Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Ums Name Usage Policy, Ums Associate Vice Chancellor For Student Success And Credential Attainment

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

On May 8, 2023, Vice Chancellor Rosa Redonnett announced the final revisions to the updated UMS Name Usage Policy and FAQs. The policy was revised to minimize barriers, which includes student entry of a preferred/chosen name being available as a simple self-service option in MaineStreet, and a one-time fee waiver the first time a new campus ID card is requested with a preferred/chosen name.

S8e8: How Will Ai Impact Our Lives?, Ron Lisnet, Salimeh Sekeh, Vikas Dhiman

The Maine Question

Artificial intelligence, or “AI,” is a hot topic in 2023. AI and machine learning make headlines every day, with stories ranging from the technology’s helpful capabilities, like self-driving cars, to its scariest potential — think “deep fake” videos fooling the public, or human workers being made obsolete by tools like ChatGPT.

At the University of Maine, AI is central to research and classroom activities across disciplines, from forestry and farming to sensors and satellites.

In this episode, we speak with two UMaine researchers who are at the forefront of AI research. Salimeh Sekeh is an assistant professor of computer science …

Mind The Gap: A White Paper On Maine's Missing Covid-19 Surveillance Data, How They Perpetuate Health Disparities Of Maine's Citizens With Disabilities, And What Can Be Done To Increase Maine's Public Health Data & Service Equity, Michelle Fong

Student and Trainee Scholarship

A white paper by Michelle Fong, a 2023 NH-ME Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) trainee and MPH student at the University of New England. Equitable health data represents all populations and can be linked to their common characteristics. Maine’s COVID-19 data can be disaggregated by gender, race, ethnicity, and age, but not by disability status or type. It is an example of inequity in data collection, or a data gap, that prevents analysis of pandemic health outcomes for Mainers with disabilities.

Aquaculture Research Institute Newsletter, April 14, 2023, Aquaculture Research Institute

General University of Maine Publications

As the days grow longer and warmer weather approaches, spring has officially sprung in Maine. The sound of peepers heralds the changing season with their distinct croaks, while ctenophores comb through the waters of the Damariscotta. At the DMC, we’re eagerly anticipating a lively summer ahead! We’re thrilled to announce a few exciting opportunities for anyone interested in different aspects of aquaculture.

S8e7: How Can Indigenous And Western Knowledge Help Preserve The Planet?, Ron Lisnet, Darren Ranco

The Maine Question

Darren Ranco has spent his life determining how to help Indigenous and non-Indigenous people protect the land they inhabit.

Through his work as an anthropologist and chair of Native American Programs at the University of Maine, Ranco has studied tribal sovereignty, cultural resource protection, environmental justice and ways Native American communities can resist environmental destruction. As a member of the Penobscot Nation, he also is passionate about improving research relationships between universities and indigenous communities, as well as training the next generation of Indigenous scientists.

In this episode of “The Maine Question,” Ranco discusses his many research projects and how …

Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (Idea) Workforce Shortage, 2022-2023 Cohort Of New Hampshire-Maine Leadership Education In Neurodevelopmental And Related Disabilities (Nh-Me Lend) Program Trainees

Policy Analysis

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), our nation’s special education law, ensures special education and related services to children with disabilities. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (PL 94-142) was created in 1975 to ensure that children with disabilities are able to access free and appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). This act was reauthorized as IDEA in 1990. One in every seven students in the United States receives special education services through the IDEA, requiring a large, highly qualified special education workforce to support students’ rights to FAPE. Highly qualified personnel provide specialized …

The Impacts Of Covid-19 On Friendship Reciprocity In Adolescents, Tori Lucia

Honors College

The current study looks at how COVID-19 affected adolescents’ interpersonal relationships due to safety restrictions. Adolescent friendships are particularly important in adolescence (Yu and Deutsch, 2021; Adler & Adler, 1995; Parker et al, 2006). Emerging research suggests that interpersonal relationships were impacted during COVID-19 (Shoshani & Kor, 2022), but there is more to understand about precisely how adolescent friendships were impacted. Specifically, it is not known whether the onset of the pandemic impacted the number of reciprocated friendships, the stability of reciprocation in best friendships, and both positive and negative friendship quality in adolescents’ lives. The current study tests whether …

Landings, Vol. 31, No. 4, Maine Lobstermen’S Community Alliance, Patrice Mccarron, Melissa Waterman, Nick Battist, Kristan Porter, Kevin Kelley

Landings: News & Views from Maine's Lobstering Community

Landings content emphasizes science, history, resource sustainability, economic development, and human interest stories related to Maine's lobster industry. The newsletter emphasizes lobstering as a traditional, majority-European American lifeway with an economic and social heritage unique to the coast of Maine. The publication focuses how ongoing research to engage in sustainable, non-harmful, and non-wasteful commercial fishing practices benefit both the fishery and Maine's coastal legacy.

For more information, please visit the Maine Lobstermen’s Community Alliance (MLCA) website.

What Makes A Good Stage Manager, Laura Garfein

Honors College

The stage manager plays a vital role in the creation of theater performances; they are responsible for ensuring the smooth execution of a show from beginning to end. They are in charge of facilitating communication between all departments, running the technical elements once the show starts, and keeping information organized throughout the entire process. There are several resources that lay out the simple job description and requirements of this role, yet few discuss specific traits that distinguish the best stage managers. Those that do endeavor to go beyond a simple job description come from only the perspective of the stage …

Mutual Aid: A Community-Led Solution To Economic Hardships At The University Of Maine, Tamra Benson

Honors College

Economic inequality and hardships are common issues on college campuses, for both students and employees. Mutual aid is the act of giving and receiving aid within a community where those who have extra resources may give to those who lack them, to build community care and resilience in the face of hardships. Many college campuses have established mutual aid funds to provide a safety net for those who are left behind by standard assistance programs. These funds can have several structures, so conducting research is essential before deciding on a model. The goal of this project was to design a …

Hunting In Maine, Elizabeth Tibbetts

Honors College

Hunting remains a common practice for many people in the state of Maine. While the stories and traditions held by hunters differ from person to person and family to family. There are commonalities that aid in building the sense of community between hunters in the state of Maine. This hunting community is strengthened through the sharing of stories and the common traditions shared by many. These communities remain strong even as the Maine landscape and hunting legislation changes over time. Here a number of questions regarding hunting are explored through the lens of one family spanning multiple generations through oral …

Stratigraphic Architecture Of Pozuelo Mounds As Revealed By Earth Resistivity Tomography, Caeli Connolly

Honors College

This study is a geoarchaeological analysis using earth resistance tomography (ERT) surveys of two of four mounds at Pozuelo (Formative Period, cal yr 3000 BP) in the Chincha Valley of coastal, southern Peru. Layers identified in the subsurface were to determine the presence or absence of regional continuity between the mounds. This effort is part of a larger investigation examining the paleoenvironmental setting of the site, and its influence on site location and use. Ten earth resistance tomography profiles were collected using an ABEM Terrameter LS2 and 81 pin array. These profiles were then topographically corrected using topographic survey data …

Office For Diversity And Inclusion Newsletters, Spring 2023, Anila Karunakar, Office Of Diversity And Inclusion

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

A compilation of Spring 2023 weekly, email newsletters from the Office for Diversity and Inclusion.

Adjustment And Social Media Use During And After The Covid-19 Pandemic, Alexis Banner

Honors College

Adolescents are highly susceptible to developing depression, given the wide range of social and biological changes that happen during this developmental period. Many late adolescents transition to college, and this experience is associated with more responsibility, higher academic demands, and gains in independence from family, which have been associated with higher levels of depression. Most adolescents today use social media, and this has been linked to many positive effects, such as exploring one’s identity and staying in contact with peers. However, social media use also has been associated with negative effects, such as body-image issues and increased depression levels. The …

Critical Discourse Analysis: Sexual Violence In Maine Department Of Public Safety (Dps) "Crime In Maine" Reports, Emma V. Grous

Honors College

Sexual violence is incredibly prevalent in the state of Maine. These crimes, which disproportionately affect at-risk communities – women, children, people of color, and impoverished persons – are not accurately represented in legal discourses within Maine. Changes to how victims and survivors of sexual violence are represented and discussed in law enforcement reports and other materials are necessary in order to promote social change and justice for the survivors in our communities.

Critical Discourse Analysis has been used broadly since its conception and has even previously been used in understanding political and social implications of discourse in the United States. …

High Automation, Fascism, And Our Social Revolution, Sean C. Staton

Honors College

The United States in the present day has experienced a rise of both incredibly productive automated technologies, approaching self-perpetuation, and fascism, entering and affecting significant social institutions. This paper aims to explain these phenomenon with the Marxist mechanics of the historical dialectic, conceptions of abstraction and material, and the behavior of capital – among other modes of production – and predict the broader development that is oncoming. It has been found that the rise of advanced and self-perpetuating automating technologies is indicative of an oncoming mode of production, ‘high automation’, and that fascism itself is a character, or subdialectical stage, …

Citizen Perceptions Of The Sustainability Of Marine Aquaculture, Bruce Wyatt

Honors College

As the world confronts the need for sustainable food systems, marine aquaculture serves as a key opportunity to produce safe, sustainable seafood. However, marine aquaculture still faces social resistance to its adoption with environmental and economic concerns leading to citizen and consumer hesitations regarding the industry and its products. In this study, we explore factors that lead to a citizen holding primarily positive or negative views of marine aquaculture with a focus on whether these views are driven by environmental or economic perceptions. Using a survey of Maine coastal residents (n=295), we find that individuals whose use of the Maine …

Evidence-Based Family Strengthening Training In Maine: A Resource Assessment And Proposal To Reduce Barriers And Increase Facilitators, Elaine Thomas

Honors College

The purpose of this research is to conduct a resource assessment of family strengthening training programs in the state of Maine. The primary focus of the resource assessment is to identify the agency and provider-level barriers and facilitators that impact their capacity to provide caregivers with awareness of and access to programs. Prior to presenting the resource assessment, this thesis reviews data about key child and family issues in Maine and examines how family strengthening training is applied as an evidence-based tool to prevent child maltreatment, foster healthy attachments within the family, and nurture positive caregiving skills. The methodologies used …

Incel Bonding: Masculinity And Storytelling In Online Misogynist Spaces, Gunnar Eastman

Honors College

The incel subculture, short for “involuntary celibate,” is one that exists mostly online, but boasts a relatively large number of dedicated members. The goal of this research is to determine how the incel subculture shares their ideology and develops a sense of group identity. The study reviewed 76 threads of posts across two incel forum websites, and was able to conduct three interviews of members from one of those sites. That content was analyzed iteratively for cohesive themes. Several themes emerged, chief among them was the activity of storytelling, which appeared to be done in three different major ways, with …

The Wpath Standards Of Care: Their History And Importance In Advocating For Transgender Health, Alexander Cross

Honors College

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) Standards of Care publication one most-often cited in the defense of increasing attacks on transgender rights to gender-affirming healthcare, as it is the reigning body of clinical guidelines and recommendations for the medical treatment of transgender and gender-diverse populations developed for application in a global context. This paper recounts the history of the WPATH organization––formerly called the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association––and the evolution of its Standards publication. In light of historical and recent attacks on gender-affirming care, an overview of the material implications of the Standards’ changes as they pertain …

The Embodied Performance Of Tics And Tourette Syndrome In The Academic Environment, Benjamin Allen

Honors College

This thesis examines the lived experience of tic disorders, such as Tourette Syndrome, and discusses how that lived experience has been impacted by ableist ideological medical theorizations of the “ticcing body.” In my review of the medical discourse on TS, I point out how the failure to adequately account for the experience of “ticcing” has obfuscated some of the most important characteristics of tic disorders, including the experience of performing tics in social settings as opposed to performing tics away from others. I believe this obfuscation is not intentional, but it is the effect of a discourse that is not …

Polarized By Design: Does The Structure Of Congress Eliminate Moderates?, James Hotham

Honors College

Over the last few decades scholars have noted the new structure of Congress has become much more leader centric, with them holding more power than they had in the past. This has helped to foster polarization within Congress as a body, by making bipartisanship a more difficult process and poses the question: why would a moderate member of Congress choose to pursue a career where their goal and insights are largely discounted by the rest of the body they serve in? In order to determine whether these new limitations on moderates impact their presence this thesis will analyze a number …

A Study On The Effect Of The #Metoo Movement On State Level Policy Making, Claire Shaw

Honors College

This thesis analyzes the effects of social movements, specifically the #MeToo Movement, on state legislation. To do so, this thesis examines the timing and processes of two cases of passed legislation in Missouri and Texas. Though the #MeToo Movement was founded in 2006, the height of the movement in 2017 provided an open policy window in which political actors and entrepreneurs were able to pursue their prepared proposals. In Missouri, the rise of #MeToo inspired political ally Senator Holly Rehder to first publish a personal essay detailing her experience with sexual assault before sponsoring and introducing Senate Bill 775. This …

Exploring Interfaith Sex Education, Bailey Lewis

Honors College

Sacred Sexuality explores the intersections of religion and sexuality. I worked with Dr. Birthisel, Director of the Wilson Center, and Kate Dawson, co-facilitator of the sex education class, to survey the sex education class participants on how the experience has been for them. I surveyed the sex education class participants after the class to analyze their opinions of the sex education class, interfaith dialogue, and how their spirituality or religious perspectives inform their beliefs around sexuality. Overall, the sex education class was highly recommended and gave an interesting look into how faith and sexuality interact. While the sex education class …

Identifying The Interconnection Between Maine's Lobster Industry And The North Atlantic Right Whale Population In Order To Guide Federal Action, Devon Lammert

Honors College

North Atlantic Right Whales (NARW) are on the verge of going extinct because of human activity. Entanglements in fixed fishing gear and vessel strikes are killing NARW at such a rate that their extinction is inevitable unless human-caused deaths are significantly reduced. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has subjected Maine’s lobster fishery to regulations aimed at protecting whales since 1997 as part of the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan. Recently proposed changes to the plan would effectively regulate Maine’s lobster industry out of existence. Lobstering is a cultural and …

Imagining Gender Euphorias, Willow Wind

Honors College

Our society needs to talk about gender, but we aren’t very good at it. Avoiding these discussions has harmful impacts on body image and various health disparities (The Trevor Project, 2020). What if we have better and regular conversations about ways we can positively experience gender? This study’s model of negotiating gender can be used by families and educators seeking affirming exploratory learning opportunities. Insights into meanings of gender euphoria help validate diverse sets of experiences, informing a broader cultural discourse that increasingly questions gender binarism (Griffin, 2020).

This study explores conceptualizations and enactment of gender euphoria across demographics and …

"I Want You The Feel The Fear That I Feel Every Day": An Analysis Of How Climate Change Affects Youth Political Participation, Kristina Norbury

Honors College

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the connection between climate change and youth political participation. Using data from a large, cross-national survey done by the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, this project analyzed young people’s emotional responses to climate change. This project synthesized and brought together two threads of scholarly literature in order to make claims about how emotional responses to climate change may be influencing youth political engagement. The line of scholarship explores how emotions traditionally influence political behavior. This research indicated that emotions such as anxiety can have a debilitating effect on people and …

Best Practices Guide For Building Sustainable, Mutually Beneficial Relationships Between The Lewiston/Auburn Community Market And Local Farmers Within The Greater Lewiston/Auburn Area, Hannah Mathieu

Honors College

Lewiston/Auburn Community Market’s business model is to provide a no-to-low- cost grocery store, shared commercial kitchen space, and rentable cold storage for residents of Lewiston/Auburn. After reviewing their business plan and speaking with a representative, I identified two challenges that the LACM may face—building community infrastructure around their program and effective communication. I chose to focus my research on coordinating local farmers, a key piece of local infrastructure, through my research question—What best practices can be utilized to build sustainable, mutually beneficial relationships between the Lewiston/Auburn Community Market and local farmers within the greater Lewiston/Auburn area? To determine the best …

S8e6: What Is The Umaine Honors College Experience?, Ron Lisnet, Ellen Weinauer

The Maine Question

Established in 1935, the University of Maine Honors College is one of the oldest continuously-running honors programs in the U.S.

Its intellectually-curious students, who are among the top undergraduates at UMaine, explore texts, ideas, the arts and current events through an interdisciplinary lens in an academically rigorous environment. Their class sizes are small and emphasize student engagement and lively discussion. In their senior year, honors students work on a thesis or project that pertains to their major and caters to their passions.

In this episode of “The Maine Question” podcast, Dean Ellen Weinauer and four students discuss what it’s like …

S8e5: How Do Athletics Help Universities Fulfill Their Missions?, Ron Lisnet, Jude Killy

The Maine Question

University of Maine Athletics, the state’s only Division I athletics program, is undergoing some major changes. A new director, Jude Killy, stepped up to bat in January, and several facilities are undergoing extensive upgrades as part of a $110 million master plan, funded primarily by the Harold Alfond Foundation as part of the UMS TRANSFORMS initiative.

In this week’s episode of “The Maine Question,” Killy, who previously worked for the Division I schools Miami University and University of Pittsburgh, discusses the facility renovations and other updates to Black Bear sports, the evolving landscape of college athletics and how they help …