Digital Commons Network^™

Storyteller: They Speak, I Listen, Sara M. V. Garcia

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

Since February of 2022, I have been an intern working at the Warhawk Air Museum in Nampa, Idaho. Throughout the museum, there are books and binders everywhere that feature individual stories from veterans of World War I, World War II, the Cold War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and even stories from Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. As an intern, I was able to make these binders and put them together. I was given letters, photos, documents, journals and more and it feels like these veterans are talking to me and telling me their stories. I would not have known …

Employee Training And Development In Traffic Control For Road Construction, James M. Abbott

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

This project focused on defining each of the hourly positions for a company that specializes in Traffic Control for road construction and gave them official job titles. A comprehensive list of expectations and responsibilities for each position, based on the level of experience in that position, was developed to complement each job title. With these job descriptions, a progression pathway was created for an employee to see what skills they need to acquire and master in order to progress and gain promotions. Additionally, a list of training benchmarks for the employee and supervisor to utilize as a roadmap for advancement …

Paying Attention To The Pandemic: Knowledge Of Covid-19 Facts By News Source And Demographics, Molly M. King

Sociology

The structured inequalities built into our sociotechnical institutions shape access to knowledge. During the COVID-19 pandemic, knowledge acquisition was shaped by news sources, class, and race. Through analysis of nationally representative data using logistic models, this study reveals how the use of different news sources differentially shapes access to accurate knowledge about COVID-19 topics for different demographics. Those who rely on informal and local news sources have the largest knowledge gaps about these topics, while those who seek information from national or international news outlets and politicians have the most accurate knowledge. Race and class influence knowledge of government operations, …

Amber's Lyrical Rite, Amber E. Salum Cruz

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

The purpose of this project is to get my message and story out to the world online where anyone can access it and read it. What inspired me to write my project was I had a few people encourage me to do so. I worked on this project hoping to complete it by the due date, I actually finished a week early and turned it in. The methods used to complete this project was writing I had been writing since high school as well as the kindle Create writing app. Essentially you write a book and edit and upload it …

Ua12/2/2 Talisman: Surreal Issue No. 14, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

Spring 2023 Talisman:

• Broekema, Gabi. Surrealism
• Hunter, Leah. Surreal
• Cox, Samantha. Surrealism
• Plescia, Audrey. Horoscopes
• Booth, Pandora. Dreamscapes
• Ousley, Rachael. Body & Soul – Yoga, Susan Tutino
• Coles, Jack. Tool for the Future – Artificial Intelligence
• Sandlin, Ellie. Altered Minds – Drug Experimentation
• Neidlinger, Heather. Little Dipper
• White, Peyton. Pure Adrenaline – Rodeo, Skateboarding, Boxing, Rock Climbing
• Plescia, Audrey. The Hill is Haunted
• Richer, Cailyn. Threads of Expression – Fashion
• Jefferson, Reginald. Momentum
• Bruck, Lasikka. At Death’s Door – Yenni Gonzalez, Zoe Avery, Hannah Smith
• Meyers, Jeffrey. Voice in Movement – Theatre & Dance, National Dance Education Association
• Surreal Playlist

A Blog On Building A Backyard Garden, Carrie N. Mccashland

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

My capstone project involved building a backyard garden and writing a blog to include my innovative approach to gardening. In the past few years, there have been disruptions in the food supply chain and the price of food has skyrocketed due to inflation. I can teach people how to grow food their family will enjoy in their own backyard. Fewer people will have to depend on the food provided in the grocery store. People will have a greater knowledge of what they are eating and how it was made. Those people who live in more rural areas will not have …

The Silent Illness, Morgan R. Wood-Buchanan

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

My capstone project is all based on mental health, specifically depression. I created a blog based on my own personal story, in hopes I could reach people in our community who may be personally struggling with mental health or know someone who is struggling. The purpose of my project was to be a voice for those who feel as if they have lost theirs. Mental health is a taboo subject even though therapy has come a long way in becoming normalized. The blog is a safe place for those who feel the courage to share their story or struggles with …

Coach's Manual, Penn M. Peterson

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

For my capstone project, I chose to write a coach’s manual. I have coached in our district for five years now, and one of the glaring things that hindered me at times was the fact that I did not have anything to base my decisions or actions off of. When I thought about what we really needed that would benefit the most stakeholders within my district/workplace, I knew that this was it. Having a manual that sets expectations, mission statements, vision, rules, policies, contact information, etc. would greatly improve our ability to do our jobs correctly. Accountability for coaches, administrators, …

Property Pillagers: Effects Of Dirty Urbanism, Chase Wilson, Kayli Clark

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

This podcast dives into American urbanism and its associated development targeting certain minority communities; the ill intentions to disrupt specific neighborhoods led us to refer to the practice as “dirty urbanism”. The pair of I-40 and Jefferson Street in north Nashville, alongside similarly treated areas across the United States, exemplify dirty urbanism. Exercising their raw power and ability to cover up to 90% of the costs, the federal government incentivizes the local governments to construct the highway system: a highway system used as a racially motivated tool to sever black-built urban fabrics. With the highways, vehicular space overrides …

Pre-Med Mentorship Program Proposal, William T. Wallick

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

This service-learning project surveyed undergraduate students as well as Boise State alumni about a prospective Pre-Med mentorship program being implemented at Boise State University. Aspiring medical school students at Boise State University lack the connections and relationships with upperclassmen and alumni to help prepare them to be competitive applicants. My project proposes a Pre-Med mentorship program to be implemented at Boise State University in the fall semester of the 2024 school year.

The Self And Individualism: An Analysis On The Current Regulations Of Academic Writing, Bonnibel S. H. Walker

WRIT: Journal of First-Year Writing

Individualism, the focus or emphasis on the self, is a highly discussed and debated topic in writing. This is mostly regarding how the self should be addressed and utilized in writing. Although it there is also debate about what the self truly is, and how one can represent it in their work, veering into more abstract thought and theorizing.

The amount of individualism, or the “self” that one is able to, or should imprint onto one’s writing varies widely across numerous genres of academic writing, or even writing in general. For example, in much of scientific writing there’s a broad …

Exploring The Use Of Cultural Values In The Evaluation Of Programs With Native American Tribes, Karen Lynn Alexander

Dissertations

This dissertation is a qualitative study that explores the importance of including cultural values in evaluation and whether this would lead to an increase in utilization of evaluation results. It was first wondered whether Native American values are included when evaluations are completed for Indigenous Tribes. A review of evaluations revealed that evaluations in the published literature are including general Native American values, although a document review alone was found to be insufficient as a method to capture the nuances related to value expression. It is suggested that more research is needed in the area of metaevaluation to include culturally …

A Plague On Both Our Houses, Matthew Carley

The Diana McDonald Writer's Challenge

Matthew Carley describes similarities between the traumas often experienced by children who grow up in poverty and the traumas that we hear about with regard to war veterans. Using his own experiences growing up as an example, Carley describes the substance abuse, physical abuse, anger, and neglect that too often are experienced by children in impoverished households. In this essay, he argues for employing on behalf of poor, traumatized children the kinds of programs and interventions that we know to be effective for veterans with PTSD.

Tourism, Mapping, Retail And Recreational Trails: A Case Study Of Connectivity Between Trails And Adjacent Downtowns In Anniston, Alabama, Usa, Jennifer Green

Theses

This study examines the estimated increase in economic impact on a geography’s local economy by creating cross-marketing efforts between expanding an established outdoor recreation trail to a closely located city downtown commerce district. This research will analyze the resulting potential rise in sales/lodging tax revenues for that city by mapping the trail and downtown district, and cross-marketing the other to users of both or either venue. Potential increase in economic impact will be estimated utilizing IMPLAN methodology by assessing the economic impact on the local economy that a percentage range of increased spending resulting from this cross-marketing effort could generate.

An Analysis Of Factors In The Policymaking Process That Enabled Prison Sentence Decreases Through The 2022 Organic Law Of Comprehensive Guarantee Of Sexual Freedom/La Ley Del Solo Sí Es Sí In Spain, Cambron Wade

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

To follow through on their ratification of the Istanbul Convention and public outcry after La Manada case, the Spanish Government passed the Organic Law of Comprehensive Guarantee of Sexual Freedom, also known as the law of only yes is yes (or la ley del solo sí es sí) - which came into effect on October 7, 2022. This law changed the Criminal Code by removing the distinction between sexual assault and sexual abuse, which previously caused victims to endure the difficult process of proving that there was violence and intimidation. By moving all sexual acts without consent under the category …

From Coffee Houses To Internet Speech: Civility And Moderation Within The Contemporary Public Sphere, Leslie Brown , '23

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

This thesis explores the ways in which discourse occurring in online discussion forums can become toxic and fail as spaces that create public opinion within the contemporary public sphere. After a literature review of Habermas’ bourgeois public sphere and other scholars who connect the bourgeois sphere to our current iteration of the public sphere on the internet, an ideal type of a contemporary public sphere is constructed. Using this ideal type, the ways in which multiple online discussion spaces fall short of realizing the potential of the public sphere and the culture of discussion that has been cultivated within them …

Ecological Living In Nepali Food Systems: A Synthesis Of Circular Nutrient And Knowledge Flows In The Kathmandu Valley, Kaitlyn Feely

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Researching food-systems in Nepal can feel like drinking from a fire hydrant. Sixty-six percent of the population is directly involved in agriculture and a diverse set of ecocultural understandings influence the practice across the country’s landscapes, ranging from the Himalayas to urban centers to southern plains. In the Kathmandu Valley and peripheral hills where I conducted my research, seemingly any spare land was under cultivation, enabled by fertile ground, optimal climate, and market potential. But despite the prevalence of farming in daily life throughout the country, Nepal’s food system is not domestically self-sufficient. A complex web of imports and exports …

The Headbangers Of The Himalaya: An Investigation Of Nepal’S Rock And Metal Scene, Samuel White

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The goal of this research endeavor was to generate findings which unveil information about the culture, the bands, and the lives of the musicians and fans who make up the Nepali rock and metal scene. The community is rather esoteric and information regarding certain bands and their musicians’ background is limited to broad, outdated articles published online. Thus, most of the information regarding the scene can only be obtained if one truly immerses themselves within it. I was fortunate enough to make friends which granted me a firsthand look into the Nepali rock and metal scene. The general questions which …

The Cruel Case Of Wrongful Convictions: Conveying A Racial And Criminal Crisis In Our Courts, Cullen Livingston

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Starting in 1989 with the advent of DNA analysis, discourse on wrongful conviction has become more prevalent in the U.S., but lacks an explanation for how they happen. There are a number of studies on the effects of wrongful conviction on its victims in social, mental, and historical terms. There is also a concerning level of scope in this concept, with an uncertainty on how to best measure the amount of people who have been victimized by wrongful convictions and what the rate of these convictions may be. Based on this literature I study three different potential causes, these being …

Complex Stereotypes: Stereotypes Across The Intersections Of Gender, Sexuality, Age, Race/Ethnicity, And Social Class, Nicholas Heiserman

Theses and Dissertations

Research on stereotypes and their consequences often focuses on discrete categorical stereotypes in isolation from each other (e.g. gender or race categories), and rarely centers the fact that people belong to many social categories at once (e.g. gender and race categories). I address this issue using two large factorial experiment (N=1,762 and N=1,481) designed to measure two core aspects of stereotypes, warmth and competence, across the intersections of multiple social categories: Gender, Sexuality, Age, Race/Ethnicity (Chapter 3), and Social Class (Chapter 2). In Chapter 2, I develop a framework for analyzing intersectional complexity in these data, beginning with overall measures …

Navigating The Personal Statement In An Upper-Middle-Class Community, Natalia Abbate , '23

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

This thesis examines college application choices, conceptions of pressure and ambition, and parenting styles as they affect personal statement success in an upper-middle-class suburb of Massachusetts. I draw on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital and Adrie Kusserow’s theory of soft individualism to analyze five semi-structured interviews with Eastborough, MA parents, students, and a private college counselor. I show that Eastborough parents and students stigmatize peers with overt college ambitions despite enacting ambition themselves. They represent their soft individualism approach as a potential sacrifice for college chances, but it ultimately provides students with two things that college admissions officers value …

Teaching, Tough Love, Or Mean?, Jake Darbhanga

be Still

Nobody is born with the knowledge they have today; everything is learned as one lives their life. Teaching can take many forms and come from all types of people. Parents are generally the first teachers a child encounters from the first day of their lives. There is no one correct way of parenting, but there is a common desire to provide the best possible upbringing for one's child.

As I live my life, I find myself expressing the lessons I have learned and utilizing the knowledge I acquired from the people who have taught me. My personality often reflects the …

Get Out To Got Out: Residential Mobility And The Language Of Opportunity In A Black Southern Louisiana Family, Gabrielle Cosey , '23

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

This study examines the migration of Black, middle and upper class members of my family from Black neighborhoods in Southern Louisiana into white neighborhoods. Most of the canon on Black residential patterns question why such high levels of residential segregation remain. Thus, the existing literature explores various structural and individual reasons as to why Black households, regardless of income level, continually reside in Black neighborhoods, even though they often exhibit higher rates of poverty and associated characteristics. This research project approaches the topic from the opposite end, centering its analysis on Black individuals who move into white neighborhoods, in order …

Intergenerational Change In Hiv/Aids-Related Stigma In Cato Manor, Mijin Cho

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In South Africa, the world’s epicenter of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, HIV-related stigma and stigma-enforcing stereotypes continue to serve as major health barriers to receiving adequate HIV prevention and treatment. While there continues to be a rise in research and advocacy, there is a need to study HIV stigma through a multigenerational lens that addresses the changing HIV/AIDS stigma in the post-apartheid era. Using qualitative methodology, this study aims to explore the generational differences in perceived HIV stigma between females in their 20s and above 50 years of age (as denoted by “50s+”) living in Cato Manor, South Africa. The study …

Women In Sustainable Leadership: A Case Study On The Perspectives, Opportunities, And Challenges Of Biologist And Conservationist Estrela Matilde, Ella Lyons

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Despite the relatively small population of 8,000 occupants and the minimal international recognition of the Island of Príncipe, located off of the Gulf of Guinea on the Western Coast of Central Africa, the region has increasingly become a leading example of sustainable practices to be taken on a global scale in the near future to combat our current climate crisis. This case study explores the sustainable practices that Príncipe has learned to embrace under the leadership of Portuguese conservation biologist and project manager for the NGO Fundação Príncipe, Estrela Matilde. Estrela integrates social, cultural, and environmental conservation to align with …

Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah: Navigating The Intersection Of Gender Nonconformity And Islam In Indonesia, Tali Hastings

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

No abstract provided.

Pop Spirituality In The Context Of Nepal, Kalinda Benson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this research report, Pop Spirituality in the Context of Nepal, I look to add clarity to what it means to be “spiritual” and how that has been applied historically in context of Nepal. This paper focuses on what has led up to our modern day perceptions on spirituality. In the first section of the paper, I briefly describe what I mean when I say, “pop spirituality” or a “modern spirituality.” I define spirituality and how it differs from religion, a religion, and what secularization is. I want to acknowledge that there are many types of spirituality that exist of …

Addressing The Recidivism Challenge In San Diego County: Learning From Lived Experience Approaches, Andrew Blum, Alfredo Malaret Baldo

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

The problem is as old as the justice system itself—how to reduce the chance that an individual reoffends after they commit an offense and become involved with the justice system. This challenge of reducing recidivism remains critical. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, there are over 120,000 individuals in state prisons in California. Another 380,000 cycle through jails in California every year. In 2021, roughly 25,000 individuals were released from prison in California each year. This is the scope of the challenge.

In San Diego County, a wide variety of agencies and organizations are working to address the recidivism challenge. …

The Quest To End Human Trafficking: An Educational And Practical Guide For Everyone Who Wants To Help Break The Bonds And Assist Survivors, Dennis W. Mccarty

Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity Faculty Scholarship

People often assume that only legislators and law enforcement personnel can take meaningful steps to fight human trafficking, one of the most lucrative transnational crimes in the world. This inquiry sought to assess the validity of that belief. The study was informed by the author’s experience as a college instructor of human trafficking and the inspiration he drew from the range and quality of his students’ projects.

The methodology included examining the strategies that governmental and non-governmental organizations are using to fight trafficking and assist survivors. It also considered the work of individual activists and service providers such as social …

Navigating Creative Careers On Social Media: Self-Employment And Neoliberalism, Katherine Carlson , '23

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

This thesis describes and analyzes the working conditions of illustrators who work on social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and Patreon. Ultimately, it argues that the perceived perks of self-employment that artists publicly discuss on social media are paradoxical because they are limited by the social media platforms on which the artists post. Additionally, the cons of self-employment artists experience, such as burnout, are systemic issues, even though they are framed as personal problems on social media. The various solutions that artists used throughout the course of this project to combat these issues are individual, rather than collective. Finally, …