Digital Commons Network^™

Racial Disparities In Maternal Mortality: The Role Of Explicit And Implicit Bias In U.S. Healthcare, Lailah Allen

Capstone Showcase

Maternal mortality in the United States remains a critical public health crisis, with disproportionately high rates among Black and other minority women. Despite advances in obstetric medicine, racial disparities in pregnancy-related deaths persist due to structural inequities, implicit bias in healthcare delivery, unequal access to prenatal and postpartum care, and broader social determinants of health. Nationally, Black women are significantly more likely to experience severe maternal morbidity and mortality compared to White women, reflecting longstanding inequities embedded within the healthcare system. This paper examines the relationship between race, healthcare access, and maternal outcomes through a focused case study of and …

From County To Commonwealth: A Study Of Kentucky County Election Office Websites And Collaborative Solutions For Strengthened Voter Information Accessibility, Marissa A. Robinson, Marina E. Smart

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

In 2022, the League of Women Voters discovered inconsistencies across Kentucky county clerk websites in how they offer voter information and in website accessibility and clarity. County clerk websites serve as an important source of accessible voting procedural information, trusted by constituents. Through an audit of county clerk websites and interviews with county clerks, this project identifies how county election office websites can better provide equitable, accurate, comprehensive, and consistent voting information. Recommendations based on the findings include linking the Kentucky State Board of Elections Voter Information Portal universally, adding website training, and state-established website guidelines.

The Political Economy Of Pfas Treatment And Water Regionalization In Harrison County, Kentucky, Jackson S. Patru, Rajan Sampat

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The discovery of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the water supply of Harrison County, Kentucky has prompted an urgent reevaluation of local treatment infrastructure. This situation has exposed a complex political economy between the City of Cynthiana, which owns and operates the municipal water plant, and the Harrison County Water Association (HCWA), which represents the majority of the ratepayers supplied by the plant. Using a qualitative research design grounded in inductive thematic analysis, semi-structured interviews were conducted with leadership from both Cynthiana and HCWA, as well as operators at the treatment plant, to evaluate two proposed solutions: a $14 …

Kentucky Space Futures: Defining The Driving And Limiting Factors Of Growth In The State Aerospace Industry, Ashley M. Grospitch, Isabella A. Sibold

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Kentucky’s aerospace industry has quietly become one of the state’s most significant economic drivers, generating almost $19 billion in exports in 2024 and ranking third nationally in aerospace exports in 2023 (Mattingly, 2025; Babbage & Hartsough, 2024). Despite this, Kentucky remains largely invisible as an aerospace state, both to Kentuckians and national audiences. This work was conducted on behalf of our client, Kentucky Space Futures, to identify the factors shaping the growth of Kentucky’s aerospace industry, including its driving and limiting factors, and provide actionable guidance for policymakers and industry leaders.

Using a qualitative research design, this study triangulated findings …

Narrowing The K-12 Excellence Gap In Kentucky Schools: Lessons On High Achievement From High Achievers, Jimmy M. W. Bartlett, Johnathan K. Hurley

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Disparities in high-level academic achievement – known as excellence gaps – remain a persistent equity challenge in K–12 education, particularly in access to advanced mathematics learning. This study examines school-level practices associated with narrower excellence gaps in Kentucky public schools. Principals of schools demonstrating higher-than-expected advanced achievement and relatively small gaps by gender and economic status were invited to semi-structured interviews. The interviews cover seven schools, spanning grade levels and other characteristics. Guided by the Excellence Gap Intervention Model, a hybrid inductive–deductive thematic analysis reveals that narrower excellence gaps are not driven by isolated programs or policy mandates, but by …

Comparing Economic Development And Blight Remediation Tax Increment Financing: Design, Governance, And Measurable Outcomes, Leigh Compton

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a widely used local government tool for redevelopment and economic growth, yet its expanding application has raised questions regarding its design, governance, and measurable outcomes. This study compares two primary uses of TIF: blight remediation and economic development. While remediation-focused TIF is intended to address identifiable market failures in distressed areas, economic development TIF is typically used to attract or accelerate private investment in more competitive environments.

Using a structured comparative analysis of selected Kentucky TIF districts, this research evaluates how differences in statutory justification, financing mechanisms, governance structures, and performance measures align with each …

Kentucky Is Working: An Examination Of Higher-Than-Expected Labor Force Participation Rates In Kentucky, Grace E. Coleman, Gabriel M. Kalla, Joseph S. Matthews

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This client-based capstone examines the drivers of higher-than-expected labor force participation rates across five counties in Kentucky, i.e., Kenton, Pendleton, Owen, Taylor, and Monroe counties. Our client, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, requested a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with local stakeholders to identify and contextualize factors contributing to the five counties’ overperformance. Our findings suggest that factors such as collaboration and partnership; education and career pathway initiatives; and community champions all play important roles in supporting strong labor force participation. These insights can be used by other counties seeking to strengthen their local workforce.

Protecting The Vulnerable: Elderly Population Change In Kentucky & Nursing Home Floodplain Proximity, David M. Stevens, Austin Matthew Mullen, Nicklaus P. Hammond

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This study explores Kentucky’s changing vulnerability to flooding. Relying on America Community Survey (ACS) survey data estimates for 2019 and 2024, we illustrate how Kentucky’s elderly population has changed over this five-year period. Using nursing home data and floodplain spatial data, provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and FEMA respectively, we identify all 269 facilities and their proximity to floodplains across Kentucky. To narrow the scope of our study, we highlight counties that (a) have seen the largest percentage increase in elderly residents and (b) have a large total elderly population. Using a quartile ranking system, we …

Federal Housing Policy Influences And Impacts On Urban Municipalities As Seen In The City Of Paterson, New Jersey, Jennifer L. Beggs

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This paper examines federal affordable housing policy from the early twentieth century to the present, focusing on the City of Paterson, New Jersey. In presenting an overview of policy and decision-making in Paterson, this paper explores how federal policy has aided urban communities that lacked the opportunities afforded to suburban municipalities through FHA mortgage underwriting and single-family homeownership programs, also considering how New Jersey State housing policy has affected the city. Utilizing a case-study methodology and employing extensive archival research, this project examines how federal housing policy structured differential access to homeownership and rental housing in Paterson, and how these …

Good Food In The Neighborhood: Localizing Nutritious Food Access, Joseph Pool

Honors Program Theses

Given contemporary changes to federal budget priorities and recent challenges to federal food access funding, this research explores the potential benefits of entrusting state-level and municipal-level policymakers with food access policy. More specifically, this research suggests that “localizing” food access has the unique benefit of not just addressing the affordability of food, but the physical accessibility of it. As observed in the previous literature and expounded upon here, food provisioning requires consideration of nutrition, physical accessibility, and financial affordability. Programs that only address one of these priorities fail to adequately help people receive the food they need. Through policy analysis …

Shrines On Asphalt Shoulders: Documenting Roadside Memorials In Western U.S. Roadscapes, Isabella R. Sullivan

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis analyses the practice of documenting and uploading roadside memorials in the Western United States as a socially transformative process facilitated between two distinct kinds of noticing. Drawing on (auto)ethnographies of roadside memorial sites in Colorado and California, interviews with photographers and cartographers working primarily in the American Southwest, and Google Street View media, this research examines how recognition of the social negotiations involving memory and mortality that are already present in the physical shrines evolves when documenters capture and transpose them online. First, these documenters have developed the “eyes to see” roadside memorials for various significant reasons in …

Improving Maternal Health: Investigating The Early Impacts Of Medicaid Coverage Of Doulas In Oregon, Miriam Akhmetshin

Scripps Senior Theses

While the U.S. spends more per-capita than any country on healthcare, we experience the worst maternal health outcomes of high-income nations. In addition to hefty healthcare bills, an overwhelming majority of mothers experience pregnancy-related health issues that decrease productivity and utility. Thus, it is critical to research cost-effective solutions that can improve maternal health and promote equitable outcomes. Doulas are trained non-medical professionals who support mothers and families before, during and after birth. As a growing body of medical literature points to the role of doulas in decreasing costly medical interventions, insurance companies have begun covering their services. In 2014, …

Food Stamp Participation And Health Outcomes In Ca Immigrants, Esther Kang

Scripps Senior Theses

The U.S. social welfare system includes programs aiming to increase access to nutritious food to reduce nutrition insecurity. However, studies suggest that immigrants continue to face disproportionate risks of nutrition insecurity and may face barriers to enrollment due to legal status. This study, using secondary data from the 2023 California Health Interview Survey, examines the associations between food stamp participation, food insecurity, and clinical diagnosis of diabetes among adult U.S.-born, naturalized, and non-citizen adults in California. The findings suggest that those enrolled in food stamps are more likely to report food insecurity than those who are not enrolled, and that …

Fear, Memory, And Deterrence: Reassessing Nuclear Peace In The 21st Century, Nathan H. Schroeder

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This research investigates the paradox of nuclear peace theory: the idea that nuclear weapons, despite their destructive capacity, have contributed to a more stable global order. By tracing the historical development of nuclear arsenals and the strategic logic of deterrence, the project examines whether the post-1945 decline in large-scale wars between superpowers and wartime deaths can be attributed to the threat of mutual annihilation. It also explores the psychological and cultural consequences of this deterrence-based peace, including the normalization of fear and its potential link to desensitization toward violence in younger generations. From Cold War-era school drills to modern apocalyptic …

Who Should Be Responding To Mental Health Crises: A Public Perception Study, Bryan E. Phillips

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project includes a survey which will be evaluating, out of Police Officers, Paramedics, and Mental Health Clinicians, who Intro to Psychology students believe are best fit to respond to Mental Health Crises as well as what factors may influence said belief. To do this they will be provided with a survey that collects demographic information, personal experiences with each profession, and detailed scenario-based questions with differing variables allowing the participants to decide which profession they believe is best equipped to deal with each scenario. This data will then be put into a research manuscript to be presented via posterboard …

The Road To The Anglo-Irish Agreement, Ted Smyth

New England Journal of Public Policy

No abstract provided.

A 'Healing Process'? The 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, Paul Arthur

New England Journal of Public Policy

No abstract provided.

The Anglo-Irish Agreement: Competing Objectives, Contested Outcomes And Disputed Legacy, Eamonn O'Kane

New England Journal of Public Policy

No abstract provided.

A 'Formalised' Role In The Affairs Of Northern Ireland: The Fitzgerald-Thatcher Relationship In Northern Ireland, 1979-1990, Stephen Kelley

New England Journal of Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Remember, Remember, The 15th Of November!, Lord Reg Empey

New England Journal of Public Policy

No abstract provided.

'Another Munich Accord?': The Anglo-Irish Agreement And The Reframing Of Ulster Loyalism, James W. Mcauley

New England Journal of Public Policy

No abstract provided.

The Alliance Party And The 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, John, Lord Alderdice

New England Journal of Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Sinn Féin And The Anglo-Irish Agreement, Agnès Maillot

New England Journal of Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

New England Journal of Public Policy

No abstract provided.

A Personal Note, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Biographical Notes On Officials And Others To Whom Contributors Refer

New England Journal of Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Padraig O'Malley

New England Journal of Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Reaching The Anglo-Irish Agreement 1: An Outline Of Factors, Graham Spencer

New England Journal of Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Reaching The Anglo-Irish Agreement 2: An Interview With Michael Lillis, Graham Spencer

New England Journal of Public Policy

No abstract provided.

The Anglo-Irish Agreement: A Critique, David Hill

New England Journal of Public Policy

No abstract provided.