of mental health. Through personal accounts of mental health and service pieces to help readers, Better is a resource for improving mental …

The Women's Advocacy: A Nonprofit By Women For Women, Samantha Aberizk

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The Women’s Advocacy (WA) is a hypothetical, not-for-profit organization that empowers women of adverse or catastrophic backgrounds. With the support of female volunteers, the organization strives to prevent and respond to the oppressive behaviors that hinder potential for a healthy and successful lifestyle. Through marketing strategy and community outreach, the WA is expanding its network of volunteers so that we may offer the best services possible and foster social justice and equality within our communities.

Cultivation Theory And The Effects Of Television On Children, Omneya A Shanab

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This project delves into Cultivation Theory and how it has developed over time. I looked not only at television, which was the original platform discussed in relation to the theory, but at digital and social spaces as well. As media develops as a whole I was curious to see how this theory ties into children’s development and lives in general. My main interest was children, including those in lower income and minority homes.

Understanding Obama's Rhetoric On Race: A Critical Analysis Of Key Speeches, Jennifer Sweet

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Throughout his time as President, Obama was criticized for not speaking more openly on race relations or issues of systemic racism. This paper offers an extensive rhetorical analysis of four speeches, the 2004 DNC Speech, the A More Perfect Union Speech, the 2008 Victory Speech, and the Selma 50th Anniversary Speech, that collectively provide insight into Obama’s rhetoric on race. Analyzing these speeches, and assessing their overall impact, I determine what motivated him to speak out when he did, and why he chose to frame racial issues in the way that he did. The major finding of this study is …

On The Record: The Power Of Women's Ideas In The Changing Media Industry, Jacqueline Homan

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

I am publishing a book, titled On the Record: Notes from 20 Powerful Women in Journalism, and a corresponding website, ontherecordbook.squarespace.com, aimed at high school and college students who want to learn about and make a difference in journalism and digital media. The book and website consist of interviews with women in those fields with a focus on ideas — how they’re generated, how they become successful and how they shape the changing industry, with additional resources and information for students. The book will be self-published, printed and distributed to high schools and libraries in the Syracuse area, and …

The Campus Believer: An Online Magazine Looking At Spiritual Life On Campus, Madeline Buckley

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The Campus Believer is a digital publication that covers the diverse spiritual life and religious culture on campus. Produced by and for college students, the publication goes beyond news events to examine how religion informs academics and pop culture, to provide guides and service journalism to help readers access and understand the interfaith activities on their campuses, and to introduce key players and intriguing personalities who comprise the spiritual communities on campus. This specific collection of stories, or “chapter” of the site, focuses on the religious and spiritual life on and around Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, which is …

Down-Under Dispatches: A Travel And Culture Website About Australia And New Zealand, Erica Petz

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

No abstract provided.

Horsey Magazine An Online News Source For Dedicated High School Equestrians, Kathryn Krawczyk

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Horsey is an online news source and community for high school equestrians. The project began with planning and building a Wordpress-based website, as well as building a visual identity for the brand. Since then, Horsey has posted more than two dozen features, lifestyle content, opinions, horse show coverage, and photo galleries. Beyond create robust, high-quality content, Horsey is also focused on building a brand and audience. Social media strategizing and search engine optimization techniques were utilized to build, retain and engage an audience in Horsey’s target demographic.

All My Friends: A Short Film, Derrick Owens

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The film that I chose to make as my capstone project is a slice-of-life comedy entitled, All My Friends. The idea for the film was originally conceived back in the summer of 2017, and the process towards creating a final production has gone through numerous script revisions, a two-week long casting session, the assembly of a large crew and extras, and an intricate editing process. The film was shot digitally and the style was meant to emulate some of the most filmmakers I admire most including Richard Linklater, Alexander Payne, and Alfonso Cuarón. Like any collaborative creative work, the …

9/11 Education Policy: Is The Twenty-First Century’S “Day Of Infamy” Adequately Taught In Modern Classrooms?, Susanne Prendergast

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The American education system is plagued by a growing number of problems, one of them being the lack of attention given to teaching civics, history and government. The United States has transformed in less than a quarter of the new millennium, due in great part to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Despite this, the subject is not adequately covered by the public school system. This is evident when analyzing the curricula and state standards taken as a sample from five regions of the U.S., as well as textbooks published by the three companies that make up the majority …

Memory And The Realization Of The Nothingness. On A Letter Of Vittorio Sereni To Giuseppe Ungaretti, Stefano Giannini

Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics - All Scholarship

The problematic relationship of Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970) with Alexandria of Egypt – his city of birth – sheds light on the interplay between memory and oblivion in his poetry and prose. The shuttling back and forth between these poles marks the nature of his unfulfilled desire to recreate a lost Alexandrian atmosphere. In Ungaretti’s works, language opacity is coupled with his attempts to represent a city—as he writes—that is suffocated by the sun and whose hidden ancient port is submerged in the depth of the sea. Blinding light and the darkness of the deep waters make the understanding of Ungaretti’s …

Learning In The Wild: Coding For Learning And Practice On Reddit, Caroline A. Haythornthwaite, Priya Kumar, Anatoliy Gruzd, Sarah Gilbert, Marc Esteve Del Valle, Drew Paulin

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

Learning on and through social media is becoming a cornerstone of lifelong learning, creating places not only for accessing information, but also for finding other self-motivated learners. Such is the case for Reddit, the online news sharing site that is also a forum for asking and answering questions. We studied learning practices found in ‘Ask’ subreddits AskScience, Ask_Politics, AskAcademia, and AskHistorians to develop a coding schema for informal learning. This paper describes the process of evaluating and defining a workable coding schema, one that started with attention to learning processes associated with discourse, exploratory talk, and conversational dialogue, and ended …