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Impact Of Traditional (Non-Affirming) Black Church Affiliation On Exploration Of Sexual Identity For Black Assigned Female At Birth Lgbq+ Individuals And The Associated Mental Health Risk, Aurielle J. Sutton

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explored the impact of Black traditional church upbringing on the sexual and religious identity development, including the subsequent mental health risk, for Black assigned female at birth (AFAB) LGBQ+ individuals. Studies conducted on Black AFAB LGBQ+ individuals are limited, especially in terms of  assessing their experiences in sexual identity development based on religious upbringings. Studies have overlooked the experience of LGBQ+ Black AFAB individuals navigating sexual orientation development and religious and racial identities. Studies have greatly favored Black gay men and supported health risks such as HIV. In the present study, twelve Black AFAB Queer individuals participated in …

Artificial Intelligence And Translation: Exploring Current Applications, Limitations And Future Potential Of Language Models Through Japanese-English Translation, Loklin Elias Nord

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

This thesis highlights the recent improvements and capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs), specifically their ability to produce translations between different languages. The continued up-scaling of model sizes has led to breakthroughs in the level of their observed intelligence, allowing them to produce translations that are similar in quality to highly skilled human translators. However, to facilitate the reasoning processes that LLMs now possess, their demand for computational power and the supporting hardware and resources has increased proportionally. Considering the impacts of this technology on the environment, energy resources, and its accessibility, my research explores the possibilities of smaller, highly …

Topographies Of Being: World-Making And Ontological Formation In Modern Saint Catherine, South Sinai, Ahmad Mahana

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration of the ecological and sociological processes involved in the production of the socionatural space of the contemporary town and natural protectorate of Saint Catherine, South Sinai. Revered by all Abrahamic religions as the site of the Great Theophany, the town has perpetually been considered an area of immense spiritual and natural significance. In recent decades, however, the town has undergone a series of modernizing campaigns that have not only threatened the region’s natural environment and indigenous lifeways but have also jeopardized the plurality of its extant lifeworlds. By relying on a variety of ethnographic methods, …

Here Comes The Sun: A Diachronic Study Of The Role Of Music In The Amarna Period, Waleed Hawatky

Theses and Dissertations

Music has and continues to play a prominent role in the lives of individuals and in society, hardwired into the human experience and integral to our understanding of the world in both its tangible and intangible manifestations. This was no different in dynastic Egypt, where abundant iconographic and physical evidence from the Old Kingdom onward shows music performed in many diverse contexts at every social level.

Music appears not only to gain prominence during the reign of Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten (c. 1353–1335), also known as the Amarna Period, but also to develop innovations, including new kinds of instruments and musical ensembles, …

Adjudicating Technology Facilitated Violence Against Women In Egypt: Between The Text And The Application, Eman E. Zidan

Theses and Dissertations

Technology-facilitated violence against women (TFVAW) has surged on digital platforms, leading to a sharp rise in victimization rates among girls and women globally. Egypt’s pioneering cybercrime legislation, though comprehensive, remains gender-neutral and inadequate in judicial application. Community perceptions reveal systemic gaps that erode public trust and fuel demands for specialized protections. This study analyzes Egyptian judicial responses to TFVAW cases through comparative jurisprudence with jurisdictions that feature gender-specific norms. Findings demonstrate that textual provisions alone fail to arrest this escalating phenomenon, underscoring the need for integrated reforms: tailored legislation, heightened awareness campaigns, and collaborative education on rights, duties, and societal …

Art As Activism: Emotional Expression And Collective Empowerment Among Muslim Participants Creating Protest Posters, Menhal Sheikh

Art Therapy | Master's Theses

Muslim Americans are among the most underserved populations in mental health care in the United States. In the wake of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, many Muslim Americans have experienced intensified psychological distress, including anxiety, grief, and a heightened sense of helplessness, while continuing to show up in the streets in protest. This mixed-methods study examined whether the collective process of protest poster-making leads to emotional expression among Muslim American participants. Eleven Muslim American participants across two groups in the San Francisco Bay Area completed a pre and post Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) to measure changes in affect, …

Shadow Garments: Costume Creation For Integrating Alienated Parts Of The Self, Mega M. Galvin

Art Therapy | Master's Theses

This study explores costume creation as a narrative-based intervention for integrating "shadow" parts, or aspects of the self that are repressed or alienated due to shame, trauma, or social pressure. Grounded in Jungian analytic psychology, narrative therapy, and expressive arts theory, the research addresses the limitations of traditional talk therapy in accessing somatic memory and proposes costume making as a pathway for externalization and re-authorship. Using a qualitative, participatory study inspired by Pat B. Allen’s Open Studio Process, four adult participants engaged in a three-session workshop to design, construct, and wear costumes representing their identified shadow aspects. Data was collected …

Caribou Migration And Non-Local Hunting In Northwest Alaska: A Gis Analysis Of Hunting Activity And Its Relationship With Caribou Migration Corridors, Brittney L. Jiménezszabo

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Indigenous Alaskans rely on subsistence hunting for food, with Barren-ground caribou making up approximately 27% of their diet. It is believed by subsistence hunters that non-local hunting is forcing a change in caribou migration behavior. This study examined non-local harvesting records from 2013 – 2025 in the northwest and interior Game Management Units (GMU) and Alaksa’s Western Arctic Caribou Herd (WACH) migration range data to answer the question, is there a spatial relationship between non-local harvests and WACH migration behavior. Mixed methods included spatial autocorrelation and local statistics. Findings led to the rejection of the null hypothesis which will help …

The Two Fridas: How The Use Of Semiotics Reflects The Social History Of Mexico In Frida Kahlo’S Work, Raquel Maria Botteon Martins

SPARK Symposium Presentations

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are often credited as having played a crucial role in establishing a Mexican avant-garde. According to the Denver Art Museum’s statement for the exhibition Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism, their body of work often incorporated portrayals of mexicanidad, an identity born of Mexico’s ancient cultures and its colonial past that projected a visionary future. The use of mexicanidad imagery started with the efforts to create a new national art, following the Mexican revolution, when the country used public and socially effective art to communicate new ideals of identity.  Through the analysis of …

Tolkien And The Mystery Of Literary Creation By Guiseppe Pezzini, Katherine Sas

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This article reviews Tolkien and the Mystery of Literary Creation by Giuseppe Pezzini, a study of J.R.R. Tolkien’s creative process in which Pezzini argues for a remarkably consistent and comprehensive (if quirky) theory of literary creation as embodied in Tolkien’s legendarium.

The Gospel Of Gollum By Ivano Sassanelli, Gabriela Clarke

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This review evaluates Ivano Sassanelli’s exploration of what Gollum represents and whether he is a personification of the biblical claim that where one’s heart is, there also will their treasure be. As current scholarship focuses on secondary The Lord of the Rings characters, from Galadriel to Tom Bombadil, this book provides fascinating insights regarding perhaps the most anomalous figure in the canon.

Sassanelli brings together a unique body of international scholarship, especially works from his native Italy, and discusses several niche topics relating to Gollum, such as the character’s grandmother, film portrayal, and Italian-dubbed voice. Comparative reading between early editions …

"Making The Familiar Strange": The Ecocentric Power Of Climate Fantasy, John Cook

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Contributing to the failure to address climate change is a lack of public imagination, both in perceiving the threat of climate change and conceptualizing solutions. Climate fiction engages readers on an emotional level and speculative fiction in particular can invent alternative worlds illustrating different ways of thinking and living. Fantasy fiction is uniquely suited as a form of climate fiction, with its immersive, subversive qualities, prioritization of the nonhuman, and a tendency towards sprawling, multiple-volume epic series. This paper explores two categories of climate fantasy themes. One category is recovery—regaining a clear view of the natural world. The other is …

“Salvation Must Be Communicated”: An Ecumenical Reading Of The Place Of The Lion, Avery-Claire Galloway

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

While previous scholarship has cautioned against a reductive tendency in the analysis of Charles Williams’s work, this paper offers an analysis that explores the importantly multiplicable nature of meaning used in one of Williams’s most bizarre novels, The Place of the Lion. A close reading of a remark from the novel’s heroine that “salvation must be communicated” provides a lens by which the entire novel can be read, revealing how Williams presents a specific, culture-centered version of Christianity where communication leads to a salvation that is more cultural than doctrinal, more than the erasure of sins, but an experience …

The Path Of Wisdom: Reassessing Tolkien’S Paremiology In The Hobbit And The Lord Of The Rings, Luis J. Tosina Fernández

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

Using previous scholarship on the use of proverbs in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, the present study reevaluates Tolkien’s use of proverbs in the series, with special attention to the use of pseudoproverbs and trying to provide sources that may have served as inspiration for the creation of Middle-earth proverbs. After close inspection of The Hobbit and the three parts of The Lord of the Rings, the findings point towards a less frequent use of proverbs than anticipated or presumed by previous authors. Moreover, despite including a far from negligible number of pseudoproverbs, for many of which …

Envelope 1 Transcript, John Coffee

Transcripts

The collection letters range from 1803-1817 and are concerned with the daily activities of Brigadier General John Coffee and the Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry and Mounted Gunmen during the War of 1812. The document is an indexed transcription of all letters in envelope one of the physical archival collection.

Transcription Note

All grammatical and spelling errors appeared in the original text and were retained to preserve the text’s original content. Illegible text from the original document is indicated by “[illegible]” or “[?].” Minor editorial clarifications not present in the original are placed in brackets. The text contains several dashes as …

Envelope 2 Transcript, John Coffee

Transcripts

The collection letters range from 1803-1817 and are concerned with the daily activities of Brigadier General John Coffee and the Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry and Mounted Gunmen during the War of 1812. The document is an indexed transcription of all letters in envelope two of the physical archival collection.

Transcription Note

All grammatical and spelling errors appeared in the original text and were retained to preserve the text’s original content. A dash typically indicates places where John Coffee wrote dashes within the original letters, while a string of successive dashes indicates illegible characters (the amount of dashes roughly corresponds to …

“Learning To Ask The Deeper Questions Behind The Image That Most People Don’T See:” Teaching Critical Visual Literacy To History Teacher Candidates Through Interdisciplinary Collaboration, Heather Koopmans, Richard Hughes

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Despite the ubiquitous role of images in teaching history, few teachers have formal training in how to help students critically read photographs, paintings, and other images. The essay centers on research on how Critical Visual Literacy, which focuses on how images reflect complex issues of power in society, can assist emerging teachers in helping students think historically and better engage visual evidence associated with curriculum mandates to broaden historical narratives

Using Scenario-Based Generative Ai In A Social Studies Methods Course, Timothy Lintner, Ellis Reeves

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly transforming the landscape of educator preparation. This shift is especially evident in social studies. As emerging technologies like AI reshape how social studies is taught and learned, it is essential to incorporate them into course design and student outcomes. Simply put, we must ensure that the next generation of social studies educators can effectively use AI to create real-world, scenario-based learning experiences that foster inquiry and encourage student action-taking. This article examines how AI-supported, scenario-based learning was strategically integrated into a secondary social studies methods course at the University of South Carolina Aiken. From concept …

The End Of Unmeasured Exploitation: How A.S.M., C.A.S., And S.I.A. Challenge Digital Attention Capitalism, Delante Clark

Graduate Scholarship and Creative Works

Digital attention capitalism generates value through the capture and monetization of human attention, yet it has historically lacked standardized mechanisms for measuring attention-related harm. This paper argues that the Attention Safeguard Models (A.S.M.), Cognitive Attentional Standards (C.A.S.), and Sociological Impact Assessment (S.I.A.) collectively challenge this system by introducing an integrated framework for classifying, measuring, and evaluating digital attention harm and its societal consequences. C.A.S. provides standardized measurement of digital attention harm, A.S.M. identifies and classifies patterns of attentional disruption and manipulation, and S.I.A. evaluates broader impacts on institutions, communities, civic engagement, education, social cohesion, and inequality. Together, these systems transform …

Accidents

Appalachia

Reports of rescues and accidents in the White Mountains of New Hampshire from the warm seasons of 2025 opens with a note about “the eleventh essential,” which is “a “mind of winter.” New Hampshire Fish and Game officers rescue a man stranded in cold rain after wandering along the Garfield Ridge Trail. A hiker is stranded by early-May snow on the Kilkenny Ridge Trail. The Cog Railway assists in a rescue of a woman who had tried to reach Lakes of the Clouds Hut in cold June weather. Rescuers assist a sick man off the Franconia Ridge. A man takes …

The Loss Of Guy Waterman, A Quarter-Century Later: Friends Climb Franconia Ridge To Remember Their Mountain Mentor, Doug Mayer

Appalachia

A man who helped recovered the body of his friend talks about his giant legacy.

Appalachia Summer/Fall 2026: Complete Issue

Appalachia

Summer/Fall 2026 - Volume LXXVII, Number 2 - Issue #262. Legacies.

The Grizzly, October 8, 2026, Sidney Belleroche, Adam Denn, Saniya Jeter, Laela Stackhouse, Cora Johnson, Samantha Zwergel, Caitlin Cunnane, Erik Groff

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Ursinus Launches "Go Global" Program • Myrin Renovations Finally Complete • Myrin Wasps Exterminated, Identified • The Lantern is Inevitable • Ursinus Graduate Program • Opinion: The Printing Situation • What's Behind Ursinus Football's Hot Start? • Ursinus Opens New Outdoor Gym

Call To Submissions, Cinde Wollenberg

Virginia English Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Creating A Sense Of Belonging For Immigrant And Refugee Students, Emma L. Johnson

Virginia English Journal

This review examines Creating a Sense of Belonging for Immigrant and Refugee Students, by Mandy Manning, Ivonne Orozco Sahi, Leah Juelke, and Sarahí Monterrey, which explores strategies to foster inclusive classroom communities that support newcomer and multilingual learners. The authors argue that belonging is foundational to students' academic success and outline personal anecdotes that influenced the authors' instructional methods. This review considers the book's key themes: community-building practices, culturally sustaining pedagogy, and the role of schools in supporting students navigating displacement and resettlement. It evaluates the text's anecdotal evidence as support for expanding the ELA curriculum to better serve …

Race, Identity, And The Classroom: How Young Adult Literature Can Help Students And Teachers Explore Belonging In The School Environment, Madyson A. Mcray

Virginia English Journal

Contemporary classrooms are not necessarily reflective of the curriculum written to support them. Classroom demographics have shifted and student populations are more diverse. Because of this, the implementation of dominant white-narrative curricula has become ineffective in keeping students engaged with the material. Teaching “the classics” becomes irrelevant when students cannot see themselves represented in the text. Young adult literature, however, allows students to relate their own experiences to the text to engage more deeply in content. This paper examines four novels: New Kid by Jerry Craft, This is My America by Kim Johnson, The Secret Battle of Evan Pao by …

Decreasing Barriers To Learning: Understanding Cognitive Load In The Modern Classroom, Rory Cantwell

Virginia English Journal

This article applies Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) to investigate current classroom uses of technology and how these may support or hinder student learning. First, the article explores the current understanding and application of CLT. Then, focusing on cell phone and laptop computer use, it examines how current evidence surrounding the most prevalent educational technologies may suggest strategies for classroom technology use. The article concludes by offering implications for current practitioners, including a decision tree educators can use to determine situational classroom technology usage.

Moving Forward In Education, Reese Whitlock, Hannah-Evette Burruss, Kiley Mccleary

Virginia English Journal

This article examines the growing presence of artificial intelligence in secondary English Language Arts classrooms and argues that educators must approach AI integration through a human-centered framework. While technological advancements continue to reshape literacy instruction, the role of teachers as guides and relationship-builders remains essential. Drawing on educational research and classroom examples, the article explores how tools such as generative AI and audiobooks can support student learning when used intentionally rather than as replacements for critical thinking or teacher involvement. The discussion highlights concerns surrounding overreliance on AI, including diminished writer’s voice, reduced cognitive engagement, and ethical issues such as …

From Pack Horse Librarians To Large Language Models: Grounding Ai Literacy In Appalachian Place And Community, Amanda Biviano, Anna Marie Rayne, Paige Hubbard, Maya Alvarez, Brooke Stiles, Isabella Giocondo

Virginia English Journal

As artificial intelligence reshapes literacy education, teachers face the challenge of preparing students to engage critically with new technologies while honoring the cultural and community knowledge they bring to the classroom. This article proposes a critical, place-based pedagogical framework rooted in rural Appalachian literacy traditions as a means of guiding students toward reflective engagement with AI — particularly large language models (LLMs). Drawing on the theoretical foundations of Freire's critical pedagogy, Giroux's cultural literacy framework, and place-based education, we examine historical Appalachian literacy practices as models for resisting the standardizing and dehumanizing tendencies of AI-generated writing. We then outline a …

A Media Literacy Approach To Ai In Secondary Ela, Matthew Korona

Virginia English Journal

The rapid integration of generative artificial intelligence (AI) into academic, civic, and personal contexts requires students to develop the skills and dispositions necessary for ethical and critical engagement with AI‑mediated texts. While AI literacy is often framed as a technical competency associated with computer science, this paper argues that secondary English language arts (ELA) classrooms are uniquely positioned to support AI literacy through media literacy practices. Drawing on constructivist pedagogy, existing research on media literacy and AI literacy, and the Virginia English Standards of Learning, the article presents a framework that aligns core media literacy competencies with human–AI interaction. To …