Digital Commons Network^™

Examining The Implicit Association Between The ‘Caucasian’ Race And Scientific Ideals, Erin Cain, Tim Messer-Kruse, Anne K. Gordon Dr.

Honors Projects

This study examines the implicit associations between the term ‘Caucasian’ and scientific ideals. The racist and pseudoscientific history of the word ‘Caucasian’ invalidates its credibility and insinuates persistent racist ideologies that continue to manifest today. The term ‘Caucasian’ seems to be popularly thought of as a more exact, specific, and scientific term than that of ‘White’. This paper includes a review of the literature about the White race and the term ‘Caucasian’, how this term originated, and the pseudoscience that created it in the 18^th century. The experiment includes a control condition, and an experimental condition that primes the …

Claire Archer: Trans- Cending -Gender, Billy Adams

English: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Wildflowers A Novel, Kelli Roberts

Theses

Abstract for Wildflowers

Wildflowers is a feminist literary novel that examines the intersection of sex, power, and free will, exploring how these forces shape and define human agency. The story follows a group of women drawn to an enigmatic leader who promises enlightenment and empowerment through embracing their desires. As they navigate the fine line between self-actualization and manipulation, the novel delves into themes of liberation, coercion, and the choices we make to create the lives we long for. Provocative and thought-provoking, Wildflowers invites readers to consider the complexities of desire, the cost of empowerment, and the courage required to …

Little Shop Of Patriarchy : Analyzing Constructed Vs. Essential Gender Roles, Taylor Gadsden-Deterville

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Frank Oz’s Little Shop of Horrors (1986) is more than a silly kooky musical. The comedic plot dramatically dances with themes of domestic violence, poverty, and sexism. For this project, my poster will explore the expectations and representations of femininity and masculinity set up at the film's beginning versus the end. The film’s context will connect to research involving gender essentialism (innate, biological sex) and gender constructionism (socially constructed gender roles). I will analyze the roles of Seymour, Audrey, and Orin to exhibit how they discover their constructed and essential gender identities. The film represents Audrey as a ditsy hyper-feminine …

Modern Bodies: Globalizing Media Cultures And The Representation Of Ideal Beauty, Michelle Sun

Comparative Literature Undergraduate Senior Theses

This project aims to examine how the image of the “modern body” is constructed, imagined, modified, and sustained by globalizing media cultures in France, Japan, and the US—investigating how factors of race, age, health, class, and gender overlap and intersect to create a vision of “ideal” beauty across different times and spaces. Previous research has focused on particular topics, such as the rise of cosmetic surgery in East Asia or the politics of modern American beauty parlors. However, my goal in this project is to evaluate these diverse studies through a broader and more comparative lens, analyzing examples of French …

University Of Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Department Of Music, University Of Richmond

Music Department Concert Programs

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Sublime Through Sound Design: A Multiplatform Approach, Elsie Mader

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The world around us has always vibrated with constant sound. That audio provides context for everyday activity, the background against which all life is played. To highlight its significance in the human experience, this study explores the impact of audio on emotion through my sound design for Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins' morality play Everybody. Creating and describing the design process, this study seeks to discover how sound influences emotional response, shapes mood, and complements visual elements. Aiming to discern what soothes or incites audiences, the design focuses on a juxtaposition between familiar and unfamiliar sounds. Special attention is paid to base elements …

Style, Nonetheless. Eight Good Reasons To Reject The Notion Of Style; Three Reasons To Use It Nonetheless, Béatrice Joyeux-Prunel

Artl@s Bulletin

This article examines why art historians have distanced themselves from the concept of “style” since the 1960s. It draws on the critiques of Meyer Schapiro and Ernst Gombrich, which were often cited and reinterpreted by post-constructivist and decolonial historiographies since the 1990s. It identifies eight key factors: variability of definitions, normative applications, tendency towards formalism, evolutionary implications, oversimplification, historical ties to racist assumptions, hierarchical effects, and modern Western biases. However, the article argues for distinguishing the cognitive relevance of “style” from its problematic uses, exploring its potential application within a socio-historical framework.

Cet article explore les raisons pour lesquelles les …

Flying Under The Radar: Navigating Through Frustrations, Tears, And The Politics Of The Liberal Arts Curriculum, Sandra Houghton

Theses and Dissertations

The elements and principles of art continue to highly influence curriculum in the typical art foundations class. The reduction of art and artmaking to their formal properties constricts a student’s ability to engage in real-life artist processes, and many important contextual meanings are lost. Consequently, art foundations curriculum derived from the elements and principles of art narrows the lens through which we create, teach, and talk about art. In my own experience as an art teacher, I have found that this approach limits my teaching and makes it difficult to fully and authentically understand the works of other artists and …

Gender Differences: The Impact Of Gender Grouping On Egyptian Stem Undergraduates’ Online Group Work1, Wesam Khairy Morsi, Hala Medhat Assem Ms

English Language and Literature

This paper reports a study that compares teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) through face-to-face (FTF) and CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) methods, comparing them with the interdisciplinary perspectives of sociology, social psychology, and educational technology. Based on the sociocultural theory, the influence of gender grouping on the academic performance of 141 English as a foreign language (EFL) Egyptian undergraduates enrolled in a technical writing course in the Faculty of Engineering was examined in a CALL context. Students’ academic performance was measured by overall grades on group work assignments and submitted peer evaluation forms. Sixty six students were assigned …

Finding Peace: A Believer's Guide To Holiday Stress, Bruce Vermeer

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"How can we reduce holiday stress while still celebrating fully?"

Posting about being still during the busy Christmas season from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Finding Peace: A Believer's Guide to Holiday Stress

Francesca C'De Baca Academic History, David L. C'De Baca

Oral Histories HIST 300, Fall 2024

Francesa C'de Baca current academic and extracurricular achievements as of December 2024.

Responding Through Listening: Promoting Listening Skills Through Lightning Talks And 2x2x2 Storytelling, Elizabeth L. Angeli

Journal of Response to Writing

Current scholarship in writing pedagogy and peer review focuses on how and what to write and say. What is often left unaddressed in these discussions are how we listen and how we teach our students to listen, making listening an often overlooked and understudied piece of the peer review and writing response process. Yet, the quality of the feedback we receive and offer is directly tied to how well we listen to what is said and written. To this fill this gap, this teaching article offers two activities, Lighting Talks and 2x2x2 Storytelling, that promote students’ listening skills so that …

The Winter Issue 2024, Destiny Dehart, Tifanee Mask, Crystal Walker, Lili Debarbier, Oliver La Barbrea

Fonds and Feathers

This issue, edited by Destiny DeHart, features “An Archival Dichotomy: Is a Digital Collection or Physical Collection Best?” by Tifanee Mask Jackson, “Bringing Virtual Escape Rooms to the Library” by Crystal Walker, “Digitization and Natural History: Collections: Impact on Museum Educators and K-12 STEM Education Collections” by Lili DeBarbieri, “Preservation of Queer History in Texas” by Oliver La Barbrea, “Is Misinformation an Epidemic?: Digital literacy, who is she?” by Destiny DeHart, “Interview with Digital Historian Dr. Stephanie Seal Walters” by Destiny DeHart, and the poem “Cain & Abel” by Tifanee Mask Jackson. In addition, upcoming conferences are listed. A list …

Aquila And Predator: The Failure And Momentum Of Drone Technologies In The U.S., 1970-2015, Michael Rasak

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This article examines the technological and intellectual histories of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) development in the U.S. from the 1970s until 2015. Borrowing from the field of science and technology studies, the author argues that although early drone development demonstrated a significant degree of heterogeneity (i.e., interpretive flexibility), the spectacular failure in 1987 of one program in particular—the Aquila Remotely Piloted Vehicle—thereafter contributed to a significant restricting of UAS potentialities. Aquila’s demise prompted a Congressional directive in 1988 to consolidate the disparate UAS development efforts within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) under one joint program, ushering in a means …

Donald Griffin: A Visionary In Science And Consciousness, Brock Fenton

Animal Sentience

I share some reflections on a sabbatical with Donald Griffin a half-century ago, with fieldwork on bats and echolocating swiftlets in Australia and our discussions of animal behavior and consciousness. Griffin's influence has been vast, from recent advances in bat research, including learning, navigation, and longevity, to his enduring legacy as a pioneer in animal cognition.

The Rage, Fall 2024, Aspen Humphries, Savannah Moore, Lottie Taylor

The Rage Zine

The Rage zine is published in collaboration with Students Advocating Gender Equality and CCU Women's and Gender Studies. Volume 3, Issue 1.

Writing In Philosophy: Pedagogy And Practice, Sarah K. Donovan, Renée Smith

Philosophy and Religious Studies

Even a cursory internet search of syllabi for philosophy courses shows that the tradition of assigning papers—five-page papers, ten-page papers, fifteen-page papers—is still thriving. Yet the schedule of topics, often listed on those same syllabi, very seldom reveals any course time devoted to teaching students how to write. Perhaps the assignments themselves reveal the process of writing papers, rubrics reveal the expectations, and feedback nudges students to improve their writing. But that kind of information is not transparent in many syllabi. Even if we suppose that philosophy faculty support the idea of Writing Across the Curriculum, in practice faculty across …

Critical Utopia And Symbiosis In The Works Of Octavia Butler, Samuel Burton

Graduate Theses and Capstone Projects (excluding DNP)

No abstract provided.

Mary, The Holy Mother Of God - 1 January 2024, Gerard Moore

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

200 Years Of Johnson V. M'Intosh (Jvm): Indigenous Responses To The Religious Foundations Of Racism, Philip P. Arnold, Sandra L. Bigtree, Adam Dj Brett

Religion - All Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Wine-Rs Or Losers: Assessing Socio-Economic Impacts Of Eu Regulations On Climate-Exacerbated Plant Diseases And Pests Within Northern Italian Viticulture, Kyley N. Fishman

Undergraduate Honors Theses

As climate change furthers weather events and unprecedented hot and wet seasons, European farmers are amongst those challenged by these threats. Balancing sustainable and traditional practices while maintaining socio-economic stability can be difficult, especially under European Union (EU) agricultural regulations. A key area of concern for some agro-regulations is viticulture, or grape growing, which is amongst the most climate-sensitive agricultural sectors. These agro-regulations address multiple goals, including sustainability, exports, and cultural heritage protection. Yet, to what extent EU climate-driven agricultural regulations influence regional wine-growing operations’ socio-economics remains unclear, particularly in managing climate-aggravated pests and plant diseases. My thesis aims to …

Challenging Myths & Addressing Intimate Partner Sexual Violence In Lgbtq+ Relationships, Nora K. Whitten

SPARK Symposium Presentations

Intimate partner violence (IPV), including intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV), is a public health crisis that disproportionately affects members of the LGBTQ+ community. This paper draws upon related, though limited, research to identify the five prevalent myths surrounding IPSV in LGBTQ+ relationships, addressing the following misconceptions: 1) IPSV can only occur in heterosexual relationships, 2) IPSV in LGBTQ+ relationships is not as severe, 3) Women cannot commit acts of sexual violence, 4) The more “masculine” partner is always the perpetrator, and 5) IPSV is a “mutual fight” among partners of the same sex. These myths perpetuate victim-blaming, minimize the severity …

The Interplay Of Covid 19, Organized Religion, And Social Media: “How Can I Be The Person I Feel I Need To Be?”, White Dove Bryant Beethoven Keith Short

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Young adults are disaffiliating themselves from organized religion (Hout & Fischer, 2014). This study investigates the impact of social media use on religious identity, teaching, and learning. Social media use is changing young adults as individuals in worldview and perspective, spirituality, religion, and personal lifestyle (Schaeffer, 2019). Messages devised for young adults by Christian ministers for discipleship in teaching and instruction are inharmonious with young adults and their personal views of the world, how to live, and religion (Pew Research Center, 2019). The continued existence of religious teaching, congregant replenishment, and practice of the organized institutional Christian church within society …

Adare-Tasiwoopa Ápi, Sierra And Nathan K. Silva. Gamification In Higher Education: A How-To Instructional Guide. Routledge, 2024, 252 Pages., Willa Swift Black

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Gamification in Higher Education: A How-to Instructional Guide - A Review

The Flexible Pathways Model Of Writing Assessment: A Plan For Equity And Agency In The Writing Classroom, Matthew Varel

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This project is a qualitative study in which I seek to understand how my new model of writing assessment, The Flexible Pathways Model, or FPM, functions when piloted in three First-Year Writing classrooms at a border and Hispanic-Serving Institution. This research builds on the work of composition scholars Peter Elbow and Pat Belanoff, Elbow and Jane Danielewicz, Asao B. Inoue, Ellen Carillo, and Edward White as well as education scholar Benjamin Bloom. The model also incorporates concepts from Universal Design scholarship of Tara Wood, Stephen Dolmage, and Anne-Marie Womack. In the FPM, students learn about four different methods of writing …

A Funerary Rite: A Visual Ethnography Of Climate Change, Threatened And Endangered Coral Species, And The Impact Of Coral Reef Death On Coastal Communities, Jason Uhl

Theses

This directed project includes research on a selection of the 24 coral species currently listed as threatened or endangered, these being at high risk of extinction. Climate change of the Anthropocene era and associated human-induced pollution impacts have resulted in most of the Earth’s coral reefs experiencing increased coral bleaching and coral death events. Our planet’s coral reefs are the main habitat to 25% of the world’s fish population. These coral habitats have also supported innumerous coastal communities in cultural, economic, social, and spiritual respects for millennia. This directed project includes the creation of an exhibition of 22 lidded ceramic …

Bad Plants, Heather I. Sullivan

Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research

“Bad plants” represent the seemingly unexpected and startling forms of plant power overlooked by many modern, industrialized societies that treat vegetal beings as mere resources instead of animate, world-shaping forces. Since science fiction and fairy tales often explore more openly animistic visions of non-human life, such texts provide ample possibilities for reconsideration by critical plant studies of our human-plant relations both cultural and ecological. For example, both Jack McDevitt’s 2001 science fiction novel, Deepsix, and Ludwig Tieck’s 1799 fairy tale, “Faithful Eckart and Tannhäuser”, feature “bad plants” that bring human beings violently back into the plant cycles they assume they …

Ephemeral Legacy, Allison Hall

Master's Theses

Recently, my thoughts have centered on the problem of legacy. How do we forge bonds with other humans? What happens on an interpersonal level when these humans pass away, or when we pass, and they continue in life? How do queer spaces consistently offer deeper phenomena of interpersonal legacies; how does death operate as generational catalyst? I am particularly interested in putting these questions in the context of queer spaces. In queer culture, kinship is formed in ways that break from typical western notions of kinship. Despite being incoherent to western notions of family, queer bonds are extremely strong (Bradway …

Fragments Of Fire: Essays On Womanhood, Family, And Environment, Valerie Rose Palacios

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Fragments of Fire is a collection of non-fiction, memoir, and opinion essays that navigate themes of gender and societal issues, coming-of-age, generational dynamics, death, and the natural environment. Through an intricate blend of introspection, keen observation, and literary analysis, these essays offer insight into the transformative journey from girlhood to womanhood as experienced by a young Latina. This collection provides a resonant voice that bridges personal narrative with broader cultural and existential questions.