Digital Commons Network^™

Work Precarity, Mental Health, And Performance Among Humanitarian Aid Workers In Egypt Post-2025 U.S. Funding Reduction, Mariam Allam

Theses and Dissertations

The humanitarian sector is increasingly characterized by precarious employment conditions and work precarity, including short-term contracts, unclear renewal terms, inadequate compensation, heavy workloads, and job insecurity, exacerbated by volatile donor funding. The 2025 U.S. funding cuts have intensified these vulnerabilities, particularly in countries like Egypt, with massive humanitarian operations because of being a significant destination for asylum applications and one of the largest refugee host countries. Despite the prevalence of precarious work in the humanitarian sector, limited research examines its effects on workers' mental health and work performance, especially during funding crises. This qualitative study explores the perceived effect of …

(Re)Claiming Homeplace: Dance As Embodied Resistance & Healing For Health & Spatial Justice, Preeya G. Kannan

University Honors Theses

This thesis argues that dance functions as both an upstream public health intervention and a form of radical spatial resistance; creating healing, agency, and belonging among historically marginalized communities. Drawing on bell hooks' concept of homeplace, Jasbir Puar's assemblage theory, Nancy Krieger's eco-social theory, and Katherine McKittrick's Black geographies, I position the body as both an ecological and political landscape shaped by histories of colonialism, racial capitalism, displacement, and resilience.

Through this community-based participatory research study, Homeplace, I explore dance as a form of social prescription that centers liberation rather than pathology. Movement is often reduced in public health discourse …

Strategic Anti-Transgender Policy Diffusion: Interest Groups, Courts, And The Two-Track Politics Of Gender Regulation, Henry Danford

University Honors Theses

This thesis analyzes the strategic diffusion of anti-transgender policy in the United States following the passage of Idaho House Bills 500 and 509 in 2020. It argues that conservative lawmakers and advocacy organizations employed a coordinated "two-track" policy strategy in which transgender sports bans served as highly visible and politically popular mode legislation while identity-document restrictions advanced more quietly through courts and administrative policy. Drawing on policy diffusion theory, the Advocacy Coalition framework, and minority stress theory, the study combines qualitative policy analysis with quantitative analysis of Household Pulse Survey mental health data and Media Cloud new coverage data from …

Big Fish Or Little Pond? National Evidence On The Relationship Between Transferring And Athletic Performance Within Division I Men's College Basketball, Kendall Cole, Francis A. Pearman Ii, Saurabh Khanna

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

Beginning with the introduction of the transfer portal in 2018, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has made several policy changes that have made transferring both easier and more desirable among student athletes, particularly in Division I (DI) revenue-generating sports. Yet, little is known about the relationship between transferring and student athletes’ athletic performance. Using individual- and team-level data on all DI men’s college basketball student athletes from the 2018-19 season through the 2023-24 season, we examine the relationship between transferring and athletic performance, specifically one’s points per game, minutes per game, and number of games started per season. Results …

Neoliberalism & The Care Economy: Exploring The Gendered Impacts Of Social Protection Systems, Rachel Carruthers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how neoliberal transformation of social protection policy influences gender dynamics within the care economy. Care is necessary for well-being, but traditionally excluded from economic thinking. This thesis completes a historical overview of how care has been incorporated or excluded by different economic paradigms and is anchored in feminist political economy that emphasizes care as a central consideration. A comparative analysis across California, Texas, and Sweden demonstrates how social protection, specifically access to paid parental leave, varies across regimes and results in inconsistent care outcomes. The findings suggest that social protections can reduce some inequalities, but inadequately address …

Data Governance Maturity, Ai Integration, And Equity In Colorado K-12 Public Schools, John R. Curtin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Colorado's 179 K-12 public school districts operate as autonomous governance units, each responsible for securing and managing student data assets that span health, financial, residential, and academic records. The accelerating integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools into administrative workflows, productivity software, and instructional platforms has fundamentally altered the risk landscape for student data, yet governance frameworks at the state, district, and school levels have not kept pace. This dissertation investigates whether Colorado's decentralized educational governance structure is institutionally capable of producing equitable, secure, and sustainable data governance outcomes in the AI era.

Drawing on Institutional Theory …

The Organizational Experience Of Next Gen Learning Through Portrait Of A Graduate, Kathleen J. Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative single-case study investigates the organizational journey of navigating the complexities of systemic transformation. In 2021, Silver Peak School District (SPSD; a pseudonym), a rural educational organization in the western United States, implemented a graduate competency framework known as Portrait of a Graduate. This study analyzed the experiences of teachers, instructional coaches, and principals with the explicit Portrait policies, practices, and resource flows of five learning structures—graduate competencies (in SPSD, this is analogous to Portrait), deeper learning, agency, performance assessment, and teaching culture—in a district in the messy middle of Portrait adoption. By focusing on a district situated in …

The Impact Of Slow Tourism On The Psychological Well-Being Of Urban Recreational Tourists In Jakarta, Ahmad Ghazy Dananjaya

Journal of Indonesian Tourism and Policy Studies

This study addresses the urgent need for psychological escape among Jakarta's population due to high life pressure, noise pollution, and density. While slow tourism offers tranquility and deep connection, its application in fast-paced metropolitan settings remains under-researched. This study analyzes the impact of Tranquility and Physical Activity Involvement on the Psychological Well-being of urban recreational tourists. Adopting a sequential explanatory mixed-method design, quantitative data were collected from 200 purposively selected domestic tourists and analyzed using Multiple Linear Regression, followed by in-depth interviews. Surprisingly, statistical results indicate that neither tranquility nor physical activity significantly influences psychological well-being, either simultaneously or partially. …

Readiness Before Adoption: Exploring Ai Integration In Egyptian Nonprofit Fundraising, Marwa Y. Zayed

Theses and Dissertations

 Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been transforming fundraising through data-driven decision-making, automation, and personalized donor engagement. Existing research focuses on AI applications and outcomes in the nonprofit sector in western context, with little known information in the Global South, particularly Egypt. This gap makes understanding the organizational conditions that shape AI difficult and limited. This thesis examines how organizational, cultural, ethical, and resource-related factors shape Egyptian nonprofit organizations’ readiness to adopt AI in fundraising. Through a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 fundraising directors, CEOs, a governmental representative, and technology professionals working in Egyptian nonprofits based in Cairo …

Educational Governance And Policy Implementation In Conflict-Affected Contexts: The Case Of Hadhramout, Yemen, Naa'ma M. Al-Hendi

Theses and Dissertations

Education remains a vital component of societal resilience and development in a world increasingly defined by conflict and instability. Education during conflict is crucial for academic learning and providing essential life skills and psychosocial support to children affected by war. Yemen is being plagued by political upheaval and a lack of economic flow to keep education running efficiently. Although Hadhramout, a governorate in Yemen, remains relatively stable, its education sector continues to face persistent challenges that hinder the quality and effectiveness of education. This study investigates the key challenges facing K-12 education in Hadhramout and examines the extent to which …

Creating Public Value Through Public-Private Partnerships In Technical And Vocational Education And Training In Egypt, Aseel Amr Tajuddin

Theses and Dissertations

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has emerged in the last decade as a foundational pillar for Egypt’s workforce and economic development vision. More recently, the Egyptian Ministry of Education and Technical Education (MoETE) has scaled industry driven and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) TVET models, industry affiliated dual education programs and Applied Technology Schools (ATS), seeking to strengthen alignment with the labor market and improving TVET graduates employability. Yet, TVET in Egypt continues to suffer from persistent social stigma, limited social legitimacy and low social ranking, despite the state led reform efforts. Existing TVET literature remains limited to examining …

Shaping Egypt’S Transition To Sustainable Electric Transport: Current Policies And Future Directions, Noha A. Ragab

Theses and Dissertations

Egypt has enacted policies to promote the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in order to reduce their overall carbon footprint. However, the pace of transition remains limited, so the research aims to answer the following question: “How do current policies shape Egypt’s transition towards sustainable electric transport, and what additional measures can support this transition?" The study employs a qualitative analysis methodology, based on diffusion of innovation theory and conceptual framework, to analyze current policies in Egypt and identify challenges and gaps in their implementation. It also analyzes responses from 23 interviews with experts in the field, manufacturers, dealers, EV …

Determinants Of Corporal Punishment And Severe Physical Punishment In Egypt: A Mixed-Methods Analysis For Child Protection Policy, Marwa Moustafa Nassef

Theses and Dissertations

Corporal punishment (CP) and severe physical punishment (SPP) remain a major public health, child rights, and child protection policy concern. In Egypt, despite legislative reforms, survey-weighted analysis of the 2021 Egypt Family Health Survey (EFHS) 2021 (CAPMAS, 2022) reveals prevalence rates of 60.5% for CP and 27.4% for SPP among children aged 1–14 (author’s calculations using EFHS-2021, n=7623), yet evidence distinguishing the determinants of routine corporal punishment from escalation to severe physical punishment remains limited in low- and middle-income contexts. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework, this mixed-methods study identifies key drivers of CP and its escalation to SPP among Egyptian …

Chicago Southland Regional Model Pathways, Education Systems Center

Practitioner Toolkits and Resources

These models from Prairie State College and South Suburban College are aligned to the State of Illinois College and Career Pathway Endorsement framework and include dual credit coursework pre-approved by the colleges for inclusion by regional high schools.

School Safety Officials’ Perceptions Of Social Media And School Violence In Rural School Districts, Dwayne Wheeler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Engaging Immigrant Families Of Children With Disabilities: Recommendations For Practitioners, Robai N. Werunga, John William Mckenna, Rocio Rosales

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

Family involvement is essential for positive school outcomes. Yet research suggests that family engagement for students with disabilities may be marked by conflict. Furthermore, creating an environment that promotes active engagement for immigrant families may be challenging. In this paper, we synthesize existing research, legal guidance, and community-engaged insights to present four practice-oriented recommendations for educators and practitioners working with immigrant families of children with disabilities. Grounded in Hans and Love’s stages of immigrant family engagement, these recommendations aim to support meaningful and culturally responsive participation in special education processes.

When School Culture Excludes: Deficit Discourse, Microaggressions, And The Mental Health Of Marginalized Students – A Conceptual Framework With Implications For School Psychology Practice And Equity Policy, Modupe Mercy Oyewunmi

Publications

Deficit-laden language like ‘behavior problem,’ ‘not college material,’ ‘won’t fit in’, ‘not a cultural fit’, operates as a systemic form of implicit bias and microaggression in school settings. Despite decades of research on school belonging and well-being, school psychology has yet to integrate these exclusionary discursive practices into a coherent health-determinant model that also accounts for the current anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policy environment. This conceptual paper proposes a testable framework linking deficit discourse and school-based microaggressions to student identity suppression, academic impostor phenomenon, and educator moral injury, with downstream effects on school mental health outcomes. We situate these …

Volunteers' Motivation And Better Volunteer Recruitment In Nonprofit Organizations, Ashley Denise Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Expanding Transmobilities: Understanding Genderdiverse And Transgender Travel Behavior Through An Art-Informed Methodology, Nicholas Michael Puczkowskyj

Dissertations and Theses

Transgender and genderdiverse people face discrimination and harassment in public when making trips in Portland, OR. People who identify as genderdiverse or transgender create unique travel behavior due to the influence of their internalized and expressed gender identity and through interactions in public. This dissertation examines how gender identity influences the travel behavior of genderdiverse and transgender people and how these experiences influence their subjective wellbeing when making trips in Portland, Oregon. Traditional one-on-one interviews were conducted in conjunction with allowing the interviewees to produce art as a non-verbal form of expression and communication of their experiences making trips in …

Acceptance Of Shared Autonomous Vehicles: Exploring The Attitudes And Perspectives Of Older Adults, Sara Sohaee Urbina

Dissertations and Theses

The fast development of autonomous vehicle systems will create major changes in how people move around. Previous research shows that these technologies can benefit older people who struggle with mobility, safety and access to transportation. Shared Autonomous Vehicles (SAVs) enable older people to achieve self-reliance while obtaining essential services which enhance their quality of living. The successful deployment of SAVs requires users to accept this new technology which they must also be willing to use. This research study investigates which elements affect older adults to adopt SAVs by using an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) framework.

The research design of …

Adaptive Leadership In Performance-Based Budgeting: Overcoming Implementation Barriers In Texas Municipalities, Tracy Rosalies

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

This article examines how adaptive leadership shapes the implementation of performance-based budgeting (PBB) in Texas municipalities. PBB has been promoted as a rational reform linking government spending to measurable results. Through qualitative interviews with two Texas city managers, this article explores how trust, education, and ethical stewardship influence whether performance information is interpreted as meaningful guidance or treated as a compliance task. The findings show that leadership behaviors, rather than measurement systems alone, determine the durability of performance reforms. When leaders create conditions for shared understanding and reflective learning, PBB becomes a collaborative framework that supports fiscal discipline, transparency, and …

The Promise And The Punishment: A Critical Analysis Of Pbis At The Intersection Of State Discipline Policies In Louisiana, Ashley D. Willis-Brooks

Doctoral Dissertations

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) emerged as a preventative instructional alternative to exclusionary and punitive school discipline practices emphasizing tiered systems of support, data-based decision making, and proactive behavioral instruction. Despite its strong theoretical foundation and widespread adoption, PBIS implementation has produced uneven outcomes, particularly in policy contexts where state discipline statutes continue to authorize exclusionary practices. In Louisiana, PBIS is promoted through state guidance as an evidence-based framework; however, governing discipline policies simultaneously permit suspension, expulsion, and zero-tolerance provisions. This coexistence raises critical questions regarding alignment, coherence, and equity within the state’s discipline system. The purpose of this …

Analyzing Speeding-Related Crash Severity On Louisiana’S Highways, Nelly Akweley Ankrah

Masters Theses

Speeding is a major contributing factor to roadway crashes and remains a significant safety concern. Understanding the factors influencing speeding crash severity and how they vary across roadway environments is essential for developing effective safety countermeasures. A total of 22,151 speeding-related crashes recorded in Louisiana between 2015 and 2024 were analyzed. Crashes were categorized by FHWA functional classification into three roadway groups: Interstates and Principal Arterials, Minor Arterials and Collectors, and Local Roads. Four spatial machine learning models, GXGBoost, SDT, GRF, and GeoKNN, were evaluated to classify crash severity outcomes, as traditional models do not account for the spatial dependence …

Perspectives On Civil And Social Peace In Palestine: Internal Factors And Forces That Obstruct Palestinian Civil Peace, Osama Tawfeeq Jarrar Dr., Prof. Ayman Talal Yousef Professor

Peace and Conflict Studies

The process of building “civil peace” is a dynamic process that aims at creating appropriate conditions of peace when conflicting forces, groups, and polices diverge. This concept is relative because it contains components that balance the internal and external environment, where peace-building is not undertaken in a historical or cultural vacuum, but rather works to develop comprehensive civic and national values: “The movement from the present toward the desired future is not a straight line, but rather a set of dynamic initiatives” (Lederach, 10). Civil peace entails social life as distinct from internal conflicts and tensions. Attaining civil peace thus …

Peace And Reconciliation In Mozambique: The Influence Of Economic Support On The Reintegration Of Ex-Combatants In Murrupula District, Isac José Alberto

Peace and Conflict Studies

This article analyses the impact of economic support on the reintegration of ex-combatants in Murrupula District, Mozambique, under the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programme. Based on a qualitative methodology and a case study, semi-structured interviews, focus groups and direct observation were conducted. The results reveal structural limitations, such as weak coordination between implementers and beneficiaries, scarcity of funding, and the disconnect between intervention strategies and local realities. These weaknesses have compromised the economic inclusion of ex-combatants and accentuated tensions with the receiving communities, aggravated by a context of widespread poverty. The study also highlights the importance of informal networks …

Social Innovation In The Peacebuilding Sector, Michelle Helman, Phd, Katherine Ronderos, Mariafernanda Burgos-Ariza

Peace and Conflict Studies

Social innovation is an expanding practice in the peacebuilding sector. In this article, three peace scholar-practitioners reflect on our experiences as peacebuilders and consider the utility, tensions, and possibilities for peace and social innovation in theory and in practice. We draw insights gleaned through a focus group workshop with peacebuilding colleagues and highlight three case study examples from Colombia, the Philippines, and Kenya, each demonstrating the challenges and opportunities of social innovation in the peace sector. In doing so, we offer a reimagining of- and recommended action steps to engage innovation through a collaborative, feminist design approach. This article contributes …

Goddess In A Trash Can: Religious Ritual Disposal In New York City Public Parks, Zoe Oro-Hahn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Practitioners of Afro-Caribbean religions, including Santería, Vodou, Espiritismo, and Las 21 Divisiones, utilize the New York City Public Parks system to hold rituals, connect with spirits and ancestors, and dispose of religious remains leftover from trabajos (workings) and brujería (witchcraft). Utilizing photos from Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, my thesis considers the religious, political, social, and practical rationale behind this phenomenon, explores the rituals occurring, and provides policy suggestions that balance religious needs of practitioners with the safety and wellbeing of New York City’s parks.

New York State Excelsior Scholarship Program: A Post-Implementation Analysis Of Student Success, Eligibility, And Indebtedness – An Intersectional Study Of Black And White Female Students, Marcus I. Richardson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The New York State (NYS) Excelsior Scholarship Program, introduced in 2017, was designed as a “first-in-the-nation” tuition-free initiative intended to expand college affordability for undergraduate students attending public institutions in New York State. While the program aims to increase access to higher education, its eligibility requirements, particularly the expectation that students complete 30 credits annually through continuous full-time enrollment, may disadvantage students whose academic pathways diverge from traditional enrollment patterns. This study examined the relationship between structural, financial, and academic factors and students’ ability to retain Excelsior Scholarship eligibility at the City University of New York (CUNY). Using institutional data …

Erosion And Accretion: Mobilities Of Sand, People, And Memory At Queer Riis Beach, Jah Elyse Sayers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The People’s Beach at Jacob Riis Park on the Rockaway Peninsula of Queens, New York, is a vibrant place of queer and trans public-space placemaking—and especially Black and working class queer and trans placemaking. A distinct queer ecology emerges in the interplay of the dynamic movement of the barrier island, queer and trans—especially queer and trans Afro-diasporic—mobilities. This queer ecology, while articulated with, also defies and exceeds logics and workings of private property. In response to a convergence of pressures on Black, queer, trans, and working-class placemaking on the beach site in the 2020s, beachgoers have mobilized longstanding provisional socialities …

Pedagogy Of Care: Exploring Climate Justice Frameworks In Cuny Undergraduate Courses, Ismerlyn Gonzalez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Climate justice centers the human rights of communities most impacted by the climate crisis rather than solely focusing on the scientific aspects of environmental challenges and disasters. Higher education institutions play a key role in advancing climate justice education, but research shows that frameworks are not consistently defined across institutions. The IRB-approved study that produced the findings in this capstone sought to explore how climate justice frameworks are implemented at the CUNY undergraduate level and learn more about the instructors delivering these courses. From February to April 2026, instructors from different CUNY undergraduate campuses were surveyed, interviewed, and asked to …