Digital Commons Network^™

A Word From The Writing Team (July 2026), Pam Walter, Mfa, Laura Deloretta, Phd

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Desert Desires And The War On Terror: Pre- And Post-9/11 Sheikh Romances, Leena Altamimi

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

The existence of sheikh romances as a subgenre has prevailed for well over a century in Western literature. Therefore, would one be able to discern whether the book cover imagery as well as the textual content showcases any tangible differences pre and post 9/11, and America’s “war on terror” campaign? A total of five books are observed: The Sheik by E.M. Hull published in 1919, Sarah Holland’s Desert Destiny published in 1991, Loreth Anne White’s The Sheik Who Loved Me and Penny Jordan’s Possessed by the Sheikh (both published in 2005), and lastly Crowned for the Sheikh’s Baby by Sharon …

Visual Structure, Cultural Memory, And Viewership In Early Medieval Irish High Crosses, Trinity Smith

Theses

This thesis examines how Irish high crosses functioned as structured visual forms through which religious authority and cultural memory were communicated within early medieval Ireland. Previous scholarship has emphasized the theological coherence of these monuments, often assuming a single idealized viewer. This study reconsiders Irish high crosses through the concept of multiple viewership by examining how different audiences may have encountered and understood these monuments. Using comparative visual and contextual analysis, this study examines four case studies: the Cross of the Scriptures at Clonmacnoise, Muiredach’s Cross at Monasterboice, the High Cross of Durrow, and the Market Cross at Kells. This …

From Grid To Freedom: A Comparative Analysis Of Canva’S Guardrails And Adobe Illustrator’S Design Flexibility, Caroline Wilmes

Theses

This project focuses on graphic design software becoming increasingly accessible and questions emerging regarding the role of professional designers and the value of industry-standard design tools. This project examines the differences between Canva, a widely used template-driven design platform, and Adobe Illustrator, a professional vector-based design application. Through a hands-on, project-based research approach, the same brand identity was developed in both programs, including a style guide, business card, website homepage mock-up, and tri-fold. The comparison focused on workflow efficiency, creative freedom, typography, color management, scalability, and production readiness.

Findings revealed that Canva excels in accessibility, speed, and ease of use …

Quiet Relief: Voice In Migraine Packaging, Nicole Allgeyer

Theses

This paper explores typography as a form of nonverbal communication in pharmaceutical branding for a fictional medication called Neura by investigating how font choice, visual hierarchy, spacing, and color function as communicative tools to its viewers. This paper combines the studies of semiotics and branding to create a brand that evokes trust, calm, and clarity through a visual branding system. This study investigates visual signifiers (semiotics) such as color and type through visual analysis and implements the findings into the brand. By researching branding, I was able to create a brand that has a focused demographic and image. In creating …

Beyond Affection Meters: A Framework For Relationship Repair Mechanics And Meaningful Play, Christopher B. Del Gesso

Theses

This thesis develops and tests a repair-centered framework for relationship mechanics in narrative games, positioned as an alternative to the affection-meter model that reduces relationships to a single accumulating score. Drawing on eudaimonic media research, relational repair theory, and interpretive-attribution research, the framework argues that meaningful relationship play depends on tracking multiple, potentially divergent relational dimensions; distinguishing repair attempts from repair outcomes; modeling interpretation of player actions rather than fixed action-to-effect mappings; and treating stable, non-restorative endings as legitimate outcomes rather than failure states. A comparative survey of five commercial games, Fallout 4, Tell Me Why, Life is Strange Remastered, …

The Significance Of Abstract Art In Self-Expression: A Study Developed By Analyzing Kandinsky's Black Lines And Producing Visual Juxtapositions, Keturah K. Bowles

Theses

This paper will contemplate how the creation of abstract art, a creative style born from the Avant-Garde movement of the 20th century by artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, was imperative in the pursuit of artistic freedom. Additionally, it will seek to prove that abstraction is one of the unparalleled genres to utilize for self-expression in comparison to genres that uphold traditional art techniques, such as realism. This theory is further emphasized when considering abstract art in juxtaposition to the art standards maintained by the academy. Moreover, the research conducted to support the proposed theory falls into various categories, such as …

Web Of Sisterhood: Somehow Connected, Catherine Scott

Theses

This thesis project is about the connection between female community (sisterhood) and art-making practices. This connection is explored through qualitative research, including research in art history, feminism, community interviews, and personal experience. The connection between sisterhood and art-making is expressed through the construction and development, as well as the visual elements, in the final project. Communication and collaboration with women in my community about the artwork and our connections as women shaped how the work would be constructed, as well as the imagery and colors used in the final piece.

Seeing Power: Authority, Gender, And Spectatorship In Charles I And Henrietta Marie With Their Two Eldest Children, Prince Charles And Princess Mary (1632), Danielle Scaramuzzi

Theses

The visual construction, enactment, and legitimization of political authority is the subject of this thesis concerning Charles I and Henrietta Maria with their two eldest children, Prince Charles and Princess Mary (1632), painted by Anthony Van Dyck. Through examination of sovereign representation, gendered body, dynastic continuity, and spectators, this research argues that authority within Northern Baroque portraiture is not established as a single or unchanging entity. However, instead of a monolithic representation of authority, it arises from relational elements, including body language, gesture, space, family relations, and viewer engagement. Although Van Dyck's portrait is generally considered a dynastic image in …

Ethical Visual Truth: An Analysis On Vietnam War Photojournalism, Anna Lauryn Carmichael

Theses

This thesis examines the ethical dimensions of Vietnam War photojournalism through close analysis of four iconic photographs: Nick Ut's The Terror of War (Napalm Girl) , Eddie Adams's Saigon Execution , Catherine Leroy's Vietnam, February 1967 , and Gilles Caron's Untitled (Who's the Enemy Here?) . Rather than treating these images as transparent documentation, this thesis argues that Vietnam War photojournalism functioned as a contested medium of narrative construction, one whose most celebrated images achieved iconic status by conforming to Western visual conventions and institutional demands, rather than by capturing some unmediated truth. Drawing on the interconnected frameworks of visual …

Color Shift: A Graphic Design Process Book Exploring How Color And Motion Influence Emotional Perception And Brand Connection In Affordable Women's Fashion Jewelry, Elizabeth Voight

Theses

This study examines how manipulating color and motion within a single brand identity system influences consumer emotional response and brand consistency. Using a fictional modern jewelry brand, Quanta & Co., the research isolates color as the primary variable by applying nine distinct mid-range color palettes to identical layouts, logos, and structures across both print and digital touchpoints. These collateral assets include jewelry packaging, vehicle wraps, digital advertisements, and an animated logo. A quantitative survey was executed to capture real-time audience impressions regarding brand traits, perceived quality, and the overall alignment of each color variation with the brand's identity.

The findings …

Ethos: A Computational Framework For Material Culture Research, Chelsea L. Grafe

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Museum catalog records make large collections searchable, but they do not always preserve the reasoning behind the claims they contain. A record may present a quilt's identity as settled while leaving the reasoning behind that claim invisible, making it difficult for later researchers to check, question, or reuse. This project asks whether museum catalog data can be analyzed in a way that keeps each analytical claim connected to the evidence that supports it. To test this question, the project applies a material-first computational framework named Ethos. Ethos formalizes an object-centered inquiry sequence in which material dependencies establish where analysis begins …

The Role Of Complexity In Structural Transfer: A Corpus Study From Turkish And Bulgarian, Sarah Joy Russell

Theses and Dissertations

This study the explores the need to examine the increasingly varied methods of quantifying morphological complexity in regards to their ability to influence structural borrowing across languages, with particular attention to the distinction between enumerative complexity (enumeration of all of the morphemes and distinctions in a system) and integrative complexity (entropy-based calculation of the class distinctions of the system). While existing models in contact linguistics often assume that structurally simpler languages are more likely to serve as sources of grammatical transfer, such accounts typically rely on enumerative measures of complexity alone and do not fully account for the role of …

Spirals Of Light: A Healing Journey Through Somatics, Dance, And Pedagogy, Jessica Batha

MFA in Dance Theses

This thesis investigates dance as an embodied practice of healing, attunement, and belonging through phenomenology, somatics, and environmental engagement. Grounded in Sondra Fraleigh’s eco-phenomenological framework, the research weaves personal narrative, artistic inquiry, and interdisciplinary scholarship to examine how thresholds of birth, injury, and recovery shape sensory orientation across the lifespan. Drawing from lived experiences as a dancer, mother, educator, and researcher, the study explores tone, breath, light, and movement as formative forces in identity and resilience. Central to the inquiry is a knee injury and subsequent surgical recovery, which catalyzed a somatic practice aligned with circadian rhythms, sunrise ritual, and …

Machine (Un/Re) Learning, Jordan Shadley

MFA in Dance Theses

This thesis document is an exploration of the interaction between live performance art and digital content creation such as Generative A.I. In this work, I draw from several courses I completed during my time in Saint Mary’s College of California MFA in Dance and Creative Practice program, including Dance and Social Justice, Phenomenology, Somatic Movement Seminar and Dance and Performance Studies. Each offers a throughline of my scholarly explorations and embodied research into the spheres of adapting and challenging how concert dance spaces respond to digital information and creation. I utilized live movement collaboration and distorted videography through Generative A.I. …

D-Entangled, Macy Yu

MFA in Dance Theses

This thesis investigates the choreographic, somatic, and cultural significance hair holds in dance through identity and belonging. Hair is more than merely a visual or aesthetic marker, it is a lived, identity-bearing, and sensory archive of the body. To say that hair is merely just for aesthetics in lifestyles and in dance is not acknowledging its full impact. Hair functions as both a cultural and sensory archive as well as embodied resistance and a site of identity. I identify as a multi-ethnic woman, dancer, educator, and choreographer. This paper analyzes hair through the examination of four different methodologies including a …

Kinesthesis: A Choreographic Study Of The Somatic Effect Of Fascial Intervention, Mira Larsen

MFA in Dance Theses

This master’s thesis was a choreographic study that experimented with the somatic effects of fascial intervention practices, culminating in a final performance in June of 2026 at the LeFevre Theatre at Saint Mary’s College of California. Each chapter of this document investigates the topic of fascial awareness supported through somatic practice and its effect on creating impactful emotional and physical connections in ballet choreography and pedagogy. This document offers the conceptual framework for the choreographic process of the thesis project, titled Kinesthesis. Through the lenses of phenomenology, somatics, social justice, and performance studies, the research goal involved the utilization of …

Colonization To Commodification To Codification: The Salimpour Method, Suhaila Salimpour

MFA in Dance Theses

This thesis examines how colonization and commodification have shaped the codification of belly dance though the Salimpour Method. Codification here refers to the process of naming, categorizing, and organizing of movement into a teachable system. While codification inevitably transforms tradition, it also serves as a method of preservation. As the inheritor of the Salimpour lineage, I trace how my mother, Jamila Salimpour, first codified belly dance and how I built on her work to create a comprehensive pedagogical system that situates belly dance within artistic and academic contexts. This study argues that the Salimpour Method is a strategy of preserving, …

Under Open Skies: Black, Queer, And Ascending, Skyler Zakaar

MFA in Dance Theses

This thesis explores personal healing and community building through dance, rooted in my lived experience as a Black Queer man in America. Stemming from research in Phenomenology, Critical Dance Pedagogy, and Dance & Social Justice, I interrogate the impact of white supremacy and systemic racism both within and beyond the queer community. My choreographic process centers intersectionality and collective agency, seeking to resist the fragmentation of identity and to affirm the wholeness of self. Through performance and comprehensive study, my intentions are to foster empathy, connection, and belonging, while advocating for equity and transformation within dance and broader cultural discourse. …

Da Mosang Tarsier Series: Developing Digital Bullying Prevention Materials For Filipino Parents Of Grade School Students, Rudy M. Danganan Jr., Ann Christine V. Braga, Maria Kristina S. Alfonso, Romelito Manuel D.S. Clorina, Ma. Regina Hechanova

Children and Families

Bullying remains a significant public health and educational concern worldwide and is particularly prevalent in Philippine public schools, with Grade 7 students identified as a vulnerable group. Although the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 (Republic Act No. 10627) mandates school-based policies and procedures, persistent implementation gaps underscore the need to strengthen home–school partnerships and equip parents with practical, culturally grounded response strategies. This paper describes the development of the Da Mosang Tarsier Series, a set of digital psychoeducational comic strips designed for Filipino parents of Grade 7 students. Guided by a user-centered design (UCD) framework, the project began with a Generative …

His 127 Microhistories: A Lens Into The Past — Apartheid In South Africa Syllabus, Marta Millar

Open Educational Resources

The microhistory course introduces students to the study of history by exploring a particular event, individual, or issue, and its legacy. Students will read both primary source documents and modern texts to examine how the topic under consideration was shaped by, and in turn shaped contemporary culture.

This syllabus is for a course focusing on the history of apartheid in South Africa. Students will analyze the political, social, economic, and cultural aspects of the apartheid era. This includes understanding how segregationist policies developed in South Africa, what political transformations led to the implementation of the apartheid system, how different policies …

Deepfakes As Crisis Triggers: Experimental Evidence On Response Strategy Effectiveness, Responsibility Attributions, And Sharing Intentions, Alicia Mason, Mariah Laman, Tanner Glenn, Treyton Meyers

Faculty Submissions

The term deepfake refers to falsified media content created using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to manipulate audio, video, or images. Deepfake news fabrications are designed to appear highly realistic, making it difficult for audiences to distinguish them from authentic content. Responding to deepfake-induced  reputational threats therefore presents a unique challenge for organizations. Despite the growing prevalence of deepfake technology, little experimental research has examined how different crisis communication strategies perform in mitigating the reputational and relational harm posed by deepfake-induced crises. Accordingly, this study seeks to (1) examine how exposure to deepfake news relates to public perceptions and affect toward …

In The Shadow Of The Steeple: A Theory Of Religious Hypocrisy, Justin Arthur Rice

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I explore how Christian doctrine and practice respond to the pressures placed upon them by the troubling reality of religious hypocrisy (RH). Assuming a teleological notion of social institutions, I argue that RH is best understood in relation to the Church as an institution, and that RH occurs when religious agents undermine or subvert their appointed role within the Church. RH consists in the conscious or unconscious charade of spiritual or moral virtue undertaken in one’s capacity as a member of a religious institution, grounded in a fundamental disparity between one’s thoughts, words, desires, motivations, or deeds, …

Pinochet’S Upswing: The Demise Of A Democratic Society In Chile, Jacob Behnk

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

In the United States, we tend to view democracy as an inviolable tenet of political life. Our nation’s founding is even romanticized as a heroic fight for liberty against the wicked tyranny of the British monarchy. It is unthinkable that democracy could ever be destroyed, let alone have the citizens cheer on those who engineer its destruction—yet this is the very situation that Chile found itself regarding Augusto Pinochet, a brutal dictator who ruled the country with an iron fist from 1973 to 1990. Pinochet would be voted out of power in a 1988 plebiscite, but still managed to win …

Syllabus: Engl 1010 English Composition I, Sarah C. Bonanno

Open Educational Resources

This is a syllabus for English Composition I (ENGL 1010 FYSA) taught at Brooklyn College during the Fall 2026 semester. This course teaches students concrete and transferable writing skills through the genres of literacy narrative, argumentative essays, and comparative writing.

Story, Mapping And “Jarriny”: A Collaborative Exploration Of Artistic Responses To Extreme Weather In The Work Of Natalie Davey And The 2023 Fitzroy River Floods, Natalie Davey, Renée Newman

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Extreme weather events caused by human created climate change not only cause catastrophic impact on human and the more-than-human populations but can also trigger permanent changes to place. With these changes, stories shift, in turn influencing knowledge and cultural systems. This article is a dialogue between Natalie Davey and Renée Newman, about the role of art, story, mapping and “jarriny” (translating to totem) as a tool for education on extreme weather events and climate crisis. We also consider the vital role custodianship plays in response to and recovery from an extreme weather event, as was the case for Natalie Davey …

Weathering In-Beyond Hydro(S)Cenes, Bronwyn Bailey-Charteris, Kathryn Mcmahon, Mary Christina Rapp, Natalie Davey

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper examines the cultural, ecological and political dimensions of the contemporary water crisis through a curatorial and environmental humanities lens. Through the watery conceptual epoch of the Hydrocene, it highlights the work of artists and interdisciplinary practitioners whose hydro-Artistic methods propose ways to realign human-water relations. Central to this analysis is the role of curatorial care, here understood as a practice of convening, holding and enabling reciprocal encounters between bodies of water, artists and communities. Bringing these diverse practices into dialogue, the paper proposes water not only as subject matter but as a potential collaborator and leaky agent. It …

Nietzsche’S Greek Soul: Traces Of Aristotle’S Psuchē In The Early Nietzsche, Laura G. Campos

Theses and Dissertations from DePaul University

This dissertation proposes an examination of the concept of the soul (Seele) as it appears in the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, in conversation with the concept of the soul in Aristotle. I propose bringing these two historically and theoretically disparate thinkers into dialogue insofar as they each represent a pivotal moment in the history of Western subjectivity, drawing on Martin Heidegger’s positioning of Aristotle and Nietzsche as the inaugural and final thinkers of Western metaphysics, respectively. Yet, following recent Continental interpretations of both thinkers, I read both Aristotle and Nietzsche as proto-phenomenologists concerned with the problem of how to thematize …

Choke, Elisabeth Yager

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.

The Sneaker Bride, Jameson Askew

Floodwall Magazine

No abstract provided.