Digital Commons Network^™

Investigating Michigan’S Skilled Construction Laborer Shortage Within The Great Lakes Region, Jennifer E. Russell

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The construction industry has been facing a decline in skilled trade labor for decades. This study asks three overarching questions: (a) What are the causes and influencing factors of Michigan’s skilled construction laborer shortage? (b) How are Michigan stakeholders in the Great Lakes Region remedying the shortage? (c) What new solutions can be implemented to remedy Michigan’s skilled construction laborer shortage? A literature review was conducted to identify causes, influencing factors, and research gaps. Closed surveys questioning 69 construction project managers and 101 skilled trade laborers in Michigan were conducted online and on construction sites. A quantitative analysis of the …

Impact Of Highway Work Zones On Traffic Crashes: A Case Study In Michigan, Qadri Hafez Shaheen

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Infrastructure in the US is severely aged and outdated. This presents a seemingly paradoxical problem in the field of construction management: In order to fix and make roads and highways more safe, construction zones must become inherently less safe in the process. There is a high cost to taxpayers and drivers, as work zones experience a significant amount of crashes and fatalities each year. To mitigate some of the factors that contribute to these crashes, this paper attempts to deliver guidelines on how to update relevant crash data, identify relevant factors, and create recommendations accordingly. The research focused particularly on …

Moving Beyond The Apple Orchard: The Institutional Analysis Of The Construction Of Washtenaw Community College, Julie M. Kissel

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to understand the institutional forces that constructed and shaped the function, nature of funding, and governance of Washtenaw Community College (WCC). To do this, I studied the founding and development of WCC using organizational theory. This qualitative, historical case study used archival research to identify themes and the institutional building blocks for the junior college movement at large and the transition of the junior college to the comprehensive community college in the 1950s and 1960s as it served to buffer and bridge the post-secondary world. This study discovered that WCC was not a grassroots …

A Case Study Of The Design And Implementation Of A New Teacher Evaluation System In A Northern Michigan School District, Scott Moore

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify how one district attempted to meet the need for greater accountability in the teacher evaluation process as mandated by law and to describe strategies that were employed by the district to ensure the integration of student achievement data. This research highlighted how a teacher evaluation instrument evolved over a 5-year period from 2011 to the end of the 2014–2015 school year. This qualitative, single-case study comprised examination of interview responses of 17 stakeholders including a former superintendent, technology director, two board of education members, three former principals, and ten teacher-leaders. Open-ended interview …

Fitting In: A Study Of Lesbian Mothers In Rural Southeastern Michigan, Allison Amadea Ranusch

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Lesbian parents residing in rural and small communities have received little scholarly attention. The primary focus of the existing research has highlighted the isolation experienced by lesbian parents within such locations, but little examination has been made of other issues or their coping mechanisms. This study was designed to address these deficits in knowledge and understanding through a series of eleven in-depth, qualitative interviews. Several stigma management strategies were discovered. For example, it was reported that engaging in farming and trade helped lesbian mothers "fit in" enough to gain some level of acceptance from their immediate neighbors. Stigma was also …

The Effects Of Salinity On The Stratification And Nutrient Dynamics Of Inland Lakes In Southeast Michigan, Hallee Kansman

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Temperate lakes typically turnover twice annually; however, certain factors can reduce the possibility of turnover. One of these factors may be the addition of road salt to the watershed. Road salt increases the density of water, increasing the energy needed to turnover a lake. Reduced turnover can have major effects on the nutrient dynamics of the lake. In this study, I examined seven small, deep lakes in Southeast Michigan to determine if turnover was affected by salinity. The purpose of this study was to determine whether these turnover events in TSL have changed since 2009 and how common incomplete spring …

Elucidating The Conservation Status Of Michigan's Red-Eared Slider (Trachemys Scripta Elegans): A Phylogeographic Approach, Patrick J. Terry

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The geographic origin of Michigan’s Trachemys scripta elegans has been a contentious subject since its first description in 1934. At that time two explanations were proposed: 1) populations of T. s. elegans are native to Michigan and naturally expanded their range from Ohio and Indiana; or 2) populations are non-native and have been introduced by humans via the pet-trade from throughout the United States. To differentiate between these possibilities, I compare the genetic structure of six populations throughout Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, using six microsatellite markers. No isolation-by-distance was detected and model-based statistics support two genetic clusters with five populations …

Practicing What We Teach: The Politics Behind Creating A State Social Studies Curriculum, Jacquelyn Visger

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Societal importance of the social studies fields is the key to what makes the development of social studies curriculum political. State standardized curricula adopted in the 1990s gave freedom to individual states to create their own standards on what information they were requiring their students to learn. The standards we require students to know inherently molds their political philosophy throughout schooling. By focusing attention on two separate cases, Texas and Michigan, inherent differences in the creation process of these standards are highlighted to show how the differences in the creation process have an effect on the standards document. This thesis …

Teaching Common Core Exemplary Texts For Today's Elementary Students, Elizabeth Drada

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

This project explores the purpose and objectives of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) as they apply to the instruction of complex texts for elementary students. This project includes an analysis and short history of the Standards and how to successfully implement a unit of instruction for elementary students, based on a text that the Standards identify as "exemplary" The information presented in the thesis is backed by online research and educational articles. The unit based on the novel Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis was created for a fourth grade class that adheres to the Standards and …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between School Climate And Student Growth In Select Michigan Charter Schools, Benjamin P. Jankens

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine what relationship exists between school climate and student growth in Michigan charter schools. Data were collected through the use of a school climate survey and standardized assessment results. The Organizational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire for Elementary Schools (OCDQ-RE) developed by Hoy, Tarter, and Kottkamp (1991) was used to assess teacher perceptions of school climate. Student growth data were calculated using the fall and spring reading and math results from the Performance Series test by Scantron, and the MAP test by NWEA.

The population of this study consisted of 355 teachers from 11 participating …

Nutrition Education Resources Used By Renal Dietitians For The Education Of The Outpatient Dialysis Population In Michigan, Susan L. Leslie

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

No abstract provided.