Digital Commons Network^™

2023-May-12-Hike. Learn. Play., University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY (May 12, 2023) – The Appalachian Trail Vista will bring hiking enthusiasts from across the country to Northeast Tennessee August 4-7. Participants will engage in a variety of hikes, workshops and excursions as part of the summit. With East Tennessee State University's D.P. Culp Student Center as the home base, the event provides a forum for engagement of activities on and near the Appalachian Trail. The summit offers hiking, educational, cultural and historical learning programs, while working with trail clubs, local communities and nearby partner organizations. 

The Appalachian Trail Vista is a gathering celebrating hiking with an opportunity …

2023-May-11-Discover Adventure In Our Backyard, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY (May 11, 2023) – East Tennessee State University has been named the 2023 Top Adventure College by readers of Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine, besting numerous other colleges and universities.

The annual tournament is organized in a bracket-style format, with the end goal of naming a winner as the best outdoor adventure college or university in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.

ETSU came out on top after multiple rounds of head-to-head matchups with competitors such as Clemson University, the University of Tennessee, Virginia Tech and previous winner Maryville College.

Set in an outdoor lover's paradise, ETSU’s main campus is surrounded …

2023-May-09-Honoring Their Service, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY (May 9, 2023) — The Quillen College of Medicine at East Tennessee State University hosted a military promotion ceremony last week for six members of the Class of 2023.

The following students were commissioned as officers during the ceremony on May 5, which took place a few hours prior to the college’s commencement ceremony:

• Samantha Nicole Courtney, of Medina, Tennessee, U.S. Air Force. Courtney will complete her residency in psychiatry at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
• Sean Morgan Davis, of Gainesboro, Tennessee, U.S. Navy. Davis will complete his residency in family medicine at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, …

2023 Spring - Commencement Program, Office Of The Registrar, East Tennessee State University

ETSU Commencement Ceremonies and Programs

No abstract provided.

2023-May-06-Congratulations, Class Of 2023, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY (May 6, 2023) – East Tennessee State University celebrated more than 2,000 members of the Class of 2023 during two Commencement ceremonies held at the Ballad Health Athletic Center today.

During the morning ceremony, Coach Brenda Mock Brown was the keynote speaker.

Named head coach of the ETSU Women’s Basketball program in 2022, she is the 10^th head coach in program history. She led the team to a historic season, with a 25-10 overall record this season for a 19-win improvement from the previous season. The improvement is the seventh-best turnaround in NCAA women's basketball history. She …

2023-May-04-She Realized She Could Make A Difference. So, She Did., University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY (May 4, 2023) — Taylor Coston, from Florence, Alabama, a pharmacy and public health student at East Tennessee State University, was awarded the prestigious U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Excellence in Public Health Pharmacy Award.

Coston is enrolled in ETSU’s PharmD/Master of Public Health dual degree program and will pursue a career in pharmacy.

Coston is one of 10 students nationwide selected by the Pharmacist Professional Advisory Committee (PharmPAC) Student Awards Program as a “Top Award Recipient” for their public health work that positively impacted their local communities and beyond.

In total, just 88 pharmacy students from across …

2023-May-03-A Life Of Purpose, Wonder, And Adventure, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

May 3, 2023

This Saturday, we will celebrate the achievements of more than 2,000 new graduates. Obtaining a college diploma indicates that you have mastered a set of skills within a particular field of study. One skill I hope all ETSU graduates leave with is that of leadership. And it is a skill I hope you continue developing all your life.

As members of the ETSU community, each of us has been commissioned to pursue and fulfill a singular mission: to improve the quality of life for people in this region and beyond. Strong leadership is essential if we are …

2023-May-02-Coston Earns National Award For Public Health Service, Bill Gatton College Of Pharmacy, East Tennessee State University, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (May 2, 2023)—Taylor Coston, from Florence, Alabama, a pharmacy and public health student at East Tennessee State University, was awarded the prestigious U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Excellence in Public Health Pharmacy Award.

Coston is enrolled in ETSU’s PharmD/Master of Public Health dual degree program and will pursue a career in pharmacy.

Coston is one of 10 students nationwide selected by the Pharmacist Professional Advisory Committee (PharmPAC) Student Awards Program as a “Top Award Recipient” for their public health work that positively impacted their local communities and beyond.

In total, just 88 pharmacy students from across the …

Visual Development For Wellspring, Jane Frances Anderson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The primary focus of this thesis is the study of visual development for worldbuilding, starting with creative writing and documentation and translating the written content into visual concepts in both 2D and 3D. This project includes an original narrative, setting, and characters and explores aspects of the visual development pipeline. The content below contains work in visual research, 2D character design, 3D character sculpting, 3D printing and assembly, hard-surface modeling, matte-painting, illustration, compositing, and heavy creative writing.

Investigating Stormwater Parameters From Runoff On East Tennessee State University Campus, Abby Mciver, Dr. Joseph R. Bidwell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Climate change has caused an increase in extreme rain events and flooding in certain regions across the globe. During rain events, water flows over impervious surfaces structures such as roads and sidewalks, picking up contaminants such as metals, fertilizers and other nutrients, and various organics that which may impact organisms in such as streams, river, and lakes. Previous work has found significant differences in survival of organisms that were exposed to contaminated stormwater runoff. This study investigated stormwater chemistry parameters at collection sites on the East Tennessee State University campus. Sites were selected based on the extent of human interaction …

You Don't Know What You Don't Know: A Collection Of Challenge And Acceptance From Women Owned Small Businesses In Johnson City, Tennessee, Nikki Vandusen

Undergraduate Honors Theses

With over 11.6 million establishments, women owned small businesses hold a crucial part in supporting the US economy’s wellbeing. However, owning a small business comes with numerous challenges that not all can overcome. This study investigates the challenges of ten women-owned small businesses in Johnson City, Tennessee. The interview results display that women struggle with similar challenges as men; however, they have more difficulty balancing gender roles and societal expectations with owning a small business. This research concludes that men and women do not have equal opportunities when it comes to owning a small business and women are at a …

“If I Am Going To Have To Force You To Talk About It With Me, Then I’M Not Going To”: Relational Dialectics In Transracial Asian Adoptees’ Conversations About Race, Brooke Hornberger

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Transracial adoptive families often encounter various struggles around race as they acknowledge the challenges of racial dissimilarity in their family structure. This thesis, grounded in the theoretical framework of Relational Dialectics Theory, explored the competing discourses around the conversation of race for adult Asian adoptees. The results from 35 semi-structured interviews and contrapuntal analysis revealed one dialectical tension highlighting the Asian adoptee’s role in maintaining conversations of race with their White adoptive parents. Some adoptees voiced the discourse of taking the opportunity to be the advocate, while others voiced the discourse of feeling frustrated with being the advocate. The results …

Nicotinamide Riboside And Beta-Hydroxybutyrate Activate Parallel Pathways For C. Elegans Lifespan Extension, Mckenzie Peters

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Supplementation with nicotinamide riboside (NR), a form of vitamin B3 and a precursor of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺) extends lifespan in the nematode C. elegans and delays aging-related pathologies in mammals. During aging, levels of NAD⁺ decline causing metabolic dysfunction and oxidative damage. Studies in C. elegans found that when NR was administered during larval development it induced the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPR^mt), which is frequently associated with lifespan extension. Both calorie restriction (CR) and ketogenic diets (KD) have been shown to extend lifespan, in part through increasing NAD⁺ and through increasing levels …

Comparing The Use Of American Sign Language And Speech Generating Devices For Children With Developmental Disabilities, Joseph Hendrick

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study compared the acquisition and maintenance of an Augmentative and Alternative device (iPad application, LAMP), and American Sign Language when teaching a 6^th-grade student with an intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) and limited functional vocal verbal speech to make a request. A single-case alternating treatment design was applied to compare the acquisition rate between the two strategies. The system of least prompts was used to teach the student how to perform the request using the AAC device and ASL (American Sign Language). Results showed the student required fewer sessions to reach mastery when making a request using …

Type 1 Diabetes In The Classroom, Ursula Herrell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Type 1 diabetes [T1D] is an autoimmune disease that presents in a pathophysiological disorder as insulin deficiency. Managing this illness during childhood is a constant challenge of maintaining blood glucose levels within a healthy range, resulting in increased stress for children and caregivers. School attendance is one factor that may result in increased stress. Studies have highlighted the fact that teachers of students with T1D may receive little education regarding management of the disease and may be required to make accommodations which can result in confusion, miscommunication, and increased psychosocial stress. The goal of this research was to learn about …

Multilingual Schoolscapes Of Elementary Schools In East Tennessee, Olivia Campbell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study investigates how three elementary schools in East Tennessee align their schoolscapes with their multilingual populations. The study involved taking pictures of signage in these elementary schools and analyzing them for multilingualism. The findings indicate that there is limited presence of multilingual signage in the schools despite the presence of diverse students. While the schools are making efforts to be inclusive with their signage, there is clearly more room for improvement.

Diversity Of Programming By Race And Gender In College And University Band Concerts, Liz Liss

Undergraduate Honors Theses

While there are many women (and others of non-male genders) as well as people of color who compose for concert bands, they are often not given equitable recognition or representation. Over the past several decades, pushes for diversity within the classical music realm and higher education have sparked numerous discussions surrounding current practices (Bond 2017, 154; Bowman 2020, 10; Cumberledge and Williams 2022, 4; Peters 2016, 22): who are we inviting into our programs, whose music are we playing, and who are we representing? Despite these concerns, there has been very little research to provide answers to these questions within …

Libby In Limbo, Moriah Claire Hall

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Libby in Limbo is a scripted narrative podcast that follows Libby as she moves back to her small hometown, gets a job as a librarian, and learns to navigate life in a small, tight-knit community. This podcast serves two main purposes: to create entertainment media about a library that does not promote harmful stereotypes about libraries and to create awareness and accessibility of scripted podcasts.

2023-May-01-Etsu/Norc Study Finds Rural People Face Greater Challenges To Substance Use Disorder Treatment, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – In early May, 11 cadets at East Tennessee State University received their commission as second lieutenants. Hailing from across the Southeast, these recent ETSU graduates joined a proud tradition – one that has been happening on campus for 70 years.

This year marks seven decades since what was then East Tennessee State College held its first commissioning ceremony in 1953.

“As we consider the past 70 years, ETSU’s Army ROTC program has not just been a source of outstanding officers for the United States military,” said Lt. Col. Kent Monas, a professor of military science at ETSU. …

2023-May-01-Discovering His Place In Politics, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY (May 2023) – Aiden Graybeal felt drawn to politics from an early age.

“I’ve always been a weird political kid,” he said, “and there aren’t a lot of opportunities to explore that in high school and elementary school. My parents don’t know anything about politics – they don’t care to – so I had to do this all on my own. When I came to college, a friend said, ‘Hey, I’m going to do this TISL thing. Have you heard of this?’ I discovered there’s this whole world I was missing out on – all these things I’d …

2023-May-01-Etsu's Rotc Celebrates 70 Years, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

A new analysis from the East Tennessee State University/NORC Rural Health Equity Research Center finds that people living in rural areas of the United States face greater challenges accessing substance use disorder (SUD) treatment than people living in urban areas.

The ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center is a partnership between the Addiction Science Center and Center for Rural Health Research, in the ETSU College of Public Health.

The study shows that rural residents are four-and-a-half times more likely than urban residents to be admitted to inpatient treatment through a court order or by law enforcement and nine times less likely …

2023-May-01-Eye Toward The Underserved, These 66 Will Change The World, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

The Class of 2023 at East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy received their doctoral hoods this morning, officially becoming part of the college’s 14th graduating class. 

The Hooding and Commencement ceremony was held in the ETSU Martin Center for the Arts, where 66 student pharmacists earned the Doctor of Pharmacy degree.  

This ceremony, which was live-streamed at youtube.com/@etsupharmacy for those unable to attend, was part of ETSU’s commencement weekend. 

Dr. Debbie Byrd, dean of ETSU Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy, thanked the graduating class for the mark they left on the college. 

“We are so pleased you …

Understanding The Persuasive Attributes Of Twitch Advertisements: A Study On The Effects Of Current Advertisements And Sponsorships, Colleen Sharkey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The research in this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of Twitch’s current advertising option, which includes mid-roll, pre-roll, and sponsored streams. It will focus on usefulness of content, brand credibility, purchase intent, and streamer credibility. Twitch has seen a surge in growth and attention in recent years, with an average of 31 million daily visitors and 1.3 trillion minutes watched globally in 2021 alone (Twitch Sales, 2022). However, despite Twitch’s growing popularity as an entertainment and entrepreneurship platform, little research has been conducted on the impact of its advertising options on brand perception. This study seeks to address this …

Viewer Interactions In Animation, Megan Smith

Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Culminating Experience

The art of animation can be viewed in a multitude of ways. Passive viewing, in which an audience is merely observing the acting and are unable to alter the animation in any way, such as watching a TV show or movie. Interactive camera viewings, such as Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, in which the viewer can manipulate the content visually in the same way you observe the world, by moving the camera around in a digital space. Interaction-dependent viewing describes animations such as video games, where the player has full control of the character’s actions and the timing of those …

Ready, Fire, Aim! Creating Game Animation In Restraint, Jarrett Mcgill

Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Culminating Experience

Just like other artistic disciplines, animators are tasked with bringing characters to life through movement, whether for personal or professional motives. Games are a diverse field that sees a wide range of animation needs, but there lie consistent threads that lead to the success of a video games movements aesthetically and functionally. For aspiring animators there remains one consistent question: what does it mean and entail to create animation in the highly competitive game industry? This culminating experience paper aims to discuss the similarities and differences between student and professional work to highlight the importance and what it entails to …

2023-May-01-Empowering The Next Generation Of Innovators, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – East Tennessee State University’s Entrepreneurship Program is partnering with FoundersForge, a leading local entrepreneur center, and the Johnson City Chamber of Commerce, to host the inaugural High School Entrepreneur’s Boot Camp. This four-day summer camp runs June 26-29, and is open to students in grades 8-12, including home-schooled students at the equivalent grade level. 

  

The High School Entrepreneur’s Boot Camp happens on the ETSU campus from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. daily. This program aims to instill valuable life skills, innovative thinking and leadership qualities in participating students while providing them with the tools and resources to develop their …

2023-May-01-Etsu Board Of Trustees To Hold Special Called Meeting, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

East Tennessee State University’s Board of Trustees will hold a special called meeting on Friday, May 19 at 11 a.m. to discuss the budget for 2023-24 and other business as necessary.

The meeting will be conducted permitting participation by electronic or other means of communication if necessary. A livestream of the meeting will be available at etsu.edu/trustees/livestream.php.

When they become available, the agenda and accompanying materials for the meeting will be posted at etsu.edu/trustees under “Meeting Schedule & Materials.”

For more information, call 423-439-4317.  For disability accommodations, call the ETSU Office of Disability Services at 423-439-8346.

2023-May-01-Leaders In Primary Care, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine made a significant jump in this year’s U.S. News & World Report ranking of “Medical Schools: Primary Care,” moving from 65 in 2022 to 38 this year.

Quillen College of Medicine also ranked among the top-10 “Medical Schools with the Most Graduates Practicing in Health Professional Shortage Areas,” and was ranked 39^th in “Medical Schools with the Most Graduates Practicing in Primary Care.”

Among schools ranked in the “Medical Schools: Primary Care” category, ETSU ranked second in Tennessee and seventh in the Southeast. Schools are ranked based on faculty resources, academic …

2023-May-01-Level Up- Discover The Future Of Gaming, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

ETSU Esports is forging a path in the collegiate gaming community, striving to come out on top as a leader in the industry. 

Esports is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, and by embracing this new modern athlete, ETSU is going beyond what was thought possible in the gaming industry. The esports team is focused on providing students with opportunities that will accelerate them in their future careers by allowing them to gain leadership, marketing, broadcasting, video editing and production experience.  

“Working in the esports industry and the general, online video production industry is something that I …

2023-May-01-Quillen College Of Medicine Graduates 70 Students, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine celebrated commencement on Friday with 70 students being awarded their Doctor of Medicine degree.

This summer, the Class of 2023 will disperse to their residencies across 20 states and the District of Columbia. The Class of 2023 matched into 15 different specialties and enjoyed a 100% match rate for the second straight year.

“While many members of the Class of 2023 will spread out across the nation to complete their residency training, we know they will represent Quillen well wherever they end up,” said Dr. Bill Block, ETSU vice president for clinical …