Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Experiential Learning In Collegiate Academia: The Silicon Valley Immersion, Kirsten Settle

Honors Theses

A thesis in an examination of experiential collegiate learning, specifically that are found within the vocational field of entrepreneurship and business management. This student-driven project’s objective primarily is to recruit a dedicated team of diverse students from Western Michigan University (WMU) to engage in a systematic, site-based experiential learning in one of the world’s biggest tech-metropolitans, San Francisco, California. The mission is to stimulate an experience-based approach to studying a business centered curriculum through field research with some of the country’s most successful companies. Participants evaluated company culture in diverse business settings to comprehend professional prospects and project management best …

Sexual Harassment Of Biology And Biomedical Sciences Undergraduates: A Study On The Effects Of Larry Nassar And William Strampel, Kathleen Ryan

Honors Theses

Sexual harassment amongst undergraduate women of science is a prominent issue, gaining much media attention. The goal of this study is to determine if, and how, major sexual harassment cases impact women pursuing science-related careers, and what the sexual harassment climate is like for these individuals. The study will examine prevalence of harassment, common types of sexual misconduct, perpetrators, and severity through an anonymous survey. Additionally, this study will look into the effects of the Nassar and Strampel cases regarding desire to report harassment, and students’ fear of experiencing harassment in their future educations and careers. It is hypothesized that …

A Past Never Past: An Analysis Of Slavery And Reparation At The University Of Mississippi, Allen Coon

Honors Theses

The University of Mississippi was built using slaves, but the enslaved and their descendants were willfully denied admission to the university until forced desegregation in 1962. This interdisciplinary study employs a qualitative content analysis of antebellum university board of trustees and faculty minutes to investigate the benefits that slavery conferred to the university and the harms that slavery inflicted upon the campus enslaved. Analysis finds that slavery was a standard operation, that extrajudicial violence against slaves was a campus tradition, and that white supremacy was an institutional ideology at the University of Mississippi. This thesis integrates African American reparations literature …

Community-Based Research Methods To Inform Public Health Practice And Policy: The Case Of Lead In The Mississippi Delta, Mary Alexandra Fratesi

Honors Theses

Environmental health issues are complex and require interdisciplinary and community engagement approaches to better understand them and inform policy. As one example, lead exposure has a number of dangerous neurological effects, including developmental delays and learning deficits. Potential lead exposure through drinking water and paint are areas of concern. In a 2018 document, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that up to 20% of lead exposure comes from drinking water alone. By using a type of engagement research called community-based research (CBR), this project began to address this major public health issue. CBR can be used to connect residents, their …

Gentrification And Crime In The Crescent City, Connor Lewis Burruss

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Rise And Fall Of Gilmore Girls' Feminist Legacy, Mckenna Ahlgren

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the feminist legacy that the television series Gilmore Girls (2000-2007, 2016) built during its original airtime and how its later revival diminished that legacy. Gilmore Girls’ main characters are three generations of women within the Gilmore family, providing a unique opportunity to analyze their feminist identities and characterizations relative to different iterations of feminism. This paper examines how the youngest Gilmore, Rory, is influenced by her mother’s and grandmother’s embodiments of feminism. Their expressions of femininity and sexuality, their approaches to motherhood, and their behaviors in their romantic relationships throughout the series correlate with the predominate feminism …

Batterer Rehabilitation: A Needs Assessment Of Three Texas Counties, Grace Campbell

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Politics And Society In Federation Era Russia: Power Elites, Music And The Shaping And Manipulation Of Culture And Identity, Hayley Ream

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between government and society in shaping and manipulating perceptions – or even illusions – of culture and identity in contemporary Russia. Russia’s relationship with the larger world is arguably playing out in a revisionist post-Soviet era framework, particularly since Vladimir Putin first assumed the role of Acting President of the Russian Federation, following the resignation of Boris Yeltsin, in December 1999. Since, the Russian government has sought to create a perception of a healthy public space within representative democratic structure of government. This is a perception the government of Vladimir Putin is committed to maintaining. …

Rural, Urban, And Suburban School Communities And Their Impact On School Psychologists, Claire Crosier

Honors Theses

School psychologists play an important role today in the education of students by helping those with and without diagnosed disabilities. Their role as a school psychologist entails assessing students, providing interventions, consulting with teachers and more. This study looks to see if school psychologists have a different role depending on their community location, specifically rural, urban and suburban locations. Past research is outdated and finds varying results with some finding that the role differs depending on the setting, while others find more similarities than differences. This study found both similarities and differences in characteristics of school psychologists, the population of …

Los Efectos Del Machismo En El Desarrollo De Los Trastornos De Salud Mental De Las Mujeres En México, Tiffany George

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the role of machismo and how it impacts women in Mexico. Machismo dominates Mexican society where men have complete authority and control over women, thus trapping them under patriarchal rule. This thesis examines how the novel, La Genara written by Rosina Conde, highlights the detrimental effects of machismo through letters between two sisters, Genara and Luisa. This study examines the ways in which Mexican women are silenced, oppressed and abused and the ways in which societal norms affects their mental state, and sometimes to mental disorders, and it also shows that in such a society, there is …

Jane, Judith, And Gender Performance: A Butlerian Approach To Feminine Identity In Mansfield Park, Hallie Stone

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I take two complex works, Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble and Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, and read them together to gain a deeper understanding of both. My cutting-edge psychoanalytic approach to understanding Jane Austen provides a profound insight into the impact of socially-constructed expectations on performances of femininity. Butler’s work exposes interesting insights into the psychology and feminine identity of both Fanny Price and Mary Crawford while Austen’s work exposes limits in Butler’s theory of gender performativity. Although Butler claims that gender is a body’s constant performance, I add that there is a relationship between gender performance …

The Sociology Of Bullying: Prevention And Intervention Using A Three Themed Model, Darcy Bowman

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of a bullying intervention model that involves visibility, intervention and support for vulnerable populations. Vulnerable populations are considered to be LGBT youth, gender non-conforming youth, and racial/religious minorities. Research showed that factors in effective bullying intervention programs fell into the themes of visibility, support, and intervention for vulnerable populations. Guidance Counselors at three public schools in the New York State capital region answered questionnaires about how their school’s bullying intervention program incorporated the identified themes. The results indicated that schools which programs incorporated high levels of visibility, support, and intervention …

Secular Sells: How Secular Lifestyle Influences Religiosity, Elyse Clark

Honors Theses

This study examines the relationship between secular behaviors and religious behaviors among youth in the United States. While there is no doubt that these two things are intrinsically linked, the nature of that relationship has been predominantly studied in the direction of religion affecting secular behavior. However, in today’s society with secularization and the prevalence of the mass media, it makes more sense to examine the relationship the opposite way and see how secular behavior affects religiosity. Using the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) dataset and change in change modeling, causality can be established showing how behaviors such …

Dropout Or Delinquent: An Ecological Analysis Of High School Attrition Rates In Correlation To Criminal Behavior, Mallory Kiley

Honors Theses

The high school student attrition rate in the United States is unexpectedly high. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate a correlation between high school non-completion and criminal arrest rates in order to establish the importance of improving the public school system in the country. I analyze dropout rates, crime rates, and demographic differences through an ecological study of the United States. States with high dropout rates also have high overall arrest rates, families living in poverty, and are more religious. These factors are particularly present across the Southeast United States as well as the Southwest, particularly those with …

The "Give And Take" Of Medical Morality, Caitlyn Tabor

Honors Theses

Doctors face situations within the medical arena in which their conscience -- as a person and as a professional -- conflicts with patient autonomy. Consider the terminally ill patient who wishes to end all treatment and elect to receive assisted suicide, and his physician who believes that aiding in death is a moral wrong. This creates a conflict of interests between physician and patient.

Historically, a paternalistic model of physician-patient interaction was employed to deal with dilemmas, contributing to infringement of patient’s rights and a lack of understanding of ethics on the part of the physician. This manifests as the …

Gendered Responses To Stress: Differences Across Type Of Stressor And Mental Health Outcomes, Erin Voichoski

Honors Theses

It is well known in mental health literature that men and women tend to manifest distinct mental health outcomes. Specifically, women tend to report higher levels of internalizing symptoms, such as depression and anxiety, whereas men tend to report higher levels of externalizing symptoms, such as alcohol abuse and antisocial behavior. This research will further explore the relationship between stress and mental health, as well as the moderating effect of gender. Drawing from the differential vulnerability hypothesis and self-salience theory, I take a novel approach to examining a variety of stressors and mental health outcomes. I assess whether stressors that …

Constructing Illness: How Society Effects Physical And Mental Illness, Madeline Marks

Honors Theses

The social construction of illness has become one of the central themes in medical sociology over the last fifty years. This field of research focuses on how society and an individual’s knowledge and experiences shape the way they understand and view certain physical and mental illnesses. Prior research has found that many people hold stigmatized views towards individuals who suffer from mental illnesses and tend to feel more sympathetic and supportive towards those who have physical illnesses. These previous studies have found that gender, age, race, education and socioeconomic status are factors that influence how a person perceives physical and …

Community Strain And Familial Dysfunction: The Influence Of County Characteristics On Child Maltreatment, Katherine Mobley

Honors Theses

Child maltreatment does not happen equally across communities. Instead, in some places it is nearly non-existent (less than 1 out of every 11000 children) while in others it is experienced by nearly 10% of the population. This research examined how demographic factors relate to the rate of child abuse and neglect at the county level and found that a decline in economic stability, lack of post-secondary education, an inability to reach financial stability, and the rate of drug usage in a county significantly contributed to the child maltreatment rate. Durkheim’s Theory of Anomie and Merton and Agnew’s Strain Theories were …

Where Are We Losing Them? An Exploration Of Barriers To Buy-In Of Higher Education Responsible Employee Policies, Danielle Snow

Honors Theses

Sexual violence is a pervasive issue on college campuses across the U.S. In order to address this issue, the U.S. federal government has implemented certain acts and guidance to prevent violence and promote campus safety. One of the most controversial pieces of guidance is the responsible employee policy. In theory, this reporting system would allow students to have better access to victim support services and allow campuses to have more accurate data as to the reality of sexual violence happening on their campuses. In practice, however, this has not been the case for many individual institutional policies. Instead, many institutional …

The Context For An Undergraduate Research Program At Western Michigan University, Nathan Browning

Honors Theses

This thesis is an investigation into undergraduate research, experiential learning, and creative scholarship as it relates to Western Michigan University (WMU). Data mining was used to analyze the state of undergraduate research activity (URA) nationally. Surveys, interviews, and focus groups were used to examine both faculty and undergraduate opinion of the state of URA specifically at WMU. The goal of this thesis is to help establish a framework for what a successful undergraduate research program would look like at WMU.

Previous literature shows benefits for both institutions and students, including higher retention rates, stronger graduate outcomes, and increased satisfaction levels …

Do Students Feel Safe On Campus? A Policy Evaluation Of The Clery Act, Amanda Sidwell

Honors Theses

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (the Clery Act) is federal policy aimed at creating safer college campuses. It attempts to provide students with statistics on crimes that occur on campus and inform them of the security policies and various resources available to them. The Clery Act also mandates that institutions of higher education (IHE) send out alerts of emergencies that occur on campus.

So how safe do Western Michigan University (WMU or “Western”) students feel on campus? This study attempted to answer this question by asking students through a survey. The students’ …

School Shootings: A Nexus Of Adolescent Masculinity, Bullying, And Homophobia, Jack Marsden

Honors Theses

Though overall gun violence has plummeted since 1993, multi-victim school shootings have increased in frequency over the last fifty years and the number of adolescent perpetrators has more than doubled since 1996. I borrow from Kimmel and Mahler’s (2001) format to examine seven shootings that have occurred in the fifteen years since their paper’s original publication. I replicate their qualitative methodology and conduct my own analysis of these attacks. My findings suggest that these boys that open fire are mired in a history of routine, merciless bullying and that the content of the bullying is homophobic in nature. I also …

Experiences Of Asexual People In The Lgbtq+ Community, Z Rankin

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Farm To Liberation: Towards Feminist Food Justice, Elisabeth Spector

Honors Theses

Women are one of the many vulnerable populations experiencing the detrimental effects of human-induced climate change, and our current system of food production is one of the largest contributors to this global problem. Not only do modern methods of food production contribute significantly to climate change, but they devalue women’s knowledge and strip away their opportunities. A number of communities and individuals have begun to work against this system and work towards food justice through small-scale farming and growing their own food. Through the use of ecofeminist scholarship and original interviews, this project examines the problems within our current food …

“Eat, Sleep, Hydrate, Masturbate!” Sexuality Education, Digital Media And Creator Identity Implications, Emma Venetis

Honors Theses

The introduction of sexuality information to young people has been a point of tension in our society for decades as adults argue over how, when, or if young people should learn such information. However, with the rise of digital technology, the ability of adults to regulate young people’s access to information about sexuality has minimized significantly. Yet the curriculum in sexuality education classrooms continues to be debated while little research has been done examining the easily-accessible information that lives on the Internet. This thesis analyzes two popular sexuality education channels on YouTube, sexplanations and lacigreen, with subscriber counts ranging from …

Sexual Assault In The Political Sphere, Robert Larsen

Honors Theses

This project sought to analyze how sexual assault in the political sphere is perceived and treated in contemporary society in the United States of America. The thesis analyzed eight cases of sexual misconduct, including six from the past thirty years. In each case, the reaction of party and social leaders, of the politician’s constituents and of the politician himself were looked at, as well as the consequences the politician faced. The results were then analyzed side-by-side to discover similarities and differences between ho cases of sexual assault allegations were treated and in terms of what happened to the politician after …

Czech Immigrants In Nebraska: A Question Of Identity And Assimilation, Katharine Meegan

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the dynamics of cultural and social assimilation through the experiences of Czech immigrants into Nebraska. The Czechs' long struggle to maintain their ethnic identity has shaped their experiences with assimilation. After a review of assimilation theory, I conclude that the Czech experience with assimilation follows a “straight-line” assimilation model, a progression of assimilation that is complete by the third generation. Their relatively small size, settlement in rural areas, and a strong desire to maintain ethnic identity, as reflected in the formation of Czech language benevolent associations, gymnastic societies, and Czech language newspapers, led to “social” and “structural” …

The Criminalization Of Education: Combating The School-To-Prison Pipeline Through Disciplinary Policy And Social Change, Lindsay Hemminger

Honors Theses

This thesis builds on previous literature about the implications of zero tolerance policies, policing in schools, and the school-to-prison pipeline. I evaluate the evolution of disciplinary policies within public school districts since the abandoning of zero tolerance. Specifically, I use the Schenectady and Niskayuna districts and apply theories about discipline, class, race, and achievement to evaluate and compare the ways in which the school-to-prison pipeline and disciplinary policies function. Through a series of case studies, I found that both schools, like many others, have taken significant steps towards moving away from criminalizing and punitive disciplinary measures. However, because of the …

Exploring Occupational Therapists' Approach To Treating Children With Autism In The School Setting, Melissa Brauner

Honors Theses

Autism spectrum disorder is one of the fastest growing developmental disabilities, affecting more than 3.5 million Americans. In order to ensure that the autism population receives the highest quality of care, it is extremely important that health professionals be equipped with the knowledge to care for individuals with the disorder in an effective manner. Occupational therapists play an important role in assisting people on the autism spectrum. For many children with autism, occupational therapy services are primarily received in the school setting. This study explores occupational therapists’ approach to managing the treatment of children on the autism spectrum in the …

Sports Injury And Recovery Analyzed Using Blum's Model Of Health Determinants, Daniella Batarseh

Honors Theses

This study explores the effects of various health determinants on the ability of a college athlete to recover from a sport’s injury. Blum's Model of Health Determinants explains that there are four factors that contribute to the overall health of an individual: lifestyle, environment, medical services and heredity. Blum argued that each factor affects health to a different degree. To understand how each of these determinants affects an athlete’s recovery, different people involved in this process were interviewed, including coaches, trainers, athletes and sports psychologists. These interviews illustrated the need for an expansion within this model of health. While all …