Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Impact Of Casino Revenue-Sharing On Tourism Efforts In Niagara Falls Usa: 2006-2016, Anthony L. Astran

Public Administration Master’s Projects

This qualitative case study examines the intersection of a Native-owned casino, revenue-sharing with its host community, and the impact of tourism marketing efforts vis-à-vis funds provided to the community’s tourism agency. Specifically, this report studies downtown Niagara Falls USA from the time period between 2006 and 2016, and seeks to determine whether and how funds from Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino boosted tourism marketing efforts by Niagara Tourism & Convention Corporation (NTCC). Background research and a series of elite interviews with city officials and tourism agency leaders uncovered overall positivity in terms of growth in Niagara Falls USA’s tourism efforts …

Factors Influencing Recruitment Into The U.S. Armed Services: Could Health Insurance Be A Motivator?, Michael P. Hughes

Public Administration Master’s Projects

Caring for our nation's veterans is a responsibility of the federal promise that began with a promise by Abraham Lincoln on the event of his second inauguration. The 2017 National Defense Authorization Act requires the Army to recruit an additional 16,000 enlisted personnel and retain an additional 9,000 soldiers by the end of September 2017, with the Army offering enlistment bonuses of up to $40,000 and upwards of $10,000 for soldiers willing to extend their contracts for one year (Myers, 2017). A RAND Corporation study identified several risk factors for Army recruitment should the need arise to commit forces including …

Education For The Changing Public Sector: An Impact Study Of The Suny Buffalo State's Mpa In The Erie County Department Of Social Services' Employee Education Program, Caroline M. Alagna

Public Administration Master’s Projects

In 1982, the Erie County Department of Social Services (ECDSS) developed the Employee Education Program (EEP). The EEP is an educational sponsorship program that provides eligible employees with a tuition-free education at area higher education institutions for a number of various degrees. One such degree is the Public Administration in Public and Nonprofit Management, or MPA at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo State College. This 2017 evaluation concentrates on identifying the skills and knowledge that employees of ECDSS gained from their participation in the MPA component of the EEP and the impact that these new or …

The Ny Safe Act: County Clerks And County-State Relations, Christopher D. Kuwik

Public Administration Master’s Projects

The NY SAFE Act is a controversial gun control law in New York State. Since its passage on January 15, 2013, it has been the source of a continuing controversy. The primary purpose of this study is to explore the reactions of New York State (elected) county clerks tasked with the law’s implementation. In this phenomenological study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 county clerks across New York State. The researcher asked various questions about how the SAFE Act has affected their offices. The researcher used thematic analysis to organize themes, which reveal that a lack of or inadequate intergovernmental …

Preschoolers And Pandas Making Friends: A Journey About Healing From Brain Injury, Barbara Anne Doucette

Museum Studies Projects

Preschoolers that have obtained Non-Accidental Injury (NAI) from familial child abuse are in need of having a unique place for neurorehabilitation in correlation with traditional therapies. My thesis project suggests adding an exhibit annex to an existing giant panda exhibit that will give preschoolers an opportunity to help develop new neuropathways when exposed to mediation and creative activities. Meditation and creative activities are being examined by neuroscientists as an aid in neuroplasticity after brain injury. This thesis reviews the neurotypical preschooler’s milestones and the playful means by which they are achieved. Conjoining the contemporary museums’ and zoological gardens’ outreach to …

Supporting Healthcare Teams With Implementation Projects: Shaping A Toolbox, Carian Van Der Sman

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project explores a) the challenges healthcare professionals experience when they work in a team to implement new (but elsewhere existing or proven) products or solutions into their practice and b) how a toolbox of creativity and change methods, tools and techniques might look like to support them to overcome these challenges. This project shows that healthcare professionals most likely benefit from 1) tools that provide teambuilding and would support the sense of growing together, 2) tools that would demonstrate an overview of types of resistance they could face and strategies to overcome them and 3) tools that provide an …

Rebranding Visual Feedback As A Product-Making The Unspeakable Visible, Nicolette Wever

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

PROJECT ABSTRACT

Rebranding Visual Feedback as a Product

Why do visuals work and why do they have such impact on the process of change? Because visuals connect directly with feelings, they have the power to improve the life of others. They have the power to improve and enrich communication. They have the power to handle information overload and they have the power to bridge cultural differences. ‘Images speak louder than words’ because images are connected with emotions in our long term memory. When ten different persons look at one single image, they see ten different things. Like a mirror, the …

Exploring Strategies For Teaching Creatively Online, Conny Van Der Wouw

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The way we learn and teach is changing. There is more emphasis on collaboration and personalization of the learning. Teaching online is becoming common. For my Master’s project I have developed a product that will help designing and delivering teaching programs creatively through the use of online learning opportunities. The product discusses the opportunities and challenges of a creative climate when teaching online and provides strategies to develop creativity during the online learning process. It is developed with the use of the Torrance Incubation Model of Teaching and Learning (TIM) and Ekvall’s ten dimensions of a creative climate. This paper …

Addressing Our Implicit Bias Against Embracing Creative Ideas, Michelle K. Neumayer Ms.

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The purpose of this Master's Project is to highlight the fact that we all carry an implicit bias against embracing creative ideas experienced as psychological reactions such as anxiety related to the uncertainties that surround truly creative ideas. Two main innovation processes, Creative Problem Solving and Design Thinking will be compared against suggestions by social psychologist and creativity researcher Jennifer Mueller for addressing this bias. One of the main areas of discussion will revolve around the need to balance two opposing mind-sets often used by decision-makers, which results in the ability to think more like an inventor. Characteristics of these …

Solution Focused Creativity In Social Work, Emilie R. Kenneally

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Solution Focused Brief Therapy is a well-known method of therapy used by many clinicians and social workers. There are similarities between this therapy and the creative problem solving process. Creating a workbook that adapts creative problem solving tools to include solution focused language and concepts can make social workers’ jobs easier and also help them work more effectively. When social workers are able to do their jobs in a more creative way, they will have less stress and create better outcomes for their clients. Using a framework that already exists (i.e. Solution Focused Brief Therapy) and comparing it to creative …

Life-Long Creativity: Changing The Narrative Of Aging And Retirement, Jennifer K. Gippel Dr

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The current narratives and stereotypes around retirement and aging are both inaccurate and incomplete. The popular media regularly portrays retirees and older citizens as blissfully happy but bland; or physically feeble and forgetful. Rarely are they portrayed as achievers and vibrant problem solvers. Instead they are perceived by policy makers as a problem to be solved. This project offers a different narrative ― one that presents retirement and aging as a unique time of creative opportunity, possibility, and freedom to choose. The primary outcome of the project is two chapters of a book entitled: Retirement by design: How to discover …

The Transformative Power Of Deliberate Creativity: Reflections Of A Priest Creativity Practitioner, Felix-Kingsley Nnamdi Obialo

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The idea of creativity continues to gain global currency as the tool for growth and development, especially in our contemporary world. There is an emerging universal paradigm shift that promotes creativity as something that could be structured and deliberate as against the erstwhile belief that it is restricted and by chance. Nevertheless, some individuals, groups, and climes are yet to fully embrace creativity in all its ramifications. Creativity practice is one of the means to foster and sustain creativity in persons and groups. Consequently, nurturing creativity continues to impact people and contexts. Through four case studies, this project presents a …

Developing A Leadership Curriculum 'Innovation, Creativity And Leadership', Pamela Zh Pauwels

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Growth and innovation are key drivers to a company’s long-term success. Creativity (creative thinking) is a necessary condition for innovation. Supervisors and managers who are able to build a positive work environment that enables creative and innovative behavior have a competitive advantage. This Master's project focuses on the development of an in-company leadership curriculum to provide leaders and supervisor with theoretical background and a “ toolbox ” to develop their own and their team’s innovative and creative behavior. A pilot version of curriculum was well received and validated the need to gain more understanding on the topic of creativity and …

An Idea Whose Time Has Come? Explaining The Adoption Of The Board Business Process Reengineering Project, Marisa L. Nold

Public Administration Master’s Projects

In their July of 2014 centennial report, the NYS Workers’ Compensation Board (the Board) announced a new project to reengineer their entire system, the Business Process Reengineering project (BPR). Using John W. Kingdon’s Multiple-Streams Approach (MSA) framework, this agenda-setting study attempts to explain why the BPR landed on the NYS policy agenda after many years of complaints by its many stakeholders (problem), not least its high cost. Policy entrepreneurs had long championed various reform ideas. The researcher examines Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s campaign rhetoric to understand the role of the politics stream in shaping the policy agenda. In this qualitative …

“The Golden Rule”: A Portable Escape Room Designed To Promote Empathy And Playfulness In Challenging Social Contexts, Isabella Gomati

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The development of a Portable Escape Room (PER) board game aims to promote empathy as one of the key skills that, for a society in constant change, is necessary to face and solve complex social challenges. The development of a PER is a way of addressing the need for both innovative and accessible tools that can be used in different sectors of the economy. The PER not only encourages creative collaboration, but it also introduces the possibility of playfulness as a bridge for learning and problem-solving in a variety of scenarios. The product itself encompasses an excellent example of a …

Story Problem Solving, Brian D. Kalina

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project paper will explore and define the relationship between the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) and the timeless concept of storytelling. Since the beginning of time, people have been sharing stories to relate their experiences and their solutions to overcome challenges and obstacles. CPS is a more modern methodology that aids people in their approach and their ability to generate plans and solutions to overcome challenges and obstacles. Therefore, the premise of this project is to seek answers to the questions; (1) How might we look to stories as frameworks for solving our problems? and (2) How might we marry …

Creativity As A State Of Consciousness: Creativity And Altered States Of Consciousness, Kari A. D'Amico, Kari A. D'Amico

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Part of a larger research initiative focused on altered states of consciousness as it relates to creativity, this inquiry is a continuation of my independent study completed fall 2016. This project is designed to further develop research in the area of creativity as it relates to altered states of consciousness. It offers a new paradigm for how we might present the concept of altered states of consciousness within the field of creativity. This altered state is in contrast to what will be defined as an ordinary state of consciousness. The product and qualities expressed in an altered state of consciousness …

A Workshop In Creative Problem Solving Skills To Enhance Resilience In Low-Socioeconomic Status Black Males, Najja A. Bouldin

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Abstract

Creative problem solving skills are an important tool in many areas of life. This project is a written account of what a workshop and coaching methods for Black males of low socio-economic status (SES) who attend an intensive creative problem solving skill-strengthening boot camp to enhance resiliency looks like in real time. This a workshop of creative problem solving skills and resilience enhancement, a intensive intervention based on Creative Resilience work and low socio-economic Black males’ engagement in this CPS by increasing awareness of the need to change and/or enhance creativity and resilience. Participants in a six module, group, …