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 …

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 …